Chapter 34
thirty-four
EZRA
Luckily, I can access the surveillance app from my laptop.
It just won’t be as convenient as my phone.
I click around on different files out of boredom.
Most of them are pictures I’ve taken of landscapes or buildings.
A few of animals are scattered here and there.
All my work from the Bruisers is on the laptop they gave me, which I left at the arena.
I’m sure I won’t be getting that job back.
I sigh and rub hard at my eyes with the heels of my hands.
I love photography. I love being able to stare down the lens and capture the way things make me feel.
It was the only thing I refused to give up when my life demanded I leave everything behind.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s the only part left that’s still me.
Still Ezra. It’s probably why I felt so at home with Declan.
Even when I was pretending to be Ben, I think I was just the Ezra I wanted to be.
The Ezra I should have been. Maybe the Ezra I can become at the end of this.
The screen blinks red, alerting me to someone on the dirt road.
It could be an animal, but with the luck I’ve had today, I doubt I’d be that lucky.
Quickly, I pull up the cameras that line the long path to the cottage and see a shiny black car slowly making its way down the road.
No one knows where this road is unless they’ve been here.
It’s pretty much hidden behind trees until you look close enough.
“Fuck,” I mutter, quickly checking the beach camera that Jo doesn’t know I put there.
She’s still down there, which is good. One less person for me to worry about.
I groan as I stand. My head is pounding, and my stomach isn’t great from all the alcohol last night and the lack of food so far today.
Not for the first time, I feel a bone-deep exhaustion that no amount of sleep will cure.
I throw my jacket on and grab the gun that’s hidden under the decorative table by the front door and head out to hide until the car rolls in.
I have to stand behind a tree and wait since I can’t just watch the car’s progress on my phone.
It takes about five minutes until I see the car and then another two before it’s pulling in front of the house.
Crouching down, I slowly and silently make my way to the driver’s side of the car. I watch as long legs clad in dark denim unfold from the small vehicle before I make my move.
Pressing my gun to the back of this fucker’s head, I click off the safety.