He stands too. “Yeah, I’m not sure anything is going to get him to change his mind about you.”
I’m afraid he might be right.
CHAPTER 5
Piper
After Durango’stantrum earlier and, yes, I’m calling it a tantrum, I spend most of the morning upset and alone in my room. The upset turns to anger. Anger that Durango thinks he can control me. I might be young, but I’m an adult and will date whoever the hell I want.
And I plan to make that very clear to my cousin. I’m the one pursuing Ozzie, so he has no need to worry about his friend’s intentions. Once my cousin is off the phone, I plan to tell him all of that.
But I don’t get the chance. He ends his call and is clearly unhappy.
“What’s wrong?”
He tosses his phone onto the kitchen table. “John’s been released.”
I must have heard him wrong. “That’s not possible. He shot me. He’s a danger to me. They wouldn’t release him.”
Durango meets my eyes, and deep down, I know John is going to get away with what he’s done. What’s worse is he’ll come after me again. There’s no doubt he will. He meant it—he believes I belong to him.
“His family hired some fancy attorney who not only got before a judge first thing this morning but also argued they didn’t have enough evidence to hold him. And the judge agreed.”
Of course John has a great attorney and was likely the first case seen this morning. “Well, his parents and their wallet are fully supporting him.”
Durango shakes his head. “His family won’t be able to buy his way out of this one.”
I don’t respond because I’ve seen it many times over in my hometown. I guess I’d hoped things would be different in New York.
“Hey,” Durango says as his hand goes to my shoulder. “We’ll figure this out, all right? That asshole won’t get near you again.”
I nod, wanting to believe him, but I know John. He’ll keep coming after me.
Durango sits in a chair next to me. “We should go somewhere, take a vacation.”
I laugh. “Did you forget I’m using crutches?” Although I’ll be off of them later this week.
He frowns. “Oh, yeah.” His fingers tap the table as he thinks. “I got it! We can go to Lightning’s cabin. It would be better than sitting here, waiting for John to come around.”
He does have a point. Any strange sound I hear, I’ll wonder if it’s John coming back.
“I’d like that. How long would we stay?”
He shrugs. “Let’s pack for a few days and play it by ear.”
I go into my room and find my suitcase, which still has random items in it from John’s attempt to haul me off to Montana. I dump it out on my bed and repack it with what I actually will need.
As I zip it up, Durango sticks his head in my room. “I’ll grab that for you.”
He carries it to the front door and sets it next to his duffle bag. “We should get some snacks too.”
While he’s doing that, I send Ozzie a text telling him where we are going so he doesn’t stop by later and wonder.
“Let’s go.” Durango grabs my suitcase, his bag, and the bag of snacks he’d packed.
The ride up is quiet, and I’m lost in my thoughts. Tonight, I’ll tell Durango I’m going to date Ozzie, and that’s final. Yes, he’ll be mad, but I’ve put my life on hold long enough.
No, it wasn’t on hold due to my cousin. That was all me. Now that I’m ready to move forward, I don’t want anything in my way, even though I do have a crazed ex-boyfriend and a gunshot wound currently slowing me down.
