25. Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Never let anyone treat you like regular glue. You're glitter glue, baby.
Magnolia opened her eyes when she felt Ezra’s bed shift, realized his hair was already wet…and he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Ooooh. She hadn’t even heard him get back in but he’d clearly already showered and changed into jogging pants to sleep.
“Hey,” she rasped out, still swimming in that in-between place of sleep and not quite dreaming as she shifted against his bedcovers. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he murmured, sliding under the covers and moving right up next to her.
“I’m not here for…whatever. I was just worried.” She tried to sit up slightly, but he stretched out and pulled her onto his chest. Oh, okay, she really liked that. Maybe she actually was dreaming? “I didn’t think you’d be gone so long and I guess I fell asleep.”
“We ended up driving around after our op, then ditched the SUV and commandeered a new one.”
“Commandeered sounds a lot like steal.”
“Sort of.”
He let out a sigh and that was when she realized it was raining outside, could hear the little patter of light drops against the window and roof. Fairly rare for December, but the sound was soothing. “Do you care if I stay? I don’t want to be alone after today.” She thought she’d been keeping her shit together pretty well, but the day’s events had taken a mental toll on her. At least she knew their son was safe under this roof.
“Of course you can.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her closer.
She was basically splayed across his chest, and whew, he was even more built than she remembered. But with more scars unfortunately. She traced her finger over one she knew wasn’t from his service but from his father, human garbage that the man was. A long slide along his rib cage where his father had “just been showing you how a switchblade worked.” Ezra had been twelve at the time.
“Can you tell me about tonight?” she asked, when it was clear he wasn’t going to just spill everything.
“We didn’t find Perry, but might have a lead.”
“That’s pretty vague. Care to share any details?”
“I’m not trying to keep you in the dark intentionally. I just…don’t want you to know this side of what we do.”
Frowning at the odd note in his voice, she leaned up, looked at him, some of her sleep fading away. “Why not?”
His amber-colored eyes were clear enough with the moonlight streaming in from one of the windows. “This isn’t the kind of stuff…” He cleared his throat. “I just don’t.”
“I don’t need your protection from stuff. I’m a big girl. A woman .”
“I know you’re a woman.” His gaze fell to her mouth, hot and hungry. But he didn’t make a move. “Maybe I just don’t want you to know all the details for my own sake.”
Sighing, because she was pretty sure that was all she was getting from him, she laid her head back on his chest, nuzzled into him. Then she grinned to herself at the way he sucked in a breath. “Just give me a few details.”
“We found the phone Perry used to text you. He texted his ex-wife too.”
“Yeah, I talked to her. She said he’s been sending her nasty messages. She’s gotten a new phone, one she uses for work and just life, but she’s been keeping her old one to keep track of his texts as proof if…well, just if.”
“He wasn’t at the place where we found it, but we gathered some information from the people there.”
“Where is there?”
Another sigh, but at least he answered. “A drug house. We cleaned them out.” And he sounded absolutely smug about that.
She snickered. “Can’t really get mad about that. Who are they going to call, the cops?”
He laughed lightly too. “We disposed of the drugs, and we’re going to anonymously donate the cash we took. I suggested the centers that you work with.”
She stilled her finger on one of his scars and resisted the urge to look up at him. Because if she did, she was going to kiss him. Or attempt to, and she didn’t feel like getting rejected tonight. “That’s really kind, thank you.”
He shifted slightly under her, likely shrugging. “How’s Lucas?”
“Good, I think. We watched a movie, then he went to his room early when his girlfriend called.” She did look up at Ezra then. “It’s weird knowing he has a girlfriend. I have so many questions but I’m trying to give him space since he’s dealing with so much right now.”
“It’s probably better not knowing some stuff.” His tone was dry.
She laughed lightly. “No kidding.” Closing her eyes, she curled up with him, telling herself she could keep things easy between them.
But she knew she was lying. She was already attached, had been for a long time. And she’d never gotten closure either, just lost the man she’d loved, wondering why he’d ghosted her. Then she’d found out he hadn’t at all. Now here she was in bed, unfortunately clothed, with the man who was the epitome of her fantasies.
And he just wanted to stay friends.
Thanks a lot, universe.
“What?” he murmured, lazily stroking his fingers down her back.
Oops, had she said that out loud? “Nothing. Just dozing off and mumbling to myself.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Get some sleep. ”
Yeah, like that was happening now. But she murmured something that sounded like “You too” and just…lay there on top of him, too many things running through her mind until her brain finally had enough.
And she fell into a dreamless, hard sleep.
***
Magnolia opened her eyes and found herself plastered on Ezra’s chest. Since she (a) had morning breath and (b) still wanted to jump him, she oh so quietly eased out from his hold and ducked out of the room before he could wake up.
Of course the universe decided to laugh at her because her son was stepping out of his room, which was on the other side of Ezra, right as she clicked Ezra’s door shut.
Lucas blinked once. Twice. Then he grinned. “Morning.”
“This isn’t what it looks like…not that I have anything to be ashamed of if it was. But it’s not…and you know what, never mind. How’d you sleep?” Her brain was back to going a hundred miles a minute.
He shrugged, but was still grinning. “Good enough. I’m going to grab breakfast.”
“I’ll meet you down there in a couple minutes.” She needed to brush her teeth and change. And probably run a comb through her hair. And… Get it together, Magnolia! Sometimes she hated her brain, hated that she couldn’t ever seem to turn it off.
Once she was feeling presentable and had her equilibrium back, she headed downstairs to find almost everyone in the kitchen.
Lucas was sitting next to Berlin, looking at her laptop and speaking a language she didn’t understand. Or barely. They were talking about coding and creating a new type of VR game, but that was where her understanding ended.
“There’s two of them, apparently.” Adalyn gave Lucas and Berlin a pointed look as Magnolia sat next to her at the island.
Ezra gave her another one of those heated looks she felt straight to her core as he made her a mug of coffee. And she knew it was for her because he was doctoring it the way she liked it.
Friends, schmends. She wanted to bang his brains out right now.
Just not right here in front of everyone, because that would be awkward.
Oh wait, Adalyn had said something. Magnolia cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m glad he understands all that stuff. He’s been taking coding classes since he was ten, outside of school. He actually asked to take them so I knew he was serious about it.”
“Computer nerds are going to rule the world,” Berlin said without looking up.
Lucas fist-bumped her, making Magnolia smile.
She also felt better that he wasn’t going to be bored out of his mind stuck in this safe house all day. Because until they figured out where Perry was, she wanted him staying put.