We were all stuffed after the amazing meal we had. Luanne was an excellent cook and Charlie wasn't wrong about the pie being delicious. I felt like I put on ten pounds from the meal. It made me a little sleepy, but we had promised Mandy we would go with her tonight and I wasn't about to break my promise to her even though I just wanted to lay in bed and snuggle up next to Ezra.

I excused myself to go upstairs to change before leaving; I didn't really bring much with me for a party. As I was grumpily rummaging through my bags, I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." I said, not bothering to turn around to see who it was.

"Hey, Riley." Luanne's voice called to me from the doorway. "Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." I said, turning around. She closed the door behind her and walked over to sit next to me on the bed. She looked a little nervous.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, I was just going to change before we head out." I pulled out some black tights and a sweater with cutouts that ran down the sleeves. It was the best thing I had that resembled party clothes. It may show the bruises on my arms, but I could put some makeup over them if it looked too bad.

"Can you do something for me?"  She asked. 

"What is it?" 

"Please watch Ezra and Mandy tonight. Jake's crowd are not good people. Jake was the reason Ezra got hooked in the first place and is the reason Mandy has so many problems now."

"Did he do something to her?" I asked, suddenly concerned for the sweet innocent girl I met tonight.

"Mandy was a firecracker.  She was witty, strong, and just one of the most amazing girls out there. Jake took Mandy to a party and shot her up with heroin a couple of years ago. Mandy was a bright and very put-together girl before he got her hooked."

"One night, he gave her some stuff to shoot up and she had a bad reaction. Jake sat and watched Mandy as she OD'd at the party. Ezra was the one who called the paramedics while Jake just sat and laughed. It broke Ezra and that was what made him decide to try to get clean. He ended up moving out of state to try to get away from them."

Luanne was heartbroken over the things her son had been through. I was glad she told me since I didn't think Ezra ever would. I remembered him telling me he saw someone OD and that's when he decided to get clean; he failed to mention it was his sweet cousin Mandy. Ezra was not always an open book and it was sometimes frustrating to not completely understand why he felt like he had to keep things from me.

"Is that why she struggles so much?"  I asked, hoping I wasn't pushing the conversation too far.

"She wasn't breathing for a long time and suffered some brain damage.  It is the strangest thing.  It was like she went into that night a beautiful independent woman and came out of it like a nervous little girl.  We try to help her, but it's so hard to deal with knowing who she was before all this happened.  It was like she was a stranger."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know.  Ezra never told me about any of that." I said in shock.

"And he never will." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"I will keep an eye on them."

I meant it.

I would do everything in my power to keep them safe. I laid my head on her shoulder and she pulled me into another hug. 

Ezra popped into the room and paused.  He looked between his Mom and me nervously when he saw us hugging each other.

"Uh, should I come back?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

I snuck a glance over at Luanne and realized we were both smiling as we watched him squirm.

"You do realize you are both giving me the same exact look." He complained as he shook his head.

"Honey, they do say men go for girls that remind them of their mothers." Luanne and I exchanged glances again and laughed. I had to admit it; we were pretty similar people. I adored his Mom.

"I am cursed." He threw his hands up in defeat. "I can't win. Now I have two of you to gang up on me."

"You enjoy it." I bit my lip and batted my eyelashes at him, causing a huge smile to break out over his gorgeous face.

"Never going to admit it." He grinned wider, rolling his eyes.

About twenty minutes later, Ezra and I were heading to the car. Mandy was following behind us. When we said we would keep an eye on her, we meant it. Now that I knew the full story, I was going to make sure she enjoyed the party in a very innocent and sober way. This girl was going to have fun and would have a friend by her side to take care of her tonight.

"Where are we going?" I asked as Ezra was driving down some dark winding side roads; they were narrow and unlined. I couldn't see anything around us outside the headlights.

"They party at the old barn. It's back past the woods and off the main roads. The cops know about the place, but they don't come down here." He didn't take his eyes off the road. This was not the type of road you looked away from. I was a little nervous due to our history, but he was driving slow and cautiously. I had to put my trust in him.

We pulled through the dark trees and into a clearing. The road turned to gravel and I was amazed at the lines of cars parked along the field. There must be over a hundred cars here. I had never seen so many people at a party before.

"Wow." I said with big eyes surveying the scene.

"There's not much to do around here on the weekends." Ezra said, explained what I was seeing.

"I can see that."

Ezra pulled up next to an old Chevy and parked his car. I felt fortunate we made it down the road. He looked at me and placed his hand on my leg before we climbed out of the car. His hands were shaking, this place was a trigger for him and I was the one who brought him here. I should have thought this through more before letting him agree to come here tonight.

