Page 2 of Ozzie

“Let’s go.” He grabs my wrist and drags me down the hall to my bedroom.

He seems to navigate this place like he’s been here before.

“How did you get in?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he says.

He tosses me onto the bed, then opens my closet, where he finds my suitcase. He unzips it and starts tossing in things from my dresser. Half of it ends up on the floor, but he doesn’t care. He closes it up and leads me back to the kitchen.

“Where is some paper and a pen?” he asks.

Before I answer, there’s a knock at the door.

“Piper? We need to talk.” It’s Ozzie. I bite back my smile.

John pulls a gun from his waistband. “Get rid of him. And if you try to tell him I’m here or anything is wrong, I’ll shoot him.” He pushes me toward the front door until we both hear a key in the lock.

Ozzie is my cousin’s best friend and has a key in case of an emergency.

John runs into the dining room and hides on the other side of the wall. “Remember, I’ll shoot him.”

Ozzie walks in and stops when he spots me standing in the kitchen. Every time I see him, he takes my breath away. With his penetrating blue eyes and mop of dark-blond hair, he looks like he just stepped off the set of a movie.

Now those penetrating eyes are focused on me. “You canceled our plans,” he says. “Why?”

I finally meet his gaze, and my heart hurts. This weekend, we were going to discuss our plans for moving forward and how to convince Durango not to kill Ozzie for dating me.

“I’m not ready.” Please see that I’m lying.

His hands go to his hips. “Not ready?” His eyes land on my suitcase, and his brows go up. “Going somewhere?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Montana.”

He’s staring at me, and I want so much to tell him John is in the next room, but I can see him out of the corner of my eye, holding his gun, ready to shoot. Ozzie has to sense something isn’t right.

“Please tell Reed I’m sorry for quitting on him.”

He steps closer. “You’re quitting RHS?”

I nod, and a tear slips from my eye. Please see it’s a lie. I’ve loved my time working with Ozzie and all the other guys at Reed Hawthorne Security, or RHS, as we all call it.

“Were you going to tell me? That you’re leaving?”

“I was going to call you.” Please catch that. One thing he knows about me is I will send a text over a phone call every time.

“What about our conversation yesterday? Were you playing games with me?”

I bite my cheek to keep from sobbing. The pain in his eyes is too much. “No, Braxton. I was confused. I’m sorry.”

His eyes narrow. I never call him by his real name.

Instead of questioning it, he backs up, shaking his head. “I have to get out of here.”

He spins around, and I watch the man I love walk out the door. After he’s gone, I let the tears fall. I’ve never told Ozzie about my ex, and I regret that now.

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