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  2. Severed Heart (Ravenhood Legacy Book 2)

  3. Severed Heart: Chapter 42
Severed Heart (Ravenhood Legacy Book 2)

Severed Heart: Chapter 42

EZEKIEL GROANS FROM where he lays on my old couch, swatting at his forehead where a fly landed, his action severely delayed due to his state. Not long after, he turns his agony-twisted expression toward me where I sit inches away—perched at the edge of the coffee table while trying very hard to hold my laughter. My typically immaculately dressed and formidable nephew looks an utter mess in his disheveled suit, gin leaking from his every pore. Even with my hope that he never abuses the drink as I have, I manage to find the humor in this situation. Especially as he groans in his stupor at the headache I’m sure is brewing behind his eyes.
“I do not miss this part, at all,” I whisper to Tyler, where he stands behind me, also in wait. Armed with one of my headache powders, a dog’s hair of my nephew’s preferred gin sits in the glass next to me, as well as one of Tyler’s sports drinks.
After another handful of seconds, Ezekiel groans, and I can’t help the soft, nervous laugh that escapes me when he loudly smacks his parched lips. At the sound of my chuckle, Ezekiel’s eyes finally slit open. The unmistakable color of his father’s, he looks over and blinks a few times before he focuses on me.
Just after, he lifts his fire-colored gaze over my shoulder and narrows it on the man standing behind me. My oldest nephew had crash-landed last night after weeks of purposeful silence. His refusal to speak to his brothers a punishment after discovering Jean Dominic and Sean’s betrayal in their involvement with Cecelia. Tyler reported Ezekiel was so angry upon arrival that he got black-out drunk and passed out just after doling out the rest of their punishment. Which forced Tyler to somehow get him here and drag him to the couch.
Tyler called me just after and asked if it was okay that he stay with him until he woke. I happily stayed home, unafraid, after three blissful weeks in the new house. The change of location alone during these weeks having transported me into a much better headspace—a healing space. But despite my hatred for this house, I came to see my nephew and possibly sort through what contents here that I might consider bringing to my new home.
“The fuck are you two doing?” Ezekiel finally asks as he lifts to sit and then stand, taking off his jacket due to the stifling August heat and the shit air conditioning in this house. Something else I do not miss. Making me question how I lived here for so long with so little comfort?
In a drunken, numb blur. That’s how.
Picking up the gin and powder, I offer it to Ezekiel, and he takes it, his glare remaining on Tyler.
“Hello to you too,” I say through another laugh. “I am here to pick up some things and came to see you,” I tell him as he has sense enough to open the powder, but only after gulping down his gin. After lining his tongue with the medicine, he downs half the sports drink as I chuckle. My laughter earns me a nasty side-eye from Tobias before he poses his question to Tyler. “And you?”
“I’m the guy who got you to safety last night after you went comatose, remember?” Tyler utters as the tension between them starts to brew.
Sighing, Ezekiel resumes his seat in front of me, and I grab his hand in an effort to regain his attention. Celine’s son has become such a strong, intimidating, powerful, brilliant, and handsome man. Just after I softly say his name, Ezekiel finally lowers his wrathful gaze to me and stares back at me. A few long seconds pass before his stare lightens by a fraction. “You look . . . well, Tatie.”
“Thank you,” I smile, “I feel well, and you look like shit,” I laugh.
“Thanks,” he clips, rolling his eyes before addressing me, “and your treatments are done?” he prods, ignoring Tyler entirely as he scans me, starting to sense the change.
“Yes, all done, thank fuck,” I answer with a happy sigh as he continues to stare back at me curiously.
“You’ve put on some weight. Your complexion is . . .” He pauses the sports drink at his lips. “Wait . . .” his eyes roll over me for long speculative seconds. “Tatie, are you . . . sober?”
I nod several times, smiling with pride-filled tears in my eyes. “Thirty-four days today, Ezekiel.”
His jaw goes slack, and his eyes immediately lift to Tyler before they narrow.
“It’s not like I could fucking tell you with you avoiding me,” Tyler defends, “you were MIA for three fucking weeks before you popped up last night, brother.”
“Yeah well, as it seems, we’re all full of surprises,” he snaps with contempt before Ezekiel’s eyes slowly float back down to me. “Tatie, how? I mean—”
“Tyler got me an at-home nurse to detox here,” I say, reaching for Tyler’s hand as it lands on my shoulder. Ezekiel eyes the contact, but I don’t release it, holding each of their hands.
“I’m in therapy now if you can believe it. Every day.” I bulge my eyes as I squeeze his hand. “I came here today to make you a promise. That I will never drink again, Ezekiel. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long, and it may be far too late for this apology, but I swear to you I will never take another sip.”
Shock registers everywhere in his face as he tilts his head, still a bit disbelieving.
“You don’t have to . . . promise me, Tatie, but it’s, fuck, it’s good to hear,” he winces, his hangover visibly increasing as he takes his hand back to unbutton and roll the sleeves of his linen shirt up his forearms. “But,” he shakes his head a little, his expression sincere. “I’m proud of you . . . which is not something I can fucking say about anyone else at the moment.”
