Breathing

Chapter 20:

About 15 minutes later, Ezra was pulling into the driveway of my house. I saw my car on the street and I felt immediately relieved that Aiden brought Jessa home. I trusted him with her more than anyone else. He made sure she was safe even when I couldn't.

We climbed out of the car and went up the steps to the door. My Mom pulled open the door before I could even step foot on the porch. She rushed over to me and pulled me away from Ezra and into her.

"Riley, are you ok? Aiden told me what happened." She smoothed my shirt over my back and then turned her attention to Ezra. "This is all your fault. You tell your little girlfriend to stay away from my daughter and grandchild."

"Mrs. Davis, I am sorry. I didn't know anything like this would happen. Aiden and I got Jessa out of there and I made Jenna leave. She was wrong to do what she did. Riley hasn't done anything to be treated like that. I will never let Jenna do that again around either one of them." Ezra's tone was sincere.

"You just keep coming around and tearing my daughter up into little pieces. She has sat here and waited for you for the last three years. The second you come back, you start hurting her all over again. I'm not going to sit back and watch it happen again this time. You've never been good enough for her." My Mom screamed at him. I pushed her back off me. She had no place telling Ezra any of this. I wasn't waiting for him to come back to me. Was I?

"You don't think I know that?" Ezra raised his voice. "I can never make up for all the terrible things I did to her. I have spent every day wishing she had never met me or I had the strength to push her away when I realized how wrong I am for her. I have spent every day for the last three years regretting everything I did to ruin her life. I will have to sit back and watch her fall in love with someone else, watch my daughter call someone else Dad, all because I screwed this up." His hands were in his hair and he pulled it in frustration.

I looked between my Mom and Ezra. They were acting like I was not even here.

"Only you can make this right, Ezra. I will not let you hurt these girls. They need you to be better." She turned and went back into the house without another word.

What the hell was going on today? Did I fall asleep at Aiden's house and wake up in an alternate dimension?  I was so confused. Ezra said he loved Jenna. Jenna was a recovering addict, just like him. She called me a slut even though she didn't even know me because she is jealous of me for reasons I will never understand. Ezra says I was his obsession and biggest regret. He knows we can't be together, but he still touches me and says things to me that he shouldn't. This was all too much for me, I couldn't keep up and my head started spinning. My hands were digging into my stomach as I bent over, trying to keep the world from turning upside down.  I stumbled and almost fell over as my chest constricted and the pain came again.

"Riley, calm down." Ezra held me up when he saw me freefalling off the cliff. "What is going on?"

"It hurts."  I grabbed at my chest.

"Aiden!" Ezra screamed back into the house, not sure what to do.

Aiden ran to the door and I could see little Jessa on his heels. She was smiling because she thought Aiden was playing chase with her.  When she saw me crumbling, her innocent, playful smile fell from her face.  Her Momma was a hot mess and it scared her.

"What is going on?" Aiden said, staring between us. I started gasping for breath and I heard him curse. Aiden ran over to me and pulled me into his chest. His hands were rubbing my back, trying to soothe me. "Riley, you're going to be fine."