Rejected (Imperfectly Perfect Book 2)

by Lym Cruz

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Christina

  For the hundredth time, I glanced over my shoulder hoping that maybe everything was fine and Ezra had come for me. But he wasn’t there.

  I was alone.

  Fear gripped my insides twisting them around into knots. I pushed through the terror threatening to engulf and paralyze my senses. I needed to keep going and stick to the plan. I had to get on that plane and Ezra would be alright. He’d come for me. Everything would work out.

  Constantly on alert, I hitchhiked and made it to the airport. Before heading in, I scanned my surroundings, nothing seemed out of place or unusual. Summoning all of my courage, I took my first step towards the departure terminal.

  The airport was a cocoon of steel, the walls elegantly curved and wrapping around the space. The beams supported many windows, letting in light. I pushed my glasses further up the bridge of my nose and squared my shoulders. The airport was busy and it was impossible to keep an eye on everyone. Many faces zoomed by and none of them were interested in my existence.

  Having passed through TSA and checked-in, I confirmed my ticket for my gate number. 27.

  As I walked a shiver ran up my spine and the hairs at the back of my neck stood on end. Casually, I glanced back. There was a man a few feet away from me, and something about him had me panicked. He was watching me from a fair distance with casual strides. He was tall, dressed in worn blue jeans and a blue shirt. A thick beard covered most of his face. There was nothing in his hand. No baggage, documents or papers of any sort. Nothing that indicated that he was traveling.

  Quickening my steps, I looked forward. Maybe he wasn’t following me and it was all paranoia. He could have left his luggage with someone and was on his way back. Besides, it was a straight corridor and this was the only path. There was nowhere else he could have gone.

  I saw my gate number but decided not to stop. I kept walking, nearly running and when I looked back the man had also increased his pace. There was no doubt anymore, he was after me.

  Panicking, I searched for a security guard but I couldn’t find any around. I could have screamed, however, the plan was to not draw any undue attention. Attention meant trouble since I was attempting to leave the country with a fake passport.

  I kept running. Spectators would assume I was about to miss my flight. My heart raced and sweat formed on my forehead. I endeavored to wipe the sweat off of my forehead and my wig slipped. I reached for it, but it was too late.

  “Shit,” I cursed. But I didn’t stop until I was at Gate 49.

  They were boarding and making the final call. The flight was headed to London. Swiftly I turned left and reached the counter. My tongue sticking out as I fought to catch my breath.

  “Passport ma’am,” the woman behind the counter said. Her name tag read: Shelly. “We’re about to depart.”

  “Listen to me Shelly,” I said. “There is a man behind me in jeans and a blue shirt. With a big beard. His name is Steve and he’s my ex-husband.”

  Her eyes immediately traveled over my shoulder. I clasped her arm with pleading eyes.

  “Please don’t look.” She brought her gaze down to level with mine. “I need you to call security. He’s violent and abusive. Let me go through but I won’t board. I need him to think I’m boarding so I can get away from him and onto my flight.”

  Nodding she put on her best fake smile. I sighed a breath of relief when she let me pass and picked up her phone. Once I was in the tube that connected the ongoing passengers to the plane, I yanked the ribbon off my hair, letting it fall over my shoulders, removed my glasses and took off my jacket. It was the best I could.

  Minutes later, Shelly returned. “Ma’am,” she called. “You’re free to go. He’s gone and since he didn’t have a ticket security escorted him out. They don’t even know how he got this far without one. Anyway, he’s out of here. Do you want me to call the police?”

  “No,” I jumped to answer. “I just need to get on my flight and away from everything. I want to put this all behind me. Start over away from him.”

  Shelly took my hands in mine. “I know how you feel. I hope you can restart and find happiness.”

  I thanked her feeling a bit guilty. Per Shelly’s request, a man in a guard uniform accompanied me to my gate. Always watchful and wary, I made it onto the plane. But Ezra had not.

