|◁ II ▷|

beyoncé — start over.

THE GENTLE SWOOSH from the silk, draping floor-length curtains had hid the lovers out of plain sight. The purpose of the Emirati trip was to recharge their batteries and rekindle the lust that they lost.

Ebén was reminded of the vibrancy of her roars and trembles as he entered into her & continued to drive.

The catalyst that sparked a notable change in Ebén had regrettably been the unfamiliar feeling of rejection dressed in the nubile body and face of Maya St. Thomas. It should not have the turning point that impelled Ebén to make amends; but it was.

He had grown tired of imploding his arousal into the cores of women who were at best forgettable and returning back to his marble walls to do it all over again.

He wanted to share his life with someone; especially his high peaks and terrible lows.

Ezra's petite legs were wrapped tightly with his; dressed in nothing but sun kissed skin. It made no sense for either of them to be clothed — when they said spent the majority of the day with it off.

"Morning" She loved the twang in his morning husk.

"Morning, Ezra. You sleep well?"

She snoozed mildly as she rose to wake, still reeling from the fact that her core had been rocked, stirred and shaken — just the way she liked it.

"Yeah, good thanks"

Though, it seemed insignificantly trivial — she had been taken aback by his recent interest in her welfare. Naturally, she used to hate seeing the sun rise as it would usually spell that he wanted her gone. Yet, something had caused the status quo to change; and the dark-heated man had grown... a heart.

She was reluctant to press him with questions as to why it had but would enjoy basking in his kindness for as long as he would let her.

Her fingers raced under the rumpled duvet and down south to his boxers, "So why are we in Dubai?"

His eyes reconvened to her, still as attentive even after the sun went down, "I want to start over"

"With who?"

Ezra was adamantly sure that she wasn't the one; he wanted to start over with. He never took a day off to laud her continuously with his carping tongue and his foul moods that she always found herself on the wrong side of — it couldn't have been her that he was making reference to.

"You."

Oh, holy shit.

She had waited years to hear him personally validate her feelings and it really did hit different.

"I also wanted to say sorry"

That perked her up, "What for?"

"For the way I've treated you. You stuck by me when no one did... and you don't deserve that cruelty"

Okay now, now I'm convinced that I've crash landed on an alternate universe because his kindness doesn't even make sense. At all.

She paused — her brows slanted up with wariness, "Shouldn't I... apologise?"

A short and deep-sounding yawn abruptly made her pause, "Should you?"

She cleared her throat as she sat up, clearing a mountain pile of duvet that had buried them both deep, "Well yeah. I... kinda ruined your birthday?"

Reassuring her and her tense shoulders, "Nah, that's water under a bridge, trust me"

Okay, this is definitely weird.

"Okay. I just have to ask — "

"Shoot?" He raked a hand through his hair.

Her silvery-white eyes flicked up at him, not longingly, but with a degree of understandable caution, "You're being too nice. What's the catch?"

"There isn't one" said Ebén, not at all offended by her obvious reservations as he hadn't really given her a reason to bank on his word but he was determined to prove his intent with time, "I want to give it a go"

She then snorted piggishly; still unbelieving, "Are you tellin' me shit you think I want to hear but in reality, you don't mean a single word of it?"

"I meant it every single word."

Ezra couldn't wait any longer for the penny to drop; and she absolved herself of her reservations and  slowly crawled towards him and flinging the mountain-duvet out of her way.

Fuck it.

"I want the same things you do" she threaded her lips with his in an elongated kiss, her eyes, now ravenous.

He strapped his fingers to the front of her throat and sunk his lips into her mouth; giving her sloppy and she gave it to him back. She, too, used her hands which were pliant and small to run through his hair like a maze — tugging on loose strands of his hair.

Even as he voiced his intent to Ezra, Ebén couldn't crowd out this large mass of guilt that was a permanent fixture in his chest. Hearing how Maya had decidedly judged him was worse than the painful sting of her rejection; because she chose to believe slander rather than to hear the truth from the horse's mouth.

Ezra batted her big eyes at him dirtily, "I'm going to take a hot shower. Do you wanna join me?"

The word 'dirty' had made his mind wander and reminisce at the thought of Maya waking up naked. He wondered what the scent of her core tasted like and could only imagine the definition on her curves; now that she couldn't hide behind her clothes.

Fuck, focus.

"Baby?" Ezra called out, noticing his mind had taken him elsewhere and his breath was scuppered.

He had become stiff from lustful imagination, "Sorry. I'll join you — soon. I just need to make a quick call"

"Sure."

She glared at him pensively; wondering if she had (unbeknownst to her) done something that had caused him to silently pull away from her.

MINUTES LATER, Ebén looked up to form an assessment of the balcony view. Hands dug into his joggers, the sole of his feet paced along the granite balcony floor. He felt a buzzing in his trouser pocket and leant over the balcony edge to answer it.

"Missing us already?"

He mumbled quietly, caution filling his tongue, "Ha, you could say that.. Sorry to call you on your break with your missus — "

"It's all good. What's good?"

Ebén could sense his unease, he didn't need to say it, the silence was enough of an indicator.

His chest rose as he let out a troubled sigh, "I'm coping. What have you done so far?"

"We been in bed all day. So, I'm taking Ezra to the Dubai Mall later, and then I've got reservation booked at Hutong..."

"Huntong? Isn't that where you prop — "

"Yeah, it actually was"

Rhodes let out another sigh.

"Rhodes, talk to me. You don't sound good?" Ebén said, pinning the phone to his ear.

Rhodes said in a rushed blurt, his mouth barely keeping up with the pace of his words, "I, urm, need a big favour. Not sure what else to do or who to ask"

His tone grew sharper and shaky, "I need fifty grand... if you have it. I know it's — "

He butted in mid-sentence, "I'll wire it to you when I get back. Don't worry"

"You will?!" Rhodes' tone hitting high.

"Course"

Ebén did wonder, though, what sort of trouble Rhodes had gotten himself into as he wasn't the type of a man that had indiscretions.

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A/N: Anyone believe Ebén really wanting to start over with Ezra or is he just placating his ego? Somehow, I'm not too convinced. Anyone feel the same as me?