Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
With me now free of his lap, Ezra flies to his feet and starts pacing, shaking his head. “That’s two fucking years, Rae. You’ve been living out of the back of a car for two fucking years, and you didn’t even try to call me?”
My gaze falls to my hands. “I’m not proud of it, Ezra. I know I should have called, but I was so beyond broken, and I was angry. I blamed you for leaving, and I didn’t know how to ask for help. I didn’t even know if you still loved me or even cared.”
“Of course I fucking cared, Rae,” he says, stepping in front of the couch and dropping to his knees before me. “I’ve always cared. I’ve never stopped.”
I nod, reaching out and cupping the side of his face. “I know that now.”
Ezra drops his head so that his forehead rests against my legs, and I curl my hand around the back of his head, holding him to me. “I’ve got you now, Rae,” he vows. “I’m never going to let you down like that again.”
“You never let me down. I let you down when I failed to tell you what was going on, and I let you down when I put Axel’s death on your shoulders. I never should have told you that it was your fault. That was cruel of me. I lashed out at you in the hopes it would take away just a fraction of my pain, but all it did was make it worse.”
Ezra lets out a breath and gets to his feet before offering me his hand. “Come on,” he says. “Let me feed you.”
I take his hand and let him pull me up, and he leads me out of Axel’s home, making sure to lock up behind him. He orders takeout, and we start walking, making our way back to his place. We dawdle, taking our time, walking in a comfortable silence as he holds me to his side.
By the time we reach his front door, the delivery driver is showing up, and after getting our dinner, Ezra leads me into his home. It’s quiet, unlike the other times I’ve been here, and I like the peace. Axel’s home is beautiful, but there’s a loneliness to it, whereas Ezra’s home is full of life.
He leads me to his living room, and I sit cross-legged on the couch as I eat.
“There’s one thing I’m not understanding,” Ezra murmurs, his fork hovering over his takeout container.
“What’s that?” I ask around a mouthful of noodles.
“Why you’ve been living out of your car when you’re fucking loaded.”
I arch my brow. “In what world am I loaded? Are you insane?”
His brows furrow, deep in thought. “Axel’s will. He left everything to you,” he tells me, looking at me as though I just need a moment to jog my memory and then it’ll all come rushing back, but there’s no memory to jog. I’d know for sure if Axel left me his whole estate. “His properties. Money. All the ongoing royalties from our music. It’s all yours.”
I shake my head. “I literally have no idea what you’re talking about. After Axel died, that was it. I was never contacted about his estate, never even got to ask about it.”
“No. That’s not right. He specifically told me he was leaving everything to you. I was there when he signed his will.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Maybe he changed his mind and wanted to leave it to someone else.”
Ezra shakes his head. “No, I would have known,” he tells me. “I’m gonna call my lawyers in the morning and see if I can figure this out.”
I lean back on the couch. “Just so you know, if I’ve been living out of the back of my car and showering in shitty motel rooms for two years when I could have been living it up, I’m gonna be pissed.”
Ezra laughs, but it quickly falls away, replaced by a sad smile. “He loved you, you know. He always talked about you, and he didn’t give a shit if it gave me a hard time or not. Every time you passed an exam or had some kind of grand adventure, he’d boast about it to everyone for days.”
I smile. “He was my best friend.”
“I know,” he says. “I’m sorry about how all of that went down, with the funeral and all. We should have fought harder for what Axel would have wanted. You shouldn’t have found out the way you did, and I shouldn’t have allowed the label to turn his funeral into a performance. He deserved better.”
I nod in agreement. “He did.”
“And you do too,” he says, a heaviness in his eyes.
My brows furrow, and I put my noodles down as I hold his stare. “What are you talking about?”
“Axel’s death. You deserve to know how it happened.”