12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.
Ezra covertly watched Magnolia from the bar where he sat with Tiago at one of his favorite Greek restaurants. They’d helped the owners with a problem four months ago so the couple had been more than happy to let them use this place for the meeting. They’d even given Magnolia the best table. It had a view of the courtyard, but was still private enough that no one could sneak up on them.
Not that he’d let that happen anyway.
Rowan and Adalyn were at the table next to Magnolia’s, not appearing as if they were paying attention at all. The seating was spaced out so no one felt crowded, and there was room for privacy.
Not that the two men were being quiet at all. Louis Tremblay, the architect she was trying to work with, had a loud, braying laugh. And Magnolia’s cousin, Charles Barbier, who’d she’d brought in for this meeting because he knew Tremblay on a personal level, also had a booming laugh. Though it was clear he was just as frustrated with Tremblay as Magnolia.
Oh, they were both hiding it well, but the eyes didn’t lie.
“Your woman is a boss,” Tiago murmured, his gaze flicking to the mirror behind the bar.
They’d been using it to covertly keep tabs on the table. Berlin was in the parking lot, keeping an eye on the back exit in person, and she’d hacked into the private security feed to keep an eye on the front door. “She’s not my woman.”
Tiago simply snorted. “Whatever you’ve got to tell yourself.”
They weren’t using earpieces for this since it was such a small job. Berlin was sending them random texts to check in, but that was it. So he didn’t have to worry about the others overhearing them. Still, Ezra didn’t rise to the bait, knowing exactly what his friend was trying to do. “So how’s your secret project going?”
Tiago was quiet for a long moment, then said, “Good. I think. But we need your help.”
He glanced at him, putting his fork down. “With what exactly?”
“Rowan and I bought a plane.”
He blinked. “What?”
“It’s a little four-seater Cessna. It’s in good shape, but we need to do some work on it and bit off more than we thought. Rowan wanted to surprise Adalyn with it which is why I haven’t been able to tell Fleur. I didn’t want to ask her to keep a secret from Adalyn. Plus I’m pretty sure they tell each other everything anyway.”
“I’ve never worked on a plane before.”
“Yeah, but you’ve worked on engines in general before. We’ve already talked to a guy, but I’d like you to come with us when he stops by and see if what he’s saying makes sense. Basically make sure he’s not trying to rip us off. Also we were hoping you might want to do some of the interior work. The seats need to be replaced or refurbished.”
Ezra nodded. “I’ll need to look at it, but yeah. I’ll see if I can do the seats for you. If not, I’m sure I know someone who can.”
Smiling now, Tiago nodded. “Thanks.”
“So…a plane? Is this a Christmas present?”
“Sort of. We got it for a steal at forty thousand. It’s more or less an investment. We can’t always depend on Jesse or Brooks for use of their jets. Which are amazing, I’m not knocking them at all. But this is something that’s a lot more low key, won’t stand out at private airports. And we’ll be able to get in more places undetected with something this small. ”
“That’s really smart,” he murmured.
“Exactly. And I’m going to get my private pilot’s license. So’s Rowan. You should do it with us.”
“Seriously?”
“Sure, why not? Adalyn can already fly, but it’ll be even better if more of us can. I think Berlin might be into it too, but she hasn’t given us an answer either way.”
“I’ll think about it.” He loved his bike—and having his feet on the ground. He was fine to fly, but didn’t want to go out of his way to do it.
“I know what that means…” He trailed off, chin nodding to the table behind them.
Ezra glanced in the mirror, saw Tremblay standing.
Magnolia and her cousin stood as well, both shaking hands with him before Tremblay left. Then the two of them sat back down, shared a “look” and snickered. They talked for a few more minutes, then her cousin stood and left as well.
Magnolia waited a solid two minutes before she looked in his direction, then smiled, nodded him over.
He slid into the seat next to her. “So?”
“So…he’s still jerking me around,” she murmured, her smile never wavering. But he saw the frustration in her pretty blue eyes. “And if it’s not too much trouble, could you reach out to your friend? If Jesse Lennox has contacts, I’m absolutely sure that the person I’m submitting a bid to won’t lock himself into working solely with Tremblay.” She paused, her expression a little savage as she smiled. “Plus it would be amazing to stick it to him. He thinks he’s untouchable and is such a pain in the ass to work with. He loves getting all these free meals.”
“It’s not too much trouble,” he murmured, pulling out his cell. He quickly texted Hailey, was surprised to receive a text back seconds later.
Of course. Whenever your girl wants, let me know. I’m sitting with him now. He’s says to give her his personal cell phone.
Thanks. You’re the best.
I know! And you also didn’t negate the “your girl” so I know you’re in deep. Then she sent a bunch of eggplant and peach emojis because of course she did .
Sighing, he sent Jesse’s number to Magnolia to import. “Just sent you Jesse’s personal cell number. Hailey said that he said to call anytime you’d like to talk.”
Magnolia’s eyes widened slightly. “Okay, I can’t even pretend not to be impressed. So you’re friends with Hailey Lennox?”
“Yeah, we served together. She was in Intel mostly, but bunked with us on occasion.”
“I saw the announcement of their marriage. It was this big splash, but then there’s been almost nothing since. Not that I’m looking up celebrities—and I’m not sure he counts as one. But I haven’t seen anything about them.”
