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"But she’s not ready for it," Jack said "He’s not ready for it"

"You’re not ready for it," Ezra countered

"Maybe not," Jack relented "But he feels too conflicted for anything to work He’s justharder on her than it needs to be I mean, you saw her today"

"It’s incredibly painful, rejecting it," Ezra calainst it, but eventually, he’ll give in It’s i, this is far worse"

"How do you know?" Jack asked him suspiciously "You never rejected it"

"I did at first," Ezra said, then backtracked "I tried to ignore it, and that was brutal But I saw Peter after what happened with Alice"

"And?" Jack pressed Ezra when he didn’t say anything

"He’s not taking it well," Ezra said sio on?" Jack asked, and I couldn’t help but notice a hint of sadness in his voice

"Not er" Ezra breathed deeply "We’ll just have to keep an eye on both of the farther away than theot to try against hiht there!" Ezra shouted back to her, then spoke quieter to Jack "You understand?"

"Yeah," Jack said reluctantly

I didn’t hear Ezra’s footfalls when he walked away, but that didn’t surprise me Jack’s silhouette appeared in the doorway, and I quickly closed

Matilda whimpered as he walked past her, and he patted her head before sitting on the couch next to me As soon as I felt the couchup

"Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded andhim My voice sounded thick from tears, but I hoped he would think it was from sleep

"Hey are you okay?" Jack sounded sad and worried My eyes adjusted to the dark, and I could map out the concerned expression on his face

"Yeah, just tired"

"I gathered that when you passed out" He tried to keep his tone light, but he struggled