𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐉𝐄𝐓, 𝐔𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐄

ELEANOR

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'Morning, my love.'

My weak eyes peeled apart with effort, the bright light from above making my eyes shrink with the force of it. My neck throbbed with pain, the metallic taste in my mouth making my tongue feel heavy. I brought my focus to the woozy figure in front of me, Zeke's teeth gleaming with the satisfaction of the prize he had won and eyes swimming with pleasure. I brought my gaze down to his hands which I vaguely remember being clad in gloves but now not in sight but left with shredded, irritated, peeling skin. Like the blast had affected him adversely, too.

'Where—'

I tried to scan my surroundings weakly for any chance of escape, my vision not able to make out anything in the total darkness beyond the small light above propelling slowly and I realized a small buzzing in the ground. As if we were in a moving vehicle.

'What did you do to me?' I hoarsely murmured, my throat still hurting from the last time I was awake. I knew the bruises would've sprouted but it was not as bad as compared to my body, feeling beaten up and tossed around like a ragdoll. My hands were zip-tied to a chair and judging by the same scratchy feeling around my ankles, my legs were in the same state. He knew I'd fight my way up, so he didn't take his chances.

He smirked, getting down on the balls of his feet to face me entirely. Zeke hadn't change one bit from the last time I'd left him stranded. He still had the looks of a Greek god but his heart anything but. He was a genius in the making but used his knowledge for purposes I couldn't bear to think about. 

'Barbiturates,' he shrugged. 'Just a tiiiiny dose because I didn't want you hurt too much. I still wanted a look at those maddening eyes of yours.'

I scoffed with what was left of my voice. 'Worked splendidly, I suppose.'

'I missed that feisty mouth,' he chuckled, grabbing my chin between his coarse index and thumb finger to bring my disconnected gaze back to his. I winced with discomfort when he touched the wound near my neck, swallowing tightly. My mouth bubbled with curse words, wanting to fling everyone of them his way. I didn't realize a sneer had stretched across my face, bringing him amusement. 

'You never did well with anger, Lena,' he murmured, snapping his teeth at me. 'But, I adored it. That much flame in such a beautiful woman, tch,' he clucked his tongue. 'Stark got it easy.'

'Fuck a cactus, Zeke,' I profaned, unable to constrain myself. My hands were fisted with anger, not ready to let him talk ill about me in any way. The way he uttered my name was like a sin, only making me burn more. 'You think kidnapping me is going to fetch you anything?'

'Who said I kidnapped you?' He laughed in disbelief, shaking his head. 'No, no, no! I took back what's mine. I gave him an incentive in the process of it.'

'For what?' I spat. 'You're going to lure him and kill him? That's just flabby, Ezekiel. You were always a sad fuck and I'm glad to see you haven't changed a bit from when I felt England. Just like your sad excuse for a father; selfish and exploitive—'

That was when I knew he'd reached his summit and I hit his soft spot, he snapped. Like a snake about to spring at its prey, he grabbed my wounded jaw and pushed me against the chair. I cried out loud when the chair leaned dangerously low, balancing on two legs and my neck digging into the back of the chair. I let out a choked cry, his grip biting into the fresh wounds on my neck. 

'My father,' he growled at my face, 'was a visionary. Your dunce of a boyfriend killed him and I will avenge my father. Not just regularly,' he scoffed, 'I'll take his company, his reputation, fame, honour and then, I'll beat him to death myself.'

'You c-can only try,' I choked out not willing to back down. I still spoke up. 'He won't go down without a fight. He's an Avenger for a reason.'

However horrified I was on the inside, I'd dealt with this bastard for five years of my life. I had grasped every look and glare of his, and right now, all he was feeling was a weakness. He let me go with a shove, making me clack back to resting position.

Zeke sighed nonchalantly, dragging a finger down the side of my face to push a strand of my damp hair away from my eyes. His touch left a burning fury in my chest, my head snapping away in disgust. Crouching low, he fit his lips above my ear. 

'I won't either. Especially when it concerns you,' he whispered, encompassing a threat. 'You've made me very, very desperate.'

'Then I hope you die of it,' I murmured back. 

He let out a soft ooh of surprise, leaning into my lips momentarily. I tried to pry my face away, not able to control whimpers, but he held it still and driving my lips apart for a commanding kiss. I forced myself to remain unmoving when he pulled back, ready to snap my teeth at his neck. His lips never left my cheeks as he spoke under his breath. 

'The things I could do to you, Eleanor. God, you got even more gorgeous after you left.'

I swallowed down a whimper, staging a brave front. I thinned my eyes in scalding fury, ravishing the anger like a seven-course meal. 

'You touch me again and I'll kill you.'

'Oh, you'll kill me?' It sounded like a tease.

'I will! I'll vaporize your murdering ass, Zeke, I hate you! I hate you so much!' The tears had started to slide down my cheeks, my voice fracturing off to a cry halfway. 

He laughed at my expense, amused by my threat, dipping his head anyway for pilfering another peck. I grunted in pain, forcing my neck to crane away from his advance and a short cry for help leaving me.

