The sun shifted, reflecting off one of his framed posters. A flash of purple passed over my eyes, causing me to snap out of his ruthless seduction. I pushed him back from me, surprising both of us with the sudden movement. His face was filled with shock and he raised his eyebrow with the piercings in it. Ezra looked like he had never been rejected before. I caught him off guard.

"Wait..." I said with not enough strength in my voice. "You were with the purple-haired girl last night. I'm not the type of girl who does this."

He leaned back from me, letting my hands free. His hand swiped through his messy hair and it fell back into his face. He looked annoyed. "I wasn't with her last night. I stayed with you. She wanted me, but I wasn't into it and passed her to Mark. She didn't seem to notice. Besides, who are you to judge me when you were about to have sex on the kitchen table with that guy."

"Wait, table with who?" I was so confused. I didn't remember anything about another guy.

"I don't know who he was. Some guy came from the kitchen and told me I should go watch. He said there was a guy who was about to fuck a hot blond in the kitchen. He said he was going to go grab his phone so he could take a video. I told the guy to go to hell and I would bash his face in if he went back in the kitchen. I called over to Aiden in case I needed backup. I didn't know it was you when I went in. When I came in, you were in your bra and underwear, laying on the table, barely conscious. I fucking lost it. Aiden had to pull me off the guy so I wouldn't kill him. You were so out of it. I carried you up the stairs and you know the rest."

Ezra's temper was flaring back up as he relived what happened last night. He clenched his fist and I saw the muscles on his chest start to tighten. He looked like he was just as angry at me as he was the guy I was with.

The flood of tears rolled down my cheeks. I didn't know or even understand the situation I put myself in last night. It was all my fault for trying to fix my problems by drinking. Nothing good ever came out of it.

"I'm so sorry." I apologized with tears streaming down my face.

"You should have fucking found me when you got here so I could keep an eye on you." Ezra's tone shifted like he was trying to hold back his anger.

"Ezra, can you spare me the Riley needs a babysitter lecture?" I begged.

"The one time someone is not watching you, you end up half-naked with some guy between your legs!" Ezra raised his voice and stood up from the bed to tower over me. His words cut through me like glass. He didn't even know how much they hurt me.

I was about to scream at him when a knock on the door interrupted our conversation.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath.

Ezra ran across the room and tossed me a pair of dark gray sweats to pull on. He grabbed a white shirt and slipped it on over his head. I followed his lead and quickly pulled the pants on and then covered myself back up with the blanket. Ezra walked over to the door, unlocked it, and cracked it open. When he saw who it was, he opened it the rest of the way.

I saw Aiden's spiked hair before I saw him. Ezra moved to the side and let him pass. Aiden looked between us, trying to assess the situation. Ezra looked like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and my cheeks were wet from my humiliation.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Aiden puffed up in a protective stance. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't fucking do anything to her. I told her what happened last night." Ezra said defensively. Aiden's tense shoulders relaxed and he nodded in understanding. He looked relieved that he was not the one who had to tell me.

Aiden walked over to the bed and sat down where Ezra had been sitting only moments before. He placed his hand on my leg, which was now back under the blanket. I flinched a little at his touch and he quickly pulled it back.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized.

I could feel Ezra's eyes on us, watching every move we made. There was no way I could look at him right now. I was humiliated by my behavior last night and embarrassed by how I let him get under my skin today. It had been almost a year since anyone touched me and I almost gave myself to two different people in the span of a couple of hours. I was being reckless.

"I'm just a bit jumpy after last night." I looked at Aiden and tried to smile, but it didn't work. I was disgusted with myself.

"I didn't tell JD what happened. He left a little bit ago to take Anna home. He knows there was a fight in the kitchen over a girl. That part went around the party fast. He was upstairs with Anna before it all happened. Mark doesn't even know it was you since he was hooking up with that girl with the purple hair from the bar. It can stay between the three of us unless you want to tell JD yourself." Aiden explained softly.

I shook my head no. I was not going to talk to JD about any of this. He would be angry at me for letting it happen and he would be pissed that no one was watching me. No one else deserved to be blamed for what happened last night except me. I couldn't even talk to Anna about it because she would run back and tell my brother. He was already so protective of me that I was suffocating. I couldn't stand to have him put me on total lockdown.

I removed the blanket again and shifted to stand up. Aiden moved off the bed to let me pass. When I got to my feet, I was unsteady and wobbled, almost falling back into the bed. Both Aiden and Ezra were next to me in seconds, trying to hold me up. I pulled my arms out of their hands and raised my hands in a stop motion. They both took a step back and looked at each other.

"I'll be fine. Will you both quit hovering?" I complained. "I just need to find my clothes so I can go home."

Aiden looked down and took in my ensemble. He saw the baggy gray sweats and the large black shirt. He knew at once that I was wearing Ezra's clothes. He kept his expression calm, but I could see him giving Ezra a sideways glance. He was trying to figure out how I ended up this way.

"Riley, why are you in his clothes?" He asked slowly in a flat tone.

"Come on, man. She couldn't just run around my room in her underwear." Ezra defended himself.

"Aiden, he just let me borrow some stuff until we could figure out where I put mine." I didn't add in the part where he was the one who dressed me, which ended up with me kneeling in front of him almost naked. Aiden did not need to know all the details. That was between Ezra and me. Just like Ezra's words when he was leaning over top of me on the bed, this was not Aiden's business. All these secrets were going to drive me crazy. I hoped I would be able to keep them straight in my head.

"I need to get home." I reiterated.

"You can't drive like this. Let me take you home." Aiden offered.

"Thanks, Aiden, but I'll be fine. I can manage."

Aiden looked like a sad puppy and Ezra chuckled quietly at him. I felt sorry for Aiden. He was just trying to be a good friend. He was a great guy and always felt like he should be looking out for me. I placed my hand on his arm and reassured him I would make it home safely. Ezra's face dropped into a frown when I touched Aiden's skin. What was that about? There was a strange dynamic between these two. They seemed like friends most of the time, but this morning it was like they were competing. It felt so odd.

"Text me when you get home, so I know you made it." He said as I started walking out of the room. I paused and looked up at Ezra. His jaw was set in a hard line and his light eyes turned back to the turbulent stormy gray.

"I will." I placed my hand on Aiden's arm as I walked out the door.

I went downstairs and began looking for my bag. I found it in the kitchen, where I must have dropped it before starting to drink. I took one look at the mess on the floor and a sliver of memory teased the back of my mind. I could see a lip ring and blurred edges of a dark shadow standing in front of me. I cringed when I thought about the story Ezra told me as it played through my mind again and again. My behavior last night was atrocious. I grabbed my bag from the kitchen and started to run out of the house. I hit a solid tall wall when I came crashing through the living room. Ezra's hands went to my arms to catch me, so I didn't fall over.

"Everything ok?" He asked, leaning down to stare at my face.

"I'm fine." My eyes darted off towards the wall and I tried to brush him off.

"You're lying. You can talk to me." He said, studying my expression. I could never hide my emotions. My face was always like a mood ring.

"I have to go." I pleaded for him to let me pass. His eyes bore into mine, searching for something. Ezra looked like he wanted to say something to me but shook the words away without saying them.

He removed his hands from my arms and crossed them over his hard chest.

"Goodbye, Riley."

I didn't say anything back to him as I ran out the door. The door slammed shut behind me and I paused to catch my breath.

"Goodbye, Ezra."