Page 140 of Merciless Obsession

“No. Just these three,” I mumbled, taking a couple small breaths. My breathing was already unstable due to my lung and this tube but staring at the picture made me feel like I was on the verge of a panic attack. I went back to the night we were told about my sister and had to identify her body. The hardest thing I ever experienced was seeing her on that metal table.

“Lucas said it looks like her kidneys were removed.” My eyes bulged and this time I became lightheaded. My breaths came quicker. Pain shot through my chest as my heart tripled in speed.

“Bumblebee,” Ezra called out but his voice was muffled. I had been doing so good when it came to my attacks but seeing thepicture and hearing the new information had me struggling to breathe. Pressure built behind my eyes.

Ezra caught me off guard when he gripped the bottom of my face and slammed his mouth into mine, his kiss hard and demanding. I melted into it, squeezing my eyes shut and gripping his thigh. The noise in my head slowly started to quiet.

When he pulled back, I was panting heavily. My vision slowly started to come back into focus.

Ezra grabbed the back of my head and laid his forehead on me. “In and out, baby. In and out.” Blinking a couple times, I followed his breathing.

“Now, are you calm?”

“Yes,” I rasped, clearing my throat.

Heat bloomed through my body. The last thing I wanted was for Ezra to see me having one of my panic attacks. It had been some weeks since I took my Xanax since I didn’t want to become too dependent on them again. Right now I was craving one.

“Good.” His eyes bounced around my face a couple more seconds before pulling back. “Now I need to get back to the courthouse, but we’re not done with this conversation. If someone is threatening to cause you harm, that’s something youneedto tell me! I won’t accept someone trying to take you away from me and hurt you. Do you understand me?”

My pulse pounded in my throat. It was still foreign for me to have someone care about me in the capacity that he did. Sometimes it was suffocating but I was starting to appreciate it and gave him a nod in response.

He pecked my lips. “Good.”

“What does it mean? Those people took her kidneys? Why weren’t we aware of this sooner?”

Ezra peeked down at the picture then back at me. “I don’t know, Bumblebee, but we’ll figure it out.”

He checked his phone screen and his shoulders fell forward. “I gotta head back to the courthouse. I’m going to let Cashlynn know to come back in here.”

I groaned. “Ezra, she’s pregnant and probably wants to go home. I don’t need to be watched; you already have those guards standing outside the room.”

He swiped his bottom lip with his tongue. “A’right. I’ll send her home, but the guards are staying.”

I rolled my eyes.

He grinned and pecked my mouth again, keeping his lips on mine for a long minute before pulling back and standing up.

“Ezra,” I called out before he got to the door. I opened my mouth to speak but my words got lodged in my throat. “Good luck in court.”

He grinned wider and winked.

My feelings for Ezra were growing more serious each day. I wasn’t sure what scared me more right now, the fact that I was falling for him or learning there might be more to my sister’s death than I originally thought.

____

“Feels good to be home,” I mentioned as I waited outside my front door while Inaya unlocked it. I balanced on my crutches, feeling a bit winded, but happy to finally be out of the hospital. It wasn’t easy being on crutches and trying to recover from a collapsed lung. There was also the pain in my lower abdomen from my spleen removal. Every time I coughed and moved my neck a certain way, a dull ache formed where the glass stabbed me. In theory I probably should have stayed in the hospital a little longer but I was tired of being immobilized and the sterile scent invading my nose. Not to mention, I hadn’t had a goodnight’s sleep since the accident with the nurses and doctors constantly coming in and out of the room. Since Lucas was the surgeon on my case and Ezra’s brother, I figured I could still get care, but it wouldn’t be in the hospital.

The events of the accident were still foggy to me. I could remember the faint smell of gasoline and smoke. The excruciating pain that shot through my body at the time would hit me sometimes, as if I could feel it all over again. My anxiety was starting to spike again, but I was trying to keep it under wraps. I didn’t want any more fuss over me than what was already happening.

“Oh shit,” Inaya mumbled once she was in the house.

“What?” My face balled and I slowly limped into the house.

“Ziora—”

My mouth dropped as I stood in the entryway of my now empty living room. “What the hell? Where the hell are all my things?” My eyes bounced around my living room. Everything was gone, as if I never lived here. I hobbled forward and even my dining room had been cleared.

“Inaya! Where are my things?” I turned around as quickly as I could.