I jumped up, panicking from my nightmare two hours later. My sheets were drenched with sweat and I felt like I was suffocating. I threw my body back into my pillow, trying to steady my breathing as I stared at the ceiling. The shadows were swirling and taunting me. They warped and twisted into the guardrail from my nightmares as they lashed out, trying to hurt me again. I could hear the baby crying wanting me to come protect it as Ezra was screaming at me.  Please let it stop.

I pulled my hands down my face trying to wipe away the memories.  It's not like I had very many of them from that night, but the ones that flashed through my head threatened to tear me apart. 

I remembered Ezra telling Aiden something about taking me home, I remembered JD walking in, and I remembered Ezra on the floor bleeding.  Everything else was blurry and garbled. There was no way for me to know what was real and what wasn't. 

I took a deep breath and climbed out of bed to get a glass of water. My head hurt and my mouth was dry from the excessive consumption of vodka.  I was hoping the cool water would help me clear my mind.

The familiar rhythmic thumping ricocheted throughout the kitchen, letting me know Brynn got home safely. I was glad I didn't agree to let Aiden come over here. It would have been awkward having them both in the same apartment. Spreadsheets didn't sound that exciting anyway when I had a lot less booze in my system.

The water refreshed me immediately as it moved down my throat. I took the glass back to my room with me and shut the door. My earbuds were out on the table and I picked them up to stick them in my ears. Brynn and her new friend were making way too much noise and I didn't want the noises to create visuals in my head to go along with them. There would be no more sleeping for me tonight. My body was too keyed up for sleep.

I sat and listened to some music, tapping my fingers against my stomach until the sun began to rise. I was going to stay in bed all day until I had to go to work. No Brynn or Aiden today.  Definitely no Ezra. I wanted to be by myself with my thoughts for a while.

After a few more hours, I managed to pull myself up and headed to work.

When I got there, my mouth hit the floor.  The place was packed. This was going to be a tough night.  I sighed and grabbed a tray to take the drinks to the first table in my section. We were falling behind, so I had to make every sweep of the floor count.  After seven hours in, I had made a thousand trips back and forth between my tables and the bar.  Each trip left me more exhausted by the second.

"Ry," Jules pointed to the tables on the other side of the bar. "Rachel is swamped with the VIP's. Can you cover that section?" He was standing behind the bar as he rapidly poured drinks. He was sweating profusely under the pressure.  We did not have enough people here tonight to handle the business.

"Jules, I'm already behind four tables in my own section."

"Shit." He said, looking to my packed section with tables that had no drinks.

"I'll figure something out." I told him and dashed off to take more drink orders.

Five minutes later, I came back with drink orders from my whole section. Fortunate for me, my tables were full of guys again. They were some of the regulars who came around here pretty often. I played a little game with them that I liked to call "guess my favorite drink" and had the whole section screaming out their answers. I batted my eyelashes, bit my lip, and played up the flirty innocence charade. They had settled on a round of shots for the section after I told them I was a shot kind of girl. It was funny how easily influenced drunk college boys were.

"Round of Jack for my section." I yelled to Jules as I ran back.

He laughed at me and started pulling out the shot glasses and lining my tray. "Thanks for steering them away from the mixed drinks and the craft beers. I don't know how you do it."

"One of my many talents." I said, winking at him. I balanced the tray on my arm and carried it back quickly to my tables.

I passed out the shots and convinced them to buy a second round. I raised my hand and drew a circle in the air. Jules looked over at me and shook his head, laughing. I ran towards the tables in Rachel's section and passed her, dashing towards the VIP section with more drinks. She silently thanked me when she saw I was on my way to help bail her out.

Rachel's section decided on shots of tequila. Her side was mostly female. It was interesting how the bar always seemed to segregate this way until the end of the night. By closing time, the sections would start to mingle and you would see the guys and girls start to leave the bar together. It was like some weird ritualistic mating ceremony. It was fun trying to guess who would end up leaving the bar together. On slower nights when there was more time, Rachel and I would sometimes make bets. We never bet with money since we didn't have any. The winner would be the one who got out of cleaning at the end of the night.

I spent the next half an hour running back and forth to the bar, dropping empty glasses and picking up filled ones. I got into a comfortable rhythm, weaving in and out of the drunken crowd. I barely had to even pay attention to my surroundings because my muscle memory had taken over. That was until I spun around quickly and ran into a brick wall in the shape of a person.

My tray slipped from my hands and fell to the floor, causing the empty glasses to shatter, echoing loudly through the bar. The whole bar jeered at me and my face flushed. There was nothing more humiliating than a whole bar stopping to watch your clumsiness. I hated breaking glasses at work.

I was on my knees, trying to collect the large pieces of glass off the floor in seconds. There was a large piece of glass lying between the feet of the person I ran into. My hand grabbed the piece of glass before I even knew what I was doing. Realizing how close I was to the pair of legs in front of me, I looked up to begin apologizing. My words were caught in my throat when I saw Ezra towering over me. He was fiddling with his lip ring with a huge smile on his face as he watched me on my knees in front of him.

"You are still such a dirty girl." He reached down to run his thumb across my lips. I was frozen in place, looking up at him.

"Here, Riley!" Rachel warned, snapping me out of my trance.

Rachel threw a broom and dustpan at me and I snapped into action. I quickly grabbed for them and stood up to sweep up the glass before anyone could get cut. It allowed me a few brief seconds to breathe without having to look at the tall, dark-haired boy in front of me.

She stared at Ezra and then turned away from him to look at me. "OMG!" She mouthed silently with wide eyes. "He's hot."

