I don’t know how to make him see that everything he’s doing is going to hurt us. He doesn’t want to listen to me and see that there’s another way.
Is it pride or stupidity standing in his way?
Ezra sits down with his own tacos in the chair, leaning back and kicking his feet up on the coffee table, putting his plate in his lap. “We should talk about what’s going to happen at the fight.”
“We should talk about you not going to the fight.”
He says nothing, instead taking a bite of his taco and fixing me with that icy stare.
I do my best not to shrink in my seat, sitting up a little taller. “Ezra, we can still go to Aiden. It’s not too late to stop this.”
“This is my chance to kill him. You have to see that, Jade. He trusts me now because I’m giving you up to do this for him. He knows how much you mean to me.”
I take a large bite of the taco, even as my stomach starts to turn. “If I mean so much to you, then why aren’t you even considering what I say when I tell you this is going to end with you dead?”
“I know my cousin. He might kill me. It’s a risk I have to take to keep you safe, though.” Ezra shrugs and finishes off one of his tacos, leaning forward and reaching for his beer.
I look down at the food, knowing I’m not going to be able to stomach any more. “I think I should leave.”
“We’ve barely said three words to each other, and you’re going to walk out? Just like that?”
I get up, biting the inside of my cheek to hold back the tears threatening to overflow. “It’s not just like that. It’s a cycle of a conversation that’s never going to end because the only viewpoint you’re willing to consider is your own.”
He scoffs and gets up, gesturing at me. “Pot meet fucking kettle.”
The first tear escapes, and I wipe it away quickly, determined to hold all the others in. “At least I want to see both of us alive at the end of the day.”
Sunlight shinesin my window early in the morning, but all I want to do right now is pull the covers back over my head and sleep for the next several days. If I’m lucky, I don’t have to move until after the fight.
Won’t be able to go to Ezra’s funeral.
“Are you going to lie in bed all day, or are you going to get up?” Ezra appears in the doorway with his arms crossed.
I sit up in bed, clutching the blankets to my chest. “What the fuck are you doing here? How the hell did you get inside?”
“Opened the door.” He stalks over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it and leaning close to me. “Now, come on. Get up.”
“Leave.”
“Not happening. I’m going to stay here until you’re up and moving around and not acting like the world is ending.”
Even though I don’t want to listen to him, I fling my blanket back and stride out of the room, slamming the door behind me, listening to it rattle in its frame as I start pulling out everything I need to make breakfast.
He appears like a reccurring nightmare a couple of moments later, standing behind me, his breath on the side of my neck, his hands slipping down my waist.
I tip my head to the side without thinking, giving him the access he wants.
“We’re good together.” His voice is husky. His lips whisper over my pulse.
“We’re horrible together, and I think it’s time we face that.”
Ezra pushes me closer to the counter, the edge digging into my hips.
I lean back into him out of instinct.
He kisses my neck, drawing a soft moan out of me.
When he sucks my earlobe into his mouth, arousal pools between my thighs.
