Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
JADE
I don’t know what I’m doing in the gym. I told Ezra we were done just over a week ago, but here I am, standing there like an idiot, watching the way he spars with some guy while Tyson watches on.
I shouldn’t be here right now.
If Noah walks in and sees me here, he might kill me.
I should just move on with my life and let Ezra go on this death mission.
How the hell do I keep breathing if he dies?
A million different thoughts rush through my mind, crashing into each other like spinning tops and then going their separate directions.
I don’t know which thought to focus on, especially as the man across from Ezra throws a hard jab into his gut, knocking the air out of him.
Ezra bends for just a second, and the man is on him, throwing punches left and right, catching Ezra hard with a knee to the face hard.
I wince, stomach twisting and turning.
I should tell him that I’m here, at least get him to take a break and stop fighting for a couple of minutes, but I’m not sure what good it’s going to do.
Fucking idiot Ezra is going to get himself killed, and he just expects me to stand to the side and let it happen.
Ezra moves like a machine, like all he knows how to do is kill, to beat his opponents no matter what the costs.
This is who Noah trained him to be.
I know the life all too well, but at least I don’t go running into danger like it’s the only thing I know how to do. I’m not about to get myself killed for someone who doesn’t give two shits about me.
He doesn’t see me, and that’s probably a good thing. He’s not the only one who can watch the other person in this relationship. Not that it’s a relationship. Not anymore. We splintered and then we broke, just like I was sure we would.
I lean against the wall, arms crossed over my chest.
Tyson leaves the side of the ring, coming over to me.
I should turn and run. I don’t want to be caught here.
But then why did my dumb ass come here?
Tyson stands in front of me, blocking me more in case Ezra is going to turn and potentially catch sight of me. “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you should leave.”
“Is he still going through with the fight?”
Tyson crosses his arms, showing off the deep bruises that cover them. “Yeah. He thinks this is the only way, and you could try to tell him not to, but he’s not going to listen to you.”
I peek around Tyson as the man fighting Ezra goes to the ground. “I know. What do you think he’s going to do? You’ve known him longer than I have. You’ve got to have some idea about how far all of this will go.”
“It’s not going anywhere good.”
If I don’t try to end this one last time, I’m never going to be able to forgive myself.
I brush past him, scraping my hair up into a tight ponytail and slipping the hair tie off my wrist. I secure it in place before slipping between the ropes and into the ring.
Ezra’s gaze locks on mine, and my heart goes thundering through my chest.
I jerk my chin at the other man in the ring, and he arches an eyebrow, cracking his knuckles and advancing at me.
I saunter over to him, toying with him, adding a swish to my ponytail and a sway to my hips.
His gaze rakes up and down my body while Ezra looks murderous behind him.
As I put my hands on the man’s shoulders, his hand skims the curve of my waist.
And that’s when I bring my own knee up, hitting him right in the balls.
He groans and doubles over. “Bitch.”
I crouch down in front of him, meeting his angry gaze. “Get out of the fucking ring.”
When I straighten up, Ezra gives me an approving look from the other side of the ring.
He leans against the ropes, his skin glistening with sweat, droplets trailing down his toned stomach.
I launch myself at him, catching him off-guard and kneeing him in the balls too. I don’t know what it is today, but it seems like the most effective fighting move I’ve ever learned.
Ezra makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat and glares at me. “What the fuck?”
“That’s for the cameras you have all over my apartment, you fucking creep. We’re done, so you go back to spying on me? Did you really think I wouldn’t have the entire place searched?” I scoff and hop out of his reach as he takes a swipe for me.
He smirks and pulls out his phone, unlocking it and showing me a feed of a camera that has to be in the ceiling fan above my bed. “You didn’t find all of them.”
I rip the phone from his hand and turn, flinging it across the room and straight at the stone wall. It collides hard, shattering and raining pieces down onto the ground below. “I’ll fuck your life up.”
Ezra holds his arms out to the sides. “You already have. Twice.”
“No. You choosing to go through with this fight is what’s going to fuck your life up a second time. You don’t have to go through with the fight, and you know it.” I grab the wrap and start covering my hands.
