Page 11 of Fractured Hearts

“Not now and not ever. You will give him space, and if he decides he wants to speak to you, he will.”

“I have to,” I say, looking down at my feet. Willa’s stare is full of judgement. While earned, it’s still hard to face.

“How about instead of chasing down the man you left heartbroken, you go find your brother? You know your twin? The one that was so destroyed by your disappearance he turned to alcohol to cope and almost ruined his entire life? Or are you too much of a selfish bastard to remember or care about him?”

Her words cut like a knife. It’s not that I don’t love and miss Kai, but the moment Maverick walked into this room, I forgot anyone else existed. He’s always been that for me. The center of everything. My reason for everything. I just need a chance to explain that to him. Willa is right, though. Today is not the day to do that.

“I have to go.” It’s all I can manage before turning and walking out the door. I pause with one foot in the room and the other in the hallway, my back still to Willa and Declan. “Will you give them my number?”

“I’ll give them the option,” Willa says. I nod, knowing it’s the best I can ask for.

I want to keep my head down on the way back to the hospital’s parking garage, but I’ve spent the last eight years looking over my shoulder and being very aware of my surroundings. I won’t stop now. It’s how I manage to dodge my brother and Belle as they make their way back to Declan’s room. I need to speak with them both, but I’m still too raw from Maverick’s reaction and would crumble if Kai reacted the same way.

I can’t afford to break. Not yet. Not until all of this is over.

ten

JO

“I don’t know, Harlow. I don’t get why this case is so important to you. Yeah, it’s interesting, but we have nothing to go on and still have other states we wanted to cover before we circled back to Maine.”

I pace the length of Maverick’s living room while talking to my best friend and the current pain in my ass. I left Mav and the others at the hospital once Declan was out of surgery and the doctor said he should make a full recovery. I have work to catch up on for the band and the podcast. As much as I feel like part of their little family, I know the closer Ezra is to coming home, the closer I am to leaving them. I can’t ingrain myself any more than I already have.

Harlow is refusing to budge on the topic for the next episode of Melt the Ice. I tried looking into it in the small amount of spare time I have and found nothing. It’s hard enough to produce these episodes when she’s hiding away with Cal and Cora. How we’re supposed to do this apart and with a case that is technically closed is beyond me. I barely have the mental capacity for my day job right now.

“It’s calling to me, Jo. Noelle deserves justice,” Harlow pleads.

I sigh. “She does, but a huge part of our platform is talking to the family. She doesn’t have any. We can’t even find this boyfriend they assumed her to have.”

“I think I might have a lead on that⁠—”

I don’t hear what else she has to say. Maverick bursts through the door, and the moment his eyes find mine, I know something is terribly wrong.

“I have to go. I’ll call you back.” I hang up on Harlow and toss my phone onto the coffee table. “Maverick, what’s wrong? Is it Declan?”

He rushes to me, pulling me into his arms and sobbing on my shoulder. I hold him tight, panic beginning to take hold of my body.

“What’s wrong?” I ask again, pleading.

“Ezra’s back,” Maverick says between body-racking sobs. My whole body tenses, and it takes great effort to get myself to move and pull him down onto the couch with me. I don’t think I can keep my legs underneath me with what he’s about to tell me.

“These are happy tears?” I ask, trying to keep the pain from my voice.

“No,” he says, pulling back enough so I can see his face and the heartbreak there. “He’s been here for months. Right under our fucking noses.”

I frown, not understanding.

“He’s Ben. Ezra is Ben.”

My eyes widen as I gasp. “What?”

Maverick just nods, lip trembling. I pull him back to me, not knowing how to react or how to comfort him other than to hold him.

“What happened?” I whisper into the top of his head, which he’s rested on my chest. Maverick explains everything that happened in Declan’s hospital room. I just listen, holding him tight because I don’t know what else to do.

“Tell me what to do, angel. Please?” He looks up at me, eyes red and puffy, tears still slowly streaming down his face. I didn’t think he’d remember calling me that, but apparently he does, and hearing it from his lips cracks my heart just as much as it did the first time.

“I think you need time to process. You’re feeling too many things right now to make a decision.”