Page 86 of Ezekiel
“Of course we can, love,” I murmured, pulling her close to me and kissing her forehead lovingly.
We all stood from the table, gathering our things as we murmured about getting in touch with each other tomorrow. Bits and snippets of conversation pierced through the haze in my mind.Call me tomorrow. Let us know if she needs anything. We love you, Zeke.On and on, the words flowed around me, barely taking hold in my rattled and fried brain. I nodded, shuffling Talia and myself to the door.
“Kai,” I spoke, grabbing his attention as we left. “Thank you.” The words weren’t enough, couldn’t possibly be enough, after all he had done for us tonight. He raised his glass at me, giving me a quick nod, as though it were nothing. We both knew that wasn’t true. It was massive. Catastrophic. But he had been there for me, as he always had. And now he had been there for my wife.
I looked over at her as I put on my seatbelt in the car. The rest of my brothers and my sisters-in-law still gathered on the front porch, likely staying to discuss the events of the night in more detail. That’s fine. They could talk as much as they wanted to. Me? I needed to get my wife home and take care of her.
One quick glance at her showed just how much tonight had taken from her. We drove in silence back to our home. I did not know what to do. The kitchen table still held the items we had used for our scene. Toys and implements still littered the smaller table I had brought in. I didn’t want to walk her through that.
I would get her up to bed, get her settled, and then deal with the mess afterwards. I didn’t want anything to trigger more of her trauma. She’d had enough for one night. Fuck! She’d had enough for a lifetime.
I helped her from the car, her entire posture tired and sagging with the lack of energy I was sure she felt.
“Zeke,” she murmured, turning to look at me as we made our way to the front door. “I don’t want to see it.”
“Just come upstairs with me, love. I’ll take care of you,” I vowed. The moment we entered the front door, locking it behind us, I picked her up. Her arms wrapped around my neck as I lifted her into my arms, carrying her bridal style up the staircase to our bedroom.
I spoke not a word as I carried her into the bathroom. Fumbling slightly, I carried her in my arms still as I reached through the bathroom to the shower stall. I turned the water on as hot as it would go, letting it run and warm in the pipes before we stepped in.
I set her down in front of me, my hands immediately running through the wild strands of her hair as they framed her face.
“I have you,” I whispered gently, my eyes roving over her face, memorizing every line, every freckle, every speck of sparkle in her eyes.
“I see you,” I continued, kissing her forehead, right at her hairline, where the hair went wild. Her eyes fluttered closed at the touch of my lips, her hands wrapping around my wrists but not deterring my motions.
“I won’t leave you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think about them, but it didn’t matter. They were true, regardless of my readiness to say them.
Tears trailed silently down her face, the sheer pandemonium of the night finally bursting through and hitting her in its entirety. I held her as we stepped under the shower’s spray, clinging to one another as she broke against me. Her emotions crashed and burst against me like the roughest waves during an ocean’s storm.
She had been there for me; had been my anchor in a storm I didn’t even have the balls to tell my fucking brothers about. But there she was. From the day she had entered this house, she hadn’t turned away from me. She didn’t try to change me, or make excuses for me. She accepted me for who I was, for wherever I was at any given moment. And all she asked was that I give her the smallest amount of respect and learn to communicate like a damn adult. And it had worked.
I mean, fucking tits. I had just spent an entire evening around my brothers and two of their wives, all chattering away, and not once had I felt like I needed to run.
Well, that wasn’t completely true. I felt the need to run.
But instead of running away, I felt the overpowering, all-consuming need to run straight to Talia. To take her into my arms and make sure that she was safe. For today. For tomorrow. For the rest of fucking time.
And that only meant one thing.
I was in love with my wife.
Here I was, showing her a world of kink; teaching her lessons on her senses. And in return, she had given me mine back. She had opened my eyes to not only a new reality I hadn’t known existed, but she had shown me I had been wrong. For my entire life, I looked at my condition as this curse. It was a wretched curse, and I had demonized myself because I had an affliction. But this wasn’t some fantasy novel where some magic tonic would reverse the curse and make everything better. No, I had to look inside of myself and realize that I am okay. I am fine, just as I am. Flaws, quirks, conditions, and all. I, Ezekiel Temple, am exactly enough, in my entirety.
I washed her slowly, pressing kisses over her body as I put every ounce of care I could into each and every touch. She needed to feel safe, and I could do that. That was one thing I could give her tonight. Tomorrow would be a new day with new challenges and new truths to uncover. But tonight, she could feel safe. And she could feel loved. Shewouldfeel loved. I was bound and determined.
We finished our shower, her breathing slow and steady. Her eyes were still puffy from her tears, but she was calm. I pulled her chin up until her eyes met mine. She gave me a tired smile, and Jesus, it floored me. It moved something inside of me that was completely new.
“Let’s get you dried off and let’s go to bed, yeah?” I said with a smirk. She nodded, silent and resigned, and I couldn’t blame her. After everything, I wouldn’t want to speak either. I would want quiet. I would want my safe place.
Tonight, I would make our home her sanctuary.
CHAPTER19
TALIA
Over the next week, my life felt more like a movie I was watching than a story I was living. It was difficult to not fixate on the memories, but each time I did, it only made things worse. The more I focused on it, the harder it seemed for me to remember anything. Just the same memories and feelings playing over and over. I tried. Lord have mercy, how I had tried to just find something; some tiny glimmer or speck of anything that would give me more information.
Zeke, God love him, had been a complete and utter saint. He had trudged his way to work every day, done what had to be done to keep up appearances, and come home to be everything I could ever need and more. He had even kept the wolves at bay. By the wolves, I mean his brothers. Particularly Levi. He was like a dog with a bone; voracious for more information, for more understanding. We were alike in that respect. But Zeke had kept him back from me, allowing me the time and space I needed to simply try and function in my current state.
