Page 9 of Beautifully Broken
“Always.” I sit up and throw my arms around his neck. Ezra pulls me onto his lap and lays us back against the picnic table. Tucked tightly in his embrace, I tilt my head, staring up at him as he basks in the sun.
I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this man. I wish I had a time machine so I could skip to next week, where we are both packed inside Ezra’s blue Camaro as the sign to Ripper Valley fades into the distance.
If only….
Suddenly it hits me, and I sit up and throw my legs over his waist. His dazed eyes stare at me in confusion as his tattooed hands rest on my hips.
“Uhh. Ivy. Not sure your parent’s backyard is the place for you to go for a ride, but I cannot tell you no, so—”
Ezra lifts to take his shirt off, and I stop him with my hands on his chest. “We should leave tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“Fuck graduation. This place is miserable. You need to get sober, and I need to see what life is like beyond Ripper Valley. Why wait until after graduation? The US Postal System works great and I can just get my diploma in the mail wherever we land. Please Ezra.”
His brows furrow. I know he isn’t in his right mind to even contemplate this, but I can’t wait any longer. I can’t stay stuck in this shitty town, filled with shitty people, with nothing but dark, unfulfilling days ahead of me.
“Ivy. We can’t just—”
My mouth covers his, cutting off his words. I kiss him hard and thread my fingers through his long hair.
If I can say anything about this man that holds the key to my heart, it's that his hardened mask will drop the second my lips touch his. I don’t quite understand it, but every time he explains it to me, it’s like he is taking a hit on a sunny day.
When I pull back, both of us are breathless and I see his resolve slipping.
I hide the smirk, knowing I have him, but just in case there is a slight hint of hesitation, I go in for the kill. Batting my eyelashes, I brush my nose against his. “Please, EJ. I love you.”
Ezra’s head falls back against the table with a thud, and his grip on me tightens. When his gaze finally meets mine, he shakes his head. His large hand cups my face and his thumb brushes my cheek. “Ya know, when I was gifted your beautiful body for the first time, I told you all you had to do was call me that name and bat those long eyelashes. I should have known it would come back to bite me in the ass.”
Falling forward, I rest my chin on my folded arms and bat my eyelashes once more. “So, is that a yes?”
Ezra makes a dramatic show of rolling his eyes. ”Yes Ivy. But we need to talk to Carson. And I’m going to be real honest with you, baby. My road to sobriety is not going to be full of sunshine and rainbows. Right now, it’s the only thing besides your lips on mine that keeps the demons at bay. And unfortunately, I can’t glue you to me, so I need to take baby steps. And I can’t just run off without a stash to get me to wherever we choose to go. Because I promise you, you will not like the monster I become without it.”
My shoulders sink. I knew what I was getting into when our friendship changed. I can’t expect him to change overnight. And we can’t just leave Carson. We wouldn’t even make it to the city limit line without being dragged back by one of his goons.
Carson may love us, but nothing, and I mean nothing, comes before his precious empire.
Placing a kiss on his cheek, I nod. “Fine. When can we leave?”
“Two days. Give me two days and I promise you I will drive us so far away from this place, we will soon forget its name.”
Freedom. I can taste it. I can almost touch it.
Ezra sits up, taking me with him, and presses a kiss to my forehead. “I love you. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our days exploring the world together.”
Throwing my arms around his neck, I smile. “I love you too, EJ.”
I squeal as Ezra jumps from the table and I have to cling to him like a damn monkey as he spins us in circles.
An overwhelming sense of happiness consumes me. Forty-eight hours until my life finally changes for the better.
Except it didn’t. It was the exact opposite.
My blood turns to ice as memory after memory plays in my mind like a movie reel. Ezra James Mathews, the leading villain in my unhappy ending.
As if the devil were reading my mind, Ezra waltzes into the room. A shit-eating grin plastered on his face.
“About time you woke up, Ivy. Oh, do we have so much to catch up on.”