“Don’t let our shit take this from her,” Tyler snaps, “she’s been bursting at the fucking seams to tell you.”
Ezekiel shakes his head sarcastically. “I’m gone for mere months, and where the fuck do I land?” he sighs, “in an alternate reality.”
“You can’t control people, T, or their emotions,” Tyler states with an edge. “That’s what I’ve learned the hard way over time and why I don’t do personal. You and I need to have a conversation. I owe you an apology that I truly want to give along with an explanation,” he sighs, “but it’s clear you’re not going to hear it today. So, I’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready to talk, but,” Tyler grips me around my middle before pulling me off the table. Squealing in surprise, he hoists me to his side, propping me next to him and smiling down at me.
“She’s having a good day that she worked really fucking hard to get to, and neither of us nor our shit needs to ruin it for her. So how about you let her clear the doorway before you take a swing at me? Or better yet, when you decide you’ll hear me out, give me a call.”
Ezekiel stands suddenly, wrath clear on his face.
“Don’t hold your fucking breath for that call,” he snaps. “I won’t be dialing it, and you think I haven’t fucking known you’ve been in love with her since you were seventeen?” He scoffs. “You’re all fucking delusional, but don’t think for one second I’ll be viewing you as some stand-in stepdaddy.” Ezekiel tilts his head menacingly. “Or maybe that’s why your thinking is fucking warped right now, and you believe you have some right to call the shots on this.”
Ezekiel’s comment sucks all oxygen from the space as Tyler releases me. I feel the dangerous tension start to fill the room before Tyler speaks, his warning lethal in delivery. “You get one, one fucking below-the-belt shot, and that was it. One,” he spits with a venom I’ve never heard, “or maybe I stop answering your calls altogether.”
“You say that as if it would be a bad thing,” Ezekiel snaps back instantly. “And you have some fucking audacity thinking that’s a threat for me.”
“Careful, asshole,” Tyler warns, the anger rolling off both men palpable. “You’ve already written off two of your brothers. Do you want to go for three?”
“Do I have brothers left?” Ezekiel scoffs. “Seems to me that they’ve all decided to start substituting their dicks for their goddamned brains.”
Tyler turns to me, a fire lit in his eyes. “Go grab whatever you need to from the bedroom, okay?”
“I can wait,” I whisper, the violence rolling off him, sparking a dangerous air in the room. The air surrounding Ezekiel alone enough to stifle me.
Tyler shakes his head, his expression reassuring even as his body starts to coil. “You said you wanted to get some things?”
I nod, fear filtering in as both men look upon one another as if ready to draw blood.
“Please don’t fight,” I whisper to Tyler before addressing my nephew. “Ezekiel, please try to see reason. I know you are hurt, and I understand, but please try.”
“I can’t right now, Tatie,” he utters, an equally dangerous edge in his timbre, “and you know well why. Stay out of this.”
“Go,” Tyler urges, facing off with Ezekiel, chin lifted. “Grab what you want. I’ll load it up in a little bit.”
Ten long minutes later, Tyler and Ezekiel are practically screaming in the living room, and I wince at the sound of their blistering back-and-forth.
“. . . you destroyed my fucking trust! Why in the fuck should I listen to a word you say?” Ezekiel argues.
“. . . sending them away when we’ve just started to set things in motion? We’ve been separated for fucking years already, Tobias!”
“And you don’t think it’s just punishment?”
“Yes,” Tyler responds as I dig into the back of my closet for the first time in decades. “I do. Honestly, I do, T, but then again, you have no fucking idea what fielding the shit that’s gone down this summer has been like! No fucking clue because I’ve protected you from it! I’ve literally killed myself, and so has Dom, as well as every inked bird to keep you from the brunt of the weight of it! . . . Look, I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now, and it’s warranted. I’m not denying that, but it’s your reaction now, this behavior, is exactly why you weren’t fucking told or trusted with it!”
“Don’t you dare fucking preach to me about morality. Are you fucking my aunt?”
I wince at Ezekiel’s blunt question as Tyler instantly explodes with his reply. “That’s not and will never be your goddamned business!”
“No,” Ezekiel counters, “because you don’t do personal, right brother?”
“No, I fucking don’t and never will because of this fucking situation right here. This shit always gets messy. But they didn’t do this to hurt you, and I’m positive you fucking saw that last night in their faces as I have for months! Drunk or not, I know you saw it, and I’m willing to bet my own ink it’s why you let them keep theirs . . . Jesus, I’m sorry, and I’m sorry I covered for them, but I would do the fucking same for you if the circumstances were reversed.”
“No secrets between us, your words, your fucking oath to me!” Ezekiel roars.
“That’s right, my oath, not theirs. This is different, T. They didn’t expect to fall in love with her.”
“And because you’re just as fucked in the head, that makes it okay?”
