Chapter 37
37
M aeve
“Why are we driving to your house?” I ask Ezra who’s been staring at his phone for the whole ride.
“Where do you want to drive? To the coffee shop? Or the homeless shelter around the corner? I’ve heard they have vacancy.” His face looks like he’s having too much fun, reminding me about my homeless state. I can go and sleep in Jeff’s cardboard box. I’d be fine there if it would release me of Ezra’s stupidly arrogant face.
“I can’t stay with you,” I repeat stubbornly, knowing well enough I can’t even explain why.
“I hate to tell you,” he doesn’t in the slightest, looking gleeful like that, “but we’re married now, and you’ll have to live with me. Otherwise, it wouldn’t look legit. Plus, it’s not like you have anywhere else to go.” He suddenly turns to me with narrowed eyes. “Unless you have a boyfriend I don’t know about. ”
“It wouldn’t look legit either way,” I say with a snort, ignoring the boyfriend part.
“Why do you think that?”
I turn to him and slowly move my eyes about his body until my gaze ends up on his face. “You are you, and I am me. No one will believe it.”
“Why?” He squints his eyes at me.
“We have zero chemistry. You’re an unfeeling piece of rock, and I’m half crazy. We don’t match.”
Something that awfully sounds like a snort comes from the front where George, apparently a very attentive driver, is trying to cover it up with a cough. “My apologies, Mrs. King, something must have gotten into my throat.”
I nearly look behind me to see which Mrs. King he’s talking about, but it’s me. I am Mrs. King now. I glare at the back of his head until he coughs again and only then return to my dear husband.
“So yeah, we don’t match.”
But Ezra doesn’t listen. Instead, he presses his fist to his mouth, covering it while his shoulders are shaking. The bastard is laughing!
“What’s so funny?”
“Your explanation.” He drops his fist, revealing a half smile. “We had plenty of chemistry back on the island. So much in fact, we set your dress on fire,” he says with a crooked smile. His tone suggests a double meaning. “And you were right, I can be a very hard piece of stone.”
Ew . I can’t believe he just cracked a dirty joke. George can’t seem to believe it either because in the rearview mirror, I can see his brows climbing their way up to his receding hairline.
I shut my mouth and stare out the window at the busy streets of the city. To him, our time might have been a fun roll in the hay, but to me, it was different. I felt a connection I haven’t felt before. I’m not even talking about chemistry and attraction, he’s right—we had plenty of those. It’s about being just the two of us together, dropping all the pretenses and being just two people comfortable with each other for a few days.
“Maeve,” he sighs. “I can’t do anything about our situation, but we need to make it work. For both our sakes.”
“What is your sake exactly?” I narrow my eyes at him.
Instead of answering, he starts moving his jaw from side to side, and the muscles under his skin start moving. It’s unsettling that I already know what kind of mood he is in when he’s doing that.
“That’s what I thought. You know about my situation, but I don’t know about yours. You’ve got money and knowledge, and I’ve got nothing.”
He finds my eyes and holds them until I see . “You’ve got me now.”
My nose suddenly starts tingling, and my eyes turn itchy.
“Okay?” he asks in a soft voice, nailing the coffin.
A tear escapes my eye, and I quickly wipe it with my hand.
“Mae,” he calls quietly. “Come here.” He stretches his arm to take my hand. I’m not fighting him on that, not when his comfort brings me peace. He pulls me closer to him, but the seatbelt doesn’t let me far.
“Fuck,” he mumbles, trying to readjust it so I can be closer. Finally with his help, I’m pressed into his side with his arm wrapped around me.
I press my face into his jacket, feeling calm. Is it his smell? Or the hug? I don’t know, but suddenly Ezra seems like the place I want to be.
We’re riding like that in silence for some time before Ezra’s voice sounds close to my ear. “Fuck, Mae. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what either of us are doing.” I can feel the vibrations of his words in his chest. “But we’re stuck in this. I know this is not where you wanted to be. I know that. But this is our situation. We don’t have to be enemies. We can be, I don’t know,” he sighs, “maybe friends.”
I lift my face to him. “I’d like that. Also, it’d be lovely if you reverted to just one personality, you know.”
“What do you mean?” he asks with furrowed brows.
“I mean like decide for yourself if you like me or not, you know?” I sniffle. “Because it’s hard to predict when you’ll be the Ezra from New York or my Ezra.”
“Your Ezra?” he repeats with a wide smile.
I understand my slipup too late.
“Like the Ezra from the island when no one was around,” I try explaining, feeling embarrassment taking over my face. “The Mr. Jekyll Ezra.”
“That was your Ezra?” He doesn’t want to let this one go, looking at me with an odd smile on his face.
“Laugh all you want.” I smack his cheek lightly. “But I actually liked that guy.”
“Okay.” He smiles. “I can try being that. Try,” he adds meaningfully. “It’s hard to be that when I’ve just met him too. But I’ll try.”
“Thank you,” I sigh, leaning my head back on his chest. “I don’t know if I have any fight left in me.”
“You better. Because we have a big fight ahead of us.”
“Which fight?” I ask with confusion.
“The society one.”
“Oh, that,” I say unenthusiastically. “I’m not looking forward to that.”
“Neither am I. But it’s unavoidable. Me being married will be a topic of conversation for some time. I don’t know if your absence has been public knowledge because I hadn’t even heard about Wrong having another child until I met you. ”
“I’m not surprised, unfortunately. I think they’ll be more interested in you. I bet you made the Forbes list.”
“You haven’t looked me up?” His head jerks back in surprise.
I shake my head. “I don’t even have a phone. Plus, I’ve never been into, you know, Googling and stuff.”
He watches me for a second before speaking. “You’re the oldest young person I’ve met.”
“My friend used to say that too,” I mumble, leaning back into his side again and not liking that Jeff and Ezra have something in common before they’ve even been introduced.
Sighing again, I picture all the awful stares I’ll be given when Ezra shows up with me anywhere. I’m not exactly a staple of society, with my runaway past and rebellious looks.
My rebellious looks.
I push away from his chest and look at his eyes sternly. “I’m not changing my hair.”
“I don’t expect you to.” His face is humorous.
“And I’m not taking my piercing out.”
He leans his face closer to me. “I won’t let you.”
I press my lips at him not letting me do something, but then I actually comprehend what he said and giggle. “You’re looking forward to that, aren’t you?”
He leans back, smiling. “Maybe.”
“Will your father be a dick to me?”
“He can try,” he growls, pressing his lips tight.
Suddenly, I want to meet his father very much and tell him everything he’s been needing to hear. Are all parents like that, or are we just the lucky ones?