Chapter Thirty-One
Ezra
One week after the fight, we boarded the private jet to New Zealand. Hannah told me that the police had caught the guy that had gotten into her house, so that was a load off both of our shoulders. My adrenaline was still going from the day I pummeled him. When I told Jeff about it, he said that all those months in the gym were paying off in more ways than one. But honestly, even if I didn’t lift a single weight, I think it still would have ended the same way for that guy. Hannah was already on the flight when I showed up. The security escorted me to a private airport just outside of the city. I didn’t even know it was there, but it was hidden far off the highway, and the flights usually took off early in the morning just to minimize the attention.
She sat in a reclining chair with her feet propped up on the footrest. As soon as I walked in, she lowered it and welcomed me onto the flight with a kiss. “Hey, babe,” she said as we embraced.
“Hey, baby. How are you?”
“I’m good.”
She grabbed hold of my arm and took a glance at the bandage that was wrapped around my wound. She tried to unravel it, but I held her hand in place. “No, don’t. I just wrapped it up again before I got out here. It is still a little fresh, but it is healing nicely.”
She poked her bottom lip out. She had apologized repeatedly for the past week about placing me in that situation with her crazy stalker. For some reason, she felt like it was her fault, even though I told her that it wasn’t. She can’t control who likes her and what they are willing to go through just to get close to her. It wasn’t her fault, but I couldn’t tell her anything other than, “I forgive you.”
I gently grabbed her chin and lifted her eyes towards mine. “Hey, what did I tell you? It’s not your fault, all right? Just let it go. I’m just happy I was there.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ve been saying the same thing all week, but I can’t help how I feel about it.” She slid her hand into mine and interlocked our fingers. Suddenly, a wide smile spread across her face. “Come on,” she said with excitement. “Let me show you around this jet. It is soooooo nice!” She took me further into the jet. There was a small wet bar against the window with crystal glasses hanging across the top. The floor was carpeted, and one long, brown leather couch sat on the other side of the aircraft with two small tables bolted to the ground. On each side of the couch, there were two smaller chairs, and on the wall near the cockpit, there was a flat screen television mounted on the wall.
The only time I had seen anything like this was in a movie or an upscale magazine that highlighted the lives of the rich and famous. I tried not to look too anxious to be inside of this luxurious jet, but I couldn’t keep my smile hidden. “Go ahead,” Hannah said. “Smile! Shoot, I know I did as soon as I got on this thing. I’ve been smiling ever since I sat in that big, soft recliner. I can’t believe we are about to fly like this!”
“Yeah,” I said as I grabbed one of the champagne glasses. “I can’t either. One day, though, and one day soon, I will own one of these for myself.”
Just as I put the glass back into its spot on the wet bar, Leonard seemingly came out of nowhere, clapping his hands together as if he had just seen one of the greatest feats known to man. “Yes, yes, yes,” he said, reaching towards Hannah for an embrace. “Welcome to my home away from home, away from home.” He kissed Hannah on each cheek, then embraced her once again as I watched with a curious look. When they released, he switched his attention to me. “And you, Ezra, my handsome star in the making. Come, come,” he ushered me closer to him. “Don’t be shy. You know how I operate now, I am sure of it.”
I reluctantly embraced him, squirming as he brushed his lips against each one of my cheeks. “So, I am happy that you all made it here. The ride here was smooth, no?” He didn’t give us a chance to respond. “Oh, of course it was! I only hire the best drivers and security detail, so I know that- ” he stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the bandage on my arm. His mouth opened slowly like a whale in the depths of the ocean. His eyes lifted from my bandage until we met mine. “What happened?!” he gasped. “What in the world happened, Ezra?!”
He lunged for my wrist, but I kept it away from him. Just behind him, Hannah lowered her gaze to the floor as if she were a young child getting ready to be scolded by her parents. “Ezra! For heaven’s sake, let me look! What happened?! You must tell me at once!”
“I um, I just got into a minor accident.”
His eyes widened like saucers as he put his hand over his heart. “Accident!? Oh, no, no, no! Automobile?! Please, tell me that you or anybody else weren’t seriously hurt!”
“No, Leonard, not a car accident. Just a scratch. I was lifting weights this past week, and one of the machines caught a hold of my forearm.”
“Dear God! You must take the bandage off at once so I can analyze it! We are headed to New Zealand, and you cannot wear long-sleeved shirts in New Zealand! Your arms,” he rubbed my other forearm, “they need to be out in the open!” When he rubbed his hands onto my chest, I was moments away from socking him in the mouth. “And these pecs! Yes, they must see it all! They must get a full view of this body of art! Remove it, Ezra! Remove it at once!”