“Being in love or caring for someone is not being fucked in the head, you blind fucking bastard, but I’m done throwing pearls in front of swine today. I’m done talking at you another fucking minute. Come find me when your anger isn’t the sole basis for your judgment, and you’ve reached a place where you can speak like a reasonable adult.”
“Who do the fuck do you think you are talking to me like this? You forget your place.”
“My place?!” Tyler roars. “My fucking place is whatever and wherever I want it to be, you arrogant fuck, and by choice! We might have decided together there is a pecking order, but it’s always been our decision to honor it. We aren’t fucking bound to you by anything else but loyalty. And you might want to remember that when and if they willingly get on that fucking plane as ordered . . . and you know what, asshole? While you’re at it—and since you deem us all unfit to handle your club—deal with it yourself for a while, and let’s see how you fucking fare without our help!”
“Fine with me, motherfucker!” Ezekiel snaps before they both explode in more heated back-and-forth. Filled to the brim with anxiety, when I lift an old sheet set, I come across a box. The sight of it has every hair on my body standing on end before I’m pulled straight under.
“—what are these?”
“—you found—”
An image of Alain standing next to the kitchen table, eyes littered with rage, fills my vision as mixed voices continually surround me.
“—don’t worry, I got them cheap.”
“—when I find you, I will fucking kill you!”
“Delphine,” Tyler whispers as I come to, seeing that he’s on his knees in front of me in the closet. Ezekiel stands behind him, peering at me where I’m cowering, with my hands covering my chest and head as Tyler frantically scans my face.
“What is it?” Tyler asks, scouring the closet before gently palming and lowering the protective hands I have lifted. “Please,” Tyler prods, “please talk to me.”
I blink several times before I finally croak. “What happened?”
“You started screaming,” Ezekiel rasps out behind him, his admission haunted, as are both their expressions.
“I want to go,” I whisper low, “I want nothing here. Soldier, please get me out of here,” I whimper before a fear-filled cry bursts out of me. For the first time in a decade or more, I crack in front of Ezekiel, who gapes at my outburst as Tyler clutches me to him, holding me for several seconds to his chest.
“Jesus Christ, you’re shaking so badly,” Tyler whispers. “I’ve got you, let’s go.”
Tyler sweeps me to my feet before we walk past Ezekiel, who carefully trails the two of us, watching our every move. Tyler guides me down the hall, stopping at the end of it before glancing back at my baffled nephew.
“Like I said, brother. You have no fucking idea what’s been happening here, and if you want to talk, we can have a conversation later.”
Ezekiel ignores him completely, his eyes bolted to me.
“Tatie . . . are you okay?” His confusion tugs my heart as he tries to understand what just happened while I grapple with the emotions pummeling me. Normally, I would retreat, isolate, and sip to numb, to stifle it. To protect him from seeing me in such a state, but I have no such luxury anymore. The one true price of my sobriety. A price I want to solely pay.
“I will be fine. I just need to get out of this fucking house,” I tell him, and he draws his brows in confusion. “I don’t live here anymore,” I clarify in a rush. “I want to talk to you,” I tell him, “but maybe not today, okay?”
He lingers in my doorway before glancing inside my closet, and I know he’s looking for the source of my distress as I address him.
“Ezekiel, leave it,” I command in a tone he knows well, a firm order. “Close the door . . . this is my mess to sort, and I will when I am ready. This is not for you. I have . . .” protected you from this for too long. “Close the door.”
He nods, pulling the door closed as I asked, confused by what’s happening as he speaks again. “You don’t live here?”
“No. I’ve freed myself of all poisons,” I blow out a breath. “Please be careful to do the same. Anger is a very dangerous poison. I know you are hurt, but please try to remember that with Jean Dominic and Sean.”
“How long have you not lived here?” he asks, deaf to my reason, the pain leaking from him clear as he stands looking like a man lost. My need to go to him strengthens, but I know I have to gather myself for that.
“That’s what happens when you don’t answer your phone for almost a fucking month,” Tyler snaps.
“Stop it, Soldier,” I scold gently before looking back to my nephew. For a brief second, I see a glimpse of the boy who waved me off at Celine’s feet the day before I left France.
“Au revoir, Tatie!”
“Au revoir, Ézéchiel.”
“I will come to you. We will talk soon, okay?”
Ezekiel gives me a slow nod, utterly perplexed by what’s transpired. Just after, Tyler ushers me out of the house and into the cab of his truck.
“I saw Alain,” I confess in a rush as Tyler turns the ignition, and I look over to see him eagerly searching me. “I saw him clearly. That night. I saw him coming toward me,” I start to shake again. “I saw his rage. I saw my death in his eyes.”
Tyler swallows and nods. “I’ll call Mom and have her meet us at the house,” he whispers before palming my hip and sliding me flush to him in the seat. “Hold onto me, General, and don’t let go.”
Face planted to his chest and inhaling his comforting smell, I don’t let go the whole ride back to the orchard.
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