Page 89 of Defect
“Is he your boyfriend, Solo?” Malachi scrunched his cute little face up and I laughed, resting my head on Ezra’s chest.
“Yeah. He is. Is that okay with you, Tyke?” Malachi shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
“It’s cool. I like him more than Dad. He won’t hit you will he?” I stiffened at his words and so did Ezra.
“No. I won’t ever hit her. I’d chop my hand off first,” Ezra said with all the sincerity in the fucking world. He squeezed me and kissed the top of my head.
“Good. I didn’t like when my dad hit her. It was scary.”
“Hey, let’s not talk about scary things right now. You wanna go with Hulk and get some pizza?” I looked up at Ezra and he nodded.
“Yeah! Let’s go, Hulk.” Malachi ran over and stared up at Ezra, still in awe. He let out a short scream when Ezra picked him up in the air and carried him out of the studio.
“I’m going to the spot right down the street. You want a ginger ale?” He asked me.
“Yeah, thanks.” I watched his strong back flex as he walked out with Malachi high on his shoulder. My mind went crazy thinking about how he’d be as a father. He was still so young though. I shook the thoughts from my head and pulled out my phone to call the insurance company.
I sat on the phone with them for twenty minutes before I had an appointment for an agent to come out and survey the damage. Once that was taken care of, I continued cleaning up. Ten minutes later, Malachi and Ezra were back with pizza, wings, and hot ginger tea for me.
“I realized you didn’t want soda so I drove for a little while and found some ginger tea. It’s not my tea but it’ll do.”
“Thanks,” I smiled a little and sat Malachi down in one of the clean areas with food and my phone so he could watch videos on YouTube. “I need to board this window up,” I sighed, with my hands on my hips.
“I’ll board up the window.”
“I need to finish cleaning this mess up and I need to put the Reiki table outside.” The never-ending to-do list swooped down on me and settled heavily in the center of my chest. I tried to hold back the tears but they came out of nowhere. I’d been through too much for one day. I was so weak from everything leaching my energy.
“Come here.” Ezra held me in his arms and rocked me from side to side until I calmed down.
“I went to the store to get some tea,” I began, wiping my eyes. “That’s when Malachi spotted me and there was Vince. He told me that if I went to lunch with him, he’d let me keep Malachi tonight.” The rest of the story spilled out between sobs. I tried to keep my tears to a minimum because lord knows Malachi saw me shed enough tears over his father.
Ezra’s energy turned from calm to raging but he didn’t do anything or move a muscle. I could feel it shifting and swirling around him like a deep red aura.
“Solana, where does Vince live?” He asked in a quiet voice.
“No, Ezra.”
“Where does he live?”
“You’re angry right now. I’m not telling you where he lives. I don’t want you to do something stupid.”
“Solana, he pretty much kidnapped you and manipulated you into doing what he wanted you to do then he made you eat meat. What the fuck? You think I shouldn’t go over there and cave his goddamn face in? Look at how skinny Malachi is. It’s clear he hasn’t been eating. He’s trying to finish that whole fucking pizza by himself.” He blew out a puff of air from his flared nostrils and shook his head. “I just need five fucking minutes to talk man to man.”
“No. There won’t be any talking and you know it.”
“Conversations between fist and face are still considered talking.”
“No, they’re not. I know you’re angry, baby. I know. I’m angry too. I’m angry and hurt and scared.” I put my hand on his chest and he put his on top of mine.
“I’m going to get some wood for the window because I can’t just stand here. I’ll be back.” I nodded and went to sit with Malachi. The smell of pizza was making me nauseous but he was so happy I didn’t even care.
“Solo, can I stay with you forever?” He asked.
“I’m working on it, Malachi.”
“I think the universe messed up when it gave me my mom and dad. I think I should have been your son. It’s okay though. We can fix it. Then everything will be better.”
“We’ll fix it, Tyke. I promise.”
