Chapter 49
49
M aeve
We’re four hours in, and I’m very ready to leave this stuffy place. This is a visual reminder of exactly why I decided to change my way of life. No number of expensive and comfortable things can be worth smiling in the faces of all the snakes who hate you.
Every single woman has regarded me with a sneer. Every man has run their beady, slippery eyes over my body.
My backbone is about to be shredded from the sheer willpower of holding myself high and responding to people with politeness.
Having Martin and Noah by my side definitely helps. While Noah keeps his stoic face and helps with just his presence, Martin is not so subtle. Every time a woman regards me with disgust, he sends one of his own in return. I’ve never had anyone stand up for me, so having these powerful and imposing people on my side makes me feel constant butterflies in my chest.
If feeling their support fills me with tiny, fluttering insects, having Ezra around feels like having a coiled tiger by my side. He’s always here, always around. Even when he’s not touching me, I feel his presence. Every time someone particularly nasty comes closer, so does Ezra. He just stands behind my back like a stone-cold bodyguard ready to take on anyone.
But he’s distant. I feel it too. He’s supportive. His body language proves it. So do his sharp eyes on anyone who comes with a nasty aura around them. His mind is here, hard and calculating.
But his heart is not here. I don’t feel it . It sounds stupid when I think it, but it’s true. He has a wall around it. Just like the man I landed on the island with. The New York man from before. Before we’d come to know each other, and I’d come to care about him.
I thought the past month had changed our perspective of this arranged marriage and our situation. I thought we’d learned to live together and even be happy. Looks like between yesterday and today, Ezra changed his mind and forgot to tell me. I want to discuss it and figure out where we both stand. I won’t be able to survive with this constant change from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde—it’s giving me whiplash.
I’ll initiate the talk later; for now, I just need to live through this evening.
While I talk to the harpies of the New York financial world, Ezra’s father comes back. The odd thing is that I haven’t seen Mrs. King yet. When I asked Noah about her, his face turned grim, and he said she doesn’t attend things like this. Ezra has been actively avoiding any questions about her anytime I bring it up .
“So, my dear new daughter,” the oldest King starts in, “how did you really meet my son?”
Oops, I haven’t rehearsed this question with Ezra yet. And he’s nowhere to be seen.
“Why don’t you ask him?” I reply with a sweet smile while searching for Ezra or Noah.
“Mr. King, do you want me to schedule that call with Ezra you’ve been requesting?” Martin chimes in helpfully. “I know he has an opening next Monday. He’s such a busy man.”
Ezra’s father slowly turns toward Martin just to silently disregard him. There’s only so much Martin can do because he still works for the company, plus I need to fight my own battles.
“In the coffee shop, actually.” I decide to go with the truth. At least half of it. This way, I won’t have to memorize much.
“How so?”
“Oh, just like that, you know.” I lift my hand in the air to show how a person might walk with two of my fingers. “He was walking in. Just like that.” My fingers keep walking while Martin starts coughing but quickly covers his mouth with his fist. “And I was walking like that. Like honestly like that.” I lift the other hand and mimic the movement of the first one. “And we just boom !” My two hands meet in the middle, and I make a gesture of a big explosion. “The rest is history,” I add with a smile.
“Just like that?” King asks, poking his tongue into his cheek.
“Exactly like that.” I nod vigorously. “I can demonstrate again if you want.”
He’s watching me with narrowed eyes. “I can’t figure out if you’re so bright or not so much.”
“Not so much,” I reply with even a wider smile.
“That makes sense.” His face stretches wide with satisfaction. “ That explains why my son is dipping away to paw at another woman instead of babysitting you.”
Martin audibly chokes on air while I keep the smile on my face. He wants to see a reaction, but I’ll give him none. Not getting satisfaction from his evil act, he finally turns around and walks away with a sneer.
“Maeve,” Martin quietly calls out. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I sigh.
“Do you want to go and rip all her hair out while I rip out his? I’ll even go for his nostrils. And legs,” he hisses, sounding righteous. “I’ll pull it all out one by one.”
His words and the tone he uses make me chuckle. “No, this is what he wants. For me to go, lose my shit, and prove to everyone how immature and dumb I am.”
“Right, right…” His voice trails off. “But,” he cries out, his tone rising, “he doesn’t expect anything from me. So I still can go and do some epilation over there.” He points toward the only balcony. “Just say the word.”
I take his hand into mine. Only when he gives mine a squeeze do I comprehend how much my hands are shaking. So I let him hold me for a few seconds before I carefully pull away.
“I gotta go to the bathroom.”
“To cry? I can go with you,” he offers quickly. This person has been sent to my life by angels, I swear.
“To pee,” I say, trying to appear nonchalant about the news the King father delivered.
