Thank you for your reviews!

I'm sorry for the wait but I'm really busy with school so I can't update as often as I used to.

So this is chapter twenty one.

Chapter Twenty one

Aria's POV

I woke up with the sensation that someone was banging a hammer against my head over and over again. I suddenly became aware of the two arms wrapped around my waist and turned over as softly as I could to find a sleepy Ezra next to me.

I didn't even remember having come to his apartment. The last thing that I was able to remember was the game the girls and I had played. I had a vague memory of Hanna saying that she had never had a crush on her teacher; I had taken a sip of my drink and after that nothing. I wondered how I had ended up in Ezra's bed.

I shut my eyes tight, trying to suppress the headache which had considerably increased since I had first opened my eyes and I suddenly felt a hand brushing a piece of hair off my face. I slowly opened my eyes again to see Ezra smiling at me.

"Hey, you!" He said.

I smiled too but my smile turned into a grimace when my headache increased.

"Bad headache, right?" Ezra told me.

I nodded in agreement.

"Don't move, I will be right back," he told me before getting up from his bed. A few seconds later he held me a glass of water. "Drink this it should help your head to get better!"

Without hesitation, I drank and couldn't suppress a grimace when the liquid burnt my irritated throat.

Once the glass was empty I looked up at Ezra. "Ezra, what happened yesterday night?"

Ezra looked at me with an astonished look. "You don't remember?"

I shook my head in negation and immediately regretted it when my headache increased.

"No! In the last memory I have, I was in Hanna's room! Did I come here after?"

"Yes you did!" Ezra replied.

"And?" I asked him, suspicious, getting scared of what I had done.

"Well, you tried to seduce me with your sexy red underwear." He replied, smirking causing my cheeks to turn bright red.

"And ? Did it work?" I asked Ezra.

"Trust me if it had worked, you would remember!" Ezra replied, still smirking.

"You rejected me?" I asked him, feigning to be upset.

"I knew, you weren't really yourself so yes," Ezra said. "You weren't really happy and you got angry!"

I looked at him in disbelief. "Really? So what happened?

Ezra looked at me strangely as if he didn't want to talk about it.

"Ezra?" I insisted.

"You yelled at me and then you…burst into tears, I think you were emotional because of alcohol," he said.

I furrowed my brows. "I burst into tear just like that?"

Once again, Ezra had this strange expression upon his face.

"You talked about Ali!" He finally let out.

"Oh," I said, looking down. Suddenly some moments of the night came back to my mind.

"I think I remember a bit," I sadly told Ezra.

"Hey," he said, cupping my face in his hands. "It's going to be okay."

I nodded, feigning a smile. I knew Ezra wouldn't buy it but the effort would count toward something.

"Come on, I'm gonna make you breakfast!" Ezra said before walking toward his kitchen.

He did and the food contributed to improve my headache.

"So, at what time should I be at your house, tonight?" He asked me as I was drinking my coffee. I furrowed my brows before remembering the dinner with my parents.

"Do you really want my headache to get better or not?" I said. I really didn't want to think of this dinner right now. Even though I was happy that my parents finally agreed to get to know Ezra and I as a couple, I couldn't help but be nervous.

Ezra chuckled. "Come on, I'm the one who should be nervous!It's going to be just fine!"

As I made a face he added, "It can't be worse than the last time we all were in the same room!"

Ezra got up from the table and began to do the dishes. I was about to go the bathroom when I suddenly got a better idea. I walked up to him and wrapped my hands around his waist before pressing my lips against his neck. He turned over to face me, astonished and I attacked his lips.

"Aria, what…"

"Shh!" I said, pressing my index on his lips.

"I'm not drunk anymore and… I still have this sexy underwear." I seductively said. This argument seemed to sound good to him because he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me passionately by pushing me toward his bed.

Ezra dropped me at home in the middle of the day. I helped my mother to make everything up for tonight and, in the late afternoon, I joined the girls at Spencer's house.

"Hey!" They greeted me when I entered Spencer's room.

"How are you?" Hanna asked me.

"Hum, I'm fine, except that thanks to you and your little game, I made a fool of myself in front of Ezra, yesterday night!" I ironically said causing Hanna to laugh.

"What did you do?" Emily asked me.

I blushed as I remembered what Ezra had told me. "It doesn't matter!" I replied, avoiding Emily's question.

"Guys, talking about yesterday night, I remembered something." I started. "Do you remember the day Alison told us that she had slept with a married guy?"

Emily nodded. "I do!"

"So do I!" Spencer and Hanna added.

"Maybe this guy has nothing to do with Ali's murder, but I can't help myself from thinking that all of this is linked. I mean the guy who Alison was meeting with at the hotel, this Lolita book… She was seeing someone before her death, and I'm pretty sure that this person has something to do with what happened to her!"

