Page 27 of Tarnished Hands (Chained Hearts Duet #7)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

PIPER

I ’m nervous, and I don’t exactly know why.

Ezra reaches for my hand and entwines our fingers as we walk toward the front door.

I’m used to going to these dinners—they are a regular occurrence—but it’s usually only family and significant others.

I’ve never brought a man home, let alone introduced one to everybody.

Even though most of them know Ezra, it still feels weird.

“They already know me,” he reminds me, even though I was just thinking the same thing.

“You haven’t met them all.”

“Okay, so who am I missing?”

“The wives,” I tell him as Sailor opens the door. She beams at us and pulls me in for a hug. I never knock, but tonight, I thought it was the right thing to do. She lets me go and turns to Ezra.

“So glad you could make it.” Stepping back, she pulls the door open wider and waves us in. “Ezra, good to see you again.”

“You too. Thanks for having me tonight,” he says politely. I smile at his nice-guy voice because I know what the other voice sounds like when he whispers in my ear and tells me to be a good girl.

“Oh, so polite. We don’t get that around here too often.” She winks as Keir sidles up to us.

“Are you trying to say we aren’t polite?” His arm goes around her waist.

“ Nooo .” She shakes her head with silent laughter.

I pull Ezra down the hall, trying to get him away from them because I know they’ll start kissing any second.

“Oh, new blood for us to play with,” Lucas yells. Chanel smacks his shoulder and gives us a wave from the table, which is already set up. There’s an extra plate next to where I usually sit. I walk around and touch his chair before I take my seat.

“Good to see you as well, Lucas,” Ezra says, then addresses Joey. “Joey.”

I haven’t had the chance to chat with Joey and Keir to see what they said to Ezra, but I will.

“Joey and Keir threatened your life, and they didn’t even invite me,” Lucas says to Ezra with a pout. “So, side note… you can kill her, and I won’t be mad, but if you fuck with me…” He winks.

“You’d be mad, don’t lie. You love Piper,” Chanel says.

Lucas and I both stare at her.

“Are you insane?” Lucas and I say at the same time, “I only love you. She’s annoying.”

“How did the books go?” Adora asks me.

I introduce her to Ezra before I answer, “I finished them.”

“Are these the spicy books you gave her?” Joey asks, and Adora nudges him. “What? We all know you read porn, woman.”

“You read porn?” Ezra asks me, and I see the glint in his eyes. The ideas are forming at the back of his mind.

I’m not sure how I know that, but I do.

“Porn?” Keir asks, holding Sailor’s hand as they walk in just ahead of the servers carrying the food.

My plate is set in front of me, and Ezra glances at it.

“Yes, Piper here has been reading up on porn.”

My head swings to Lucas. “I have not, you asshole.”

“Lucas,” Chanel warns him. He merely smirks at me and starts eating.

“So, you invited Ezra for a chat today and didn’t think to invite me?” I ask, turning my pasta on my plate.

Everyone goes silent before Joey speaks, “It was a man-to-man discussion,” he replies, and I eye him with a warning, gripping my knife, getting ready to throw it.

Joey knows I hate that shit.

We are equals.

Ezra takes my hand and pulls the knife free.

“I have bigger balls than most of you,” I point out.

Ezra chuckles next to me.

“Oh, she does,” Sailor agrees.

“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?