Page 16 of Beautifully Broken
My footsteps falter, and my back hits the railing. I watch as she walks away, leaving my heart bleeding out on the terrace floor.
Chapter 9
Blaire
“C’mon Ivy! It will be fun. Just jump.”
EJ yells up at me from the crystal blue water below. My entire body shakes as I stand on the edge of the cliff. The warm summer sun shining down on us.
“I’m scared!”
EJ kicks his legs and splashes the water around him. “I know, but I will be right here to catch you. I promise! Do you trust me?”
Closing my eyes, I inch closer to the edge. “More than life itself!”
“Then fly, Ivy!”
Taking a deep breath, I open my eyes and take a few steps back before running and jumping off the cliff.
My body hits the water, and in seconds I feel strong arms pulling me to the surface. His hand wipes the water out of my eyes and he places a kiss on each cheek before yelling, “My girl is a fucking badass!”
My eyes open to meet his almost white ones and I wrap my arms around his neck. “I love you, EJ. Thank you.”
Ezra presses his lips against mine for a quick kiss and I melt into him. “Whenever you doubt you are anything less a fierce, brave, hot as hell, perfect woman, come to me. I will remind you and thank the stars above that you chose me to be yours.”
“Ya know, you’re pretty great yourself, right?”
Ezra smiles and shrugs. “Thanks Ivy. You make me want to be the man that deserves to stand by your side.”
My hands move to cup the sides of his face and I stare down at him. “You already are.”
When I pull away, a sly smile spreads across his face and before I can ask, he pulls us both under water and slams his lips against mine. The fear that once plagued me, long gone, and in its place, is utter happiness.
I swipe away the lone tear cascading down my face as memories of a happier time hit me like a rogue wave.
My head rests atop my knees as I stare out at the stormy sky covering all of Manhattan.
I will the tears to stop, but they don’t.
I was stupid enough to think my emotions wouldn’t get the best of me. Now, after shoving them down for the past few weeks and that damn kiss with Ezra, the floodgates have opened with no end in sight.
Every memory from right before Ezra left to the moment I woke up in the hospital has hit me without warning. Including the ones that have me waking up screaming and Ezra holding me in his arms until I can decipher what is real and a figment of my fucked up mind.
Before our lapse in judgement on the terrace, we were walking around the penthouse like animals stalking their prey, and the moment I went in for the gentle kill, everything changed. He hasn’t said a word since that day on the terrace and neither have I.
He spends his nights sleeping in his office. His hushed phone calls have gone behind closed doors and he has stopped walking around without clothes.
Our moods are much like the nonstop dreary weather that has been dumping on Manhattan for the past week.
The withdrawals have slowly dissipated, but I would take the pain of seeking drugs over the invisible scars on my mind and heart any day.
Carson was supposed to be my protector when our parents never came back. Instead, he turned into my worst nightmare. I became just a ”pretty face” to distract his customers while he took them for all they were worth.
If I messed up, I was punished by him or one of his many goons.
Every day, I wished for it to be my last, but when that day never came, I accepted that this was the life I meant to live. A sick part of me really thought Ezra would come back for me one day. I thought for years he would realize he made the wrong decision and come rescue me from the hell I was living in. But when one year faded into the next, I stopped holding out hope.
Now here we are. I have everything I spent years wishing for and I feel nothing but sadness and fear of when the next shoe will drop.
