The silence in the car was slightly awkward. Jules and I had worked together for a while, but we didn't know much about each other. He made some small talk about work and the crowd. He mentioned Rachel a few times and looked over at me when he caught me trying to hide a smile.
He really had a thing for her.
I made a mental note to ask Rachel what she thought about him. They would be good together. They kind of reminded me of JD and Anna in a less crazy sort of way.
About fifteen minutes later and almost missing the turn into the lot, Jules pulled up to my dark apartment complex to drop me off at the door. I could see both my car and Ezra's in the parking lot, so it meant he must be here. A flood of relief washed over me, knowing he was inside and not out getting in trouble.
"Thanks for giving me a ride." I told Jules when I climbed out of the car. The air was chilly outside and my work shorts did not offer much protection from the wind. I shivered when the cool air hit my skin.
"Make sure you give him some shit for not picking you up." Jules said with a smile back to me.
"You know I will."
I shut the car door behind me. I began walking up to the apartment and unlocked the security door on the outside. I turned and waved at Jules and he turned around to pull out of the parking lot once the door closed behind me.
I checked the mailbox and opened it. A stack of ads and other junk filled the tiny cubby. I groaned and pulled them out quickly, looking to see if there were any bills. Ads, ads, and more junk mail. Most of them had Brynn's name on them.
I walked back towards the security door and looked out the window at the dark parking lot. My eyes looked around and I saw the familiar little silver car parked in Brynn's normal spot. Brynn must have decided to stay in tonight. It didn't mean she didn't bring someone over to mess around with. I could live with her and her crazy lifestyle as long as it meant things were good between us. I still felt so thankful she had forgiven me for keeping the Aiden thing from her.
I climbed the stairs. My feet were still so sore from the long night. If Ezra drove me home, I could have convinced him to carry me up the stairs if he was feeling better. I would have used it as an excuse to run my hands over his hard muscles and tease at him. The next apartment I get will not have three flights of stairs.
I fumbled with my key and placed it in the lock. I was glad I brought my keys tonight. I had been leaving them most nights since Ezra was chauffeuring me around a lot lately. I didn't want to wake up my sleeping house if I didn't have to. I turned the key and opened the door. The lights were on in the living room and the TV was on, but I didn't see Brynn or Ezra. On the coffee table, there were beer bottles, a bottle of Jack, and a few pill bottles.
"What the...?" I went to the coffee table and picked up one of the bottles. The one I picked up happened to be a bottle of Oxy. On the table next to the bottles was a bit of powder. It looked like he had crushed and snorted the pills. My stomach flipped and I felt like I was going to be sick.
He promised me.
He promised me.
He promised me.
Ezra lied to me again.
I threw the bottle down to the ground. Acid was churning in my stomach; Ezra hadn't changed. He was still the same selfish jerk that had hurt me time and time again. My body was shaking with anger towards him. How many times was I going to let him hurt me?
Brynn's door was shut. I wanted to go talk to her to see what I should do. Brynn's room was quiet. She might have been asleep too. After everything we had gone through, I didn't want to wake her up and cry to her about my Ezra problems. I pulled my hands through my hair and bent over, trying to catch my breath. I could feel the fire growing inside of me and I was ready to let it out.
A small noise came from the direction of my room. Good, he was up. He needed to explain what was going on right now. He left me stranded so he can get high in my apartment. This was so messed up.
I walked back through the kitchen to my door, it was slightly cracked and there was a little light coming out, probably from my closet light. I began to turn the knob when I heard a high-pitched giggle followed by a deep honeyed moan.
I knew both of those voices immediately.
What the hell was going on?
My heart was beating fast. I didn't want to go in there, but I knew I had to. I willed my body to push open the door.
The door creaked and it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. I looked over to my bed and the tears began flowing down my face; this couldn't be happening. I wanted to shut my eyes, but my body stopped listening to me. I just stood there watching, unable to move.
Brynn's thin body was topless and she was on top of Ezra rocking her hips against him. Her hands were on his bare chest, rubbing over the hard muscles as she grinded over top of him. He was lying with his head back and his eyes closed. He was enjoying himself; I had been with him enough times to know how his body reacted when he was turned on.
