King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(32)
King Venclaire snorted, dragging Ezra, who had stopped and wavered, and then started moving again. “Too far? Yes, I would say so. You two started a damn brawl in the only bar inside King Cave. Everything is smashed and broken.”
Ezra lifted a finger while I blinked blurry eyes, having to tilt my head to see him. “Not the far pool table.” His sloppy grin was unrepentant. “It may be a little off-tilt. Two women were dancing on it for me, but it’s not broken.”
I snorted. “You mean the two sluts you f*cked earlier in the bar’s bathroom?”
Ezra growled. It was Vampire. “Better than you f*cking Finn in the bar’s supply closet.”
Pointing an instant, furious finger, I hissed, “No one went in there! It had a lock on the door, unlike the bathroom where everyone went in and out to use the only other stall! The whole bar was telling stories of what they could hear going on!”
“Shut up!” Antonio yelled at the top of his lungs. He shook me on his shoulder so fiercely I had to slap a hand over my mouth to keep the alcohol down, which was trying to reappear. “I lied, Lil! Children f*cking suck.”
“You know,” Ezra murmured as if he hadn’t heard Antonio, his blinking eyes turning toward King Venclaire. “We didn’t technically start the fight. Lily and I never once touched each other with harmful intent.” Innocent eyes. “Everyone else started throwing punches.” He smiled and patted the back of my head. “I even saved her from being impaled by a flying bar stool.”
“I ducked,” I muttered.
Instant. “With my assistance.”
“You tripped into me,” I stated heatedly. “I saved your ass by pulling you down.”
“That was the second bar stool,” Ezra griped, trying to bend to peer into my eyes, but was yanked up by King Venclaire. “I was talking about the first one.”
“There was only one bar stool, you idiot,” I muttered. “Now you’re imagining things.”
“No, you just don’t remember because you didn’t actually see it.” His resulting grin was ridiculously smug. “I’m that good.”
I peered at King Venclaire. “Will you smack him again, please?”
“Only if he speaks.” King Venclaire’s features were of mixed amusement and irritation.
Alright. I glanced at Ezra. “Man-whore.”
“Bitch,” Ezra grumbled.
King Venclaire slapped Ezra upside his head.
I grinned lazily. “Thank you.” I patted Antonio’s back. “I want a different room.”
“No,” Antonio stated promptly. “Work out your issues. Quit running from them.”
“We’re not running from them,” I slurred, letting my head hang in defeat. “We’re yelling and drinking them away.” In the past week I had figured out what my issue was, and I didn’t want to confront it.
“Lots of yelling,” King Venclaire muttered. “Lots of drinking.”
Ezra chuckled, and I saw his feet wobble from side-to-side before moving straight. “We fight pretty well together.”
“Yes, you’ve entertained many this week,” Antonio grumbled dryly. “You should be proud of the fact your future subjects have gotten a firsthand look at the Prodigies losing it.”
Shame filled me knowing I was behaving like a child. Frustration ran through me like toxic waste because I didn’t know what to do. Add in my alcohol consumption tonight and, well, I started bawling. Giant, hot tears blinded me and sobs started racking my frame. I hated fighting with Ezra. I detested feeling this way, everything jumbled and screwed up. I was so confused it was becoming debilitating.
“Hey!” Ezra roared. “She’s crying!”
I heard a grunt, and then a thud, while I let out all my emotions flowing through my wretched tears. Only a beat later, strong hands were ripping me away from Antonio in a blur, even as I heard another thud. Then Ezra’s bloodshot eyes were staring down at me, his protective warm arms wrapped around me tight, holding me close. Worry etched his tone, his eyes darting back and forth between mine. “Did he hurt you?”
I sobbed and shook my head, the action making his face waver for a moment.
Ezra’s nostrils flared and his eyebrows slanted together until his attention slammed over my head. His predator growled. “Stay the f*ck back.” He wobbled and blinked, still holding me close, and then slipped his hand away from my waist to bend and tuck it under my legs. He lifted me in a blur.
We were flying.
It truly felt as such while Ezra used his Vampire speed, running so fast I wouldn’t be able to track him. Less than ten seconds later, he thumped against the wall directly next to his door, having evaded Antonio and King Venclaire, wherever they were now. Although, getting inside our room took longer than the trek there did. He couldn’t easily get the key out of his pocket while holding me, and since I was still clinging to him while I wept, he wasn’t putting me down.
When we finally got inside, I cried as quietly as I could, since Jack and Pearl were asleep. Earlier, Ezra and I had left them after making sure they were out. Tucking them into bed had become part of our normal nightly activities — recently alongside drinking and arguing — after taking care of them.
Ezra didn’t take us to the bed, instead placing me on the black couch and smashing me against the back of it when he lay down, too. It felt right, him keeping me warm and safe as I wrecked his shirt with my tears and grasping fists. He didn’t say anything — he was never one for words when I cried — only running his fingers through my hair, keeping me close. We fell asleep that way, curled around one another as we had done before everything had shifted.