  I checked my phone but there was nothing on it. I glanced back one more time as the captain announced that we were about to take off. Nothing. I sunk into my seat, hands flung to my face and tears erupted from eyes knowing that it would be a long flight carried by agony.

  I decided to change my entire life by leaving behind everyone I loved for a man who wasn’t next to me. Ezra could not be hurt or dead. I needed him alive. As the plane took off, I wondered if it was all a mistake. Had I made the wrong choice?

  Chapter Thirty

  Ezra

  Iwasn’t sure if I had passed out or not but the sound of a dog barking outside, beyond the walls around me, brought me back to consciousness. Gritting my teeth, I winced with pain. I looked down at my abdomen, toward the source of the pain. My shirt was bloodstained.

  Taking shallow, careful breaths, I pushed through the agony observing my surroundings. It seemed like a basement. All the walls were the color of concrete and it was cold. So cold my body shook.

  Wiggling in the chair, I tried to free my hands but it was useless. They were bound behind my back and my feet tied together at my ankles with a zip-tie. The next thing I remembered was the phone. I moved my feet and felt its hard edges pressing against my skin.

  “You’re awake,” Chichi said, emerging from behind me. “Surprised to see me?” She smiled with an air of superiority.

  That I was surprised to see her was undeniable, she was supposed to have been arrested by now.

  Slowly she walked towards me and bent to level herself with me. “Where is my money?” she demanded.

  Marshaling the last of my strength, I laughed ironically and then coughed. Blood splattering from my mouth.

  “Very well,” she said.

  With a white towel swaddled around her hand, she made a fist and pressed it against my stomach, where the pain originated. I screamed, a long, agonizing scream. The continuous ache brought a buzz to my ears, my vision blinked in and out and my belly exploded with the twinge.

  “Stop it. He’ll bleed out,” I recognized the voice, but I was frail, unable to look up. “We need to take him to a hospital.”

  “Not until he gives me my money.”

  She dug deeper into the wound. The towel reddened, soaking up the blood. The pain returned; this time twice as strong. Gnashing my teeth, I yelled. She stopped the torture and I fought to catch my breath.

  “You ungrateful shit,” she hissed, droplets of her saliva touching my skin. “Where is my money?”

  “How—how cold are you?” Stuttering, I fought to drag air into my lungs. I was tired—cold and not in full control of my body. “Will … you kill me? Your son?” I was hoping that reminding her I was her son would grant me clemency.

  “I will do anything to get my money back.”

  “You won’t get your money if he’s dead.” The male voice spoke once again, this time he was closely examining me. He placed his fingers on my neck taking my pulse and that’s when I got a good look at him. It was Chichi’s nurse. “We have to transfer him now before we start to lose him. He needs blood.”

  Chichi stood, casting the dirty towel onto the ground. “This isn’t over yet.” A crude smile touched her lips. “But I must say that I’m impressed, Ezra. If it hadn’t been for fate you might have pulled this off. God must love me because this morning I was sick. You know, because of the chemo. I wasn’t at the warehouse and Rowan wasn’t inside either. He saw the police break-in and was able to escape in time to help me find you.

  “I tried to turn you into one of the most powerful men in the world but you double-crossed me, so now you’ll know what your mama is trul
y like. After you get the blood, every day you’ll beg for death. The pain I’ll inflict on your body will be so terrible you’ll wish you could sell your soul to the devil to make the pain stop. And that is a promise, son.”

  I could barely keep my eyes open but I managed a wry chuckle.

  “The girl’s headed to London,” it was Rowan’s voice but it seemed so far away. “Our guy saw her checking-in.”

  They must be talking about Christina, but she wasn’t supposed to be on a plane to London. What the hell?

  “Good,” Chichi answered. “Organize a welcoming committee.” She turned to the doctor. “You can take him.”

  The nurse was cutting the ties on my ankles when suddenly a loud blast reverberated around the room. Smoke emerged and all of a sudden everything went dark. I heard voices, many of them yelling and screaming, “Drop your weapons. Get on the ground.” So much noise. Flashlights blinded me and in the flickers of light, I noted that the men were clad in armored vests.