I whimpered in the doorway and Brynn turned her head to look at me. She pulled the corner of her mouth up into the most twisted demonic smile I had ever seen on her face. She didn't even look like my best friend anymore. All loving friendliness inside her was gone. She was twisted and full of hate. She continued to look at me while she moved against him, not bothering to stop.
"What's wrong, Riley? I thought you liked to share?" She sneered.
Ezra looked over at me, dazed when she spoke, then stared up to her. His eyes went wide and turned back to me again.
"What the fuck?" He looked confused.
What was so confusing about having my friend ride you in my bed?
I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to peel the skin off his bones with a just my fingernails. This just worse than anything else he had ever done to me. Which meant it was crippling and I wasn't sure I would survive it.
My boyfriend and my best friend—together in bed. My fucking bed.
Ezra pushed Brynn off him and jumped out of the bed. He still had his pants on. He would have plenty of time to take them off for her once I was gone.
He stepped towards me and I turned to flee. I felt like I was running for my life. I grabbed my keys off the table as I bolted out the front door. I was down the first flight of steps when I heard the door swing open again and slam shut. I was willing my legs to move as fast as possible. I could hear Ezra calling for me, "Riley, stop. Please Riley, stop."
I hit the security door and threw it open, running as fast as I could to my car. I was short, so I wasn't surprised when his footsteps were pounding the pavement right behind me. He was almost on top of me when I got to my car and pulled the door open.
The car door slammed shut, almost catching my arm in it. Hard long fingers grabbed at my shoulders and dug into me, spinning me around. My body slammed hard against the car door and my eyes shut tight, not wanting to look into his. He was breathing hard against me; his mouth was close to my face. I could smell the liquor on his breath.
"Riley, look at me." I shook my head no and squeezed my eyes tighter. My body was tense and shaking. "Damnit, please let me explain."
Explain? How was he going to explain this one? Seriously? Did he think I was a complete idiot?
"Let me go, Ezra." I said, still unable to open my eyes to look at him. From his slurring words, I knew he was messed up pretty badly and his eyes would be the foggy blue I never wanted to see again. I would never be able to forgive him for this.
"I don't know what happened." His voice pleaded for me to listen.
I finally opened my eyes to look into his. They were red-rimmed and bloodshot, but that didn't excuse anything I just saw. It just made the whole situation even worse. He relapsed after telling me he was done for good and then proceeded to mess around with my best friend in my bed while he was drunk and high.
He loosened his grip on my arms and tried to pull me into his chest. I kept my arms tight at my sides and refused to hug him back. There was no way I was going to break free from his grip; he was too strong. He wrapped his fingers in my hair and tried to pull my mouth toward his. He pressed his lips hard against mine and tried to force me to kiss him back. I would never kiss him back again.
"Get away from me." I screamed against his lips while trying to push him back as hard as I could. Even in his current state, he was an immovable object. "Let go of me." I was screaming loud, hoping someone in the complex would wake up and hear me. I didn't even care if they called the cops. I needed to be away from him now.
"Baby, I need you. I'm so fucked up." He slurred into my ear.
"Don't touch me. We're done. This is over." I cried softly.
I wrapped my arms around myself to hold my shattered pieces together, afraid that if I moved, I would break.
"You don't mean that, Riley. We belong together." He yelled in desperation.
"I don't ever want to see you again." I whispered softly and looked down at the ground.
That did the trick. He didn't expect me to end whatever this was between us. He moved back from me long enough to let me reach for the door handle of my car and pull it open.
"Don't go." He said softly. His red-rimmed eyes looked over every inch of me, trying to find a way to take control of the situation.
I glared at him with hard eyes and slammed the door shut l, locking it immediately so he couldn't find a way in. I started the car and put it in reverse quickly. He barely had enough time to get out of the way without me hitting him.
I floored the accelerator and the tires squealed, probably leaving a permanent mark on the asphalt. I looked back in my mirror one last time and saw the shirtless, beautiful boy pulling at his hair while he was staring at my car driving away.