Chapter 23-Ezra
Don’t you see?
Last night, I had a little epiphany when I stepped into my penthouse. It’s not a home. It’s like a luxury hotel suite, nicely appointed but lacking any personality whatsoever. Wyatt said it reminded him of a museum. At the time, it had made me laugh. It’s not as amusing now.
Waking up without Callie in my arms this morning hadn’t been a pleasant experience either. Years of waking alone and I was addicted to having her folded up in my arms after that first night. Before we had sex even.
With the daylight, I occupy myself with work to ignore the cold and empty feel of this place. Risks and numbers, deals and bottom lines, it felt very important to me until recently. It kept me focused on something I could achieve without hockey in my life. It made me wealthy beyond my wildest dreams. It’s helping me create a legacy with the team.
It made me feel worth something… after one of the people on this earth who should’ve loved me unconditionally decided I wasn’t worth the hassle.
I shut the painful thought out. Now, I’ve found something I want more.
Around ten, I get three calls that I could’ve done without - one from my dad pushing me about Chase’s future once he finishes his program, number two from my team manager informing me that our center, the team’s biggest star, was in a motorcycle accident last night and broke his leg (which fucking sucks for him and our team), and the third from one pest of a reporter.
“Ezra, hello. It’s Amber Ellis.”
“How did you get my mobile number? It’s private.”
“I have my secrets.”
“I don’t find that amuse-”
“And maybe you have one of your own. Are you a father, Ezra?”
My palms turn sweaty but my voice doesn’t betray that when I ask, “If that were true, it would be none of your business but I’d like to know where in the hell you got that idea?”
She somehow caught wind of me appearing at the rink where Wyatt practices and on Thursday, the night of his first game, she went herself. She saw me talking to Wyatt on the ice. She saw me sitting with Callie and her parents and Callie and Wyatt getting in my SUV afterwards.
“What do you want?” Hurt them and I’ll crush you like a beetle.
“I just want a one-on-one, a real one-on-one and not one where you obviously had an agenda and shut me down the second I asked a question of my own. You never give one-on-ones but you gave that little podcasting grandma one.”
“Because I like that little podcasting grandma.”
But, for the sake of protecting Wyatt and Callie, I agree. I’ll still find a way to ruin Amber – she’s probably too busy congratulating herself to realize she’s made an enemy of me – but not until I find out precisely who’s been sharing information with her, including my goddamn phone number.
I try to call Callie but, when I catch her voicemail, I freeze up. She’s going to fucking flip.
A couple of hours later, I’ve called my attorney and asked him to come over. Ms. Ellis is getting her one-on-one but she’ll get some threats to go with it.
Lewis is seated on the sofa, opening his briefcase in the same manner a gladiator might sharpen his sword. He’s a shark but he’s my shark. I have questions for him beyond Amber though and he has his own once I’ve asked them. “You’re sure the kid’s your nephew?”
“Positive.” He has my eyes.
“DNA test?”
“Don’t need one.”
Lewis gives me a tired and very cynical smile. “Ezra, an admitted hookup does not confirm DNA.”
“She wasn’t a hookup. She was his girlfriend.”
“His girlfriend who nearly got him expelled after she caught him with another girl, right?”
“That’s irrelevant to whether or not Chase fathered the child.”
“True but, if he cheated, she might’ve retaliated beyond accusing him of turning in school work she had done as his own.”
“As my attorney, I expect you to talk me out of doing anything that might get me into trouble so choose your next words carefully if you like your face the way it is.”
“Do you even know how much money you’re worth?”
“I know pretty well to the cent, thank you. I’m the one in Finance, after all.”
“Well, as your attorney, expect me to throw a tantrum in the street before I let you sign away one red cent to some kid and his mom without that DNA test… unless you want to marry the mother and adopt the kid. Then, I’ll just push you toward a prenup.”
Marriage and adoption? You read my mind. “You lawyers and prenups. Real romantics.”
“Divorce court costs more. Speaking of money, Chase had some of his own to burn back then. Do you know if he gave her any?”