“Yeah, that’s intentional. He was really deliberate about ‘leaking’ the photos of their wedding to certain publications. He’s incredibly protective of her.” Something Ezra respected. “I honestly never thought I’d like anyone she ended up with. She was always like a little sister to us, but…” He shrugged. “He’s one of the most generous people I’ve ever met. And he adores her.”
“That’s high praise. And for the record I have so many questions about what you’ve been up to the last seventeen years. I just don’t want to bombard you with questions.”
“I have a lot of questions too.” Some he wasn’t going to ask because he didn’t want the answer. “But first let’s get out of here and you can call Lennox and get the ball rolling on finding a new architect. How do you think your cousin will handle it?”
She shrugged and stood as he pulled out her chair. “Charles will be fine. He gets paid either way and he’s just as annoyed with Tremblay as I am. The two of them play tennis and race sailboats together, have known each other forever—they went to the same prep school. Honestly I feel like Charles should have already closed this deal but…” She lifted a shoulder.
Ezra glanced down at his phone, saw a text from Berlin.
All clear.
“Okay, we’re good to go.” He saw another text pop up from Scarlett and let it sit until they were in the SUV. He missed his bike already—and wanted to take Magnolia for a ride just like old times, but knew now wasn’t the time for that .
“Is everything okay?” Magnolia asked as he started the engine. “I saw Scarlett’s name pop up.”
“Yeah, she said that Lucas told her to hold off on going to the safe house.”
She raised her eyebrows at that and pulled out her phone. To his surprise, she put it on speaker.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hey, hun. It’s me and Ezra, you’re on speaker. I hear you want to hold off on going to the safe house?”
There was a short pause. “I talked to Nana and she’s really upset. I don’t know why, but she’s got it in her head that I’m going to like cut her out because Grandpa acted like an asshole.”
“Lucas,” she murmured, only slightly admonishing.
“After what he did…” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about him. He’s staying in the pool house anyway apparently. Nana is really, really mad. I’ve never even heard her curse before but she’s the one who called him the stubborn asshole first. Anyway, I don’t know, I wasn’t sure if it was safe enough but I was hoping to go stay with her. But I also don’t want to like, abandon you.”
“Honey, you’re not abandoning me. I’m just worried about your safety. Give me a sec, okay?” She muted the call, looked at Ezra.
“Their place is fine for him to stay at. Berlin already checked out their security, said it’s a hell of a lot better than yours.”
“Your ‘tech person’?”
“Yep.”
“Did she…hack their system?”
“I don’t think I should answer that.”
“Fine, but she and you think it’s okay?”
“I wouldn’t let him stay anyplace I was worried about. You’ll need to talk to your mom and make it clear that no one is allowed over. Not even friends. And since he’s got school on Monday, I don’t want him driving his car to school. We’ll need to provide one for him. Actually…I’d prefer that me or one of my people just drove him. I know he’s almost seventeen but this is serious. ”
“All of this is fine, including having someone drive him. And my mom will be on board with anything. She’ll do anything for Lucas or me.”
He nodded then. “Okay, it’s fine, then. Oh and she’ll need to set the alarm during the day.”
Magnolia nodded, then got back on the phone with Lucas and went over everything. Then as he headed for the safe house, she called her mom and went over the same thing.
That conversation sounded a lot more emotional, but it was clear that her mom had never been a part of anything. Which made him feel a lot better. He wanted to be in Lucas’s life more than anything, a truth that had settled in his bones. He had a kid.
Who was almost a grown man. But still. Ezra wasn’t just going to abandon him, and it mattered that Magnolia’s mom was upset by what her husband had done too.
“I feel like my life is a soap opera,” Magnolia murmured as she set her phone back in her purse. “But I feel good knowing he’ll be with my mom. She’ll spoil the heck out of him until he leaves for school Monday. And she’ll convince him to prep for his test tomorrow.”
Ezra smiled at her words, just enjoying being with her, even if the circumstances were the worst.
“So did you and Scarlett ever date?” she asked.
Beyond surprised by the question, he automatically tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Ah, no. Why?”
Magnolia’s cheeks were flushed pink, but she shrugged. “I was just curious. I haven’t seen you in so many years and you have a very easy camaraderie with her. Is it weird that I asked?”
“No, not at all. She’s not my type so it surprised me, that’s all.” Which wasn’t exactly the truth. He was just surprised that she cared enough to ask. Either way he’d have told her if he was putting their son’s safety in the hands of an ex.
“What is your type?” she blurted. “Never mind! Don’t answer that. Jeez,” she muttered, more to herself it sounded like as she turned away to stare out the window. “Sorry, I’m just up in my head right now.”
He cleared his throat. “I’ve only ever had one type.” Her.
She sucked in a little breath, but didn’t look back at him. Which was probably just as well. Right now he needed to be completely focused. To keep her and their son safe at all times. And as soon as they got to the safe house, he was going to ask Berlin to hack into the security cameras at her parents’ house so he could keep an eye on things and receive any alerts.
Besides, it made sense that she was curious about his romantic entanglements—none—because he was obsessed with knowing hers. But since he didn’t want the answer, he wasn’t asking. At least that was what he kept telling himself.