When I looked over, Ezra was standing in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked hard and intimidating as he took up the whole doorframe. Had he always been that tall? His eyes were dark as he looked at Matt's hands still firmly attached to my backside.

"Get the fuck inside." Ezra growled at me with his jaw clenched.

"No." I said before I could stop myself. My drinking had given me a false sense of confidence. Ezra Miller was not going to stand here in my house and tell me what I should or shouldn't do.

"I'm not going to tell you again." Ezra looked down at me and then turned his rage-filled eyes towards my date.

"Oh, hey, man. I'm Matt." Matt said, finally removing his hands off my butt and reached out to shake Ezra's hand. Ezra huffed and shook his head like Matt was a complete idiot. Ezra wasn't wrong on that one.

"Sorry, dude, I didn't mean to feel up your sister in front of you." Matt apologized.

"Not my sister." Ezra said, giving him a dark look.

Matt gave me a strange sideways glance and I felt the need to explain what was going on in simple Matt level words.

"Ex." I said, rolling my eyes and patting Matt's arm. One word explanation, it was all I needed to say.

"Her daughter's father." Ezra added, puffing his chest out and stood up towering over both of us. Ezra looked like he was ten feet tall as he inched closer to stand over Matt.

"Oh, yeah. Gotcha." Matt said, backing away from me as he looked between Ezra and me. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Riley."

Matt fumbled down the stairs and almost fell over, tripping over his own feet. Poor old Matt ran off the steps faster than I had ever seen anyone run in my life. I laughed and covered my mouth, watching him scramble to get away.

"Bye, Matt." Ezra said darkly as he watched him get into his car and peel out.

"There goes my second date." I slurred and hiccupped. I stumbled a bit and caught myself on the wall. I was laughing hysterically.

"I can't believe you." Ezra said, stepping towards me angrily. "Are you fucking drunk?"

"I am totally not drunk." I said, still laughing as I poked him in the chest. "Well, maybe a little tipsy."

"You go out with some random guy you don't know shit about and let him get you drunk? Jessa was watching you from the window. She asked me what you were doing." Ezra's voice grew louder.

"Oh shit, I left my panties in his car." His face darkened. "Oh wait, silly me, I wasn't even wearing any. I am so thick sometimes." I said, laughing.

"You fucked him!" Ezra screamed, pulling his hair.

"Relax, nothing happened and you know it." I rolled my eyes at him.

"You're not going to see him again." Ezra demanded.

"I am an adult and single. I can make my own choices. I can do things with anyone I want and you can't say one word about it. You and I are not together anymore." I countered back, enunciating each word for emphasis.

"I have a say when your choices affect my daughter. You shouldn't be going out on dates with random guys." Ezra was fuming.

"You can't tell me what to do. You're not my Dad." It was childish but true. He had no right to be in my business when it came to my love life.

"You should be glad I'm not, because... because..." He stammered, unable to come up with anything good. He pulled his hair in frustration as he looked down at me. He looked like he was ready to punch something. "Fuck, you're so infuriating."

"Come on, Ezra, you used to be so good at this." I said, stepping closer and whispered up into him. I placed my hand on his chest and patted it gently. The alcohol made me feel powerful and wild. "What would you do to me?"

"Riley, don't fucking push me." He warned, trying to take a step back.

"Come on, Ezra, I know you remember how this goes." I said, moving close to him and ran my fingers down his chest.

"Riley, stop." He looked down at me in disbelief.

"Do you need me to remind you?" I bit my lip and rolled my eyes at him when he stayed silent. "You pick a fight and break me down until I cry and beg for you. Then you fuck me until I am screaming your name."

"Stop." He said, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"Mmmm... Ezra." I moaned, running my hands down my curves. "I haven't been a good girl today. Do you want to pull down my panties and punish me for disobeying you?" I turned my back to him and raised my dress to the top of my thigh. He opened his eyes and looked down at the skin and swallowed.

"Pull your dress back down."

I stepped up to him and wrapped my fingers in his shirt.

"You're no fun anymore. I bet Matt will come back and spank me."

Ezra grabbed my arm and dragged me inside. He was squeezing it too tight.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to pry his fingers off me.

He began to pull me up the stairs and I tried to fight him. I was too drunk to really get any kind of leverage against him. Where was he taking me? What was he going to do to me?

"Let go." I whined. My feet were barely touching the ground; we were moving so fast.

"Everything ok out there?" My Dad called from his room when he heard the noise from the hall. I could hear Jessa in there making noises entertaining him as we passed.

Ezra stopped by the door and peeked his head in quickly.

"Sorry about the noise Kurt. Your daughter came home completely trashed from her date with that douchebag I told you about. Can you watch Jessa for a bit while I try to help her to sober up?" Ezra sounded much calmer when he spoke to my Dad than I felt.