'I can't wait to see you naked again, love,' he murmured right into my lips.

'Keep waiting, dickhead.'

'Zeke,' a voice behind him interrupted him, thankfully. The door was quite nearby, a tall, leggy blonde standing committedly with a tablet in her hands. She had a scowl for me when she delivered her status to Zeke. 'We've got next batch of human bomb candidates paid and ready for modding.'

'Bomb candidates?' I repeated under my breath, linking the incidents in my head. I gasped with horror as the puzzles clicked into place. 'The bombing in Tabora, that was you. You heartless bastard—'

'Worked splendidly,' he used my lines against me, still wearing the irritating smirk. 'I got you where I wanted. Loved every one of your articles, by the way. I always knew you had it in you.'

'The incident report in Africa says the power yields were above spec,' the woman said once again scrolling through the tablet and handing it to smirking Zeke. His eyes never left me. 'We're on route to our second destination.'

'Excellent,' he said to me, pressing a sound kiss over my lips. I groaned out when he did, coughing out with a keel. 'Today's a remarkable day, Sash, I got my lady and the world is not what it was yesterday. What's our ETA on back to the States and Taiwan?'

'About forty-eight hours.'

He tsked at me. 'Then we better make the most of it, my Eleanor.'

∞

𝐎𝐗𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐄, 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃

FOUR YEARS AGO...

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'Who let you in?'

I should've regarded the warnings. I had to slap myself ten times over that week to stop brooding about a three-year relationship that meant absolutely nothing to me. We always seemed to on-and-off but this time, it felt like something had clicked in place.

If only it were that easy to make me believe. With Zeke, I was shown insignificance to passions, reckoned to be there at his beck and call and he would lounge at his soul-zen, demanding back the love he gave me the other night. God, I was shallow enough to let an asshole like him take my virginity. A simple quirk of his lips was enough to turn my bones to jelly and that was enough for him too, to cast his dominance over me. I could feel the bruise on my waist he had gifted me with, by an erratic blunder, start to burn as I thought about my decision.

'I'll ask the last time, who the fuck let you in?' I shut the door to my room closed behind me, dropping my laptop and bag by my desk carelessly. My smouldering eyes never left his suave, dark ones that begged to be resolved.

Zeke leaned onto the wall near my bedpost, lazily pitching a leg to the wall to balance himself. His large hands were fit into the pockets of his dress pants, the bow tie hanging undone at his neck. He was a man who was bald and proud, yet managing to be the most handsome in the room with just the distinctive features he honed. He was tall, daunting and someone who chiselled the whole Adonis look every damn time.

His dark eyes were sweeping over my ensemble for the day; a printed tube top, skinny jeans and sandals. My hair was in a knot over my head, exposing my shoulders which was the only part of my body I was proud of. His jaw was clenched and I already knew he was fighting hard to hold himself back. Let him suffer, I decided. He deserved to know what he had lost.

'I let myself in,' Zeke said, his voice a honey-like drawl. It made my blood sing in terror instead. 'I'm glad you didn't tell Maddie about our argument.'

'Argument?' I scoffed at him, wondering how he knew I didn't tell my mother. She was another problem I was yet to fix. I was around the house with a sulk to my gait and she was bound to know. 'We broke up, goddamnit! So, get the fuck out before I call the police!'

'Don't create another scene, Eleanor,' he sighed, moving from the wall to close the distance between us. I shuffled back on instinct. 'I apologized a thousand times, what more do you want?'

'I want you to stop dictating me around like one of your crooks,' I bit out. 'And your sorries went in vain. How dare you try and manipulate my plans with my friends for your convenience?'

'I had to talk to you,' he said quietly. Way too quietly. 'Seriously.'

'What a load of bullshit,' I grimaced. 'All because of your thick-headed, stupid jealousy. What on earth are you jealous of? I'm your fucking girlfriend. You've made that absolutely clear after that day.'

'And I was trying to hammer it into that drab fucker's head.'

I took in a calming breath before I spoke. 'I told you, time and again, Rex is a mate and nothing more.'

'I am not withdrawing that,' he said, raising his voice. I took a discrete step back, not in the mind to deal with his outrage. 'That bastard had his eyes on you from day one. And I politely told him off.'

'You broke his nose!'

'Just that, thankfully,' he cocked a brow. 'You should be happy he still has his balls intact.'

'I can not believe this,' I breathed out, knowing he was as hopeless as my dreams. My feet lead to the edge of my bed, resting over the eiderdown with a hand over my forehead. I had lost a test because of mulling over this prick, called off a friend in utter annoyance and skipped lunch. The latter felt like the most important to acknowledge along with the crisis at hand.

I heard his clothes rustle with movement, sliding into space beside me. He spread his legs wide so as to maintain contact with me. The feeling of overexposure washed over me when his arm brushed with mine. I tugged the hair tie out of my hair to let it fall over my shoulders in soft waves and hiked the top higher over my chest. Zeke's grunt of dismay was clear to my ears.

'I went out of line manhandling you like that,' he susurrated in the softest tone I had ever heard him use. 'You just test my patience so much, Elle and I, honest to god, don't know how to control it.'

