Chapter 43
forty-three
EZRA
I’m frozen to the spot as I watch Jo putter around the kitchen. It’s early. The sun has barely started to rise, and she’s never awake before I am. She also never makes breakfast, but I’m watching her crack eggs and chop vegetables.
“Oh, hey!” she says with a smile when she spots me.
The frown I was already sporting deepens.
I thought she would be sulking today. She should be sulking or at least the Jo version, which is to work and ignore.
Not smiling and making breakfast. Maybe she was body-snatched.
Or maybe she and Maverick made up overnight.
I look around, but don’t see him. I don’t ask either because I don’t want the answer.
“Uh, hi,” I say awkwardly when I realize she’s waiting for a response. “Are you taking my job?”
Jo shrugs, the mildly creepy smile still on her face.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I’m making a quiche, hash brown casserole, bacon, and sausage.
I’m prepping it right now and then I’ll put it in the oven after we spar.
” She turns and continues chopping like this is all super fucking normal and not freaking me out.
“Do you want some coffee?” I ask, making my way over to the machine to see she’s already made a pot.
“I’d love one,” she says, turning to me briefly and smiling again. I quickly make hers, which is just black with a splash of milk, and hand it to her.
“I have to make a call really quick. I’ll just be outside.
” I don’t know who to call, but someone needs to help me with whatever this is.
Harlow is probably my best bet, but Cal will kill me if I wake his pregnant wife this early, and we’re barely on speaking terms. Maybe I should call a priest since she seems possessed.
“Don’t forget you promised to take me shooting today!” she calls over her shoulder.
“Right. Sure,” I call back, shoving my arms into my coat and feet into my boots as quickly as I can.
I’m out the door before she can respond, phone in hand and lost as to what to do.
I was able to get a replacement phone overnighted from my dad who found the entire thing amusing.
I did not. In the end, I call the person who I know will help even unwillingly.
“You better have a good fucking reason for waking me up this early on game day,” the sleep-heavy voice on the other end answers.
I flinch. Jasper is an hour behind us in Nashville, so it’s even earlier for him.
“I wouldn’t call if I wasn’t kind of freaking out.”
Jasper sighs so loudly I have to pull the phone away from my ear.
“Alright. Lay it on me, Ezzy baby.”
“Maverick showed up here yesterday . . .” I tell him everything he missed really quickly so I can get to the part where there’s a stranger wearing Jo’s face in my kitchen right now.
“You really care about her,” he says after a long enough pause that I thought the call disconnected.
I groan. “I know. We’ve been stuck alone together for a month. It was bound to happen. Now tell me how to fix her.”
“You do realize you called a gay man to ask about woman problems, right?” I can hear the laughter in his voice, the asshole.
“I’m gay, too! At least you pretend to date women. I’m clueless here.”
“Are you?”
“Am I what? Clueless? I think that’s been pretty well established at this point.”
“Gay,” Jasper asks.
“What kind of stupid question is that?” Jasper knows I’m gay. It’s what we bonded over when we first met.
“Just do me a favor and look up demisexual,” he says, and his voice is gentle in a way that makes me agree instead of argue like I usually do.
“Fine, but how does that help me with Jo right now?”
“She’s heartbroken and can’t escape the reminder of why. Of course she’s acting strange.”
“But how do I fix it?” I ask, failing to keep the frustration from my voice even though it’s not Jasper’s fault.
“You can’t fix everything, Ezra.”
“You’re no help, you know that, right?”
“It’ll work itself out or you’ll all kill each other.”
“Great,” I mumble.
“I’m going to catch some more z’s before morning practice. Make sure to watch my game. Tell Mavy I’ll be thinking about him.”
“Mavy? What the fuck?” I practically growl. Jasper just laughs like the little shit he is.
“Love you, Ezzy baby!” Jasper calls before hanging up.
I probably should’ve called Declan because at least he knows Jo. But I don’t think he has his own phone, and I agreed that Kai’s should only be used for an emergency. I don’t think the weird behavior has escalated into emergency territory yet. At least I hope not.
“Hey! Are you ready to spar?” Jo asks, popping her head out the door, that weird smile still stuck to her face.
“Uh, yeah. Let’s go,” I concede, even though I think I should talk to her about this. Except I’m terrible at talking and would probably make it worse by making her cry. Although, the longer I look at that smile, I’m not sure crying would be worse.