"Hi Daddy." I waved enthusiastically from the hallway as I looked in the room at him.

"Oh, Riley." My Dad groaned. I could hear the disappointment in his voice when he found out I was drinking. It made me feel terrible knowing I had let him down. "Ezra, take your time. I've got Jessa under control."

Ezra left the doorway and dragged me into my room. He headed straight to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He pushed me into the shower fully dressed and the cold water knocked my breath out of me immediately. I tried to climb out and he pushed me back in again. I grabbed his arm and ended up pulling him under the water with me.

"Stay." He commanded, sticking his finger up to my face. He backed up from the showerhead and pulled me forward to completely submerge me under it.

I stood there shivering under the freezing water as he watched the water run over me.

"Please, Ezra, it's cold." I begged him to let me out.

"You are out of control, Riley." He barked at me.

"I'm out of control?" I screamed back. "What about you?"

"Riley, I only came over here today to spend time with my daughter. I wasn't supposed to have to be here to babysit you too. Everything that you did to me today was complete bullshit and you know it. You crave the drama Riley and I keep fucking playing into it."

"Well, excuse me for trying to have some fun today. I have spent the last three years being the responsible one for Jessa while you were out finding a new life and someone else to be with. I was here the whole time. I have always been right here." The words were pouring out my mouth before I could even stop them.

"You act like I chose this. You decided to keep her from me. I could have been there for her, but you didn't even give me a chance to know my daughter. This was your choice." He screamed back at me, waving his hands.

"You hurt me." I lowered my voice and my lip began quivering. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold my body together.

"I am an addict and a terrible one. I fought really hard to get clean and still fight every day to stay sober." He screamed at me. "I'm not a good person, but I have been trying to get better because of what I did to you. I got out of rehab and started rebuilding my life because of you. Every move I have made in the last three years was because it was what you wanted for me. You can't be mad at me for trying to fix myself. I got my life together because you asked me to!"

"You knew where I was and you didn't come back for me." My lips were trembling. He stepped back, staring at me in shock.

"You told me not to come back this time." Ezra closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You were the one who said it was over between us."

"Why didn't you find me? You always find me." I shivered and closed my eyes as the cold water ran over me. My lips were trembling and involuntary little squeaks were escaping me from the cold.

Ezra sighed and reached past me to turn off the water. He grabbed my towel from off the door and brought it over my shoulders to wrap it around me. I was shivering violently and I could see how blue my skin was turning. I was freezing and we were both drenched.

He walked me out and sat me on the edge of the bed. He fumbled through my drawers and pulled out a sweatshirt and leggings for me.

"Change into these before you get sick." He said gently.

"Thanks." I said softly, taking the pile of clothes from his hands. I wiped the tears from my face as my body continued to shiver violently from the cold and crippling agony I was in. My Mom was right again. I was waiting for him even if I didn't know it. I would always wait for him. Even when I wanted nothing to do with him, I still held on to the hope that he would find a way to save us.

He looked down at his wet clothes and started trying to figure out what he should do.

"Under the bed." I said, sniffling.

"What?" He asked.

"There's a box under the bed. It has some of your old clothes. I accidentally swiped them from you when I moved out from the apartment Brynn and I had."

He reached under the bed and pulled out the plastic storage container I had hidden. He placed it on the bed and opened the lid to reveal a small pile of his old clothes, a few pictures I managed to snap of him, and a small box that held a few guitar picks.

"Why did you keep this stuff?" He asked, pulling out a pair of sweats and a black t-shirt.

"I don't know. I couldn't throw them away. It felt wrong. It's all I had left." I sniffed.

"Change out of those clothes, Riley."

I stood up and began to untie my wrap dress. I looked down, fumbling with the tie, unable to get my hands to work right. I grumbled in frustration as I tried to rip at the knot holding the dress in place. My mind wasn't clear enough yet to remember how to make my fingers work and even if it was, my fingers were shaking too much from the cold. I was hurt, drunk, freezing, and really lonely.

Ezra placed the clothes in his hand back on the bed and shook his head at me. He walked over across the room to me when he saw I was struggling.

"Here, let me help." His fingers were on the strings and he quickly unfastened the cold, wet fabric. I began to open the dress to remove it from my body. I looked up, remembering he was still there in the room with me. His eyes lingered over the wet fabric as it draped over my curves. He adjusted himself as he looked to where my skin peeked out between the opening of the dress.

"I'm going to go change and check on Jessa. She's probably driving your Dad crazy by now. Lay down a bit and get some rest. I'll keep an eye on her." He said softly as he ran to the bed and picked the clothes back up.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's not a problem." He said as he looked me over one last time. He turned and reached for the door handle and pulled open the door. He closed it softly behind him, leaving me more confused than ever.