Page 119 of Ozzie

I wipe a tear away. “He threatened to use it to kill both of you if I didn’t agree to go with him.” There’s a deep cut on Ozzie’s arm. “You need stitches. What happened?”

“We had to bust out a window to get out. My friend will love that,” Durango says.

Sirens grow louder, and a police car comes into view. An ambulance pulls up behind the police car.

“Drop your weapons!” an officer calls out to Durango and Ozzie.

Both slowly drop their guns to the ground.

“That man said he would kill them if I didn’t go with him,” I tell the officer as I point to John.

Another officer approaches John, then backs off fast. “He has a bomb attached to him.”

“It’s not real!” John says. “Please, I’ve been shot in the chest!”

Two medics stand outside the ambulance, talking to the officer.

A second police car pulls up, and the officer gets out.

The first officer shouts to them. “He has a bomb strapped to his chest. We have to call out the bomb squad.”

John manages to rip the fake bomb off and throws it a few feet away from him. “It’s fake.” He tries to sit up but falls back down. Then he rolls onto his stomach and crawls toward the ambulance.

Once he’s closer, the officer nods and yells, “Go!”

Two medics run toward John with a gurney. When they reach him, they pull him up on it and race to the ambulance at record speed.

Once the ambulance speeds away, the four officers turn their attention to us. They divide us in order to question us. I take a deep breath and hope we won’t be arrested.

CHAPTER 34

Ozzie

After being questionedby the police, Durango and I have our wounds tended at the emergency room. Unfortunately, we both need stitches. By the time we get out of there, it’s after midnight and we’re all exhausted.

“Ozzie, want to come over and play some video games?” Piper spins in the passenger seat and stares at me, waiting for an answer.

Okay, she’s not exhausted. I’m not sure how to respond, so I glance at Durango in the rearview mirror.

“If you want to stay, that’s fine. I’m tired, but it looks like Piper might be wound up.”

She might be, but I suspect it’s because she hasn’t fully dealt with everything that’s happened. At this point, we don’t know if John made it or not. Before we left the police station, I asked about his condition. He was still in surgery.

Piper hasn’t asked about him once. I’m surprised. While he has been nothing but an asshole to her, she did care about him once.

We shuffle into their place, and when Piper heads to the kitchen, I stop Durango.

“I had the shot on John. Why did you take it?”

He glances to the kitchen and then back at me. “If you really want a chance at something with her, you can’t be the guy who killed her ex.”

My brow shoots up. “After he threatened to blow us all up? I could have lived with it.”

He shakes his head. “But her parents would never accept you. The town she’s from would forever hate you. Trust me, it’s better this way.” He pats my shoulder, then heads off to his bedroom.

I’m stewing on his words when Piper returns with two glasses of water. She sets them on the coffee table before sitting down.

Piper smiles up at me. “Join me?”

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