'You could start with anger-management,' I said, rolling my eyes. 'Or maybe cuffing your hands together with me.'

'A little kinky, don't you think, my love?' He laughed, leaning into me when my anger cooled off. His face drove into the side of my hair, stopping when he nudged my jaw gently. I felt a wave of chill crawl up my spine, realizing that it was just his hand and resting it over my waist. I turned my gaze to look at him wholly, his nose brushing with mine.

'I failed a test because of you,' I murmured in accusation. 'I missed lunch, too.'

His back went ramrod straight, amusement colouring his features. 'You're famishing yourself over heartbreak.'

'Don't psychoanalyze me,' I pushed a finger into his chest. He caught my hand, holding it where it was. I looked at our hands, shaking my head in discouragement. 'Maybe it's not right for the both of us. Compatibility issues and all.'

'That is your insecurity talking, love,' he disagreed. 'I told you, I don't know what came over me. I guess you just strained my boundaries and I cracked. You were on the other end of it.'

'See, this is the thing!' I shot up from beside him with despair written all over my face. I pointed a finger at him. 'You keep playing the victim at times like this. And then accuse me of being -'

'You're doing it again,' he gritted out.

'Don't interrupt me!'

'Then stop being so fucking shallow all the time! And always - '

'What, testing your patience?' I ridiculed his previous statement in air-quotes.

That did it. He straightened up, looking me in the eye with fury evident in his murky eyes. Shit, I had mocked him too much. I had to force down a timid gulp when he backed me into my desk with his glare drilling holes into me. I had to catch the edge of the table to balance myself, the corners digging into my thighs painfully.

'Zeke,' I croaked out in fear, sticking a hand out to his chest. 'Calm down, please.'

'I tried to be civil,' he said, his hands going to my waist to grip it just as hard as the last time we had ended up in the situation. My heart raced with pain when his fingers dug into the same spot as the last time, a hiss leaving me when the bruise itched in pain. He heard me, shifting the elastic of my jeans to see the impact of his mistreatment himself. A gentle finger ran down the welts that I had used my concealer to hide.

'I'm sorry,' he mumbled, dropping his forehead over my shoulder. 'I'm so, so, sorry.'

His lips did the bidding against my neck, softly grazing every crevice just the way I wanted and with a warmth that had me swaying. My head spun with the onslaught of kisses, his hands going to my hair to gather it into a fist and angle my head into his kiss. The pain split at my roots as he towed me to which way he desired, pushing into me deeper and deeper until he dared my lips back. My toes curled in pleasure when he guided my legs around his waist, granting us both with the passion we both craved. I let him consume me, it was the first thing I wanted to feel at that moment.

'Do you love me?' He murmured into my lips, his hands roaming over the hoops of my jeans, edging to my navel in want. I couldn't speak, his heady kiss left me wanting more. All the fight in left, a soft moan for more curling around my throat. An unhealthy surge for sex, I failed to understand and only gave in without putting up a fight.

'Elle,' he whispered. A hand yanked against my hair to startle me awake from the swirling pleasure in my head. He sucked in a breath when my hooded eyes met his and I nodded. 'Fucking say it to me. Tell me you love me.'

'I do, I love you,' I murmured in want and sloping myself onto him for infinite. All I wanted was to be satiated with the built want in me and I couldn't give a damn about anything else.

'I love you more,' he grinned, pleased with my answer and let me savour another kiss before he pulled back again. 'Tomorrow, I'll give you the world. Together, my love.'

'Whatever you want,' I breathed into his lips, craving for another kiss. His hands stopped the motion short, reeling me back into his palms.

'Will you break up with me, Eleanor?'

Zeke's lips teased at the edge of mine, my hands glued to his broad shoulders. I wanted to move them and angle his face, I wanted to touch him more but I was forced to have them locked behind his neck to maintain my balance. All I could think about was the crushing ache in my abdomen that pleaded for satisfaction, gaining control of my lips before my brain could work.

'I won't.'

'Good girl,' he whispered, letting me taste him wholly and the desire unwinding in me. 'You want me to fuck you?'

I nodded quietly before I understood what was happening. That was all it was—a solid, good fuck. 

He pinched down my chin. 'Use your smart fucking mouth and say it.' 

'I want... you.' 

When the kiss grew in fervour so did the pleasure in me, the reaction to his touch doubling. I couldn't say no to him, I just couldn't bring myself to deny myself of Zeke. 

Halfway through only did I realize, that I had been fooled into being physically close again and he had chipped past my engaged defences like my seams of apparel. The more twisted it felt to be with him, tears gathered under my eyes when I reaped what I had sown. It had all been a disenchantment and nothing hurt more. Even more than the raw satisfaction, he was granting me. And for the second time that week, I was the fool in love.

∞

[ w/n: i loved working with Zeke's character - dynamic and heavier than Tony's. he's got that vengeance in him and loves, this guy is all sorts of bad. don't fall for this bitch. he ain't playing around. ]

[update(15.01.2020): I love how this turned out and editing is amazing! thanks for keeping up darlings :* ]