A couple of hours and a little less sunshine later, we were pulling up to the apartment. I was ready to be out of the car. I pulled into a spot and noticed the little silver car I hadn't seen in a long time. My heart jumped out of my chest. Brynn was back!

Ezra looked at me confused through his sleepy eyes and I pointed to her car. "She came back!"

"Baby, I told you she just needed some time." He smiled when he saw how excited I was.

I got out of the car and grabbed the bags. Ezra moved to try to take them from me and I refused to let him carry them. I needed him to save his strength. I had other plans for him later tonight. I might have to do a lot of the work, but we had gone long enough without touching each other and I wanted another taste of him.

We slowly climbed up the three flights of stairs. I put my key in the lock and pushed the door open. When we walked in, Brynn was sitting on the couch, painting her toenails. She looked up at the door, surprised but didn't miss a beat.

"Hey girlie, you miss me?" She asked, smiling.

I threw the bags on the floor and ran over to hug her. I tackled her back on the couch and she began laughing at me.  She squeezed me back and I immediately started crying.

"You have no idea. I am so sorry, Brynn. I never meant for any of this to happen." I said through my tears.

"I know, Riley." She said as she rubbed my back. "I'm sorry I called you a slut."

"I deserved it." I told her. My mind flickered back to the conversation Aiden and I had at the bar. I think he misread the whole thing. Brynn was a real friend. She wasn't obsessed with me or threatened by me.

Brynn pulled away and looked over at Ezra and then she looked at my bruised face. "Did you guys get a little too rough last night?" She asked and began laughing again.

"It's a crazy story." I told her and a small smile went to my face. Ezra nodded at me and took that as his cue to go hide away so I could talk to my best friend about everything that had happened since she left.

"I need details." She said excitedly, taking my hands in hers. 

A couple of hours later, we were done divulging all our secrets. I found out Brynn had stayed at her Mom's house while she was away. She said her Mom was dating a new guy who said he was a baseball scout. She said the closest thing he got to scouting new talent was watching the little computer guys run around on his gaming system. She had me cracking up until it hurt.

Ezra reemerged from the bedroom and went to the kitchen. He had taken his shirt off and stripped down to his boxers at some point. He felt extremely at home in my little apartment since we spent the last couple of days here alone. I would have to remind him I had a roommate. Wearing some sort of clothing was much more appropriate.

Ezra opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He was exhausted. It didn't look like we were going to get to play tonight. He lifted the bottle to his mouth and I stared at the way his bare chest rose and fell. Even with the bruising, he was flawless. He put his rings back in while Brynn and I were talking, I knew it made him feel more like himself, so I didn't mind. I liked to play with them anyway when we were lying in bed together. 

I caught Brynn watching him too. I knew Brynn thought Ezra was hot, but she didn't have to watch him like he was a snack. It was making me feel a little awkward. Maybe the three of us in an apartment together wasn't going to be a good idea. I didn't want to push anything with Brynn while our friendship was so fragile. If Ezra and I were looking to have a future together, then we would have to figure out how to make this arrangement work.

I laughed at myself a bit. It sounded like I was letting him move in. The reality of his situation was he did have his own place, one he probably needed to get back to at some point in time.  He also had his own roommate who would want him to pay his half of the rent.   Ezra hadn't been to work since I had been letting him stay here.  I'm not sure if he even had a job anymore.  I added that to my list of questions I wanted to ask him. 

How was he paying for things if he wasn't working?

I stood up to go to the kitchen and wrapped myself around Ezra's bare torso. Partly to cover him from Brynn's eyes and the other part just because I needed to touch him. He looked down at me and rubbed his hands over my arms. I tried to look into his eyes, but he turned his head a bit from me.

That was really strange.

Ezra wasn't looking at Brynn, at least, but he wasn't looking at me either. I pulled away from him and stormed off to the bedroom. Something was going on with him.

He fell in stride behind me and I slammed the door when he followed me into my room. I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped my foot. He looked at me, dazed and very confused at my sudden mood shift.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" My face was hard and angry.

Ezra's face went pale and he pushed his hair back off his head. He bit his lip ring before looking down at the ground. My patience was growing thin and I wanted to shake him until he told me what he was hiding from me. Ezra was terrible at keeping secrets.

"I was in a lot of pain. I found the bottle in my room back at my Mom's house. I was just going to take one to get through the night."

That admission of guilt was not what I was expecting. It was not what I wanted to hear either. Ezra was acting weird because he took some pain pills, not because there was some flirtatious vibe going on with him and Brynn like I was starting to suspect.

"How many did you take so far?" I pushed him. I could see the shame in his eyes. He wouldn't let me look into his eyes earlier because he knew I would see the dark gray clouds hiding the icy blue.

"Fourteen."

"Fourteen? At the same time?" I couldn't hide the shock in my voice. He took fourteen pills. Was that even possible? How was he still standing?

"Not all at once." He said, rolling his clouded eyes at me like I was stupid.

"Give them to me." I gritted my teeth at him. "Now."

"I won't take anymore, I promise. Please, beautiful." He walked over to me and wrapped himself around me to pull me closer. I didn't hug him back. I was disgusted with him right now.

"Ezra, either you give them to me or you can leave. Those are your options. I will be damned if I will sit here and watch you do this to yourself." My body was rigid against him and his hands searched for the warm softness I usually gave him.

"Please, baby, let me touch you." He tried using sex to distract me from making him choose. He was trying to rub against me, wanting me to respond to him so I would forget and let him keep the pills.

"Tell me where the bottle is or get the fuck out." I pulled away from him. He took a deep breath and sighed. It was going to be me or his addiction. He wasn't going to get both.

"They're in my bag in the side pocket." He frowned down at me and then moved to the bag to pull out the bottle. His hands shook as he placed it in my hand. I looked down and saw the bottle was half full, there was no label on it, but I didn't even want to ask what they were.

I stormed out of the room and went to the bathroom. Ezra began to follow after me and I shook my head. His face twisted up in anger and he stomped back to the bedroom and slammed the door. I lifted the toilet lid and struggled to open the bottle. My hands were shaking as I tried to pry the lid open. The lid flew off and fell to the ground. I almost spilled the whole bottle on the floor.

"Want some help?" Brynn asked from the doorway. I looked up and saw her watching me as I started to pour the bottle into the toilet.

"I've got it." I said to her and pulled the toilet handle. I watched as the pills swirled around and around until they disappeared around the drain. I chucked the bottle in the garbage and turned to her.

"I'm sorry he keeps letting you down." She apologized in a soft tone.

"This is the last time. If it happens again, I'm done." I meant every word I just said. I would not watch him go through this again. No matter how hard he cried or begged me to stay,
I would walk away even if it killed me.