Page 265 of Wrath

I kiss his throat. “Yeah, Ez?”

“When can we go home?” He lays his head against mine, his big body heavy on me, and I feel so fucking sorry for him.

Luke and Vance come through the door a second later. Ezra sees the baby, and I’m surprised to see that he meant what he told me: He likes babies…or maybe this one in particular. We recline the bed a little, and he holds her in the crook of his arm. He keeps giving her these goofy smiles. She seems content cooing at him—and at me.

“Uncle Ezra,” Luke says softly.

“What about Uncle Josh?” Ez smiles at me.

“I’m not so experienced with the babies.”

It’s agreed that I should hold her, so I take her out of Ezra’s arms and try that. It feels pretty good to hold a little squishy baby, but she fusses with me—so much so that V has to take her. “Not sure that she liked that.” I laugh, feeling embarrassed.

“She was fine till she pooped,” Luke says.

“What? She pooped on me?!”

Everybody gets a laugh out of that. Even Ez is grinning as a nurse comes in to check his vitals. She offers him tablet pain pills, but he doesn’t want them. “I feel okay.”

Another person comes in with some crutches for him. Apparently, it’s well timed, because he tells me he needs the restroom. Somehow, Luke and I help him to the door of the bathroom, and he doesn’t fall on his new crutches. Then it’s just him and me.

He seems tired after we get back in the bed. So, naturally, that’s when the orthopedics doctor comes back in and tells us we can leave.

“Really?” Ez says.

“Well, unless you want to stay,” the doctor replies.

“Fuck no.” He blanches, raising his hand to his mouth like he’s regretting the F-bomb, and the doctorsmiles down at him. “Let’s get you the fuck outta here.”

Less than an hour later, I’m pushing Ez out of the hospital. He’s wearing sweatpants and a Nike swoosh sweatshirt Luke bought from the gift shop. He looks over his shoulder a few times as I push him through the hallways, giving me these little smiles. Like he’s content despite his broken leg stretched out in front of him. Like maybe, somehow, he’s happy.

“You fucking did it,” I say, feeling buoyant as I brake the wheelchair beside the McDowells’ rented SUV. I wrap an arm around his shoulders from behind.

Ezra leans his chin down on my forearm, then kisses my elbow. “We did.”

Seven

Ezra

I’m too doped up to crutch my way up the stairs to Luke and Vance’s private plane, so Miller and Luke end up carrying me.

“Like a damn sultan,” Vance murmurs, shaking his head as they haul me past the row of leather seats where he and Eden are set up in the cabin.

That makes me laugh, which makes Josh’s eyes pop wide in alarm—as if my small laugh might make him lose his grip on me. He’s got my shins tucked carefully over his shoulders, and he’s holding me behind my lower back. Luke’s got me under the arms. It’s fucking awkward.

I’m watching Josh’s face as they move through the doorway between the cabin and the bedroom. Mills sees the bedroom space before I do, and his eyes widen again.

“A bed in an airplane,” he says, doing something with his mouth that’s somehow both a gape and a grin.

Luke says, “All yours.”

Then they’re lowering me onto the bed, and I’m seeing whyMills went all bug-eyed. The bedroom’s small, maybe half the size of my dorm room, but it’s sleek and pretty, with high-gloss fixtures and this smell like fresh-cut flowers.

Luke scoops up some pillows, and he and Miller gently lift my leg and prop it up. I notice as they’re doing that that it smells like flowers because thereareflowers—roses, in a vase that looks like it’s stuck to the desk in the corner.

“We grabbed you some flowers,” Luke says, smiling as he comes to stand in front of me. He lifts a brow and looks at Miller. “Break your leg, and you should get some ‘get well’ flowers, don’t you think so, Miller?”

Mills nods. “Ezzie deserves all the flowers.”

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