He swings at me, a sardonic grin on his face. “Do you know how it sounds when you insist on living in a fantasy like that?”
“I don’t live in a fantasy.” I throw the first punch, forcing him to take a step back.
I advance, feigning another before getting my hands back up in front of my face, keeping my weight light and shifting from foot to foot.
“If I go to this fight, he’s going to trust me again, and once he trusts me, I can get close enough to kill him.” Ezra tries to sweep my leg from beneath me, but I move fast, throwing myself at him.
He’s off balance as I tackle him to the ground, my knees landing on either side of his torso.
As I scramble to keep him pinned, he grabs me around the waist and throws me off.
I groan as a dull ache starts in my body, my head cracking against the floor.
He flies at me, ready to punch me in the face.
With a roll to the side, I’m up and on my feet again, but the ground doesn’t feel as steady beneath me.
Ezra sighs. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I throw a punch at his head, catching the side of his jaw. “And you shouldn’t be doing stupid things like trying to get yourself killed, yet here we both are, and apparently neither of us knows what to do about it.”
His fist catches me in the side, pain blossoming in my ribs before he sweeps my leg out from under me and gets on top of me.
I rear up before he has a chance to recover, slamming my head into his nose.
There’s a sickening crunch of cartilage before blood starts dripping down his face.
Ezra grabs me by the throat, drops of his hot blood dripping from his chin and onto my face. “Fuck’s sake, Jade. What the fuck do you think you’re even doing here?”
“I don’t want you to do the fight.” I claw at his hands, trying to dig my nails into his skin. I don’t care if I draw more blood. He’s earned the ass kicking of a lifetime.
He hisses, but the fingers on the side of my throat only get tighter.
I struggle to draw in a breath, little spots bouncing around my vision.
Thrashing, I try to get him off me.
“You’re going to kill her if you keep this up.” Tyson appears on the other side of the ropes near my head, looking bored.
Ezra chuckles, looking down at me with a dark look in his eyes. “It might teach her to listen to me for once.”
I drop one of his hands, raising a middle finger to his face before wiping off some of the blood. I don’t know how much longer I can hold my breath for.
Ezra’s lower half presses into me, his hard cock digging into my core. “Besides, she’s enjoying this. She likes it. I bet she’s soaked right now.”
See middle finger again, asshole.
The pressure on my throat releases just enough for me to draw in a breath.
I thrash before he knows what’s happening, slamming my head into his again.
Tyson groans. “Come on, Jade, play nice. You both want the same thing in the end. You don’t have to try and kill each other in the process.”
Ezra grinds his cock into me, and I hate myself because he’s right. I am wet. I want him, and he knows it. And based on the glimmer in his eyes, he’s enjoying this too. He’s going to push it as far as he can.
“We’re not solving our problems with sex. We’re not going to do this and you’re going to actually listen to me.” I rasp out the words, putting my hands on his chest and pushing him off me.
“Have you considered listening to me?” He resists the pushing for a couple of seconds before getting up and helping me to my feet. “Come home with me tonight, or let me come over to your place, and we can talk about this.”
“Yeah, because the two of you are so good at talking about your problems,” Tyson says, sarcasm dripping from his words. “At least if I’m not around when the two of you kill each other, I don’t have to explain what happened to either of your families.”
I look at Ezra before nodding. “Fine, we’ll talk tonight, and then maybe we might be able to figure something out, but I’m not holding my breath. I don’t think you’re ever going to change, and I’m not about to sit back and watch you die either.”
“Nobody is asking you to sit back and just watch, but I don’t want to keep spending time having this fight with you.” Ezra looks like us being apart is hurting him.
Even before I broke his nose, there were dark circles beneath his eyes. His cheeks are hollow, and he’s pale. I don’t think he’s taking care of himself, and if he is determined to fight, that does scare me.
Maybe if I spend time with him tonight, I can talk him out of going to the fight just for a chance to kill Noah.
Ezra hums as he moves around the apartment, loading my plate high with shrimp tacos.
I cross my legs on the couch, leaning back into the cushions as he hands me the plate with a small smile.
This is wrong. Everything about this is wrong.
