Page 5 of Beautifully Broken

Blaire

Darkness surrounds me completely. Tentatively, my hands glide against what feels like silk sheets, and pain radiates throughout my entire body.

Why does it feel like I got hit by a bus?

Something hard hits my fingertips and I scramble, finding a switch, and I flip it. The room is instantly bathed in a dull, warm glow.

The room looks like it belongs in a millionaire’s bachelor pad. A perfectly manicured bed, composed of silk sheets, pillowcases, and a large wooden headboard is the main focal point amongst the dark, wooden furniture. A small sliver of light escapes from the floor-to-ceiling blackout curtains.

I move to sit up and my body screams in pain.

Where am I? What happened to me? Why does everything hurt?

Think Blaire. Think!

“I’m sorry, sir, but I already told Alec I will be out for the foreseeable future. Yes. It is her. No. I do not require assistance. I’m sorry, sir. I understand. Yes, I am available for a consult if it is quick.”

I freeze.

Ezra. The hospital. Tank nearly killing me.

I need to get out of here. Sitting up, I try to swing my legs to the side so I can make a run for it, but I can’t. Every muscle in my body aches and my head feels like I’m underwater.

Ezra is back.

An angry chuckle escapes me. I can’t help but think it's only right that the man I once loved, who became the person I hate the most in the world, would return on the day he made countless false promises to me ten years ago.

Promises that were left broken and leaving me to live a life that was no longer in my control .

Ezra’s long, dark hair flies in the wind as we sit shoulder to shoulder on top of a picnic table in my backyard.

Without uttering a single word, I watch as Ezra’s hands shake as he slips the needle under his skin, plunging who knows what into his veins.

“Ya know, you probably could keep a job if you weren’t addicted to whatever the hell is in that needle,” I say, bumping my shoulder against his once he caps the needle.

His almost white eyes flash to me and he shrugs.

Leaning in close, he rests his forehead against mine and our gaze locks in a trance I can only describe as the best high.

“I could. But the only job within fifty miles is a damn Piggly Wiggly. I’ll take this shit over grannies getting their umbrella panties in a wad when their coupons don’t work. ”

We both chuckle. He’s not wrong. And truthfully, I don’t blame him.

Sitting back, my hands prop me up as I tilt my face towards the summer sun. I feel Ezra’s hand caress my knee and a sense of comfort settles over us.

Ezra and I are the classic tale of small town trailer park kids stuck in a sea of bad luck brought on by the shitty decisions of our absent parents.

Throw in that I fell in love with my brother’s best friend and after I walk across that rickety stage with my diploma in hand, we have plans to say goodbye to this town forever and we make the perfect Lifetime movie.

T-minus one week and we get to say goodbye to this shitty ass town forever. Part of me wants to just say to hell with it and leave tomorrow because there is still a chance Ezra could change his mind. After all, Ezra just so happens to be his number one client.

Did I forget to throw in that my brother is the ruthless leader of what we call the Kings of Ripper Valley?

A deadly and lucrative drug ring that supplies anything from Adderall to coke to stuff that could kill you instantly if you slip it into the wrong vein to everyone from lonely housewives to our very own “law enforcement”.

I say that term loosely because the police here only respond when someone is dying.

Your parents leave town for three weeks to go on some bender at the casinos and leave you with no food?

They will drop off a loaf of bread at your door and call it a day.

To say I hate them would be a stretch because if it wasn’t for them, I would have never gotten close to Ezra .

Our parents took off on a trip to who knows where and we were forced to spend almost six months together. Carson, Ezra, and I doing anything we could to keep ourselves alive.

While Carson used that time to really make his mark as the crazed leader he is today to put food on our table, it forced Ezra and me together. One day something switched, and it was like I no longer saw him as my best friend, but something much more.

The first time his lips met mine, I—

A shadow falls on my face and I open my eyes to Ezra staring down at me with a grin. “Whatcha thinking about, Ivy? Me, I hope.”

