Chapter 11

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

I lie on my back staring at Ezra's ceiling, those three little words flying around my mind sinking its claws into every crevice.

I turn my head and watch Ezra's chest rise and fall with his steady breathing and start to question everything I thought I knew.

Did he really whisper his love to me as I was drifting off or did I hear what I wanted to?

He's taking the promotion and leaving me. He's going to end our relationship. I must have hallucinated the words I craved to hear.

Ezra starts to stir beside me and I hold me breath willing him not to wake up. I'm not ready to face him and stare into his mesmerizing eyes.

"Good morning." He whispers through a yawn as he pulls me closer and plants a kiss to my forehead.

I savour the moment, breathing in his scent before pulling away and getting out of bed. I start to gather my clothes and slip into them ignoring his questioning eyes.

"Ok, that's the second time in two days you've done that now." I finish slipping my dress on and move towards my shoes trying to keep my eyes off his naked form.

"Aria, what's going on?" I turn to look at him briefly, my eyes flickering down the length of his body soaking him up. I take in his messy bed hair, the light scratch marks on his toned chest, the sunlight making his eyes sparkle and the soft lips I'm so familiar with.

I shake my head and slip my shoes on as I hear shuffling and the next thing I know Ezra has his arms around my waist. My body stiffens until he lets me go, I turn to see he's ditched the sheet for boxers.

"I'm not stupid, I know something's bothering you." He tells me softly reaching a hand out but stopping it mid way when he sees me take a step back.

"Could have fooled me." I scoff at him with a roll of the eyes.

"We need to talk." He tells me softly and takes a seat on the end of his bed.

"Yea." I breathe out quietly.

There are those four words again; I'm not ready for this.

After a minute of awkward silence I realise he is waiting for me to take a seat on the bed next to him.

I make my way over and sit on the edge of his bed ensuring to keep space between our bodies.

"Aria?"

"What?" I snap at him.

"I said we should talk."

"Then talk. I'm listening." I can practically feel the bitter taste in my mouth.

"Something's going on with you… you're not yourself. You're distant and… for gods sake Aria you won't even look at me!" I can see Ezra run a hand through his hair in frustration from the corner of my eye.

"Something's going on with me? More like sometimes going on with you." I yell at him as I stand up from the bed and start pacing.

"Is this about the week I was away again?" I shoot him a glare as he makes it sound so small and insignificant.

"You mean when you ignored your girlfriend for an entire week? The woman you supposedly love? Yea, it may have something to do with that. It may have something to do with a lot of things Ezra." I feel tears building behind my eyes but I promise myself I will not cry in front of him.

"I already told you that I was going through some family issues." I start shaking my head at him before he finishes the sentence.

"Whatever. That's no reason to push me away. But it's about so much more than that. So much." I whisper the last two words avoiding his eyes.

"Then tell me what this is about." He pleads with me.

"Seriously? I have to tell you what you did?" I yell out incredulously.

"Yes. Tell me so I can fix it." He stands up and makes his way in front of me.

"It's too late to fix it." He stumbles back at those words shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's never too late. I don't even know what I did Aria."

"Bullshit!"

"I don't." He argues coming closer to me again.

"Don't fucking lie to me Ezra!"

"I'm not!" He yells back.

"I know you took the fucking job! I know you are fucking leaving me. I know what we have means shit to you. Stop pretending it's more than it is. You are just like every other guy out there." He's stunned and silent as I turn away from him.

"I have never pretended with you Aria. I love you, more than anything. I thought we had moved past your trust issues."

"We did. Until you took a job in another city and didn't have the decency to tell me." I feel a tear slip down my cheek and I brush it away before Ezra can see my moment of weakness.

"I didn't take the job Aria." His voice is steady and his tone determined.

"And now you're fucking lying to my face." My voice gets louder with every word as I spin around to face him.

"I am not lying to you." He takes a step closer to me reaching out for me.

"I saw the emails!" I stumble back out of his reach.

"What emails?"

"Don't act dumb Ezra, it doesn't suit you." I spit with fire in my eyes.

"I'm not acting."

I shake my head at him running my tongue over my teeth before stalking over to my bag and pulling out the printed emails and flinging them at Ezra.

"Then explain this! If I'm not mistaken that's you emailing the Dean asking if the job is still available. That your situation had changed. Me, right? I'm the situation. You realized you were over your little fling with the gullible college student?" Saying these words caused knots to form in my stomach and stabbing pains in my heart.

"You spied on me?" His eyes show betrayal and anger, which only adds fuel to my fire.

"You hacked my emails? Aria, how could you." He sounds broken as he runs a hand through his messy hair.

"I didn't. Spencer did. And she hacked the Deans emails, not yours. Besides it doesn't change the fact that you lied. I needed answers and you didn't seem to be giving them to me."

"I didn't lie. You could have just asked me." He clutches the back of his neck in frustration.

"If I had asked you would have just lied to me… just like you're doing now."

"I didn't write this email Aria." He waves the email in my face.

"Right. Of course you didn't. The fairies wrote it." The sarcasm leaves a bitter taste behind.

"Ever think maybe I was hacked? It's easy enough to do apparently."

"Don't treat me like a fool. Who would have anything to gain by doing this?"

There is a silence that hangs around the room for a minute while we stare each other down. Ezra's eyes pleading with me to trust him and mine showing the hurt I feel.

"I didn't write that email Aria."

"Prove it. Because from where I'm standing there are too many strikes against you."

"I'll prove it. You'll know I was telling the truth when I don't move away. When I turn up to the class I teach at Hollis every day. When I don't give up on us and fight for our love."

I feel tears slip down my cheeks and bite the inside of my lips to stop myself from losing it.

I turn around and pick up my bag on the way to the door.

Once the door is open I pause for a moment weighing up my options. To go with my heart and blindly trust him again or listen to my mind and run while I still can.

I slam the door shut behind me, the last thing I hear from Ezra making my heart crumble.

"I love you, Aria. I'll prove it."