Page 73 of Bully for Sale
Ezer’s head spun, and he collapsed back on the sofa, breathing too fast and shallow, his pulse racing.
“Sir! He’s in here! I don’t know what’s wrong! Sir, does he have an inhaler? Should I call an ambulance?”
Ned rushed to Ezer’s side, falling to his knees next to him, but Ezer tried to pull away from Ned’s seeking hands. His breathing was too fast and shallow to get many words together, but he managed to pant out, “Stay. Back.”
“What’s wrong?” Ned asked. Then his expression darkened, and his eyes lit with rage. “Was it Finch? Did he get into the pool area?” He turned, looking all around, a snarl on his lips. “Did he touch you?”
Ezer closed his eyes, pulling in gulps of hot air, terror grabbing hold. Finch had been here, too? The three of them…
He nearly passed out.
“Here, sir,” Earl said through the haze of panic. “It’s an old-fashioned treatment, but I don’t know what else to do.”
Ned tried to help Ezer sit up, but Ezer fought him off, not wanting his hands on his skin. “Please, baby, please. Just breathe in this bag. Just breathe.”
Ezer grabbed the paper bag from Ned’s hand and put it over his mouth. He remembered now seeing in old movies and television shows that somehow this helped. As he shallowly puffed in and out, he started to feel like he was able to take a solid breath again.
“There,” Ned said, stroking Ezer’s hair, his face scrunched with worry. “What happened? Talk to me. Was it Finch? I’ll kill him if he touched you. If he even thought about touching you.”
Ned’s voice was so savage that Ezer thought he might stand up, go find Finch—wherever he was—and do that. Which was weird since Ned had been planning with Braden to…to…
Or had he?
Ezer didn’t know what Ned had said to Braden. He had no idea what had happened, really. He’d assumed, and terror had grabbed him around the throat like a familiar, horrible, strangling sweater.
“Braden,” Ezer said, pulling the bag away from his mouth to speak. “You were talking to Braden.”
Ned’s eyes burned with rage again. “I was gonna punch him out, but, yeah, I guess I talked to him. Is that it? You heard us talking? He scared you?” The way Ned’s voice was so deep and his eyes so bright with fury, Ezer could imagine he would either take Ezer apart for being frightened, or Braden apart for scaring his omega. Experience told him one thing, and logic and learning another.
“He called for me.” Ezer’s voice sounded puny next to Ned’s terrible anger.
Ned’s lips creased in a vicious snarl. “Your name is Ezer. He didn’t call for you.”
“He yelled out for—”
“Cocksleeve, I know,” Ned said darkly, but his hand had crept onto Ezer’s thigh, and he stroked his skin. “But that’s not your name. Remember? You told him so yourself.”
Ezer nodded, his hand drifted to his bare stomach, caressing the hardening swell that was just beginning, but seemed to be more and more visible by the hour. “I remember.”
Ned’s hand slid from Ezer’s thigh, joining him in pressing the swelling of his stomach. “Braden came here because I haven’t been in school. Confidentiality prevents the school from telling anyone why I’m not there. I’ll get to make up my class work later, but…” Ned leaned in and kissed Ezer’s knee, then lifted up off his haunches, to kiss Ezer’s stomach. It tickled and Ezer fought the urge to comb his hand through Ned’s messy hair. “But Braden got curious, and he came here—”
“I didn’t let him in, sir. He rang the bell, but I sent him away,” Earl offered. “I didn’t think you or Ezer would want to see him.”
Ned didn’t glance at his servant, instead keeping his gaze on Ezer’s stomach, which he bent to kiss again before saying, “I didn’t. We didn’t. Right, Ezer?”
Ezer nodded.
“He didn’t leave, though, he sneaked up the garden path and spied in from the gate. When I caught him, he said some ugly crap. I threatened to punch him. He threatened my dad’s contracts, and I told him none of that mattered to me and to get off my property. Then he guessed the truth about you and me. That you were here with me. He told me—” Ned’s brow creased.
“Told you what?”
“Earl, leave us now.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
“Go.”
“Ezer, sir, are you going to be all right?”
