Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Nerves skitter over my skin, making the hairs on my arms stand up and my pulse thrum like a jackrabbit.
I make a right and sigh out, almost as if I’m bored with all of this.
“We’re close. What’s your plan when we get there?
” Obviously, I’m asking both men, but I want to know what Lenox wants me to do.
It’s not every day you have your ex in the backseat of your car pointing a gun at you.
It’s honestly the most awesome of coincidences and timing that I have my AirPod in my ear with my husband on the line, and my hair covers it completely from view.
One can only hope that will save the day—or night in this case—and that Batman will once again thwart the enemy.
But why does a woman always have to rely on a hero to save her?
“I’m calling the police now. I didn’t want to risk them showing up just as you did or being here when you arrived and having Ezra freak out and react.
I’m waiting on the side of my garage. I want you to keep him outside, Georgia.
I don’t want him in the house. He’ll be easier to disarm and take down if he’s outside. I’ll surprise him from behind.”
Lenox says this at the exact same time Ezra says, “We’re going to go inside and have a nice chat with your fake husband before you and I take off for the airport.”
I laugh. It’s strangled and not based in any form of humor.
“Why would you say he’s fake?” That’s actually the least of my curiosities.
Does he think this will actually be a chat where Lenox is like, sure, cool, here’s some money and you can take my wife, no problem.
Oh, and the Monroe jet? Of course, let me just get Zax on the line,, and he’ll clear that for you Jiffy Pop .
Gun or no gun, that’s not how this will go down.
“Because you can’t love him!” Ezra screams. Not just shouts but screams, making me jolt in my seat, and his flip from somewhat calm to that is jarring and has me sitting up a little straighter in my seat and checking the rearview for where that gun is pointed.
I can’t see it, which I’ll take to mean it’s not pointed at my head currently.
Ezra is unhinged and unpredictable, and more than just having a gun, him in this state is what makes him so dangerous.
He wants me as much as he wants the money.
He’s made that much clear. Otherwise, he’d just cut me loose, take the money, and run.
If he’s jealous of Lenox, if he believes for a second that I truly love him, he’ll kill him.
In fact, knowing Ezra as I do, that’s exactly what he’s going to do anyway.
Lenox is a paper trail. An uncertainty. A potential challenge for him.
A point that will be proven when Lenox naturally tries to protect me.
It’ll be his instinct because that’s Lenox for you, and he won’t know all the ways it will drive Ezra past the point of his current madness.
It will undoubtedly set Ezra off, and he’ll kill Lenox, and then…
then I don’t know. Perhaps he’ll kidnap me, or the cops will show up in the nick of time, but it’ll be too late for Lenox.
Of that, I’m positive.
Either way, I have to do something before either man gets to each other.
Determination swarms through my blood like a pack of killer bees all banding together in a blood-thirsty tribe. My adrenaline has found a new purpose, and instead of making me jittery and panicked, it’s making me sharp and purposeful.
I pull into Lenox’s driveway, all the way to the two-car detached garage in the back, all the while scanning for my guy without seeing him. He hides well, though that shouldn’t shock me. He always has.
Clicking the button for the garage door, I slow my breathing as I pull in and shut off the car.
“Now what?” I ask Ezra, afraid to act without instruction.
“Now get out and stay beside me.”
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” I tell him, my voice smooth even as I gracefully pull the earbud, from my ear, essentially ending my call with Lenox. I set it down on my seat where Ezra can’t see since it’s nothing but darkness in the car right now.
“Then you better follow my instructions.”
“But how do I know you won’t hurt me? Say I go away with you, what assurance do I have that you won’t kill me the way you killed my father?”
“I’d never hurt you, Georgia,” he growls adamantly, fiercely. “I love you.”
“Okay then. I’ll do what you say. If you promise me that.” I bat my eyelashes like a sweet little thing to him in the rearview, not even sure if he can see the gesture, but he can hear it in my voice.
Unbuckling my seat belt, I open the door with a soft click. I don’t know where Lenox is, and right now, with me ending the call, I’ve turned us blind. Still, I don’t want Lenox to come charging, and if he doesn’t know what’s going on, it might make him hold back for a few extra seconds.
The moment I shut the door, Ezra’s hand is on my forearm.
The other hand with the gun is raised but not aimed at me, and I take that lapse in judgment and run with it.
I twist in front of him and kick at his left hand.
The spikes lining the edge of my boots stab into his skin, and never in my life have I been more grateful for the weird design genius of these boots that are lined in spikes.
Ezra howls in pain, releasing me and clutching his now-bleeding wrist, and with that, the gun immediately drops from his hand, clanking on the cement floor of the garage.
In my next motion, I grab him by the back of the head and slam his face downward just as I raise my knee until the two connect. I both hear and feel the crunch of his nose breaking, but before I can continue, Lenox is there, dragging him back by his hair and walking him out of the garage.
“What are you doing?!” Lenox snaps, fury lacing his every feature. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“He was going to kill you! No two ways about it,” I yell, miffed because I just disarmed a man and I get no credit for it. “Men do not get to always play the hero. Sometimes, women are better at it.”
Annoyed, I go for the gun, only Ezra isn’t having that. Whatever he’s on, he’s not feeling any pain as he jabs his elbow back at Lenox, hitting him straight in the gut and ripping his head away from Lenox’s grasp, a collection of hair going along with it in the process.
