Ezra's mouth was hanging open as he stared at Luanne's stern expression.

He was confused until he saw the terrified look on my face. His aggression fell at the sight of me cowering beneath him. The stormy fury in his eyes began to evaporate instantly. Disbelief spread across his face as he stared at where his hands were digging into my skin, giving me a new set of marks to cover. Ezra raised his hand to cup my face and I flinched away from his touch.

"Baby, I am so sorry. I love you." He grabbed at me, trying to pull me into him desperately. He tried to wrap my arms around him and I let them fall back down to my sides.

"Let me hold you, please." He implored, squeezing me too tight.

I sobbed quietly because I couldn't do anything else.

"I said you need to leave." Luanne sternly commanded again.

This time she walked over and pushed him back away from me to put herself between her son and me. He looked at her face and tried to move back around her to get to me. She pushed him back again. He began to mouth my name and she spoke again, cutting him off.

"Leave now." She shoved him back towards the door. He was trying to get me to look at him. I couldn't bring my eyes to meet his.

Hurt and shame flashed across his face as he turned to storm out the door. When he slammed it, the whole house shook on its foundation. I stood stuck in the same spot, unable to move.

Luanne turned to me and pulled me into her chest. I sobbed uncontrollably being held by the woman I just met minutes ago. I was ashamed of what just happened. Ezra's mood shifted from love to anger so quickly; I didn't even have enough time to blink between the changes.

"Did he hurt you?" She asked and I shook my head no. He did hurt me, though and if anyone would understand how bad he hurt me, she would. I knew he didn't mean to, but it didn't make it sting any less.

She placed her arm around me and guided me to the dining room. Luanne pulled out a chair for me to sit on. I slumped down in the chair and buried my face in my hands on the table. I felt so terrible for making Luanne feel so uncomfortable in her home.

"I am so sorry." I apologized to her hiding my face.

"Riley, you have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing you do should ever make him react like that. He was out of line." She moved a chair across from me and sat down, taking my hands and pulling them into hers so she could look in my eyes.

"It was all my fault." I said, trying to take the blame off him. He didn't deserve for his Mom to turn against him too. He was already fighting against the world. He needed someone in his corner so he wouldn't give up.

"Oh sweetie, you sound just like I did when his Dad was around. I kept telling myself that his Dad wouldn't be like that if I didn't do things to make him mad all the time. Ezra's Dad was controlling and hurt both of us over and over again. It makes me sad to think my beautiful son is going down the same path. I should have taken him away a long time before his Dad left. Maybe he would have learned what being a man really means." She was an open book and I felt like I have known her my whole life. It was like looking in a mirror. We could be the same person.

"I am scared for him. He just gets so angry all the time." My heart was racing over my worry for him. I wanted to go find him to make sure he wasn't going to go do something else he would regret.

"I think I know the answer after what I just saw. He started using again, didn't he?" She asked. I didn't feel like I could lie to her; she already knew the truth already. Trying to hide it from her would only make me look like a liar.

"He wasn't using when I first met him. He was living and playing in a band with my brother. We had tried to keep our, I'm not even sure what to call it, involvement together a secret. The lies spiraled out of control until he left. After he disappeared on me, he found me again. That was when I found out he had been using. I got a call one night that he was bad off and picked him up to take him home with me. He has been clean since that night, but he has been all over the place. I'm never quite sure what is going to set him off."

It felt nice to have someone to talk to openly who wasn't judging our relationship and his addiction issues.

"Wait, you guys were together before?" Her face looked like she just connected some missing piece of information she didn't have before. "He never told me you are the girl he was with before the accident. You are the one he thinks he ruined."

I tensed when she mentioned the accident and that he said he thought he ruined me. I wasn't sure how much he told her. It sounded like he told her everything about what happened between us. I pulled my hands to my stomach when the flicker of the twisting metal flashed through me. Every time I wanted to forget, something or someone would always pull me back in.

"I was in the hospital when he left me after the accident. He never even told me he was leaving." I really didn't want to go into more detail with her. She was already so angry with him for how he acted earlier.

"I know about the baby." She said quietly.

"He told you?" My whole body tensed.

"Yeah, he did." She said, looking at me. "I woke up in the middle of the night and found him laying outside against the front door. He was completely out of it and covered in bruises and cuts. I don't even know how he got here. Someone must have dropped him off at the door with his stuff and left. When he saw me, he started crying, saying something about someone never being able to forgive him and how he messed up so badly. He was screaming that he didn't mean to do it and he wanted to take it all back."

"I didn't understand what any of it meant until about six months later when he finally told me what happened. Believe me, I tried to get him to talk to me. He laid in bed for the first three months and didn't say one word to me. I couldn't get him to go see a doctor. I would talk and he would just sit there staring at the wall. I could hear him crying every night when he thought I was sleeping."

"He didn't tell you for six months?" My mouth was on the floor in shock.

"Ezra has always held a lot of things in. He doesn't like to open up to people. I think he's scared that if he lets anyone in that will make him weak. He's afraid he's not strong enough to protect the people around him. His insecurities haunt my son every second of every day. He has always blamed himself for everything that has happened to anyone he loves and it is killing him slowly." She said, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"I'm really sorry about what happened to you and I wish I could take it all away for you both. I can't imagine what you two are going through." My tears flowed from my cheeks, unable to stop. I didn't even talk about the baby with my Mom and the couple of times I had tried, she shut me down. It was too painful for her. Besides talking about it with a therapist and Ezra, it was like the little life inside of me never even existed.

"It's been really hard." I said whimpering and my voice broke.

Luanne wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her in a comforting motherly way. I wrapped my arms around her and wept into her sweatshirt.

"Shhh, I know, sweetie. Don't ever try to let anyone tell you you're wrong for feeling this way. You are a good girl with a big heart. I have never seen Ezra wrapped up in someone like this before. In fact, I never thought he would ever let anyone in. He loves you in his sick and twisted way, just like his father loved me. He was devastated when you lost the baby and I didn't think he was going to come back from that, but he fought for you. He told me he came home so he could get better for you, but I had my doubts you would even let him near you again after the accident. You are a strong and brave woman for forgiving him."

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to put you in the middle of all this." I apologized again.

"You are such a beautiful and sweet girl. I hope Ezra can figure out his demons before he pushes you away. You need to remember if he can't fix himself, you can't do it for him. I wish someone had told me that a long time ago about his Dad. You need to be prepared to walk away if he can't change." She placed her hand on mine and squeezed. I was in awe of this woman who was so strong and loving. She could have taken one look at what was going on between us and thrown me out of the house. My Mother would have done it to him if our roles were reversed, even if I was the one in the wrong.

"Thank you for letting me stay." I told her and tried to smile through my sadness.

"No problem. It's good to finally have another girl around the house." She smiled standing up and I followed. I caught her off guard when I hugged her tightly. She smelled like a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. She didn't hesitate to squeeze me back. She smoothed the back of my hair and looked down at me. "My goodness, you are just the tiniest little thing. Let's go eat the feelings away for a while."

"Sounds good." I laughed at her. It sounded like a good plan to me.