Page 23 of Ozzie

No, I’m going to have to get myself out of my own mess unless I want another man controlling my life.

I watch Lightning and Ozzie go to their car. Durango’s phone rings, but he ignores it. Ozzie is staring at me, and I wave to him. He waves back.

“Piper,” Durango says, snapping me from my thoughts. “We need to head back to the house tonight. We’re flying out to Seattle first thing in the morning. I’d like to pack a few more things.”

Tomorrow morning?

“Are you serious? You just told them you need to think. But that was a lie!”

“No, it’s not. I need to figure out the best way to keep you safe. The first step is going back to the house to pack.”

“No!” I go to my room and slam the door. Yes, it might be childish, but I’m so frustrated with this man.

I figured I’d have at least a week to find another option. I hate to do this, but I start a group text with my New York friends. If I ever needed their help, it’s now.

On the drive back to the city, a plan is formed. Well, it’s not so much a plan but a place to stay for a few nights. Kayla has offered me her couch. It’s one block from RHS, so even with crutches, I’ll be able to walk back and forth. I will have to be vigilant in keeping an eye out for John. If Durango sees how far I’m willing to go, he might back down and stay.

Even if he doesn’t, I’m not leaving. I’ve got one man telling me I have to go to Seattle and another telling me I have to marry him and return to Montana. Why the hell do these men think they can control me? They can’t, and frankly, I’m fed up with both of them. It’s time I called the shots in my life. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

CHAPTER 8

Ozzie

The timingof this assignment couldn’t be worse. We leave before sunrise, so I don’t know if Lightning and I got through to Durango or if he’s on his way to Seattle with Piper in tow. I’d really thought Durango would come around, but now it looks like he will not only do everything in his power to keep us apart, but he’ll also end our friendship over it.

The man can be stubborn, but I guess I didn’t realize just how bad. Unfortunately, I can’t focus on that now. Not until this assignment is over. I sigh.

“Hey, you should try to sleep,” Harding says.

Harding is a CIA agent our team works with frequently and the best agent I’ve ever been on assignments with. She’s lying down on the private plane across from me.We’re on our way to Istanbul to extract some senator’s son who got himself kidnapped.

I sit up. “I’m trying. I’m worried about Piper.”

She nods but doesn’t ask anything else, thankfully.

Lightning loudly yawns as he stretches in the seat in front of me. He turns around, grinning. I swear that man has been constantly grinning since he got back together with his girlfriend, Alicia.

“How close are we?” he asks.

“Two hours until we land,” Harding says. “Since we’re all awake, let’s discuss the plan.”

Lightning jumps up and sits beside me so we’re facing Harding. She grabs her bag from the seat next to her and pulls out a map.

As she spreads it out across her lap, we can see she’s already marked it up. We lean in for a better look.

“Johnny Boy was seen here,” she says as she points to a spot on the map.

“Johnny Boy?” Lightning asks. “I thought his name was Mitchel Walton.”

Harding arches a brow. “Yeah, Walton. That’s why I nicknamed him Johnny Boy.”

I glance at Lightning, who shrugs.

“Have you two not heard ofThe Waltons? The TV show?”

We both shake our heads as she stares at us, perplexed. “We’ll deal with that later. We’re calling him Johnny Boy, or JB for short because we don’t know who will be listening. Now, he was seen here,” she points to a building about a block fromthe Grand Bazaar. “The intel I received states two men left this building yesterday and didn’t return until the evening. They left JB alone in the building.” She grabs her phone and stares at it. “It was verified they did it again this morning.”

I stare at the map. There are buildings on all sides of the target, not providing any place to wait and watch.

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