“Always.” I sit up and throw my arms around his neck. Ezra pulls me onto his lap and lays us back against the picnic table. Tucked tightly in his embrace, I tilt my head, staring up at him as he basks in the sun.

I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this man. I wish I had a time machine so I could skip to next week, where we are both packed inside Ezra’s blue Camaro as the sign to Ripper Valley fades into the distance.

If only….

Suddenly it hits me, and I sit up and throw my legs over his waist. His dazed eyes stare at me in confusion as his tattooed hands rest on my hips.

“Uhh. Ivy. Not sure your parent’s backyard is the place for you to go for a ride, but I cannot tell you no, so—”

Ezra lifts to take his shirt off, and I stop him with my hands on his chest. “We should leave tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“Fuck graduation. This place is miserable. You need to get sober, and I need to see what life is like beyond Ripper Valley. Why wait until after graduation? The US Postal System works great and I can just get my diploma in the mail wherever we land. Please Ezra.”

His brows furrow. I know he isn’t in his right mind to even contemplate this, but I can’t wait any longer. I can’t stay stuck in this shitty town, filled with shitty people, with nothing but dark, unfulfilling days ahead of me.

“Ivy. We can’t just—”

My mouth covers his, cutting off his words. I kiss him hard and thread my fingers through his long hair .

If I can say anything about this man that holds the key to my heart, it's that his hardened mask will drop the second my lips touch his. I don’t quite understand it, but every time he explains it to me, it’s like he is taking a hit on a sunny day.

When I pull back, both of us are breathless and I see his resolve slipping.

I hide the smirk, knowing I have him, but just in case there is a slight hint of hesitation, I go in for the kill. Batting my eyelashes, I brush my nose against his. “Please, EJ. I love you.”

Ezra’s head falls back against the table with a thud, and his grip on me tightens.

When his gaze finally meets mine, he shakes his head.

His large hand cups my face and his thumb brushes my cheek.

“Ya know, when I was gifted your beautiful body for the first time, I told you all you had to do was call me that name and bat those long eyelashes. I should have known it would come back to bite me in the ass.”

Falling forward, I rest my chin on my folded arms and bat my eyelashes once more. “So, is that a yes?”

Ezra makes a dramatic show of rolling his eyes.

”Yes Ivy. But we need to talk to Carson.

And I’m going to be real honest with you, baby.

My road to sobriety is not going to be full of sunshine and rainbows.

Right now, it’s the only thing besides your lips on mine that keeps the demons at bay.

And unfortunately, I can’t glue you to me, so I need to take baby steps.

And I can’t just run off without a stash to get me to wherever we choose to go.

Because I promise you, you will not like the monster I become without it. ”

My shoulders sink. I knew what I was getting into when our friendship changed. I can’t expect him to change overnight. And we can’t just leave Carson. We wouldn’t even make it to the city limit line without being dragged back by one of his goons.

Carson may love us, but nothing, and I mean nothing, comes before his precious empire.

Placing a kiss on his cheek, I nod. “Fine. When can we leave?”

“Two days. Give me two days and I promise you I will drive us so far away from this place, we will soon forget its name.”

Freedom. I can taste it. I can almost touch it .

Ezra sits up, taking me with him, and presses a kiss to my forehead. “I love you. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our days exploring the world together.”

Throwing my arms around his neck, I smile. “I love you too, EJ.”

I squeal as Ezra jumps from the table and I have to cling to him like a damn monkey as he spins us in circles.

An overwhelming sense of happiness consumes me. Forty-eight hours until my life finally changes for the better.

Except it didn’t. It was the exact opposite.

My blood turns to ice as memory after memory plays in my mind like a movie reel. Ezra James Mathews, the leading villain in my unhappy ending.

As if the devil were reading my mind, Ezra waltzes into the room. A shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

“About time you woke up, Ivy. Oh, do we have so much to catch up on.”