Page 58 of Fractured Hearts

Maverick snorts. “I see why you called him G. I. Jackass.”

He smiles at me while I laugh, walking hand in hand back to the little cliffside cottage that went from feeling like a prison to feeling like a happy home.

“He should be resting,” Darren says. He’s standing next to Maverick and me while we watch Ezra check the cameras, and I think look for footprints. I have no idea why, but he’s spending a lot of time staring at the ground and walking around.

I snort. “I don’t think that man knows what rest is.”

“He used to,” Maverick says sadly.

Darren sighs and rubs his shiny head. “Try to get him to at least sit for a few.”

“We will. Thank you for bringing this. You really didn’t have to,” I say, shooting a glare at Maverick.

Darren chuckles. “I don’t even want to know how much you paid to have this shipped the same day to my house in the middle of nowhere.”

“Uh, probably not.” Maverick at least looks embarrassed.

“What’s he doing?” Darren asks, his concerned eyes following Ezra’s movements between the trees.

“We have trail cams to watch the wildlife.” Which is half true. I do sometimes watch animals on the cameras with Ezra. There’s not a lot to do here. It’s usually just squirrels and a raccoon. There was a bear once though, and that was really exciting for us.

Jesus, my life has become so boring.

“If you’re wondering why he needs to check them right now, we don’t know either.” Maverick shrugs, never taking his eyes off Ezra. I think part of him is still scared he’s going to disappear any minute. Which I can’t blame him for, but Ezra doesn’t seem like the type that likes to be hovered over.

I’m keeping my distance from Maverick while Darren is here. As far as he knows, Maverick is the boyfriend Ezra mentioned. Or more accurately, Ben mentioned. It was chaos when Darren was here last, and I didn’t think to tell Maverick to use a fake name. The lies are piling up, and it’s making me fidgety. I’m sure Martha is going to figure out who Maverick is, if she hasn’t already, and it would take less than a minute to connect him to Ezra. And probably less time to figure out that Ben and Ezra are the same person.

“I know you’re all staring at me. I’m fine!” Ezra calls from where he’s adjusting a camera while looking at it on his phone.

Darren sighs before turning to me. “Call me if you need me.” Maverick and I quickly thank him and watch him slowly drive down the dirt path out to the main road. The moment his car is out of sight, Maverick moves to my side and slips his arm around my waist. He’s always been physically affectionate with me, but it feels different now.

“It’s like I was breathing through a thick fabric, but now I’m free to breathe in the fresh air,” he says, reading my thoughts. It’s going to take me a long time to believe he has romantic feelings for me. I can already feel my brain telling me to push him away because he’s going to hurt me. And maybe he will. The likelihood of our non-traditional relationship failing is pretty high, but I know I need to try to make it work or I’ll end up regretting it for the rest of my life.

fifty-five

EZRA

That I’m nervous about calling my twin brother is really pathetic. But Kai has always been the angrier twin. Or he used to be. I may have overtaken him in that role. I’m sitting in the mostly empty parking lot of the grocery store, just staring at my phone like an idiot. Leaving Jo and Maverick alone isn’t what I wanted to do, but Jo threatened to kick my ass if I didn’t go restock on groceries and considering how sore my body is, she’d be able to do it easily. It’s only been two days since I woke up in bed next to Maverick, and I should probably rest more, but considering I wouldn’t let either of them make the trip to the store, it had to be me. And I decided it would be a good time to call Kai since no one would overhear me.

“Hey Ez,” Kai says, picking up after the first ring. There’s no anger or hurt in his tone. There hasn’t been since the first time we saw each other at my house.

“This isn’t an emergency,” I say with a little more panic in my voice than I’d like.

Kai just laughs it off. “It’s okay. We all have phones now. This doesn’t need to be an emergency line anymore.” Right. I knew that. Jo gave me Willa’s number so I could talk to Declan. Not that I have. I felt I owed it to Kai to speak to him first.

“Cool.” My palms are sweating, and I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“What’s going on, Ez? I can hear you overthinking from here.”

“Good to know the twin telepathy thing is still there,” I mutter, unfairly annoyed that he can still sense my mood. Not that I was being overly subtle about it.

“It always has been.” There’s a long pause before Kai sighs. “I knew you weren’t dead. Sometimes I tried to convince myself you were so that I could grieve and move on with my life, but I never could. Our souls are connected, and I always knew I’d feel it if you were truly gone.”

“I’m sorry,” I say in a choked whisper.

“It took a while, but I get it. I don’t think I would have made any different choices if our roles were reversed and it was Belle in danger.” I could practically hear the growl in his voice at the mention of her being in harm’s way. My brother has been in love with Bellamy since the moment he saw her. He just thought she was in love with me for years. Which is probably also my fault for not talking to him about my sexuality. Although, I thought there was something wrong with me until I met Maverick. I was pretty sure my dick was broken. “I’m sure Dad didn’t give you much of a choice either.”

“Well, no, not really, but⁠—”