Page 127 of Falling Too Late

“Ah.” I laughed. “That’s how he found out. I thought Mario told him.”

“Nope, all me.” She went to turn, but I stopped her again.

“Hey. . . What’s Ezekiel’s story? Have any idea?”

Foster’s brown eyes looked to my house. “Why?”

I took a deep breath. “He, uhm. . . Well. He gives me a bad feeling.”

She chuckled. “Well, your nervous system is on point then. You should listen to it.”

“Do I have anything to worry about?”

She sighed. “Ezekiel is a bear. If you threaten him or anything he values, he will kill you. But,” she nodded to the house again, “he takes care of his own. From what I can tell, your man did something for him. Something big.” Her shoulders lifted and fell. “He protects his own. Fiercely.”

Foster walked to the black SUV, opened the passenger door, and pulled out a bag. “When you go back inside, do you mind telling Eze that I have his pistachios?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Uh, sure?”

She winked at me, went to his back tire, and pulled out a knife from somewhere and stabbed the side walls. The tire hissed as the air escaped.

“You can also tell him that I did that.” She grinned, got into her own car and drove off.

Still giggling to myself, I walked around the house, King and Queen immediately spotting me and running my way. I scratched their heads as I found Alex standing with Ezekiel and Mario. He put his arm around me.

“Everything okay?”

“Uhm.” I looked up to Ezekiel, fighting down the tremor of warning my brain screamed. “Foster told me to let you know she has your pistachios?” His face fell and he looked like someone just told him Santa wasn’t real. “Oh, and she may have. . .slashed your tires?”

The man who I thought was terrifying gaped, and he leaned back, looking to the sky, muttering, “That fucking brat.”

CHAPTER 46

ALEX

We had just about finished puttingeverything up. Everyone had left, Ezekiel driving on the donut I’d put on. Troy and Gavin had gone only when Riley stated she wanted to go home, after the sun had dipped below the trees surrounding Wren’s property.

Those two seemed more than eager to run at Riley’s beck and call.

I had just come in from taking the trash out. Wren had changed into some shorts and a racerback tank top. King laid behind her on the kitchen rug, guarding her. I watched as she finished washing the dishes, the muscles on her now-defined back visible.

I felt the pride for her swell in me. After everything that had happened, she didn’t lie down and give up. She came back stronger every time. I was proud of her, even a little sad that I hadn’t been there to watch her. I was grateful to Mario for that, even if he seemingly did have a crush on her.

“Alright, all done,” Wren said as she dried her hands off on the towel.

Stepping over King, I brushed the hair off the back of her neck and kissed down the slope of it. My tongue darted out to taste her.

She shivered at my touch. “Well, hello there.”

I wrapped my hands gently around her wrists and moved them to the edge of the counter. She understood my meaning, keeping them there.

“You and I still need to talk,” she whispered breathily.

“Yes, we do.”

When Foster came today to deliver some documents on Jon, and then told me that the men she had tailing Jon had spotted Wren, I was furious with Wren. Mario had walked up to us during the conversation, and he explained what had transpired.

I had to reason with myself. Wren would call Mario. He was a cop, and he had been the one there for her for years. Of course, I wished she would have called me, but there were some things I was not going to do.

---