“Certainly not.” She fled town, heartbroken, pregnant and alone, after both my brother and I were assholes to her.
As though he’s been summoned by our discussion, Chase calls me soon after. He’s losing patience with therapy by this point. “They switched therapists on me. The new one’s boring and he”s on my ass to accept responsibility for my actions or some bullshit.”
Imagine that, Chase accepting responsibility for something. “That makes them boring?”
“Of course, it does. I was getting on well with Samantha.”
I hadn’t realized his previous therapist was a woman. That shouldn’t matter but with Chase… “How well were you getting on with her?”
“Well… you know me,” he says in that tone.
“Christ, Chase.”
“Hey, if you weren’t so busy being a monk, I wouldn’t have to maintain our reputation single-handedly.”
I’m still shaking my head when he mentions our star center’s unfortunate accident and that he happens to play the same position… as if I didn’t know that.
“We’ll see what happens, Chase. I’m not promising you anything today. You still need to finish your program.”
“I can’t believe you’re being so selfish, Ezra. You have all this money, more than you’ll ever spend, and you won’t even give me a spot on your team.”
“You will never go without the things you need as long as I live but playing pro hockey isn’t some birthright. My team-”
“Yeah, whatever,” he huffs, ending the call.
I’m ready to throw my phone against the wall when a call from the lobby comes in stating that Ms. Ellis has arrived. I’m told she’ll be sent up when a question follows, asking if I wish to have a Callie Anderson shown up or sent away.
“Send her up right away and make sure Ms. Anderson never has to wait for you to verify that again!”
She came to see me? My heart nearly explodes with joy.
But when I’m told Ms. Anderson has left a moment later, I waste no time running for the elevator. I stumble into Amber trying to get off it and leave Lewis with instructions to handle pest control. Her outraged gasp means nothing at the moment.
I catch sight of Callie at the bus stop down the block looking wrecked. The last time I saw her looking like that was the last time I saw her for over five years and I panic. I shout her name but the bus has the best/worst timing ever picking her up. I dash down to the garage, trying to call her cell and getting no answer.
Racing across town and parked illegally, I bang on her building’s outer door. The doorman on duty is not one I’ve met and he just glares at me, threatening to call the cops if I don’t calm down. Fuck him. (Also, good job protecting what’s mine.)
I finally get her to answer her phone. “I’m standing outside your building right now waiting for you to let me up!”
Seventy-three seconds later, I’m on her doorstep, pained by the way she’s shaking as she faces me. “Ezra, why are you-”
“Tell me why you were there and why you left.”
“I was going to have lunch with Tabitha and thought I’d surprise you but… I can’t do this. I can’t ever be that fool getting cheated on again. I would rather-”
I grasp her by the arms and drag her close, savoring her sweet and tangy fragrance. “I told you before I would never cheat. I’ll prove it a million times if I must. I’m yours, hummingbird. Now, shut up and kiss me. It’s been sixteen hours since our last kiss.”
Her lips thin out and those pretty eyes narrow at my command. She lifts her chin and my dick gets hard. Fuck, I love this woman.
“Amber said…”
“Whatever she said that made you think I was interested in her is not true. She’s not getting her sought-after interview today. Or, ever. That’s it.”
“An interview?”
“Yes, just an interview.” A hostile one.
Her chin wobbles. “So, you swear that-”
I don’t even hesitate. I fall to my knees in the hallway outside her apartment, pulling her hands to my chest. She wants me to swear, I’ll swear. “Callie, I promise you on everything I hold dear, she is nothing to me but a nuisance of a reporter. Do you know how the sight of those tears in your eyes tears me apart, one tiny piece at a time?”
“You mean I went and acted like a jealous-”
“I’m a prick because I love it when you’re jealous of me but I never want to cause you pain.”
Her knees buckle and I jump to my feet and lift her, carrying her inside. “Ezra, I’m sorry-”
“No, no apologies. You’re still sick.”
