Zeke's Eden: The Beginning (Zeke and Eden Book 1)
Zeke’s Eden
Copyright © 2015 K. Webster
Cover Design: All By Design
Photo Credit: Dollar Photo Club
Editor: Premier Romance Editing
Formatting: Champagne Formats
ISBN: 978-1517614751
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information and retrieval system without express written permission from the Author/Publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental
.
Table of Contents
Books by
Author K Webster
T
HE
B
REAKING THE
R
ULES
S
ERIES:
Broken (Book 1)
– Available Now!
Wrong (Book 2)
– Available Now!
Scarred (Book 3)
– Available Now!
Mistake (Book 4)
– Available Now!
Crushed (Book 5 – a novella)
– Available Now!
T
HE
V
EGAS
A
CES
S
ERIES:
Rock Country (Book 1)
– Available Now!
Rock Heart (Book 2)
– Available Now!
Rock Bottom (Book 3)
– Available Now!
Becoming Lady Thomas (Book 1)
– Available Now!
Becoming Countess Dumont (Book 2)
– Available Now!
Becoming Mrs. Benedict (Book 3
)
– Available Now!
Alpha & Omega
– Available Now!
Omega & Love
– Available Now!
This is War, Baby
– Available Now!
This is Love, Baby
– Available Now!
S
TANDALONE
N
OVELS
Apartment 2B
– Available Now!
Love and Law
– Available Now!
Moth to a Flame
– Available Now!
Erased
– Available Now!
The Road Back to Us
– Available Now!
Give Me Yesterday
–
Available Now!
Running Free
– Available Now!
Dirty Ugly Toy
(Dark Romance) – Available Now!
Zeke’s Eden
– Available Now!
My Bad Boy,
Falling for you was perfect and easy and right.
I’m glad I ignored the naysayers and listened to your naughty mouth instead.
- Your Good Girl
Four years prior…
“S
he was beautiful. I really wish you could have seen her,” Mom tells me with tears in her eyes from behind the thick glass. “You needed that closure.” She clutches onto the phone, her knuckles turning white from her grip. The conversation always goes back to her and it guts me each and every time. I’ve only been here three months and I have to relive that night—what I lost—every time she comes to visit.
Truth is, I fucked up.
Her only son now sentenced to four years in prison.
I’d do it again though. Over and over. My girl fucked up too but she didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve to die that night.
“How’s Dad?” I question, changing the subject before I start to cry. I can’t afford to cry in here. The other monsters work to sniff out any weakness they can and use it against you. I’ve already been accused of being a pussy because I’m clean cut. Growing out my hair was my first step in blending in.
I won’t become some bitch.
Fuck that.
Her eyes drop to the gold-flecked, dingy yellow Formica of the countertop and she runs her fingernail across a crevice in the material pushing up dirt and shit. If my mother only knew the kind of people who come in here to visit the other criminals.
Dirty. Addicted. Used. Filthy. Animals.
And here’s Mom, playing in the impacted remnants of low-life visitors from decades and decades before as if it’s her duty to tidy up the place. She doesn’t belong here.
“He’s still angry with you,” she says, choking on her words. “He’ll come around though, Ezekiel. I promise you. I’ll talk to him.”
Our eyes meet and I hope no motherfuckers heard her call me by my full name. I’ve told them to call me Z. It’s easier that way. Plus it sounds badass. I need all the help I can get.
“I’m sorry, Mom.”
Her bottom lip quivers but she simply nods. She doesn’t need to say anything. I know. I was her good boy with a good job and a good head on my shoulders. All of that changed the night my girl died.
I fucking lost it.
And now I’m here.
“He still loves you. We both do. Just hang in there, baby,” she says with a sob.
“I love you too, Mom.”
Big, fat tears stream down her cheeks and she blows her nose into a tissue. I wish I could hug her like so many times I’ve done before.
“Oh,” she sniffles and dabs at her nose, “I almost forgot. Cason called the house the other day.”
My ears perk up at hearing the name of my girl’s brother. He and I were coworkers. Cason is the reason I ever met her in the first place. We’ve been tight ever since we were assigned cubicles beside each other. “What’d he have to say?”
She smiles. “He told me you were a tough mother-I’m-not-repeating-that-word and not to worry about you.”
I laugh and my mood lifts. Cason had to pull me off that motherfucker that night. He should have been the one losing his shit but it was him who kept me from killing that man. A few more hits and I’m pretty sure I’d be serving a life sentence, not a mere few years.
“Tell that motherfucker I miss him.”
She scoffs. “Ezekiel Nathanial Wilder! Watch your language around your mother.” Even though she’s scolding me, she’s wearing a mischievous smile. A smile that reminds me of a perfect childhood, supportive parents, and a life that was supposed to go differently.
“You’ll find love again, my boy. I promise,” she assures me and then waves her hand to gesture behind me, “but it better not be in there.”
We both laugh and the guard reminds us that our time soon ending.
I doubt her words.
My heart is broken.
“I hope so,” I lie to her. I don’t hold onto hope. Hope is for pussies and I can’t be a pussy in here. I have to keep my head low and focus on shit I can control. Dwelling on the loss of my love or wishing for another love like that is what I can’t control.
She simply shakes her head. My mother is no novice and knows my words are a façade. “I know so, sweetheart. You have your whole life still in front of you. Just give it time.”
I sigh as the guard signals for me to end my conversation.
“All I’ve got is time, Mom.”
