Page 14 of Run of Ruin

Ezra sat quietly waiting for me to exit my shame spiral. No prying, no follow-up. Just the quiet clink of glass as Ezrauncorked the bottle and poured another splash into my glass without asking. A silent gesture that made my chest tighten.

I gave him a small, grateful smile, and we sipped in comfortable quiet for a moment.

“What about you?” I asked. “Do you have anyone back home?”

He exhaled through his nose and stared off over my shoulder, his voice turning flat. “Not anyone who’s rooting for my return.”

I winced. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged, but didn’t look back at me. Just drank.

The silence hung between us again, heavier this time. Then, after a beat, he spoke. “You can ask, you know.”

I glanced at him. “Ask what?”

“What I did. Why I’m here. What I was convicted of.”

My heart thudded. My fingers tightened around the glass. I could ask and finally know what the whole Collective had been clamoring about. Finally discover if any of the wild rumors held any truth. Find out what danger I might really be in by trusting him during the Run.

But a part of me didn’t want to. Didn’t want to take the trust I already somehow felt for him and ruin it with something that was in the past and frankly didn’t matter.

Not tonight. Not ever.

“I know,” I said softly. “But I don’t want to.”

His brow arched slightly, clearly surprised. “You’re not even a little curious?”

“Curious?” I nodded. “Of course. But I don’t need to know. If we’re going to make it through this, I just need to know one thing.” I looked up at him, holding his gaze. “Will you have my back in there?”

He studied me for a long moment. His eyes scanned my face, then flicked, just for a breath, down to mylips before meeting mine again. Something shifted in his expression. A softening.

“Yeah,” he said at last. “I’ve got your back, Bex.”

“That’s all I needed to know.” I smiled, and lifted my glass. We clinked, then I downed the rest and pushed myself away from the bar.

“I should probably try to sleep,” I said, turning to go.

“Bex?”

I stopped and turned over my shoulder.

Ezra had stepped out from behind the bar and was already closing the distance between us. He came to a stop right in front of me. Close. Close enough that I could feel the warmth of him, smell the whiskey on his breath, sweet and sharp. Goosebumps rose along my arms and my nipples pebbled, hardening to painful peaks.

He looked at me, his gaze dipping down, not to leer, but to notice. And then, gently, his hands came up and drew the sides of my cardigan closed over my thin nightdress, shielding me from view.

My breath caught in my throat. My cheeks burned. Had he just seen my body’s reaction to him?

His touch lingered just a second longer than it needed to, then he stepped back.

“Goodnight,” he murmured, voice low and rough.

And then he turned and disappeared down the aisle, leaving me standing there with my pulse thudding in my ears.

CHAPTER

FIVE

Ezra

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