3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3
I’m really tired of life throwing me curveballs. How about some tacos instead?
Sitting in the office Detective Camila Flores had shoved them in, Magnolia tried not to sneak glances at Ezra Hunt.
Failed.
But he was staring at her too, so at least his shock was real.
“Are you sure you don’t know who would want to hurt you?” Ezra finally spoke again, his voice the smoothest whiskey ever served. And he still looked the same.
Or similar, not the same. He’d turned into an even more attractive man. And that right there was an understatement. He’d been a boy, almost a man, and now he was all hard edges with the kind of arms that she wanted wrapped around her. Which wasn’t that much different than before, but at least when they’d been seventeen almost eighteen, he’d had a little softness.
Looking at the man with the whiskey voice, amber-colored eyes, big, callused hands and gorgeous forearms she absolutely wasn’t going to notice, she could almost swear she was falling back in time.
To a different place. When she’d been a different person.
A heck of a lot more fun, with fewer responsibilities.
Not that she’d change a damn thing, but looking at him almost hurt her physically. She glanced away, blindly stared at the dust-covered shelves. “I wonder where Camila found this office,” she murmured, more to herself and definitely ignoring him. Her old friend had stuck the two of them in here, almost definitely to give Magnolia privacy. But she’d seemed to know or be acquainted with Ezra too. Which was weird.
Ezra shoved out a sigh, pushed up from this seat and started pacing in front of a desk stacked high with banker’s boxes.
Yep, this place was definitely used for storage.
“So what are you doing in New Orleans?” she asked mainly to break up the quiet.
“I live here now.”
Okay, that got her attention. After he’d tackled her to the ground, saving her from being shot—shot!—it had been a blur of noise, people, lights and sirens. Then they’d gotten back to the police department and been basically shoved into a dusty little room.
Out of the way.
When she’d been seventeen and scared of her parents’ reaction, and her friends’, she sometimes thought they wished they could shove her in a little room and forget about her. Or maybe she was simply projecting her fears from back then.
She pressed her fingers to her temple, lightly massaged. “How long have you been back?” she murmured, even though she told herself to curse him out for ignoring all her letters from so many years ago. For moving away without a word to her. As if she’d meant nothing to him. She told herself to give him the silent treatment the same way he’d done her.
But she wasn’t built like that, and she was nervous. He was one of the few people who made her feel this way. Which just annoyed her even more. And being annoyed or angry was better than being scared.
“Not long.”
Great. Fear punched through her because her past and present were about to collide. If she wanted them to. And right now she needed to talk to her best friend. Mari would know what to do. Her tornado of a friend always did .
“Magnolia, I feel like you’re not taking this seriously—”
“Don’t say my name.” She whipped her head in his direction, long buried anger popping up. “You lost that right. In fact…” She’d stood, grabbed her purse, aka the thing that held her whole life, and made a move for the door when her son burst inside.
Eyes the same color as Ezra’s were wide and panicked. “Mom!”
“I’m okay, everything is okay.” She wrapped her arms around her son as he did the same to her, slightly lifting her off her feet.
In the last year he’d had a growth spurt and was now taller than her and had the body of a man. But his face was still her sweet boy’s. Or maybe that was a mother’s wishful thinking. “It doesn’t sound okay. What happened?” He stepped back, looked at Ezra, frowned. “Who are you?”
“He’s the man who saved me from—”
The door flew open again and a man with light brown skin and dark eyes strode in, looked between the three of them. Blinked when he looked at Lucas, then Ezra. Oh right, he’d been there on the sidewalk, the one who’d called the police. Tiago? Everything had been a blur, but she remembered him now.
“Ah, Detective Flores said I could come back. Rowan and Adalyn are on the way too…” He trailed off slightly, giving the two of them a look she was pretty certain she could read.
It was time to get out of here right freaking now. “We’ll give you guys a moment of privacy.” She grabbed onto Lucas’s elbow.
Ezra stepped forward. “Magnolia, we’re not done—”
She turned on Ezra. “We’ll talk later,” she snapped out before basically dragging her son from the dusty room and into the dim hallway.
A tall, broad-shouldered man and a strong-looking redheaded woman were barreling toward them. Magnolia turned to her son, kept her voice low. “We’re leaving right now and I need you to not ask questions until we’re out of here. Okay?”
He looked like he wanted to argue because of course he did. He was a teenager and he was her son. “Fine. ”
She smiled politely as she and Lucas hurried down the hallway, didn’t miss the look the redhead gave Lucas. So these were Ezra’s friends or coworkers or whatever, and two of them had most likely seen the similarities between Ezra and Lucas. Or she guessed that was why they’d done double takes at her son.
