Page 103 of Ezekiel
“My life,” I whispered back, clinging to her.
“Mine,” she smiled.
“Mine.”
The minutes ticked by slowly as we basked in the glow of our moment together, until my softened cock slipped from her folds, making even more of a mess.
“We should clean up,” I chuckled against her.
“No. I don’t care about it. Just hold me,” she implored. I nodded, moving to lie beside her and pulling her in close to my chest. She nuzzled against my shoulder, tucked up under my chin.
“I really do love you,” I sighed heavily. “No matter what happens, I’m in too deep now. I can’t have a life without you in it.” I spoke the truth, baring my soul to her, raw and vulnerable.
“Where you go, I go,” she agreed. “So long as it’s away from here.”
“Away from here, but always together,” I agreed. She yawned and nuzzled deeper into me.
“My beloved,” I whispered, finding myself unable to hold back my own yawn as sleep took us both gently into the night. Wrapped up together, I knew that I had finally found peace.
CHAPTER23
EZEKIEL
For as perfectly as our evening had ended last night, it had not stayed that way. The beautiful spell we were under as we fell asleep crashed as Talia had awoken with a night terror in the middle of night. She had twitched in my arms, finally rousing, screaming in utter terror.
This one was ten times worse than the first. It had taken me until the sun was rising in the sky to get her calmed down again. I, however, couldn’t go back to sleep. Hearing her screams of terror, hearing her call out for help, and knowing that it wasn’t the Talia I knew, but the young child she once was, shook me to the core. She had been barely five years old when she was taken. I couldn’t fathom that kind of terror. And no one had come. She had called out for her parents, called out for anyone to save her. But no one came.
That fact made me physically ill.
She was finally sleeping peacefully as the birds chirped away in the early spring morning. I carefully pulled my arm out from under her head, making sure she stayed asleep as I got up. This was heavy and difficult to deal with. If there was anything I had learned in the last week, it was that I needed to lean on my brothers for help with this. I had a feeling it would take all of us to get through it in one piece.
I quietly made my way down to the study before I called up Levi.
“Zeke? Is everything okay?” he asked frantically. I had obviously woken him up. Glancing at the clock, I realizing it was only five in the morning. I winced slightly, realizing I should have waited to call him.
“Hey, Levi. Yes, everything is okay. Mostly. Talia had another night terror last night. I haven’t slept more than about two hours,” I explained, wiping a hand over my tired face.
“Shit. Is she okay, though?” he asked, concerned.
“Yeah, I think so. It was bad, man. Worst one yet,” I admitted. I cleared my throat, still hoarse from lack of use over the night.
“Jesus, I’m sorry. What can we do?” he asked.
“I don’t even know. Right now, I’m just frazzled. I don’t know how to help her. How am I supposed to help her when the villain is unknown, when the thing causing her trauma is her own memories?” I pleaded. It was exasperating and felt hopeless. I couldn’t do anything.
“Just keep showing up. Time and time again, without fail. Show up and be there for her. If you don’t know what she needs, ask. Ask how you can best support her. It’s been my experience in my short time as a married man that we don’t always know what women want,” he chuckled. “Ask and show up. It sounds too simple, I know.”
“It sounds like not enough,” I protested.
“I know. But that’s because, as men, we are fixers. We want to fix the problem. We want to take the pain and trauma away, but you can’t, Zeke. You can’t change what’s already happened. You have to just keep showing up and keep supporting her and letting her know she isn’t alone. That she won’t be alone again.”
“She was taken. She was abandoned and when these night terrors happen, she calls out, screaming for someone to save her. And no one came. No one saved her, Levi. She was a child!” My voice cracked with strained emotion.
“But you did. You showed up. You are saving her. Every day that you show up and accept her, you are saving her,” Levi insisted.
“And that’s just not enough,” I sighed.
“I know it. But it’s all you can do right now until we find the truth and can right whatever is left to right. Go get some sleep, brother. You need it.”