“Leonard, it is nothing, really. It’s just a–”
“Remove it!” he said, stomping his foot on the floor. I glanced at Hannah as she turned her back to our interaction. I exhaled, then unwrapped the bandage as Leonard tapped his foot against the floor with his arms folded across his chest. “Goodness, I hope this is not bad! I hope this is not bad!” Once the bandage was removed, he slid his glasses onto his ears and leaned down to get a closer look. He squinted his eyes together as if he still couldn’t see my scar well enough. After he had got a good enough look, he straightened himself out and removed his glasses.
Hannah paced the side of the jet, waiting for Leonard to finish his examination. “Did you know about this?” he asked her. When she spun around, I could tell that she was searching for a way to explain the scar on my wrist.
“I umm–”
“No, she didn’t,” I said, interrupting her response. Leonard fixed his attention on me again as I continued, “well, I mean, she knew but only because I told her. She was the first person I told that I had been in an accident, so, yeah, she knew… but she wasn’t withholding anything.” He looked between the both of us as if we were siblings, taking up for each other when we were both under the gun.
He slid his glasses back into his pouch. “Well, I suppose. It is not that bad, though. A little makeup will take care of it,” he looked at the scar again. “Well, maybe a lot of makeup. Anyhow, it is not a deal breaker. You have to be careful, Ezra. You are the star of this movie, and we need that body of yours flawless for the screen.” He looked at Hannah. “And you as well, my dear. You as well. Well, I suppose you two should get comfortable. The flight is 12 hours long, as you both know, but the time generally flies on this aircraft, no pun intended.” He smiled. “I shall see you two when we land. I will be in my room getting some much-needed rest. Enjoy.”
After he had walked away, Hannah approached me. “I thought that was going to go bad,” she said as she grabbed my hand. “At least it is healing… sort of.” She sighed. I am sorry, Ezra. I am–”
“You are going to make me go crazy if you apologize one more time, all right, baby? Listen,” I pulled her closer to me, “if I had to do it again and get this same ugly scar on my arm, I would do it without hesitation. My job is to make sure you are safe, and that is something I can’t fail at. I want to make sure you are secure, and I want you to know that if we are together, I will always protect you. Always.” I gently held the sides of her face and pulled her closer to me for a kiss.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll just let it go.” She took my bandage and rewrapped the scar on my arm. “But, I am taking care of you while we are on this flight and I am not taking ‘no’ for an answer. It is the least I can do. I want you to relax, OK? Deal?” I started to respond, but she cut me off. “OK, deal. So, you take your seat right there,” she pointed to the couch. “Lay down, do whatever you want. Would you like a drink? They have a lot of different wine bottles up here. Chardonnay. Merlot. Pinot Noir.”
“Merlot is fine.”
“OK.”
I sat down on the soft leather couch, and before I could get comfortable, my phone rang. I exhaled, then shook my head as the phone rang in my hand. “What’s wrong?” Hannah asked while she poured the drink into my glass.
“It’s fucking Tanya. She made good on her threat to keep my boys away from me while we are filming this movie and she won’t stop calling me about it. I told her I was going to get a lawyer, so she is bugging me about random bullshit to keep provoking me. Honestly, I think she is trying to piss me off and then record the conversation so she can say that I am stressed out with shooting the movie, you know? Make it seem like I can’t handle my boys during this time.”
She walked the drink to the couch and sat down beside me. “Well, you know the lawyer I was telling you about? I mentioned the situation to her and she said she would take the case, but I didn’t hear anything else about it, so I didn’t know which way to take it. Sounds like you need her, though. Do you want me to give her your number?”
“Yes. Please, that would help out so much. My lawyer is a fucking asshole, and honestly, I think he is fucking Tanya anyway. He does a half-ass job whenever we go to court, and then I always catch them exchanging flirty glances at each other. When I brought it to his attention, he denied it, and Tanya basically did the same thing.”
“Wow. Fucking your lawyer?”
“Yeah. I guess she found another way to fuck me.”
I chuckled as she narrowed her eyes at me. “Hey, hey, don’t give me that look. I was just messing around.”
“Yeah, yeah, you better be. I know one thing, I am the only one that gets to fuck you, and if that changes, you will have to explain why you no longer have a dick between your legs.”
“Sex change?”
“May as well be. You will go from Ezra to… umm… Ezramina.”
“Ezramina? That’s an ugly ass name.”
She laughed. “Shut up, Ezra, nobody asked you. You make me sick!”
I grabbed her and pulled her closer to me, kissing her on the cheek as the pilot walked to the back of the jet. “All right, we are getting ready to take off. If you guys can take a seat and strap in for safety precautions, I would appreciate it. You will be able to move around again in no time.”
“Sure thing,” I responded.
We strapped ourselves in, then moments later, the jet began its taxi on the runway. We were finally on our way to New Zealand, and for a guy that had hardly ever gotten out of Hollywood, this was a big step in the right direction.