Chapter 18
eighteen
EZRA
I don’t really need to scope out the place.
My dad set up top of the line security when we bought this house.
It was the compromise we agreed on when I moved to Boston.
He’d let me go without a fight if I had a safe house within driving distance.
He has this entire property so wired up, a moose couldn’t fart within five hundred feet without me knowing.
I quickly check the perimeter of the house anyway before making my way inside.
It’s a small two-bedroom, two-bathroom Cape Cod with an open floor plan kitchen/living room area.
The place was rundown when I bought it, so I had to hire a contractor to renovate it.
I also hired an interior designer to fill the place with furniture.
It looks like every beach house rental on the market, with its seashell and anchor knickknacks everywhere and blue and white color scheme.
It takes me no time at all to make sure the house is free from intruders, human or animal, but I linger near the front door instead of going back outside.
I just couldn’t be in the car with Jo anymore.
It’s not her fault, the way my stomach curls in on itself and my chest hurts every time I look at her.
I know it’s not her fault Maverick moved on.
I was gone, dead as far as he knew. But now she’s an obstacle.
If that wasn’t apparent before, it became so the moment he begged me to save her over him.
I’m not even sure if he’s alright or not.
Patrick could’ve shown up right after I got Jo out of there.
He could be hurt or dead right now. My breath stutters in my lungs the moment the thought crosses my mind.
I can’t think like that. Even if he never comes back to me, he has to be alive.
There’s no way I can live on a planet without him on it.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, the quick double vibration letting me know it’s the specific one set up to alert me to movement on this property. I pull up the app quickly just to watch Jo try to get out of the car.
And immediately fall to the ground when her ankle gives out. I can hear the pained groan that slips past her lips. Instead of helping, I watch her for a moment, some sick, twisted part of me wanting her to feel as much pain as I do right now. I curse under my breath and storm out of the house.