Page 32 of Tarnished Hands

Would it fill a need that only Ezra has been able to fill?

I am not sure.

Chapter Eighteen

EZRA

Tony lives with me now. I hired a full-time day nurse and a night nurse, and he’s doing better. However, it hurts me as I watch those moments when depression hits him. Tony was always full of life. And now, he is a shell of who he once was.

“I want to do something,” Tony says from his wheelchair.

“You can, but you must give yourself time to heal.”

He waves me off. “There’s a law school not far from here. I want to go.”

“Why?”

“Because if I can’t practice medicine, at least I can do law from a chair.”

He’s right, I guess. Most lawyers sit in their offices, apart from when they’re in a courtroom.

“This is something you’re sure you want to do. I mean, we can wait until you’re feeling better.”

“It is.” He nods.

“Okay, well, lawyer Tony, it is.”

His smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but it’s better than it has been the last week he’s been here.

“You forget whose bar this is?” Lucas asks as I approach. It’s late, Tony is asleep, and I just really need a fucking drink. The last time I was here, Piper got mad at me, and I lost an employee. Lucas throws his cigar to the ground and steps up to me.

“Is it open?” I ask.

“It sure is, but I’m not sure you want to go in.”

“Why?”

“Piper is in there, drunk. And some guy—” Before he can finish the sentence, I pull open the door and stalk inside. It’s darker than the last time I was here, and the jukebox is playing girly music. When I look at the dance floor, I see her. Leather pants, high heels, and her hair piled up on top of her head. She’s swaying her hips to the music while the guy behind her puts his hands on her waist.

She doesn’t push him off.

And that makes me fucking see red.

“Maybe you should leave,” Lucas says as he eyes Piper. “She does this. Likes to have fun with men.” His words sink in, but he’s wrong. She likes the company of men, true, but it’s not what she craves or wants. I’m what she wants, craves, and needs, even if she won’t admit it to herself.

I continue to watch her dance, and I clutch my hands at my sides, digging my fingernails into my skin until I make them bleed.

“Oh, he’s trying to kiss her neck,” Lucas announces.

And that’s it.

I move.

And before I can even stop myself, I’m in front of her.

Piper’s eyes are closed, and her mouth is pressed into a thin line. I step up closer, almost touching her.

“Man, fuck off,” the who’s about to lose his hands for having them all over her says.

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