Martin’s eyes trail over my face before he nods. “Okay. I’ll be right here, waiting for you. With tweezers.”
Smiling at him once again, I rush toward the bathroom through one of the big double doors and down the hallway.
When I’m about to round the corner to the restrooms, I hear a familiar voice. It’s angrily whispering. So I freeze, not able to keep moving. No matter how much I played brave, I was gutted by King’s words. It hurt more than I thought it would.
“What gave you this idea?”
A female voice answers. “C’mon, Ezra. She can’t give you what you need.” She sounds older than me. Maybe even older than him.
I don’t breathe in fear to miss what he’ll answer.
“Yeah?” He sounds… playful. “Why do you think that?”
A nasty female giggle grates on my already heightened nerves. “Well, she’s very young for starters. And she looks… hmm, what shall I say? Not like your usual type.”
“And what is my type?”
“Someone like me.” She turns seductive. “Someone with experience. Someone sophisticated.” The voice turns husky. “Someone who knows what you need.”
“You think you know what I need?” Even more playfulness in his voice.
“I do,” she murmurs back.
“Then you know to stay the fuck away from me.” Ezra’s voice turns stone cold. Freezing even. So does the atmosphere in the hallway.
“W-what?” The woman loses the seduction, turning into another insecure person. Just like the rest of us.
“Stay the fuck away because what I need is my wife.”
I don’t have time to escape when Ezra rounds the corner and pauses when he sees me. His lips form a thin line while his eyes roam about my face.
“What are you doing here?” he asks roughly.
“I came to pee,” I squeak like a mouse.
“It’s that way.” He nods toward the women’s bathroom.
“Yeah.” Another squeak.
Right at that moment, the woman walks past us, and sending me an evil eye, she flips her red hair over her shoulder and slowly walks toward the main room. Really slowly. I can hear the click of her stilettos—she’s in no rush. Ezra’s eyes never leave my face.
When the door behind her finally closes, he speaks, looking positively murderous. “Go.”
I nearly run to the bathroom, trying to digest what I just heard.
He didn’t know I was there—I’m sure of it. He looked too surprised to know about me hiding around the corner. He told her he wanted only his wife. Me. I am his wife.
His wife.
So the oldest King lied? I choose to trust Ezra—and my own eyes—over the deceiving tool who happened to be his sperm donor and nothing else.
After quickly finishing my business and fixing the eyeshadow smudges under my eyes, I walk outside and come to a full stop. Ezra’s leaning his back on the wall in front of the restroom, looking so dashing and so casual at the same time.
“What are you still doing here?” I ask.
“Waiting for you.” He pushes away from the wall. “Let’s go.”
I swallow before speaking. “Are we going to talk about what just happened?”
He tilts his head to the side with open curiosity. “Do you want to?”
“No. I mean yes.” I sigh with defeat. “I don’t know. Should we?”
He watches me for a few long moments before replying. “Let me know when you decide.”
I nod and head to the main room where the torture continues for twenty more minutes before Ezra excuses us and leads me outside where Noah and Martin are checking their phones. When they notice us, both their heads lift up, and Martin’s eyes land on Ezra with an accusing glare.
“It’s all good,” I rush to explain before Martin goes ballistic. He’s one second away from saying something that might get him fired. I don’t know how close their relationship is, so I don’t want to risk Martin’s position over nothing.
His eyes squint even more before he shifts his attention to my face. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good then,” he says with a nod, returning to his cheerful personality in the blink of an eye.
“What am I missing?” Ezra asks.
“Nothing, Brother.” Noah comes and wraps his arm around Ezra’s shoulder. “We survived the vulture ball. We can conquer the world next.”
The cloud over Ezra’s head darkens. “That might not happen.”
Noah’s face turns serious. “It will, Brother. It will.” Switching his attention to me, he asks, “Going home to relax, or shall we continue shenanigans in some dirty bar?”
“Maeve is going home,” Ezra answers for me without hesitation.
“Am I?” I ask with a quirked brow.
“George,” he calls out the driver who’s leaning on the side of the car. “Please take Mrs. King home.”
“Ezra?” I start with a questioning tone.
“Not now.” He shakes his head without even glancing at me. Noah and Martin are quiet. Their eyes run between Ezra and me, trying to figure out what will happen next. And this is where I understand that I will decide what happens next. I can start a fight, right here, in front of the building. With dozens of eyes trained on us. Or I can agree to a small defeat so I can win the war later. At home. When I have more control over the buttons Ezra likes having pushed.
So I say, “Okay.” Both Martin and Noah’s brows go up while I give them both a quick hug and rush to the car where George is waiting with an open door.
I’ll wait for Ezra and his buttons at home.