Page 21 of Tarnished Hands (Chained Hearts Duet #7)

Chapter Twenty-One

PIPER

“H e’s mad at you again? Honestly, this is so much fun to witness,” Lucas says. “It probably has something to do with you and that guy rubbing all up on each other the other night. Let’s be honest, Ezra could have killed the guy. I would have.”

“What? Ezra shot him,” Lucas says too casually. “Middle of the dance floor. Blood all over the goddamn floorboards. Took me two hours to mop up—I should send him the bill.”

“Ezra shot who?”

“Are you dumb?” Lucas raises a brow.

“What are you talking about?” I question.

“Oh, interesting. Do you not remember?”

“I was drinking and dancing at your bar and then woke up in his bed.”

Lucas starts to laugh and shakes his head.

“Sometimes I wish I could shoot you again,” I grumble.

“Well, since your boyfriend likes to shoot people who touch you, let’s not.”

“He isn’t my boyfriend. And what do you mean he shoots people?”

He pulls out his phone as I come to a stop outside his house. Passing it to me, he presses play on a video. That’s when I see myself, hands up in the air, as I dance with some man grinding against me. I look so drunk.

And then Ezra appears.

And he’s mad.

Hellishly mad.

Ezra grabs me, and the man gets pissed. The guy then pulls a gun.

Ezra seems to smirk as he disarms the guy and turns the gun back on him.

My heart rate picks up as I watch Ezra lower the gun and shoot the man in the foot before he drops the gun, grabs me, and leads me out of the bar.

I sit there stunned and shocked. My breath catches.

I don’t even realize I’m gripping the phone tightly until my knuckles turn white.

The video cuts off, the ringing in my ears doesn’t.

“You didn’t tell me he was a sharpshooter,” Lucas accuses.

“Sorry, what?”

“In the army, he was a sharpshooter.”

“I knew of the shooting part…” I tell him.

“Yep, and he was good too.” He takes his phone back and gets out of the car. And without saying another word, he’s gone. I pull away and drive around, wondering what I should do.

Ezra looked so angry when he saw me with another man. His eyes in that video… I’ve never seen him like that. It wasn’t just anger—it was possession, like the guy had already signed his death warrant by touching me.

Does that mean he thinks about me as often as I think about him? Surely not.

We went months without a word to each other.

I get why now.

I even understand the reason he was so angry.

Without even thinking about it, I end up parked in front of his shop.

All the lights are off, and he’s gone.

* * *

“I read the book,” I tell Adora.

Joey is wrapped around her, kissing her neck, as I stand on the other side of the counter in her bookstore.

“Did you like it?” she asks.

I glance at Joey, not wanting to answer her question in front of him.

She elbows him in the chest and says, “You can leave now. I have to work.”

“I can stay. I’m sure Piper can watch the shop while we work in the back room.” He winks and her cheeks redden.

“No, you go, and tonight we’ll play. Cook me dinner, too, please.”

He says something in her ear, which I can’t hear, before he kisses her and walks out.

“So, did you like it?” she asks again.

“I did,” I tell her. She claps her hands, comes around the counter, and heads to the section where she grabbed the last book.

“You read it pretty fast,” she notes.

“I was bored.”

“No Ezra to play with? I heard what happened at the bar.”

“Let me guess. Lucas?”

She nods without apology. “He’s annoying, but at least he tells me things.” She smiles as she returns to the counter and hands me two books. “This is a duet, by the way. The first will end on a cliffhanger, so you’ll need book two immediately.”

“And it’s dark?” I ask.

“Of course. It’s the type of dark you just enjoyed. This author tends to write in duets, with a few standalones, so let me know when you want the next set.”

“Adora.”

“Hmm?” she replies as she rearranges the books on the shelves in some sort of order. To be honest, they appear to be color-coded, but I could be wrong.

“How did you know Joey was the one?”

She stops what she’s doing and turns to me. “Are you asking me because you’re confused?”

“I don’t know him well enough to know if I want more from Ezra, but I miss him when I’m not with him.”

“Well, that’s a start, I guess. However, I would suggest you spend a lot more time with him. Maybe you’ll find you don’t like the way he cooks.”

“He cooks great,” I tell her.

“Okay. Well, maybe you won’t like the way he shoots.” She winks.

“I’d probably say he’s a better shot than I am.”

“Well, maybe you don’t like the way…” She pauses. “Why don’t you just go to him and chat? Without the sex. Do that as a starting point.”

“But I really like the sex part.” Honestly, I sound like one of those spoiled rich girls who can’t get her way right now.

“Girl, don’t we all?” She winks. “It’s hard, though, when the sex is so good.”

“It is,” I whine, hopping up to sit on the counter. “I’ve had great sex before, not gonna lie. But I love the sex we have.”

“I wonder if it’s because you like him .”

“He’s growing on me.”

“Go visit him. And don’t make a move to fuck him.”

“Easier said than done,” I mumble, opening the first page of the new book. I scroll through and smile when I see words that describe a sex scene I’d like to role-play with him one day.

That thought hits me in the chest and almost knocks me over.

The thought of doing anything more with him.

How did it just so easily come into my head?

“Do you want me to come as backup? I’d like to meet him.”

“No, I got this,” I tell her, jumping down from the counter. “Maybe tomorrow. Once I finish these books.” I smile.

She laughs as I walk out of the shop.

Now, I have to work up the courage to go and visit him.