Spencer sighed. "If only we knew who he is, but we don't have a single clue!"

"It's the point, we have nothing!" Emily said.

"Guys, I'm thinking of something!" Hanna suddenly said.

As we all looked at her she continued. "Aria, the book,that Spencer found in her lake house, Lolita, you said that it was a very rare edition, didn't you?"

I nodded in agreement. "It's what Ali had told me, yes!" I said, remembering the day, in Ali's garden, when I had seen her reading this book.

"Okay, so maybe we should go where the book has been bought, if it's a very rare edition they should remember who bought it or even have his name on a record," Hanna pointed out.

"Brilliant, Han!" Spencer exclaimed causing a glowing smile to spread across Hanna's face. "I don't even know why we hadn't thought of that before!"

Spencer immediately got up and walked up to her desk to take the got the old yellowish book out of the drawer and she came back on the bed before opening the book. We looked at the first page and I put my finger on a logo on the left corner of the page.

"Philadelphia library!" Hanna read out loud.

"We should go there!" I said. "As Han said, maybe they will be able to tell us who bought this book!"

Suddenly the door opened and Spencer's mom entered the room.

"Honey, I…" Mrs. Hasting interrupted herself when she spotted us on Spencer's bed.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were here, girls!" She told us smiling.

Spencer smiled to her. "It's okay, Mom!"

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving, I got a call for a case and I need to go. Your father should be here soon," she told her daughter.

Spencer nodded. "Okay!"

Spencer's mother was on the point to leave the room when her eyes caught the book that Spencer had still in her hands.

"Oh, I didn't know we still had this book!" She said.

Spencer furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"I thought your father had got rid of it a long time ago!" Spencer's mother replied.

"Wait! It was Dad's book?" Spencer asked, her eyes wide open.

Mrs. Hasting nodded. "Yes, actually it was his father's and he got it when he died. But I thought he had sold it, he didn't stop saying that it was a very rare edition and that he could make money with it." Spencer's mother said, shaking her head as if it was a stupidity.

The girls and I shared a glance as Spencer got pale.

"Honey, is everything okay?" Mrs. Hasting asked Spencer.

"Y-yes!" Spencer stammered.

"Okay, so see you later. Bye, girls!" Spencer's mother said before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

Nobody dared to say a word after Mrs. Hasting's leaving. Spencer was staring vacantly into space, probably processing what her mother had just said.

"Spence," I said, gently touching her shoulder.

"It can't be true!" She said, still staring vacantly into space.

"Spence, it doesn't prove anything, maybe your father gave it to Ali just like that, because she loved this story!" Emily said, trying to comfort her.

I was doubtful. Alison had refused to tell me who had given her the book. Why would she have done that if it was a simple gift from Spencer's dad?

"Come on, guys, don't tell me you believe that!" Hanna suddenly said.

Emily and I shot her a glance.

"Why did he give her this book?" Spencer said, totally lost. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"Maybe to shut her up," Hanna said.

"What?" Spencer said, this time looking at Hanna.

"Spence , I know you don't want to hear that, but maybe Ali was threatening your father to tell your mother about Jason being his son, and maybe it's why he gave her this book and surely others things," Hanna advanced.

Spencer shook her head. "Hanna, stop! I know exactly what you're exactly to say; for you my father killed Ali, it's what you think since we discovered that Jason was my brother, but he couldn't have done that, he couldn't!"

Spencer then turned to Emily and I, trying to find support. "Girls?"

We shared a glance. I didn't know what to believe and what to think anymore. I couldn't believe that Mr. Hasting had something to do with Ali's murder but I had to admit that I had doubts.

"So, you too? You think that my father is Ali's murderer?" Spencer said as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Spence, to be honest I don't know, this is weird," Emily replied.

All of a sudden, Spencer got up and gave a hard kick at her door.

"Spence, calm down," I told her.

"Calm down? How can I calm down while you're saying that my father is a murderer?" She replied, the tears now falling down her cheeks.

"Spence, we did not say that! I think we're all overreacting, for now we don't know anything," I tried to comfort her. She sighed and took her head in her hands for a moment.

"I need to talk to him!" She said. "I think you should leave, he will be home soon and I want to be alone when he comes back!"

"Are you sure that it's such a good idea? I mean, you alone with your father? Maybe we should stay with you," Hanna asked.

It was clear that for her, Spencer's father was guilty.

"Hanna, he is my father, he won't touch me," Spencer said.

"But…" Hanna tried to argue with no success.

"No, Hanna, please, I need to talk to my father alone, I will call you after, I promise," Spencer told us.

Hanna sighed. "Fine, we're leaving!"

