Rejected (Imperfectly Perfect Book 2)

by Lym Cruz

  “Leave.”

  “Christina, please don’t …”

  He came at me and I backed away. “Hear me out, I’m going to fix this.’

  “I said, leave,” I yelled and he stopped dead in his tracks. “Drugs, Ezra! Fucking drugs? Do you know what that is? Those people are dangerous.” Nervously, I ran my hand through my hair. “I can’t do this. I have a family and being with you puts everyone I care about in danger. No matter what I feel for you I can’t hurt them.”

  “They don’t know about you.”

  “That man, Rowan, he saw me in the office. What if he figures it all out?”

  “I’ll take care of it, I promise. This is temporary—”

  A wry laugh bolted out of me. “I never thought that you, of all people, would be involved in something like this. I—I don’t know.”

  “Christina, baby.”

  I observed him with the gaze of a stranger. “Get out, please, I need you gone. Now.”

  He tried to insist but I wasn’t having it. I wished he told me he was sleeping with Rowan. At least that problem had a simpler solution.

  Eventually Ezra left. The atmosphere calmed while a tempest was roaring inside my head. Fragments of the time we spent together played through my brain. Droplets of disappointment mixed into the bubble that was stretching thin and about to burst.

  My head raced for hours. I lay on my bed long enough to evaluate the situation. I hadn’t moved the entire time and my muscles were cramping.

  I had to make a decision. The obvious choice was to walk away, but how could I when he needed me? Or how could I consider staying with a man that could potentially put me in danger?

  I thought back to every moment we spent together. It was all true. Every kiss was real. And every touch was honest. I loved him and what he did didn’t change that. Regardless of what he’d done, I believed that living with an incomplete soul was a form of death. I was dying and Ezra had brought me back to life. He filled the cracks of my soul with his love and I couldn’t let him go. I would go mad without his touch. There was nothing left to think about. I’d made my choice.

  “Christina.” The surprise in his voice and excitement in his face was priceless when he saw me standing at his porch. “Come in.” He stepped aside but I didn’t move.

  “What are you doing about it?” I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans, shifting on my feet. “You said you are going to fix this. How?”

  “Why don’t you come in and we’ll talk?”

  “I don’t want to come in. I want an answer.”

  “Christina … I …”

  “For fucks sake, Ezra! Just tell me.”

  “I’m going to gather enough information on these people and give it to a cop I’ve been working with. Once they are busted, I’m going to disappear … taking over eighty million dollars with me.”

  My heart sank to my stomach. Sadness gripped my chest. “You had it all planned out. You were going to leave without me, weren’t you?”

  “No!” He shook his head. “Never, I wouldn’t leave without letting you know what was going on.”

  “But you never planned on taking me with you.” It was intended to be a question but the words came out accusatorially.

  “I couldn’t ask you to come with me when I wasn’t even sure where all of this would lead. It would ruin your life, Christina. We’d be constantly looking over our shoulders and on the run. I couldn’t do that to you.”

  “You abandoning me would ruin me.”

  “I would have come back for you.”

  Sarcastically, I chuckled. “You don’t get to make decisions on my behalf. You should have come to me long ago and told me the truth.”

  “I should’ve, and I’m sorry.”

  I inhaled and decided it was time to pour my heart out. “I am so afraid that this, us, it could just be an illusion. I don’t know what the future holds, we are together today, but are we meant to be forever? I don’t know if destiny brought us together or if this is the biggest fucking cosmic joke. Despite all my fears and insecurities, what I do know is how I feel right now. And now, I love you Ezra, and I want to be with you. If you flee, I’ll be right there with you. Wherever you go that’s where I’ll be. I choose you, Ezra. I choose us.”

  “Christin—”

  “You have one question to answer: would you rather love me or leave me?”

  He clasped my forearm, dragged me inside and slammed the door. He backed me up against the wall and his lips were pressed against mine, gripping on to my face as if he were afraid to let go and I fought for a breath as desire rippled through me.

  He pressed me harder against the wall. I slid my hand beneath his shirt and he moaned, I let it run down his hard chest and paused at the front of his belt. The heel of my hand brushed against his fly and the swell of his hardening erection straining against the denim. My hands unzipped his fly and slipped inside to stroke him. Ezra groaned against my lips at my caress.

  “Slow,” he said, brushing his mouth against mine. His lips moved down to my neck. The tip of his tongue slid across my collarbone before he continued his progress down the center of my chest, towards my breast.

  He wanted it slow but I couldn’t wait any longer. I took it upon myself to quicken the slow ingress. I brought our kiss to a halt and stripped bare. Cursing, he got rid of his own clothes. But the way he looked at me was addictive, every time it was like he’d never seen a woman before. The intensity of his stare drove my desire into a frenzy.

  Then I was in his arms—solid arms that lifted me as if I weighed nothing—as he kissed me with uncontrolled hunger, my breasts came in contact with his torso. He tucked his hands under my ass and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, as he adjusted my hips over his cock.

  He rammed into me in one fierce drive. His cock filled me completely. He wasted no time establishing a steady rhythm. Powering my desire with each stroke.

  Deeper.

