Chapter 36
I don't own anything
ARIA'S POV
I walked downstairs to get a piece of the cheesecake Isabella was making for dessert earlier. It was around three in the morning so everyone was fast asleep. After I finished the delicious slice, I went to make a cup of tea to calm my nerves. With everything that happened I can't get the image out of my head of Byron slapping me and trying to pull me out of the house. All of a sudden someone put their hand over my mouth and grabbed my arm roughly. I started freaking out and struggling to get out of the unknown grasp. The unknown person told me to be quiet and pulled me out of the house quickly. They threw me into a car, which was when I realized it was Byron who grabbed me while Ella was sitting in the passenger seat. I started panicking and frantically trying to escape the car that was taking me away from my real family. However the doors wouldn't open, he must have turned the child's lock on so the doors can't open from the inside. Damn it. I was sobbing profusely and trying everything possible to get out of the car.
"Where are we going? Why are you doing this?" I begged either of them to answer me.
"Iceland; that bastard will never take you away from us if he can't find you." Byron said curtly.
More and more tear were streaming down my face until I was completely sobbing and my body was shaking profusely afraid that I would never see the love of my life again.
"Aria… Aria… Aria… Sweetheart?" I barely heard someone say. Suddenly I jumped up in bed and saw a very concerned and worried Ezra looking at me. I immediately broke into sobs realizing it was all a dream.
"Shh, it's ok come here baby. It was just a dream, Okay. Everything is going to be just fine."
He pulled me into his lap so I was straddling him; he was leaning against the headboard. I wrapped my arms around him as tight as I could and buried my head in the crook of his neck. Crying from the vividness of my terrible nightmare, my body still shook. Ezra rhythmically ran his fingers through my hair while his other hand was caressing my back under my shirt to soothe me and whispered comforting words in my ear. Soon enough my sobs calmed to whimpers then my whimpers finally seized. Nearly 30 minutes later and I had fallen to sleep in Ezra's arms.
When I woke up this morning it was about 9:15. I looked down and noticed I was in the same position as I was last night after my nightmare; straddling Ezra and lying down on his chest. I smiled looking at Ezra's sleeping face; I leaned down and snuggled into his neck again like I had been. Ezra began to stir not to long after, I felt him stretch his arms out then settled them under my shirt again. I smiled at the feeling and kissed his neck softly; I always loved the feeling of his skin touching mine.
"You're awake?" Ezra murmured, still half asleep.
I picked my head up to kiss his lips before resting my chin on his chest looking at him. "Yeah I just woke up. Sorry about last night, I didn't mean to wake you."
"Don't worry about it; you were having a terrible nightmare. You know if you need me for anything I don't mind if you wake me up, ok? What was your dream about anyway?" He asked softly while running his hands up and down my back under my shirt.
"I had gone downstairs for a piece of cheesecake and Byron showed up. He grabbed me from behind and threw me into the car; he and Ella were shipping me off to Iceland. I was trying to get out of the car but I couldn't, then I woke up. He was trying to take you from me forever." I whimpered as a few tears slipped down my cheeks.
Ezra reached up and wiped my tears away quickly with his thumbs and kissed my forehead to reassure me. "It was just a dream. Don't worry honey; you'll never lose me ok. No one will ever take you away from me and I'll make damned sure of that."
"I was thinking of driving to Rosewood today to say a proper goodbye to everyone and apologize for last night."
"Ok do you want me to go with you?"
I shook my head. "No that's ok, I want you to enjoy the last day here with your family since we have to leave earlier than planned. I'll be fine."
"Ok well if you change your mind or something happens and you need me; just let me know and I'll be right there." He kissed my forehead softly.
I just nodded my head and snuggled back into his neck. After a few moments of a comforting silence I spoke up. "I don't want to leave tomorrow; I'm having too much fun here."
"I'm glad you are having a good time here; my whole family loves you to death. Mom said she would have slapped Byron and kicked him out herself if we hadn't been there to do it. Both her and dad adore you, ya know."
Even though I couldn't see his face I knew he was smiling brightly. "Well I love them too. I'm glad they didn't hate me and accepted us so well."
"But the plus side to us leaving tomorrow morning means our bet will officially begin. And I'm so going to kick your sexy little ass and win!" He stated smugly.
"Oh really? There is no way in hell you're going to win this. I have it in the bag hands down!" I leaned up to look at him in the face.
"And why would you think something as crazy as that?" He asked teasingly.
I smirked and whispered seductively on his lips "I know exactly how to get you all riled up and your weaknesses. So you better watch out, I'm going to tease the hell out of you!" I nipped his neck and chest while grinding slowly on him. I smirked even more when I felt him become hard down below. I reach my hand down and grabbed a hold of him causing him to groan in pleasure.
"It is so on Fitz" I bit his ear seductively.
He slid his hands down to my ass and squeezed it. "You're going down Montgomery!" He smirked before sucking on my sweet spot.
EZRA'S POV
After about 15 minutes of teasing, Aria got ready to head to Rosewood then quickly left so she wouldn't get there too late. I have been thinking about all the different ways I'm going to tempt her into caving. All I have to say is she better be prepared because I'm not holding any mercy. After I was dressed for the day I went downstairs to see if everyone was up yet. When I walked into the kitchen Mom and Sarah both turned to look at me.
"Good morning. Where's Aria?" Mom asked after she placed the fresh bacon she was making for breakfast on the plate.
"She drove to Rosewood, she wanted to give them a proper goodbye and apologize for last night." I reached down to grab a piece of bacon but mom slapped my hand away. "What?"