"Thanks, guys," Spencer said, wiping her tears with the palm of her hand.

Spencer brought us back to the door and we stopped for a moment.

"You call us soon, okay?" Hanna said, worried.

Spencer nodded. "Yes, I promise."

We all hugged her and left her house. The girls and I separated; I got into my car and made my way toward my house.

I couldn't believe that Mr. Hasting could have done something to Ali; he had always been really nice to me and to the girls, including Ali. Moreover, Jason was his son, so how could he have killed his son's sister? It was too cruel.

Suddenly my car began to cough strangely and I just had the time to park along the sidewalk before it completely stopped. I tried to start it again but with no success.

Crap!

I got out of the car and opened the hood in hope to spot the problem. A black and thick smoke immediately came out making me cough. I didn't know anything about mechanics but this smoke was definitely not something good. I sighed and looked around me; there was nobody in the street who could help me. Annoyed, I took my phone out of my purse and dialed Ezra's number. He picked up at the first ring.

"Ezra, it's me, I'm sorry to ask you that but my car broke down, and I need someone to pick me up. Do you think you can come?" I asked him.

"Of course, no problems, I'm glad you called. Where are you?"

I was about to tell him when I recognized my father's car on the corner of the road. I waved and he put his warning light, indicating me that he had seen me.

"Actually, Ezra, my father is coming," I told him.

"Okay, you're sure?" He asked me on the phone.

"Yes, see you tonight, love you" I said before hanging up.

My father parked his car behind mine and opened his window.

"Hey, sweetie! What's going on?" He asked me.

"My car broke down!" I pouted. My father got out of his car and threw a look at my car. After a few minutes he gave up.

"Sorry, but I don't see what's wrong, I'm going to bring you home and we will call a break-down mechanic," my father said.

I agreed and I got into the car with my father.

"Is everything's okay, sweetie? You seem preoccupied!" My father asked me a few seconds later. "Is it about the dinner with Ezra? Don't worry I'm not going to make a scene if it's what you're afraid of!" He added.

I shook my head. "No, it's not that."

"So what is it about?" he asked me. "I know that things have been a little tensed between us the past few months but you can still talk to me, you know."

I hadn't planned to tell anyone about Spencer's father but I suddenly felt the urge to confide. I didn't know why but suddenly it was too much to handle and I needed to talk to someone. Of course, my father wasn't the first person I came to when I needed to talk, especially the past few years but maybe it was time to stop blaming him. After all he had made a huge effort by inviting Ezra over for dinner.

I exalted sharply and began to talk. "Something happened today!" I let out.

My father turned his look away from the road for a second and looked at me. "What happened? He asked me worried.

"It's about Alison," I said. I saw my father tense like every time I mentioned Alison. I guess it was because her murder had affected him a lot. I knew he had always thought that it could have been me instead of her.

"Tell me," my father said, keeping his look on the road.

"You're going to think that it's crazy but the girls and I think that Mr. Hastings might be involved in her murder," I confessed.

"Peter Hastings? Why are you thinking such a thing?" My father asked me, totally astonished.

"Well, a few weeks ago, Spencer found a book which belonged to Ali, actually I even remember her reading this book, she had told me that it was a gift but she had never told me who had given it to her," I explained.

"What does Spencer's father have to do with that?" My father questioned me.

"Today we found out that this same book had been at Spencer's dad before Ali got it," I replied.

"But, Aria, how do you know that it's the same book? There are hundred and hundred editions of each books," my father pointed out.

I shook my head. "I know, but it's a rare edition." I said.

"Which book are you talking about?" My father asked me.

"Lolita."

Suddenly my father braked violently causing me to practically hit the dashboard.

"Dad! What's going on?" I asked him.

"I'm-I'm sorry, I saw a cat on the road," he replied.

He seemed strange, as if he was shocked; he wasn't even looking at me.

"Dad, are you okay?" I asked him, worried.

He finally looked at me for a seconds and replied, "Yeah, don't worry," he said, starting the car.

"So where is this book now?" He asked me a second later.

"With Spencer, she will confront her dad as soon as he comes home, she's probably talking to him, right now," I said as my father stopped the car at the red light.

"I hoped it's not what we think, I mean, he is his father, how to imagine that your own father is the one who killed your best friend or who is involved in her death?" I added. My father started his car and I noticed that he had taken the wrong way.

"Dad, what are you doing? The house is on the other side, did you forget where we live?" I told him, jokingly.

My father did not reply immediately but when he did his voice was harsh and strange and he had an expression that I had never seen on his face before.

"I'm sorry, but we can't come back home now, Aria."

So, I know you must be pretty confused but everything will become clear in the next chapter which is a very important one, but I would love to hear your thoughts and guesses.

Please review.

XOXO