I shook my head no and frowned. She seemed to get my message and ran back to her tables without another word.

"You shouldn't be here." I told him as I continued to clean up the mess on the floor.

"It's a bar. I am allowed to go to a bar Riley." He said, raising his eyebrow in defiance.

"Ezra, I am working. I don't have time for this tonight." My anger was growing, but I was at work and didn't want to cause a scene. I was hoping he would get the message and leave.

"I can wait." He crossed his arms over his chest and stood in the path leading to the bar like a stubborn child. He was completely blocking my path to get back to work. This was Ezra I was talking about. He would never just go away. I would have to try to keep this situation under control.

Jules was behind the bar watching us. He was getting ready to move to throw him out. I shook my head and Jules relaxed. This was my mess. I didn't want anyone else to have to be involved. No one here knew my history with Ezra and I would like to keep it that way.

My fists were clenched at my side and I took a deep breath. He was too strong for me to pull him out of here. Ezra was not going to leave without a fight. He would get his way. He was going to force me to talk to him tonight.

"You can stay. There is one condition." I said, giving in to him.

"Anything for you, beautiful." He said with a small smile spreading over his face. Ezra won and he knew it.

"You have to let me do my job. I need the tips." It was embarrassing to admit to him that I was desperate to pay my bills, but he needed to know I had to work.

"Be a good girl for me and I'll give you a big tip." He played with his lip ring and looked down at my tiny shorts. My insides were a confused mess with him so close. I wanted to run from him. It wouldn't work, he would catch me in seconds and it would make things way more complicated.

I rolled my eyes at him, which caused him to laugh. He had seen me roll my eyes so many times before. I hesitantly took his hand in mine and led him to my section. He sat down on a stool that was just vacated.

"What will it be?" I asked him as I took my rag and wiped the table in front of him to clear the mess that was left behind by the previous occupant. This felt so uncomfortable and I was beyond nervous about having him back around.

"A hot blond waitress with a tight..." I covered his mouth and looked around to make sure no one heard his dirty words.

"Well, you better go find one." I said, removing my hand. His shoulders shook with laughter. I nervously fiddled with my tongue ring while looking down at him.

"When did you get that?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. He moved his hands to his jeans and adjusted himself, knowing I was watching him.

"Brynn's fault." I said quickly.

"I can't wait to feel it wrapped around me tonight." He said, licking his lips. I felt a tightening at the bottom of my stomach and the moisture started to build. I wished my foolish body would listen to my head when it came to Ezra.

"Hey baby," one of my regulars called over to me. I looked back and put my finger in the air, indicating I would be over in one second. The table of guys were staring over at me and I realized I was leaning in close to Ezra with my butt sticking out towards them. I stood up quickly and readjusted myself to gain my composure. Ezra had his head craned around me, staring at the table. His eyes began to narrow.

"I don't like how those assholes are looking at you." His eyes turned dark and stormy. I knew this look too well. Ezra was on the verge of exploding.

"This is my job. Please remember what you promised. I've got tables to wait on. Decide what you want by the time I get back." I broke away from him and made my way to the table the guy called me from. When I got there, the guy was slurring his words pretty badly. He was really drunk and probably needed cut off before he became a problem.

"Do you need anything else, boys?" I asked, standing in front of them smiling even though I felt like crying.

"You sitting on my lap." The drunk guy said. This was nothing I hadn't heard before, so it didn't surprise me when he said it. The short uniform shorts never helped the situation. They were like an invitation to make rude comments and gestures towards the servers. It was like we weren't people because the owner wanted us to show a little leg to keep people coming back.

"Now, how would I do my job if I'm sitting?" I asked playfully back at him. I was done serving this guy any more liquor tonight. I would have to get back to Jules to let him know.

He quickly reached up and tried to pull me down on him. Everything was innocent up until that point, touching crossed the line. A customer could talk and say whatever they wanted, but the minute they put their hands on one of us, they were gone. I tried to pull myself away from him, knowing I had the upper hand since he was so intoxicated. A flash of black swirled past me tearing me away from the drunk guy's grasp. Large angry hands were pushing the guy back into the booth.

"Keep your fucking hands off her." Ezra growled. His chest was rising and falling quickly. He towered over the guy. I jumped between them and pushed at Ezra's chest, trying to move him back, but I could not get him to budge.

"Ezra, please go sit down. I have this under control." His eyes stayed on the drunk guy in the booth, but he let me push him back a little.

The guy reached over and pinched my butt as I was trying to move Ezra away from the table. I jumped from the contact and Ezra saw the guy's hand on me. His eyes were almost black when they met mine. That was it; there was no saving this guy from him now. Ezra pulled me to stand behind him and smashed his fist into the guy's jaw. The guy's head hit the table with a thud. He was out cold.

The other guys at the table began to stand up. I was pulling at Ezra, begging him to back down. There were five of them and one of him. He was outnumbered and it didn't even seem to bother him.

"Jules!" I screamed for help. Jules hopped over the bar and began running over to us. Rachel was on his heels right behind him.

Jules stepped up to the table and put his hands in the air. "Hey, whoa guys, I don't want any trouble here."

He looked over and saw my hands on Ezra's chest trying to hold him back and the protective way Ezra hovered over me.

"Riley, get your boyfriend out of here before someone calls the cops." He yelled over the shouting table.

My hand grabbed for Ezra's and I dragged him out of the bar. He followed me willingly, most likely because I was holding onto him like my life depended on it. He knew if he put up a fight that he wouldn't get to touch me anymore.