Page 50 of Tarnished Hands

“Don’t encourage her,” Keir warns. “We needed to speak to him. You know, we don’t just let anyone in, Piper.”

“So if it was about that, why wasn’t I there?”

“Because we wanted to make it perfectly clear we would kill him if he hurt you.”

Everyone goes silent.

“I want to add… I would not kill you, Ezra. You can hurt her.” Lucas waves his fork at Ezra.

Ezra’s hand finds my thigh under the table and squeezes it.

“And I respect and get it. Though I think if anyone would kill me if I hurt her, it would be Piper. I have a feeling she is quite capable of doing it herself.”

“Not when she’s in love with you,” Lucas spits out, and we all turn to gape at him.

“I’m not in love,” I protest, and Ezra squeezes my leg again.

“Sure, you aren’t. So, how many times have you slept together? Twice? Okay, that’s fine. It’s just a fling.” I bite the inside of my cheek. I like sex with Ezra more than anything else. “Does he go back to your place? We know you don’t like people there,” Lucas adds.

“Have you ever thought that maybe I don’t like you there?” I bite back.

“Noted. I don’t intend to hurt Piper,” Ezra says calmly, breaking up the argument between Lucas and me.

“Good. As you know, you don’t speak about what you hear in this house or when you’re around us. You understand that, right?” Keir relays to Ezra.

Ezra nods, and I move my hand under the table to cover his with mine.

“Great. It’s settled. Let’s eat,” Keir states, and the subject changes.

Joey and Adora tell us about the next trip they have planned—traveling is their new favorite thing at the moment. Joey said once it was so he could fuck her in every country. We cringed and let that conversation die a quiet death. I don’t want to hear about their sex life. They all try to tell me too much as it is.

And Ezra—somehow, someway—fits right into this weird dynamic. He jokes with Lucas, has conversations with Keir, and gets along fine with Joey.

Could this actually work?

Chapter Twenty-Eight

EZRA

I’m trying to convince Piper to move in with me.

It’s hard.

We’ve been seeing each other for over a month. It’s been good, so fucking good. I spend at least five nights a week with her. She says it’s healthy to have a break, which is why it isn’t every night.

I disagree.

Because when we do have said break, she calls when she’s in bed and stays on the phone with me until she falls asleep. I usually have to end the call.

I like the fact that she struggles to fall asleep without me.

That fact is more than comforting to know.

Tony has brought up the idea of him moving out. When he asked, I was quite surprised. But he and Aqua have been getting closer. I told him maybe he should wait. He starts law school in the fall, but said he wants to move out now. And she has already renovated her house to accommodate his needs without being asked.

Aqua still works for me, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. She is incredibly good at her job, and quite frankly, she would be a huge help working on the cars. I appreciate that she knows all the parts and has an eye for detail. Though on the nights I know Keir will come in, I send her home early, so she has no association with that life at all.

I am bound by it, and I plan to marry into it one day in the near future.

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