  “Ezra!” A voice called. It sounded like Nunes’ voice. He was holding my face in his hand. “Stay with me kid, we’ve got you.” I wanted to answer but my voice broke, and I was hit with a wave of nausea. Then the world disappeared before me, sinking into a black hole.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Christina

  My eyes were as dry as the desert ahead. My world had turned silent and meaningless. The loneliness was a heavy burden on my heart, squeezing with just enough pressure to be a constant throb. It was tearing me apart a little more each day.

  I ran my thumb over my tattoo refusing to let him go. Ezra had to be alive. He was my inner light. His absence was the reason for my nightmares. The reason I struggled to breathe. The reason I was about to give up and go back home.

  The tour guide pointed at one of the pyramids and rambled on about its importance. I wasn’t paying attention to anything he was saying. I was following the plan Ezra had drawn out, acting like the normal tourist I wasn’t. Nothing I’d done in the past month had been genuine. Not a smile. Not a handshake. Not even the words uttered from my mouth. It was all a carefully constructed facade.

  By the time we were heading back to the hotel, I was just as clueless about Egyptian customs and history as when I left this morning. I rubbed my thumb over my tattoo again. This was the last night. If he hadn’t made contact by now it meant that he was dead or in jail. It was hard to know what the outcome was, because there was nothing on the news or the internet. However, I could feel him alive. I doubted I would ever stop feeling him even if he was gone.

  The hotel was grand and magnificent. The hallways were decorated by handmade replicas of historical pieces. Ezra would have loved them. I passed by the restaurant and although lunch was being served, for the first time, I wasn’t hungry or even tempted to eat. All I wanted was Ezra.

  I took the elevator up knowing that for another night I’d spend it with only the rhythm of my own heartbeat echoing in the vacant silence. I walked into my room, closing the door behind me and a stone-cold shiver ran down my spine. An unusual sense washed over me, as if the energy in the room had been disturbed. I couldn’t turn, my feet were rooted.

  The lights clicked on, I jumped, fastening my eyes shut. It was as if the whole world was about to crumble. I slipped down on my knees as my legs went limp and cried with all my might. I sobbed and tears flooded like the waters rushing down from a waterfall.

  I hadn’t seen him yet but I knew he was here. Ezra was here.

  “Christina it’s okay,” Ezra spoke and I sensed him getting closer. All the millions of cells in my body were revived. He dropped to his knees next to me and held my sobbing face in his hands. “I’m so sorry for everything. But it’s over, we did it, we’ll be alright.”

  All my words were cut off by my tears. There was so much I wanted to say. So much I wanted to yell at him, but the only thing I could do was throw myself at him. His hug was stronger than anything I’d known. Every ounce of me pressed into every ounce of him. I was fully awake somehow, more alive than I had been in a long while.

  “I missed you so much Christina. I was so worried about you,” he said. “God, I love you so much.” His arms squeezed a fraction tighter and I breathed slower, my body melting into him as every muscle lost its tension.

  Gently he pulled back and adjusted us so his forehead rested against mine. We stared into each other’s eyes. Ezra’s were full of wonder and love, mine with equal passion and curiosity.

  “I love you,” I panted. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  His lips found mine in a kiss steeped in a passion that ignited a fire. It was the promise of realness, of the primal desire that lived in us.

  “I love you,” he replied, his voice low and husky in between the kiss.

  We pulled apart taking shaky, shallow breaths. Unable to contain himself anymore, Ezra lifted me off the floor and carried me to the bed across the room and set me down.

  Clasping onto his shirt, I pulled him closer to my body continuing the fiery kiss. My hands worked their way around his body, touching each crevasse, each line along his perfect physique. I lay on my back as he matched my body’s form. Ezra’s hands traveled over my curved body, exploring. As we kissed, I rolled him over and hovered on top of his strong, muscular frame. I ran my lips up his neck and placed a loving and intense kiss on his lips.