He does a Superman dive at me, knocking me down onto my back on the driveway and stealing the air from my lungs.
He rolls me once, all the while struggling to take the gun from my hands.
My arm flies, knocking him in the side of the head with the gun just as Lenox picks him up like a rag doll and body slams him straight onto the driveway.
Ezra oomphs and gasps out a loud cough before he starts thrashing and yelling a thousand obscenities as he tries to squirm free, but to no avail. Lenox is a lot bigger and stronger and has Ezra’s arms pinned by the press of his knees as he sits on his chest with his full weight.
“Cut the shit or I’ll have her pistol whip you again, asshole. If you think I can fuck you up, you haven’t met my wife yet.”
I snicker.
“It’s not funny,” Lenox barks at me, clearly still angry I attacked first, but his lips are twitching now too. “Stop laughing. I’m seriously fucking mad at you, Georgia Moore.”
“I’m not laughing, Lenox Monroe.” Except I am. I start to cackle like a hyena. Not my best look, but I don’t even care right now. Why that’s funny in this situation, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the adrenaline rush making me high, but I can’t stop it.
“Dammit, Georgia!” Ezra yells. “Get him off me.”
“Right. Of course. I’ll be sure to do that, Ezra.
You just lie there for a minute and wait for me to act.
” I roll my eyes at him as I flip the safety on the gun and walk to the edge of the garage and set it down because I hear sirens, and the last thing I want is to be holding a gun when the police show up.
“I’m bleeding! Look what you did to my nose and wrist.”
“I know.” I glance down and hold out my foot, twisting it this way and that. “How cool are these boots? Be thankful I didn’t kick you in the nuts with them. Or ram this heel that is also no joke up your ass.”
He bucks and jerks and starts yelling at Lenox. “Let me go, you fucking asshole. I’ll sue you. I’ll sue you for everything you’re worth.”
“I believe you just tried to kidnap and blackmail that out of us,” I deadpan.
The moment Ezra catches the sirens, he starts to lose it. He’s spouting a thousand threats and promises, and Lenox just stares down at him as if he’s trash and doesn’t care. He presses in deeper, making Ezra bark and snarl like a wild beast, but it’s futile.
The police show up, literally a dozen of them swarming with guns drawn, and we’re raising our hands—except for Ezra since his are pinned—and then it all begins. Lenox stands up, and the police handcuff Ezra. The gun is confiscated, and I explain how I had it in my hands.
Ezra is whisked off in an ambulance with some scary-looking dudes in black, and Lenox and I are just sort of here, standing around, waiting for them to decide what they want to do with us next.
“Do you think it’s done?” I ask him, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my head in his chest. He smells good. He smells like home.
His lips press into the top of my head as he holds me tight. “I think some of this is about to begin, but I do believe the threat of danger is behind us.”
I press my chin into his sternum and peer up at him through my lashes. “I love you.”
He stares down into my eyes, his expression serious. “I was going crazy. I couldn’t handle him being there with you and not being able to get to you or stop him.” He cups my jaw. “I can’t lose you, Georgie. Not now. Not ever. It’s more than just this life for us. I’ll need you always.”
He bends down and kisses me, his lips melding fully to mine in a fierce possession I’ll never grow tired of. I’ll always need him too.
“Mr. and Mrs. Moore?” A police officer calls our attention, and reluctantly we break apart, but not before I catch Lenox’s cocky smirk at the officer calling me Mrs. Moore. “If you’re ready, we’d like to take you in now.”
Lenox and I are brought down to the Cambridge police station and then separated.
I’m placed in a five-by-four room with a table and two chairs on either side, just like how they do it in Law & Order . I’m waiting to be interrogated. I’m waiting for them to press me for details I don’t know and have them play good-cop-bad-cop with me.
Except, unfortunately, none of that happens. A female detective with a kind smile and warm honey eyes comes in and takes my statement. She asks me questions in a gentle, understanding tone and records everything.
When that’s done, she asks me to kindly wait a bit longer, and I’ll be able to leave.
“Where is Ezra?”
“He was brought to the hospital to have his wrist cleaned up and stitched, and he’ll be arrested by the FBI, who is currently with him.
Wow. I sag in relief. They can’t hurt me. They can’t hurt my people.
After that, she leaves, and it feels like hours that I’m stuck here alone when the door finally opens and Asher—freaking Asher!—walks in.
“What the hell are you doing here? ”
“Springing you from this joint. Cal is with Lenox, and Zax and Grey are speaking with the detectives handling everything.”
I raise an eyebrow. “They just let you in?”
He grins smugly. “What? Don’t look so shocked. I own this town, woman. We all do.” He pounds his chest like a caveman, and I huff.
“You killed my fantasy,” I tell him as I stand and fold my arms. “I was hoping they were going to change their minds and send someone else in for the hard press, and I’d give them the strong woman front and watch them fold like a crepe.”
“Next time, babe. Next time. Take it from a man who has been arrested a time or two. It’s never as cute, cuddly, or cool as it looks on TV. You’ll always need a Lenox to make it disappear. Now come on.”
“How is this legal?”
“Welcome to Boston.”