Ezra
Utopia. That’s where I was currently. In a place so beautiful, so peaceful, I never wanted to wake up. I’m happy. So exultant just sitting out on a beautiful beach, with white sands and an ocean so blue it takes your breath away.
And of course, there’s Damien, laid out on the sand with a beautiful little boy, no older than two, with a head of dark hair and startling blue eyes, building a sandcastle, smiling handsomely as they fill up another bucket of sand. I put the book down and stroll over to them both. “Hey, how’s my castle coming?” I ask, sitting beside the little boy who holds up his plastic shovel to me.
“Your castle is coming along nicely, milady.” Damien drawls, lifting his eyes to look at me, lovingly his silver eyes gleaming as he leans close and kisses me softly. “Looking mighty appetizing there, Mrs. Wolfe.”
I grin and kiss him back. “Not looking so bad yourself, Mr. Wolfe.”
Like I said. I was happy and could have stayed in this bubble forever and never get bored.
I gasp starting from my sleep when I feel something jerking beside me; I blink a few times, and I see Damien beside me, eyes closed, but he’s restless like he’s trapped in a terrible nightmare, pearls of sweat on his forehead and he’s mumbling incoherently.
“No, no, no, don’t…” I lean over, brushing my fingers through his hair, hoping it would soothe him.
“Damien, it’s okay. It’s just a nightmare.” I whisper, and he shakes his head, his brows knitted tightly. I shake his shoulder gently, and he suddenly shoots upright, and before I could take a breath, I was on my back with a gun pressed to my forehead. My heart starts kicking wildly in my chest.
“Damien, it’s me, it’s Ezra. You were having a nightmare…” I squeak, and he looks down at me and blinks a couple of times before he pulls the gun off my head and leans back again, pinching the bridge of his nose. I sit up beside him and place my hand on his shoulder. He flinches under my touch but doesn’t move. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He croaks. I hand him my bottle of water that I kept by my bed. He takes it from me and takes a couple of sips while I continue to rub his shoulder. Damien sniffs and glances back at me over his shoulder. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t. As unsettling as it is, I’m getting kind of used to having guns pointed at my head.” I inform him shrugging my shoulder indifferently. “I know you probably won’t, but if you ever want to talk to lighten your load, I’ll listen.” Damien’s eyes bore into mine momentarily before he nods and presses a lingering kiss to my forehead. I watch him as he draws away from me.
“Go back to sleep. I’m going to get some air.” He gets out of bed and walks out of the bedroom; his entire body still tense as a result of whatever he was dreaming about. I could feel the tension exuding off him.
The sun was just starting to rise, the sky a beautiful mixture of orange and yellow. I slip out of bed and creep over to the window, and study him closely. His chiseled face back to its normal granite state, though I could see the turmoil behind those gray eyes. Damien’s suffered something in his past, something that still haunts him deeply to this day. I just wish I could understand him, but the more time I spend with him, the more he confuses me.
One moment he wants me, and the next, he’s pushing me away and hurting me. Why can’t I just flick a switch as he does and not care? Why do I have this constant need to be around him when all I want to do is hate him and run as far as I could get.
Can I be angry with him for going out and sleeping with another woman? What we have isn’t real. He’s not mine, and he never will be. He’s made that abundantly clear from the get-go. Like he keeps telling me, he’s never promised me anything other than keeping me alive, so why do I feel like I’ve been betrayed by him?
I wince at the thumping in my head. Those tequila shots last night were a big mistake, and I’m paying for it right now. I vaguely remember stripping off and swimming, then Damien was in the pool with me.
“You’re curious about the girl I was with. You want to know what happened, don’t you? Let me feed your curiosity so you can stop torturing yourself by overthinking it. Was she as beautiful as you? No, not even close. Was she a good kisser? You’re better by miles. Did her pussy feel better than yours? As tight…as perfect and wet.She doesn’t hold a candle to you. You’re a good fuck, but you don’t have what it takes to truly satisfy my needs.”
I release a painful breath at the memory of last night. As I replay his words in my mind repeatedly, the lump in my throat grows, cutting off my oxygen supply. I swipe away the tears that roll down my cheeks angrily and walk back to the bed and lay down, hugging my pillow. I honestly don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.
Damien comes back into the room and looks at me, curled up on the bed. He rubs his neck tiredly. “I thought you’d be asleep. It’s still early.”
I lean up on my elbow and look at him, “I can’t sleep. I want to go for a run; I need to clear my head.”
Damien regards me mutely for a while as though he was mulling over my request. I wait patiently until he nods. “You’re not going alone; I’ll go with you. Get dressed.” I sigh, somewhat relieved that he didn’t just outright say no. As if I could go anywhere without him on my tail anyway.
* * *
In no less thantwenty minutes, we were both dressed in our running attire. I was stretching my hamstrings when Damien comes out of the guest house and tosses me a cap. “So, you’re not identified as easily.” He states moodily when I shot him a quizzical look. I nod and put the cap on my head. Damien checks his guns' magazines before putting them back on to his holster, which he was wearing under his black hoodie.
“Isn’t it uncomfortable running with those guns on you?” I ask, switching my legs and stretching the other. Damien shakes his head and smirks.
“Prefer to be uncomfortable than get caught unarmed and be killed.” He informs me, and I nod in understanding.
“Fair enough.” I roll my shoulders, and we walk out of the back gate together and start jogging down the street.
“Stay in front of me at all times.” I hear Damien say from beside me. I nod and jog a little faster to get in front of him a couple of paces.
“All right, but don’t shoot me if you can’t keep up.” I tease and hear him chuckle from behind me. “And stop staring at my ass.”
“Be thankful all I’m doing is staring.” He quips back, and I look back at him over my shoulder, and his lips quirk, winking at me suggestively. I pick up my pace a little, and he catches up quickly. This was supposed to be a nice soothing run to clear my head, but it turned into a cat and mouse chase with Damien poking my sides, distracting me. I slap his hand away when he tries to sneak it under my top.