I should be staying in this apartment with him. We should be working through our issues and getting closer to being happy with each other.
Instead, all we’re doing is fighting, and I don’t know what to do about it.
I don’t know how to make him see that everything he’s doing is going to hurt us. He doesn’t want to listen to me and see that there’s another way.
Is it pride or stupidity standing in his way?
Ezra sits down with his own tacos in the chair, leaning back and kicking his feet up on the coffee table, putting his plate in his lap. “We should talk about what’s going to happen at the fight.”
“We should talk about you not going to the fight.”
He says nothing, instead taking a bite of his taco and fixing me with that icy stare.
I do my best not to shrink in my seat, sitting up a little taller. “Ezra, we can still go to Aiden. It’s not too late to stop this.”
“This is my chance to kill him. You have to see that, Jade. He trusts me now because I’m giving you up to do this for him. He knows how much you mean to me.”
I take a large bite of the taco, even as my stomach starts to turn. “If I mean so much to you, then why aren’t you even considering what I say when I tell you this is going to end with you dead?”
“I know my cousin. He might kill me. It’s a risk I have to take to keep you safe, though.” Ezra shrugs and finishes off one of his tacos, leaning forward and reaching for his beer.
I look down at the food, knowing I’m not going to be able to stomach any more. “I think I should leave.”
“We’ve barely said three words to each other, and you’re going to walk out? Just like that?”
I get up, biting the inside of my cheek to hold back the tears threatening to overflow. “It’s not just like that. It’s a cycle of a conversation that’s never going to end because the only viewpoint you’re willing to consider is your own.”
He scoffs and gets up, gesturing at me. “Pot meet fucking kettle.”
The first tear escapes, and I wipe it away quickly, determined to hold all the others in. “At least I want to see both of us alive at the end of the day.”
Sunlight shines in my window early in the morning, but all I want to do right now is pull the covers back over my head and sleep for the next several days. If I’m lucky, I don’t have to move until after the fight.
Won’t be able to go to Ezra’s funeral.
“Are you going to lie in bed all day, or are you going to get up?” Ezra appears in the doorway with his arms crossed.
I sit up in bed, clutching the blankets to my chest. “What the fuck are you doing here? How the hell did you get inside?”
“Opened the door.” He stalks over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it and leaning close to me. “Now, come on. Get up.”
“Leave.”
“Not happening. I’m going to stay here until you’re up and moving around and not acting like the world is ending.”
Even though I don’t want to listen to him, I fling my blanket back and stride out of the room, slamming the door behind me, listening to it rattle in its frame as I start pulling out everything I need to make breakfast.
He appears like a reccurring nightmare a couple of moments later, standing behind me, his breath on the side of my neck, his hands slipping down my waist.
I tip my head to the side without thinking, giving him the access he wants.
“We’re good together.” His voice is husky. His lips whisper over my pulse.
“We’re horrible together, and I think it’s time we face that.”
Ezra pushes me closer to the counter, the edge digging into my hips.
I lean back into him out of instinct.
He kisses my neck, drawing a soft moan out of me.
When he sucks my earlobe into his mouth, arousal pools between my thighs.
His hands slip under my shirt, callused fingers drifting over my skin, leaving shivers of desire in his wake. “Jade—”
I whip around and wriggle away from him. “No!”
“You’re the most important person to me.” His smile is soft, but there’s hesitation in his eyes, like he’s not quite sure of what he’s saying.
It just shatters my already-broken heart.
I can’t keep doing this with him.
I take another step back, increasing the distance between us. “No, we can’t keep doing this. We can’t try to fix our problems with sex and ignore everything that’s happened.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
I want you to tell me that you’re not going to that fight. I want to believe I’m the most important person in your life.
“I want you to leave.”
He nods once, turning and pacing to the front door, slinking away like a dog with its tail between its legs.
As soon as the front door is shut, I slump against the counter and try to pick up the crumbling pieces of my life, if only to stuff them in the Ezra-sized hole that is now carved into my heart.
I was wrong to think there might have even been a chance of saving him.
And if I was wrong about being able to save him, I’m wrong about saving myself too.
I’m fucking doomed.