Dottie 24.
“Wake up, baby.” Pleasure throbs in my clit and I arch my back, desperate for relief. Eyes still closed from sleep, I hang on to the last tendrils of my dream, fighting to get back to Ezra. I whimper, unable to reach him. “I’m right here, Dot. Open your eyes.”
“No.” I moan, caught between dreams and reality. “Dammit.” Reality wins. My mind catches up and I remember that today is my surgery. It will also be the first time I’ve left the Kosher Nostra estate in nearly a month. My sisters and I decided that it was too dangerous for me to go in to work every day, not to mention pointless, since I can work from anywhere. I chuckle at the lies I tell myself. Even if the Goldman Girls were set on being in our offices, Ezra was adamant that I remain here. I didn’t argue, I didn’t want to be anywhere but with him anyway.
And I’ve never been more scared in my life. I’ve kept that truth to myself though. Ezra is worried enough. I thought I knew who my father was. A cruel man. A selfish man. A violent man. Once Ezra explained about the bounty and Dr. Hudson’s subsequent visit and confession, it became painfully clear that I had no idea what my father was truly capable of. He is a monster parading as a human, fooling those around him. Ezra told me and I brushed it off, but he was right. The only way to fight the monsters of the world is to be scarier than they are.
I’ve prayed more than once that the Kosher Nostra live up to their reputation.
“Come back to me, Dot. Be with me. Right now. Right here.” Ezra pleads, his breath ghosting across my naked body as he slides between my thighs. Slowly, I open my eyes, my breath catching at the naked honesty of his gaze. This man. Powerful. Beautiful. Deadly. Mine. He loves me absolutely. And I him.
Arms around his waist, I roll my pelvis until his erection notches at my opening. “Ez.”
His smile is breathtaking. “There you are. My love.” He leans on his left arm, his body blanketing mine, his right hand tenderly brushing the hair from my face. At an agonizingly erotic glacial pace, he enters me. He fills me. Body and soul.
Our mouths meet, teeth clack, tongues tangle as he makes love to me. “I love you.”
“I love you.” I reply, my body climbing higher and higher with every sensual roll of his hips. He sheathes himself inside me and I’ve never felt more connected to anyone in my life. Like I was meant to be his.
A covenant between us. A joining. A union. A vow.
I feel his body twitch under my exploring fingers. A slight dampness at the small of his back. A slackness in his features as his release approaches. Ever the gentleman, he brings me with him, whispering words of love and devotion, his thumb on my clit, his weight a tether as I fly so high.
We’re quiet, barely whispering only when needed as we shower and get ready for the day. Hand in hand, we venture through the silent compound. It’s barely 5 a.m., so it’s no surprise that everyone would still be asleep. I can’t have anything to eat or drink and Ezra is abstaining in solidarity. He leads me to an idling SUV outside the front doors, and bustles me into the back, Anton driving, while another is in front of us and one behind us. I rest my head against him on the drive, content to talk and think of nothing.
Too soon, we arrive at the hospital. I check in and am directed to the waiting room outside the surgical unit. We round the corner and I trip over my feet. My sisters are half-asleep but here. And Ezra’s entire family, minus Seril, Moshe, and Shon. Ezra’s mom Judi wraps me up in her arms and holds me tight. I cling to her, needing a mother’s comfort.
“I love you, tokhter .” My heart pounds. She calls me daughter. Proudly. Openly.
“Mom…” I’ve called her that a few times, but right now I feel like I’m 7 years-old and my arm is broken, and I need my mother to make it better. But she didn’t. She dismissed my pain and told Conchata to make it stop. It. I was an “it” to the woman who was supposed to love me unconditionally.
“I know. I know. It’ll be over before you know it and Ezra, and your sisters, Dad and I will be there when you wake up.”
I whisper to her my greatest fears, “What if I don’t wake up? What if they take me?”
Ezra’s dad pushes his wife away and hauls me to his chest, his big body enveloping me. “Are you calling my wife a liar?” A snort escapes. He leans down so he can speak into my ear, “You belong to us. No one will ever, EVER, take you away from us. My son will never let that happen. And neither will I.”
“Dorothy Goldman.” Aaron releases me.
“That’s me.” I wave at the nurse.
“Date of birth?”
“January 13, 1989.”
“Come on back.” She finally looks up from her tablet at the room, her eyes widening at the sight of all of us before her. “Uh…just you. And…uh…”
“My fiancé?” The nurse’s head bobbles, but she makes no sound. A few of the family chuckle. I wipe beneath my eyes and turn to face everyone. A simple “thank you” seems so inadequate. I open my mouth to say something, anything, but Judi narrows her eyes at her son and crosses her arms over chest.
“Fiancé?”
Ezra shrugs, grabs my hand and slowly begins to back away from his mother and the murderous intent in her eyes. “It’s recent.”
“So recent she isn’t wearing a ring? What the fuck is wrong with you—” Aaron places his hand over his wife’s mouth and rolls his eyes at his son.
“There aren’t enough hours in the day to answer that question. Let them go, you can grill him when he comes back out to wait.”
Ezra pulls me through the open doors, leaning down to whisper, “Is there such a thing as couple’s surgery? I don’t want to go back out there…I think I’d rather be cut open.”
I laugh as we follow the nurse down the hall, “Oh, I’m pretty sure you’ll be cut open. There just won’t be any anesthesia.”