  Soothingly, his fingers ran up and down my spine, coaxing shivers out of me. With my cheeks still blushing hotly, I glanced back up into his captivating dark eyes. His warm breath ghosted across my face causing my body to flush with heat. The heat seemed to travel through my veins, warming everywhere it touched. Just as I felt a rush of euphoric bliss envelop my entire soul, making my heart sing with pure joy, he broke the connection to strip me bare.

  I pulled his shirt over his head and pushed him back onto the bed. He sunk into the mattress. I fell gracefully on the bed next to him and sunk into the pillows before straddling his hips. He tried to sit up, but I pushed him back down.

  There was a scar across his abdomen. Gently, I ran my finger over it and he flinched.

  “What happened?”

  “There is a lot we need to talk about and I’ll explain it all, but right now I need you.”

  I smiled, bringing my finger up to his lips and kissed him again. This time it was slow. I wanted to relish it, but most of all, I wanted him to enjoy it. I stopped kissing his lips and moved to his jawline, neck, and collarbone. Kissing every inch of him that I’d missed so relieved to have him alive. I placed soft butterfly kisses down his chest and abs.

  “Christina,” he whispered my name with need. I sat up, straddling him as I took his hands and placed them on my hips.

  “Touch me,” I whispered into his ear, biting his earlobe. “Show how much you’ve missed me.” His hands instantly flipped me over violently, burying his head into my neck and his hands roved all over my body.

  “You’re irresistible,” he said while nibbling on my chest. His hand came up to my breast ripping a gasp out of me. “So beautiful.”

  Ezra came up over me, propping himself up with his hands on either side of my shoulders so he could spend another few moments kissing me before pushing back onto his knees.

  The admiration. The love. The passion I grasped from him was enough to cause an explosion within me.

  I complied rapidly when he pushed my legs apart, positioning them on either side of his. He grabbed my thighs and yanked me forward, gazing down at my body and then brought one hand forward to glide his fingers down through my hot, wet folds. I pushed my legs further apart and with a few more delicate strokes, my back arched while helpless moans left my parted lips.

  I squirmed with desire and anticipation, as the first inch of his cock slid into me. I cried out with the fullness of him burying himself deep within my body. He then withdrew slightly and slammed back into me with greater intensity, propelling another lustful cry out of me.

  My groans only seemed to spur him forward. Ezra held on to my hips
, digging his fingers, almost painfully, into my flesh as he thrust into me so hard and fast, I could barely catch my breath. The sensation of him stretching my walls, plunging further than I thought was possible and I lost myself in the feeling.

  His low grunts got louder. My fingertips dug into his arms as he stretched back, roaring with a release. He straightened and stared down at me again, bringing his hands between us so he could touch me. The combination of his thumb swirling around my swollen and sensitive clit plus the pulsing of his cock still deep within me, sent me crashing over the edge and I gasped consumed by the power of my climax.

  Our bodies cooled down in the stillness of our cuddles that felt like a little glimpse of heaven. Warm and cozy. His arms folded tightly around me, bringing me a peace I’d never known before. A calming of the tempests in my heart. Hope for the future. In his embrace, I believed there was nothing out there to fear. He was the antidote to the roaring rage of the world. Ezra might not have healed me of my demons but his love changed me.

  “Tell me what happened,” I asked softly, pushing closer to him.

  He cleared his throat. “Things went to shit. Chichi wasn’t at the warehouse and neither was Rowan. Luckily for her, she was sick that morning so when the police broke into the warehouse, they found the drugs and everything else, except for Chichi. She and Rowan quickly figured out what I’d done and they found us. Trying to escape, I crashed the car and they were able to capture me. Nunes tracked me through the phone and they got Chichi, but Rowan disappeared.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “Now we stay under the radar. Nunes thinks we might still be in danger because of Rowan, but I don’t think without Chichi he’ll be able to do much.”

  “Everything has been so crazy.”

  He kissed the back of my head. “I know but it’s over now.”