Their Wife

Twenty-Three

I flinched at the words. My heart clenched.

"Thought so," he commented to himself.

Like me?

The words had taken a moment to process since I was stunned by the ones that followed.

Silence enveloped us for painfully long seconds. I looked anywhere but at him.

He sighed. "It gets easier with time."

I jumped a little. "What?"

"The panic."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. What was he talking about?

"The panic you felt when you recognized that Ezra was mad at you," he elaborated. "Feeling like he was done with you when he left."

How...

I tilted my head. It was intriguing how accurate his words were. How could he pin me so accurately?

I was like you once.

Something bloomed in my chest as I looked at Zev in a new light. Something only a kindred soul could understand. A warmth.

But it proved I was a bad person.

Only a bad person would feel comfort in others experiencing the same horrors they did.

He had leaned back against the sofa. His presence was frigid and demanded attention. The lavender of his eyes didn't follow the calming path that the beautiful flower with the same name walked. No. His eyes were cold and sharp- intimidating; calculating.

"Don't worry. It goes away once you start to realize they're not going to leave you- that there won't be consequences."

They?

I could see the woman from earlier approaching from the other side of the room. She was carrying a black tray with a few small boxes on top.

"Hey, Nea?"

I swallowed at the unexpected address. Looking away from the woman, I looked towards Zev. He wasn't looking at me. He was watching the woman approach through hooded eyes as his head rested on the back of the sofa.

"If Jaxon lays his hands on you again, tell one of us." He tilted his head and looked me in the eyes. "If anyone lays their hands on you."

I looked at him for a moment, taking in the sincerity before nodding my head.

His eyes looked over my face. He clenched his jaw. "Don't take this the wrong way. I just don't want you to think we allow that kind of behaviour in our home. This doesn't make us friends." He looked away dismissively and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, as the woman reached us.

"I have the bracelets and the ring. You can look it over while I take your size and get the jeweller to adjust it just right so you can take it home with you today!" The woman- Cynthia according to her little gold name tag- said as she placed the tray on the table.

I looked away from Zev and towards Cynthia while trying to suppress a smile.

Didn't think we were.

I sat by quietly as Zev inspected the five silver bracelets in leather boxes. They were simple, straight, rectangular bands that curved to fit the wrist with a name- one for each of them- engraved on the inside.

After he was done looking over the bracelets, the woman opened and handed him a sixth box. In it was a ring. Delicate details in the same silver metal as the bracelets framed a beautiful blue jewel. It was a blue that reminded me of storm-