It was the only reason that made sense, unless they were straight up weirdos. Which, she supposed they could be that too. And okay, now she was spiraling.
Get it together , she silently ordered herself. Be calm and think.
She was hustling down the hallway toward the elevator, realized that her son was actually slowing down for her because his legs were now longer. At that thought, a pang hit her right in the chest as she remembered when she’d had to shorten her strides for him. When he’d held so desperately on to her hand because he’d been afraid of going into kindergarten by himself.
That hadn’t lasted long, and soon he’d been happy to go to school, excited to see his friends. But now everything was changing and apparently the world had decided to lob another grenade at her in the form of her child’s father.
The man who’d long since abandoned them, then shown up only to save her from some nutjob. “I get it, universe. I screwed up in a past life and you’re still punishing me,” she growled as she punched the button, desperate to get out of here.
“You’re talking to the universe at large now?” Lucas’s tone was dry, though she could hear the tinge of worry in his words.
“How did you find out about this?” Because she hadn’t called her parents, hadn’t called anyone.
“Miss Jessica told Vanessa, and Vanessa texted me.”
Oooh, right. She’d been on her way to her friend Jessica’s house for a quick visit when everything had gone to hell. “I was going to tell you, obviously, but I didn’t want you to miss anything important at school.”
“I didn’t miss anything,” he muttered. “And who cares about stupid tests?”
She bit back her response because of course he was concerned. She linked her arm with his. “You’re right. I should have contacted you but I didn’t want you to worry. And there was nothing you could have done about this. ”
“Other than be there for you?” He patted her arm as they stepped out into the hallway. This one was a lot busier than the essentially deserted floor they’d just come from.
“All right, you’re right.”
“Do the cops know who…” He trailed off as Detective Camila Flores walked toward them, purpose in her stride.
Today her longtime friend and all-around badass detective was wearing dark blue slacks, a blue and white striped sweater and caramel-colored boots with thick soles that were probably good for kicking in doors.
“Lucas! How are you so tall now?” Camila pulled him into a quick hug as the three of them stopped in the hallway in front of the break room doorway. “Come in here.” She pulled her son, then motioned for Magnolia to step inside.
Two uniformed officers were sitting at a table, eating sandwiches and not paying any attention to them.
“Am I good to leave?” she asked, because she needed to get out of here and far away from Ezra Hunt.
Camila’s expression darkened slightly as she nodded. “Yes. But I don’t like what happened. Especially with the threats you’ve been receiving.”
“What threats?” Lucas demanded.
Magnolia winced. “We’ll talk about this on the way home.”
“But—”
“Lucas, why don’t you go grab a bag of barbeque chips from the snack machine down the hall?” Camila asked.
“I’m not five anymore. You can’t just distract me with food.”
Camila arched an eyebrow. “Who says the chips are for you?”
At least that got a half laugh from him as he turned and headed out of the room, no longer all gangly arms and legs.
“There’s a vending machine in here,” Magnolia murmured.
“Yeah but this one doesn’t have the chips I like. And I wanted to talk in private. I know you’ve got good security at the house but I want you to make sure you’ve got your cameras always on, and set your alarm at night. And during the day too. At least for now.”
“Okay.” Sighing, she dropped her bag on a nearby chair. “So do you have any news for me?”
“No. I’ve got a couple officers out canvassing, trying to see if anyone caught anything on their Ring cameras. You got really lucky with your Good Samaritan.”
Lucky wasn’t the word she’d use, but she simply nodded even as she fought exhaustion. “Do you think I’m safe to leave with Lucas?”
“Yes, but I’m going to have someone escort you home and we’ll be increasing patrols in your neighborhood tonight.”
“You don’t need to do that. Save your resources. I’ve got a security system, cameras, and a gun if need be.” She hated them, but still owned one and practiced at the range nonetheless.
Camila simply sighed, then pulled her into a quick hug. “We’re going to get this guy.”
Yeah, if they could figure out who he was—though she had a pretty good idea. And so did Camila. But finding the asshole was another thing entirely. Until today the threats had been messages left at one of the hotels her family owned and some with the receptionist of her firm. This had been a huge escalation and she could admit she was terrified.
She needed to talk to Lucas about everything, then convince him to move in with his grandparents for the time being. He wouldn’t like it, but she didn’t think he’d balk.
And more than that, she wanted to get him out of here before Ezra came looking for her.