AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Alice, my assistant, will pick up breakfast for me.”
“Are you sure I can’t tempt you?”
“I’m afraid not. I’ll keep you updated on the kitchen situation.”
“Okay, but let me know if you decide to go out for lunch or dinner. I’ll go with you.”
“I will,” I lied. “Goodnight.” I hung up before he could issue any more invitations.
There was a knock at the door, and I flinched. Shit, he must have come looking for me. But then I heard a key in the lock and relaxed. Ezra didn’t have a key to the house. It must be Nate. I shouldn’t be surprised he’d turn up. I knew he’d want to talk to me more about Ezra, and he’d likely gone to the police station as soon as he’d left brunch so he could check their databases.
“Come on, boy,” I said as I stood. Duke stretched, then bounced off the sofa and padded diligently along beside me as I switched the light on and went to the door. I checked through the peephole and smiled at the sight of Nate’s scowling face before opening the door. “Hi.”
For a second, something flared in his eyes, but it disappeared as fast as it came. He held up a few printed sheets of paper. “I have the background check.”
“Thanks.” I stepped aside to let him in. He headed straight for the living room, flopped onto the sofa, and propped his feet on the coffee table. I hid a smirk. He was so predictable sometimes. I sat beside him and waited for him to continue.
“Why was it dark in here?” he asked.
I pulled a face. “Because I just called Ezra to tell him not to come over for breakfast, and I didn’t want him to know I was home.”
His nostrils flared. “If he makes you that nervous, you shouldn’t be keeping him around, regardless of the fact that his record is pretty clean.”
“It is?” Relief filled me. I had been overreacting. I’d suspected it, but it was good to know for sure.
“Yeah. Ezra Mendel has no significant prior convictions.” He sounded displeased. As if he’d actually hoped I might have a known violent criminal residing on site. “He’s been ticketed a couple of times for speeding, but he paid the fines by the due dates. No other problems with the law. He’s thirty-six and has been working as a physiotherapist for the national women’s hockey team for seven years.” He hesitated, then added, “His father recently passed away.”
I felt a pang of sympathy. I knew how it felt to lose a parent, even if mine weren’t technically dead.
“No reported break-ins or stalking behavior?” I asked.
“Nothing that made it onto his record, although I’ve reached out to my colleagues stationed nearest his house to find out whether there’s anything that hasn’t made it into his file. No reply yet though. I still think you should be wary of him,” he said, reaching for the dish of lemon drops I kept on the coffee table and fishing one out. He popped it into his mouth. “Your instincts are warning you about him for a reason.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, because they see monsters in every shadow after what happened to Blair and Kennedy.” And what had happened to me, even if that had been years ago. The impact of that kind of thing never really left a person.
“Don’t dismiss them so easily.”
He handed me the printed sheets of paper, and I flicked through them. There was a photocopy of Ezra’s driver’s license, a short list of the speeds he’d been recorded at and the fines he’d paid, and a typed statement that he’d attended university in Dunedin and attained his degree in physiotherapy before specializing in sports recovery.
“Thanks for checking him out.” I kissed Nate’s cheek, surprised when his body became stiff against mine. I’d kissed his cheek plenty of times over the years, and he’d always accepted it the way he would a kiss from his mother or sister. Why the sudden tension?
I backed away. Did he have an inkling of my feelings for him? That would explain why I’d caught him looking at me strangely over the past few days.
Please let it be something else.
I didn’t want to lose Nate. Our friendship meant the world to me. If he cottoned on to the fact that I was in love with him, it could spell the end of everything, including my honorary acceptance into the Braddock clan.
“Let’s watchHouse of the Dragon,” he suggested. “I’m falling behind.”
I relaxed. Perhaps I was reading too much into things. “What episode are you up to?”
“The fourth, I think.”
I turned on Netflix and found the show. I started it playing and called Duke onto the sofa between us. Without him as a buffer, I feared I’d do something stupid, like snuggle against Nate’s side and indulge in a fantasy that our love wasn’t as one-sided as I thought and any moment he’d lean over and kiss me.
A light flickered outside.
“What was that?” Nate asked, suddenly alert.
