“No, you aren’t, sweetie.” Michael lets out a short laugh like he’s the only one who gets the inside joke. And he is.
“Why wouldn’t he?” Rami looks as confused as I feel while turning to me. “Did you boys fight?”
Before I can reply, Michael interjects, “Ezra isintensejust like Raph. Maybe it’s because they are members of the psycho club. I don’t know. But you have only a few days. A week tops.”
“A few days for what?” Rami is still frowning.
“If Ezra is like his brother, he’ll move all your stuff to his place without telling you,” Sari says. Did Uri do that when Sari moved in with him?
I’ve been sleeping at Ezra’s the last three nights, but living with him? Isn’t it too soon? He never asked or hinted at it. How would it even be living with him? Waking up next to his warmth every morning, eating meals together, telling him about my day, and waiting for him to come back home. Fucking like rabbits. Warmth spreads inside me at the sudden images populating my head. Would my body even be able to survive? My back aches a little, and my butt stings from all the sex—not that I’m complaining.
What am I thinking? I don’t even know if he’ll actually want to share his space with me. Some people are protective of their privacy.
“They might be identical twins, but Uri and Ezra don’t think alike.” Rami turns on his side, propping his head on his hand.
“They seem to have the same tastes, though.” I see Michael’s reflection in the window, looking between Sari and me. “Delicate, sweet, shy.”
“I’m not sweet,” I counter. Sari is the one who gives you cavities by only smiling at you.
“I see what you mean. That’s interesting.” Sari studies me. Then lowers his head and goes back to putting the white nail polish onmy fingers. “Are you a little…kinky?” he then asks, turning as red as a tomato.
“Who isn’t, bro?” Rami smirks.
Yeah, I’ve seen his lacy male lingerie that Hunter seems to go crazy over. Would Ezra like that, too? I wouldn’t be totally against it. Another kink to experiment with.
Sari tells me to keep my fingers still until the polish dries. “Do you want me to cover the purple bruise on your neck?”
I lift my hand without thinking, but they aren’t talking about the bite mark; that one is covered by a Band-Aid.
“That’s a love sucky,” Rami corrects him, staring at the other hickey Ezra made yesterday while we had fun…outside. I still can’t believe I did that. It was so exciting and scary and fabulous. Turning what I only imagined into reality is the most exhilarating thing ever.
“Better leave it on display, unless you’d like to get a bunch more?” Michael pulls his turtle-neck collar down, showing more love bites than untouched skin.
“Raph is a real savage,” Rami tells him. Michael agrees with a nod but his lips curl up.
A sudden thought pops into my head. “Do you know what happened to Jacob?” I haven’t seen him around since that night. It’s not that I care. I grind my teeth. It’s just that I want to know why he assaulted me and if there is the possibility of that happening again.
“Who?” Sari asks.
“The shithead who attacked Sully.” Rami’s voice has turned harsh.
“You don’t need to worry about it.” Michael rubs my bicep in a comforting gesture. I deduce they helped Ezra to take care of him. I just hope they won’t get into trouble because of me.
“Serena and I will keep an eye on you and Ezra tonight, and one of us will stay close by. You’ll be extra safe,” Rami tries to reassure me, but he misunderstood. I feel perfectly safe now that I have Ezra watching me even when we aren’t together.
“Done,” Michael suddenly exclaims.
He lifts a portable mirror to show me his work. My hair looks great. He parted my bangs on the side, letting them fall on my forehead, which frames my face nicely. The top is a little puff, while the sides sit neatly around my ears. It’s casual but cool.
When I thank him, he does a little dance while Rami whistles approvingly at me. Michael has that clean-cut style, neat and polished, a stark contrast to Raph’s bad-boy one. Do Ezra and I look that different as well?
Sari tells me to look up and then down while he applies a light layer of makeup on my face. Michael and Rami start a heated discussion about what the best food is to eat off their partner’s body.
I’ve never even thought about doing it so I have nothing to really say about it. My mind starts to wander, and I imagine licking whipped cream off Ezra’s chest. Would he let me do that? He never says no to me. Even this date is something I wanted to try, and he humored me. I really, really like him. It’s impossible not to since I’ve never met someone like him. He makes me feel safe and capable at the same time. Could my feelings be deeper thanI thought? Or is it too soon? Everything seems to go too fast with him.
But if I think about my time before him…I was drifting through college life. Apathetic to the present, only thinking about my future goals. My hopes were shaky. Fear kept affecting my perception of myself. Then Ezra, or the man in the mask, saved me from that scaffolding, and I felt like waking up from a stasis. Those dreams about him made me alive again, curious, excited, ready to try new things even though it was scary. Somehow, he awakened a new part of me, paving a path that led me to…myself again. But I still know so little about him.
“Do you guys care about Ezra being an assassin?” I ask.