  Harder.

  Faster.

  He tilted his head and our eyes remained locked and I witnessed the strain of pleasure etched in his forehead as he continued to drive us relentlessly towards our climax.

  With each thrust of his hips, my insides tightened around him. “I’d rather love you,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’s all I want to do. Love you.”

  I threw my head back to the wall, trembling as my orgasm rolled through me. He followed close behind, groaning my name while he released into me in long, hot spurts.

  “What name should I put on my passport?”

  “Anything you want,” Ezra said, drawing circles on my stomach.

  “I’ve always wanted to be Diane.”

  “Then Diane it shall be.”

  “When will we leave?”

  “There is no specific date yet but it won’t be long.”

  “You said you were taking over eighty million, what did you mean by that?”

  “I’m stealing from them.”

  My mouth hung open. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because the woman who runs the cartel is my mother and I won’t leave without taking what she loves the most. It’s the only way I’ll be able to hurt her just as much as she hurt my father … and me.”

  My jaw dropped even lower and my eyes felt as though they would pop out of my skull. Ezra chuckled and got me up to speed on his latest family drama. It was one surprise after another.

  “Christina,” he called, I sensed the sudden shift and the seriousness in his tone. “You can’t tell anyone about this. Not your family or friends. You won’t be able to say goodbye to them, and it will be awhile before you can reach out.”

  I was aware of what I was getting myself into and I also knew it wouldn’t be easy. For love, I’d have to give up another kind of love. I’d miss my family, Erica and Melissa, but I’d miss Ezra even more.

  “I know. But I’m scared, Ezra.”

  “It will be alright.”

  So I hoped.

/>   “I want to get a tattoo,” Ezra said. “I want to immortalize this moment. And have something on me that will remind me of your little speech.” He laughed. I giggled covering my face, completely embarrassed. I couldn’t believe I said all those things. “It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.” He kissed my temple. “I love you.”

  We agreed that the both of us would get a tattoo. Ezra took me to the studio where he got his done. I was terrified that it might hurt, but Ezra said it was just a pinch, and then it would go away. We filled out the necessary paperwork and gave it to a guy who had ink covering all visible skin. He took us to a back room that had a dentist-style chair in the center. The walls were red beneath the cluster of photographs of his work.

  Matt, the tattoo artist, invited me to get comfy. I climbed onto the chair inspecting the materials on the table: needles, cotton balls, bottles of what seemed like ointment and a gun, shaped like the one used in ear piercings.

  “Do you know what you want?” he asked me. I was entertained counting the number of piercings on his face. I was at five when Ezra replied on my behalf, “I’m picking.”

  Six… seven.

  “Let’s hear it,” Matt said.

  Ezra beckoned with a head movement and the two of them stepped away. They kept their backs turned to me. I tried to eavesdrop but was unsuccessful.

  The pair returned. Ezra sat on a stool next to me and Matt settled back on his chair. Then he moved the table with the instruments closer.

  “Give me your hand.” Matt stretched his open palm and I placed my hands in his. “This will be three minutes. It won’t hurt much so try to stay still.”

  I nodded and looked at Ezra. I flinched when a cold swab was stroked against my left ring finger.

  “Hey, look at me.” Ezra took my other hand. “It’s not going to hurt.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Yes, I am, but that’s what you’re supposed to say to calm people down. Look at me and it will be over before you know it.”

  There was a buzzing sound. Screeching, I jerked my hand from Matt when the piercing sensation came to my skin. He held onto my wrist. I whipped my head to see what was causing the pain. There was a purplish imprint on my fingers, but I couldn’t make out the word because Ezra cupped my jaw and turned my face.

  “Don’t move. You’ll ruin it,” Matt scolded.

  I nodded and shut my eyes. The pain returned, I tried as hard as possible to stay still, clutching onto Ezra’s hand and curling my toes.

  “Done,” Matt announced. I opened my eyes, taking in a few deep breaths. It actually didn’t hurt much. “Do you want a look before I tape it?”

  “Yes.” I eagerly drew my hands from his. The tattoo was drawn on the inside of my finger. I stared at it joining my brows. I glanced at Ezra, then back at my finger. “This is the part where you explain why this is on my finger, and awe me with your logic, or else we have a big fucking problem.”

  The tattoo was the word imperfect—the end of the T trailed off to a lifeline.

  Ezra’s lips took the form of a sweet and innocent smile. And I waited for the explanation. It had better be good.

  “I don’t know if we are meant to be either, but whoever puts a ring on that finger should know that you are imperfect. He should accept you the way you are and love you despite your flaws. If not ...” He elegantly shrugged a shoulder. “He doesn’t deserve you. If he can’t accept the inner you, he doesn’t deserve any part of you. Even if it’s not me, keep your standards high.”

  “I love you,” I mouthed.

  The first thing I did when Matt released me, was jump on Ezra and kissed him until Matt complained that we were wasting his time. Ezra hopped on the chair and it was my turn to give the instructions for Ezra’s tattoo.

  Ezra recoiled slightly when the needle hit his skin. I kissed his forehead to make it better. His took a bit longer but when it was done, he looked at it smiling. “Five stars,” he chuckled.