“I saw her and she insinuated and, in my mind, I saw him with that other girl and then I thought of you and… God, I wouldn’t blame you if you were angry with me.”
She’s gasping as I set her down on the bed. “Not angry, never. Callie, if there was a way to prove to you how much I’ve only wanted you since we met…”
She gives me a self-conscious smile. “I don’t know how you can prove it but I mean to show you my trust and then turn around and freak out. Once bitten, twice shy and it wasn’t even you who cheated on me.”
“That’s his fault for burning you in the first place. Close your eyes.”
She blinks up at me, lingering shades of uncertainty warring with trust, until at last her lids flutter closed and I start removing my belt. “Ezra?” I want to pump my fist in triumph because her voice was full of amused curiosity, not doubt.
“I’ve got a small surprise for you.” My belt falls with a clang on the floor and I start unzipping my trousers.
“There is nothing remotely small about that,” she says, full of that sassiness I adore.
“I don’t mean that though you can have it, too.”
Her breath catches and she licks her lips. “I want it.”
Shit, so do I. Right now. “Soon.” I push my boxer briefs down enough to expose the ink below the cut of my hip and lightly stroke her cheek. “Open.”
She opens… her mouth. My cock practically leaps forward on its own.
“Fucking hell, woman, you’ll be the death of me. I meant your eyes.”
She giggles, opening them. They zip to my currently contained boner until I take her hand and place it on the tattoo.
My heart pounds – it’s amazing that there’s any blood in my body outside of what’s filling my cock, honestly – as she delicately traces the little bird. “It’s not a falcon, is it?” Her words are so tentative as if she’s afraid to ask.
“Not a falcon. One of my teammates saw it in the showers not long after I got it. He assumed it was a falcon and I didn’t correct him. They teased me over it in the locker room, thinking I had that big of an ego about my nickname, but I didn’t care. When the media started questioning me, I played coy because… because it’s no one’s business. Except yours, Callie.”
“It’s a hummingbird,” she says with more certainty and emotion swirls in her pretty hazel eyes.
“Yeah, like you. Because of you.”
“Why, Ezra?”
“You flitted in and out of my life, my little hummingbird, and I wanted to remember you. You weren’t even mine… but you were still the girl who got away.”
“Ezra…” Her eyes dart up to meet mine and she gives me that smile, the one that I’d set the world on fire to see. She tilts her head back, beckoning me down for a kiss. I oblige. I will always oblige her every wish.
Our kiss becomes two, then three and four. She tugs at my hand, inviting me down onto the mattress. Chuckling, I stumble forward with my trousers around my ankles and Callie rises to her knees, hovering over me, one hand covering my heart and the other tracing the outline of my tattoo.
“I don’t know what to say to this. It’s overwhelming.”
“You don’t owe me any words.”
She bites her full bottom lip. “I’m the only woman who’s ever seen it?”
Rolling to my back, I nod and I can tell she likes that answer. “I considered getting it somewhere else.”
Her eyes widen and I feel myself blushing like a boy. “Where?”
“My, um… well, on my cock.”
“NO!”
“I chickened out on that.”
She breaks into raucous laughter, her head falling onto my chest. “Chickens, hummingbirds, falcons and cocks. Too many birds. The hip will do.”
I join in with her laughter, letting my fingers sink into her soft hair, contentment filling me. I’m so gone for her I’d get three tattoos there if she wanted me to.
“Thank God, you didn’t do that,” she says at last once she’s caught her breath. Whew. “I still can’t believe you chose this. Most would consider a falcon cooler. Fiercer.”
“Hummingbirds are fierce little fighters, too. They defend what’s theirs like this beautiful, strong and incredibly brilliant mama I know.” She props herself up on an elbow, giving me a playful smirk when she pulls my boxer briefs the rest of the way down and my eager cock springs free. “This suits you as is, I take it?” I ask, teasingly as my eyes flick down to it.
“It does.” She leans over and kisses my tip. “And, Ezra?”
“Yes?”
“It would’ve been sacrilege to mark this perfectly beautiful cock… that I’m about to choke on.”