"Come on, guys, let's party." Mandy jumped up and down in the backseat. Ezra moved to open his door first. Mandy and I followed his lead and climbed out of the car. The grass was wet and muddy. My feet sunk into the muck as I walked. I was not used to this kind of thing. It felt really gross to me, but I didn't want Ezra to know it made me feel nasty.  He would probably make fun of me the rest of the night if I complained.

Ezra moved beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I let him hold me as we walked across the sinking field.

"Stay near me and don't take anything from anyone other than me." He whispered in my ear as we walked. "Jake is notorious for slipping things into drinks." 

I shuddered thinking about Jake doing that to some poor girl without her knowledge. It turned out my suspicions about Jake's character was right.  He was not a good person. Knowing what I was told about this place so far, I was going to listen to Ezra tonight. There would be no disobeying his rules. He wasn't giving them to me to be controlling or overbearing. He was trying to keep me safe.

The music was thumping and I could see lights dancing as we approached the barn doors. When he said it was a barn, I didn't think it would be the size of a small night club. This place was gigantic.

We walked in the door and I watched as crowds of people were dancing and swaying against each other to the music. We walked by a group of girls who looked like they were dropping something on their tongues. I turned and looked to make sure Mandy was still behind us; it would be more difficult than I thought to keep close watch on her in this crowd.

"Hey, Ezra." A brunette in a tube top smiled as we walked by.  He nodded his head in her direction as he ushered me quickly past her. 

"Who was that?" I asked.

"No one." He offered a non-answer.

As we walked by, I noticed half the room was staring at us.  The female half, to be exact.  I was getting a ton of dirty looks in my direction and I didn't even know why.  Every time we walked by a new group of girls, they either greeted him with overexcited flirty smiles or stared me down like they wanted to hurt me.  I was not expecting this kind of reaction when we walked in.

Mandy tapped me on the shoulder and I looked over to where she was pointing. On a broken couch and some chairs in the corner sat Jake and his friends.  They were smoking something from a pipe. Ezra responded by pulling me behind him so he could shield me between him and Mandy. We walked over to the group with Ezra leading the way.

"Look who decided to show up." Jake's voice called out loud enough for everyone to hear. He looked around Ezra, craning his neck to find me. "Hey princess, you ready to let loose tonight?" He laughed, which caused him to cough.

Milo and Austin were sitting next to him and joined in. Jake's eyes were bloodshot and cloudy. They reminded me of Ezra's eyes when he was using. Mandy moved from behind me and sat down on the couch next to Amber. Ezra moved me to the other side of the couch next to Mandy and then sat behind us on the back of the couch protectively. He placed his arm over my shoulder and I grabbed his hand, holding on tightly.

Jake took another hit of his pipe and tried to pass it over towards me. He held his breath in before coughing up his lungs. Ezra took it from his hand and pushed it towards Amber, who took it without hesitating. Jake laughed at him when he didn't take a hit.

"What is this, Ezra, new girl and no fun? What happened to you, man?" Jake leaned back like a king. He really looked like he ran the place.

"Not tonight." Ezra stiffened against my back.

I was angry at Jake for pushing at him and wanted to say something to him about backing off, but he seemed more dangerous than before. I couldn't chance getting anything started that could get Ezra in trouble.

"Hey Riley, want to go dance with me?" Mandy asked. She was smiling and I sensed she would go with or without me. I looked back up to Ezra and he nodded at me, giving me permission to go with her.

"Sure, sounds like fun." I said.  She jumped up and began pulling my arms to guide me to the floor. I paused just long enough to kiss Ezra's forehead before I was dragged in the middle of the gyrating bodies.

Mandy spun around and started moving her hands and hips. She was a pretty good dancer. I felt so nervous; I would look like an amateur next to her. I moved slowly to the music and she laughed, pulling on my arms. I started moving more freely once I got a little more comfortable. I moved my hips and ran my hands through my hair. We were laughing and I was actually having a pretty good time. She wrapped her arms around my neck and it reminded me of the few times I had gone out with Brynn.

We continued dancing until my throat was dry and sweat poured down my face. Mandy signaled that she had enough too and we left, heading back towards the couches. When we got back, Jake was the only one still sitting there.  I didn't see Ezra anywhere. I looked through the crowd and my stomach dropped.

Where would he go?

That Amber chick was gone too. 

He didn't go somewhere with her, did he?  Jealousy spread over me and it felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest. 

I shot a look over at Jake, who was smiling at me wickedly. He was watching me exactly in the same way Ezra did.

Ezra's cousin was really beginning to creep me out.