  “Yes, whoever puts a ring on that finger has to know that your heart is worth five stars. Even with the abundance of mistakes that you’ve made. If she doesn’t give you a five-star review, then the bitch doesn’t deserve you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ezra

  “This is how it’s going down,” Nunes instructed, spreading open the blueprint of the warehouse Chichi had her base of operations in. “We’ll have units here, here, and here.” He pointed at each spot as he spoke. “If somehow you don’t manage to get out before we come in, stay away from the entry points. Got it?”

  “Yeah, I got it.”

  “Alright. So next week, on Wednesday we’ll bust the warehouse. You have to continue as if nothing is going on Ezra, these people are good readers. They will notice a mole from miles away so be careful. If there’s any change in their attitude, you let me know immediately.”

  Nodding, I said, “I will.”

  “Here.” He handed me a phone. “Use this to reach me. This phone can’t be traced by anyone other than our tech team. If at any moment you sense that somethin’ isn’t right—”

  “I know, I’ll let you know.”

  Nunes was concerned about my safety, but I could tell he was even more concerned about the success of this operation. Everything had to be handled perfectly if he wanted to get his hands on Chichi. She was meticulous and didn’t ascend to where she was by luck.

  I told him everything I knew. Dates, locations, descriptions of any piece of information I was able to uncover without raising suspicion.

  “What about my family?”

  “It will be taken care of before we hit the warehouse. They’ll be safe and patrols will be around the girl’s parents for a while just in case.”

  We were reaching the endgame. Soon this would all be over. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans and left. Nunes stayed behind a while longer and then would leave through the back entrance.

  Chichi summoned me to her hotel room. What shocked me was how I found her sitting in a chair with her eyes shut and feet propped up. A man was sticking a needle into her right arm. She shuddered with pain.

  “Where have you been?” She asked. “I’ve been looking for you all morning.”

  “You’re sick?”

  Rearranging herself in the chair, she laughed dryly. “You don’t miss anything do you?” The man placed a quilt over her legs and handed her a cup of ice chips. She crunched some. “Don’t worry. I’m sick, not dying. You won’t get rid of me for at least a few more years.”

  Her face was bare of all makeup and her skin was ashen. Not ghost-like, just subdued and grayish, like all the life was slowly draining out of her soul. I felt bad for her in a humane way, but other than that there was nothing more I felt for that woman.

  “Trust me, I’m not worried.”

  “Sleeping isn’t allowed during chemotherapy—they can’t tell if you’re having a reaction or just dozing off. That’s why you are here to keep me awake.”

  Was this woman for real?

  “On the table are two files.” She gestured with her head towards the opposite side of the room. “The black one is a list of our enemies and people we don’t do business with and the other is the opposite. They are our allies. Study them and if you have any questions, I’m here to answer them.”

  I crossed the room and flipped through the pages. She’d offered the least information possible. There were only pictures, names and what line of business they were in. While she had her eyes shut, I took pictures and forwarded them to Nunes.

  “Did you ever miss me, Ezra?”

  That question was almost comical. How could I miss someone who was never there for me? Someone who never cared. She was always a ghost of a memory of the woman who walked out on us, destroying my father’s life.

  “Nope.” My answer was curt and my tone purposefully hurtful. “I have a mother who was always there for me. She filled whatever absence you left.”

  “Claire? Was she good to you?”

  “I cou
ldn’t have had a better person raise me. She was and has always been there for me.” That was the absolute truth. My Aunt Claire, was a rock in my life. She’d treated me like I was her own. “Do you regret leaving us?”

  “I regret very few things in life.”

  “How about my father, do you regret what you did to him?”

  “You Collin men are so weak.” I sensed the exasperation in her voice. “You, for example, got your heart broken by a girl and started selling drugs. I left your father and he became lost in a memory. That’s why you need me, Ezra. I will turn you into a man and you’re going to be a legend, just like me.”

  I snorted. “God forbid I end up like you.” I flipped through more pages and continued sending everything to Nunes.

  “Did, um, your father ever talk about me?”

  “Never.”

  “How about your uncle?”

  “Everything I know about you, I learned from him. He was the only person willing to tell me what happened.”

  “Have you ever wondered if everything he told you was true? What if he lied or omitted a few facts? You can never fully believe a story until you hear from both sides.”

  She was trying to plant doubt in my mind perhaps to create a falling out between my uncle and me. I wouldn’t fall for it. Vinnie wouldn’t have lied to me about such a matter.

  “I’ve met you and I’ve lived with Vinnie all my life, if I have to believe someone, I’ll believe the person who was always there for me.”

  Chichi was quiet, however, I sensed eyes on me. I cocked my head to find the nurse watching me. A crease settled between his brows. He was so silent I’d almost forgotten about him. Calmly, I stowed the phone and continued scanning through the pages.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Christina

  Summer was around the corner and what better way to celebrate than with a wedding? The skies were bright blue, the crisp late morning breeze rising from the Pacific held a whiff of the salty sea. A white marquee, that was separated into two halves by a long white carpet sprinkled with red rose petals, shielded us from the sun.