“Hard limits?” Eli went on.
“I’ve actually already got that on the list,” I muttered, pointing to the notebook I had sitting open on the table with a bullet point list of things I wanted to discuss with Zeek. “I remember you talking about how important that was before any type of play occurred.”
“Then I think we’ve covered just about everything. Unless you can think of something else?”
I shook my head after taking a moment to think.
“What if I mess this all up?”
“Judes,” Eli leaned forward, the chair squeaking under his weight. “You won’t. Zeek will listen to you. And if he doesn’t, then it’s not worth the trouble of going through all of this,” he added, pointing towards the list. “You know that.”
And he was right, I did know that.
“When are you planning to meet him again?”
“In three hours. At the coffee shop. I thought maybe meeting in a public place would be a good place to start, you know. I figured we could go from there.”
Eli nodded. “You need to understand that some pushing is good, necessary even.”
“For some people.”
“You know Zeek better than I do, so I’ll leave that up to you. I’m just telling you what I have discovered myself.”
“Thank you.” I was glad that Eli wasn’t going to try to step in when I knew I could do this myself. The time had come and I was finally ready.
“It’s okay if things don’t work out, too.”
“I know. I promise, I’ll be fine. I won’t fall apart, Eli. I know I’m strong enough to still stand on the other side, regardless of what he chooses. And a lot of that is thanks to you.”
I knew there was a possibility of Zeek not wanting more out of our friendship than what we currently had. Perhaps he wasn’t ready for more. And that was okay. I just wanted him to know where I stood. I needed him to understand that I wanted to be the person he comes to when he needs a session. The person that curls up beside him and helps keep the demons away. I wanted to be his everything because that’s what he’d become for me.
My Zeek.
My life.
My very next breath.
He was my everything.
Ezekiel
Taking a sip of the warm coffee, I watched Judah fidget. He couldn’t sit still. Every few seconds, he’d move or wiggle. If he hadn’t looked so serious, it would have been almost amusing. I could have asked him what was on his mind, but I knew he’d eventually tell me exactly what was bothering him.
So, I waited.
Studying him more closely, I noticed he no longer had the normally dark circles under his eyes. Of course, I hadn’t really gotten a chance to see him much this past week. Not since the morning we woke up wrapped around one another.
Judah had to work every day this week, today being his only day off. I missed him all week and had been beyond tempted to steal him away from his job. The only thing stopping me was the fact that I knew he needed the money.
While he was working, I had gotten in contact with a lawyer. Since Judah hadn’t been in the right frame of mind when our kidnapping case was brought to trial, I was trying to pull some strings in an effort to get him the money he deserved. After all, it wasn’t his fault that he’d been hospitalized at the time.
By law, the state had been ordered to pay for all the healthcare needs of those that escaped that stemmed from our abduction. And by my thinking, the therapy sessions Judah was still attending should have been more than enough to reopen the case.
Luckily, the lawyer agreed.
“Okay––so, I’ve been researching,” Judah finally spat out, his voice low. “And please don’t take it the wrong way. I just want to be the best that I can be for you.”
“You already are. You don’t need to change for me, Kid.”