She shook her head "That is for breakfast, not to munch on before." When she turned around to face the stove I quickly grabbed a piece of bacon while Sarah just giggled and shook her head. "Ezra, what did I just tell you?" She scolded.
"Sorry." I chuckled softly.
"So how is Aria doing after last night?" Mom asked concerned.
I sighed, thinking of Aria's nightmare last night. "She's still shaken up a bit. She woke up screaming in the middle of the night from a horrible dream. She thought Byron had come back and took her from the house then sent her to Iceland."
Sarah shook her head in disbelieve. "I still can't believe they came here. I especially can't believe he slapped his own daughter. Has he ever hit her before or was that the first time? Do you think she'll be ok seeing them by herself?"
"That was the first time he's hit her. Aria is still in shock from it, I never would have thought of Byron to lay a hand either of his kids. I hope so, I told her if anything happens to call me and I'll get there as fast as possible." I swear Byron or even Ella better not try and do anything or so help me god I will kick his ass with no hesitation.
"Sarah, will you go upstairs and tell everyone breakfast is ready?" Mom asked as I set the table.
ARIA'S POv
It was around 2pm or so by the time I got to Rosewood. I had called the girls and Mike to let them know that I was driving down to see them. I still can't shake the feeling of Byron's hand slapping me with so much force across the face. I'm going to Hanna's house first, all of the girls are supposed to be there. Mike said he promised something with his friends' that he couldn't get out of so I would see him later. Before I knew it I was pulling into Hanna's driveway. Out of habit I just opened the door and headed to the kitchen, where everyone was.
"Aria!" They all squealed and gathered me in a group hug.
"Hey how are you guys doing?" I giggled at their reaction.
"We're all doing well. The more important question is how are you doing? Last night was pretty intense." Spencer asked after we all sat/stood around the middle counter.
"Yeah it was definitely not how I was expecting my Christmas to go. I'm fine though so don't worry. Sarah said Ezra punched Byron to the ground then kicked them out. David even had to hold Ezra back so he wouldn't do too much damage." I turned when I heard someone's heels kicking on the hardwood.
"Aria, I'm so glad to see you. Wow you look great." Ms. Marin smiled brightly when she walked in and saw me.
"Ms. Marin, it's so good to see you again too!" I got up and hugged her tightly. She was like a second mother to me.
"It's been almost a year now, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, I left back in the middle of January. I wanted to personally tell you thank you so much for not telling Ella and Byron where I've been; Ezra and I both really appreciate it. And I'm sorry about the girls lying about where they were a couple of times when they came to see me." I am entirely grateful that she never said a word to my parents.
"You have always been like a daughter to me; you all have. When Hanna told me where you were but reassured me you were safe then I knew your parents didn't need to know where you are. As long as you are safe and Ezra has been treating you right I don't see any reason why they need to know the truth. I hear your Christmas was interesting, I'm sorry they did that." She said sympathetically.
I gave a sad smile. "Yeah it was quite eventful. But other than that my break has been amazing in New York." When I reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, Ms. Marin smiled at me.
"I see congratulations are in order." She gestured to my engagement ring.
"Yeah now she really has Fitzy wrapped around her finger." Hanna gushed causing us all to giggle.
A couple of hours later Hanna announced she had a surprise for me so the girls all dragged me upstairs to her bedroom. I jumped on the bed with Spencer and Emily following suit, sitting on each side of me. Hanna went over to her closet and pulled out a medium size box that was wrapped with pink wrapping paper and a black bow around it. She smiled mischievously as she climbed onto the end of the bed and handed me the box.
I looked at her quizzically. "I feel like I should be worried about what's in here from the look on your face. Do I want to know what it is?" I asked worried.
"There is nothing to be worried about! It's just a simple Christmas gift that I couldn't give you yesterday in front of his family." She looked at me expectantly and told me to open it.
I took a deep breath and slowly ripped off the wrapping paper and took off the lid. My eyes grew wide and I gasped when I saw what was in the box. "Hanna!" Spencer and Emily burst out in a giggle fest from my reaction while Hanna grinned wildly.
"I thought you could use something to tease Fitzy with for your bet as well as something to spice things up in the bedroom. And this seemed like the perfect thing." She bought me a bunch of Victoria Secret's sexiest and skimpiest lingerie!
Spencer leaned over and picked up a light pink see-through baby doll top with matching panties. "Damn Hanna, she's going to give the poor man a heart attack in this stuff!"
"Oh my god, Hanna! A naughty school girl outfit too? We better say goodbye to Ezra now, he's not even going to make it to the New Year!" Emily giggled.
My cheeks flamed red and I fell back into the pillows behind me. "I am going to kill you!"
"Not before you kill Fitzy with this amazing lingerie though!" Hanna bounced up and down on the bed.
"So you never said how come you guys had to cut your trip short, I thought you were staying until next week?" Emily asked.
I sighed. "Yeah we were supposed to leave then but the Dean at UCLA called and needed Ezra in some meeting next week. We wanted to get back a few days before it so Ezra had time to prepare and find out what the meeting is about." I said sadly.
"You seem like you don't want to go back?" Spencer observed.
"That's because I don't. I have had so much fun this whole trip, his family is amazing plus seeing you guys was great. I can't wait for the next time we come back here and get to see them!"
"Well how about we come see you guys during spring break like we did last year then when you come here for Mike's graduation then you guys could meet up with his family again!" Spencer said. This is why I love her, she makes a sad situation happy by thinking of the positive things.
Several hours later my phone rang. I grabbed it from the nightstand and smiled when I saw it was Mike.
"Hey Mike, what's up?"
"I was wondering if you want to hang out now, I assume you're still at Hanna's?" Mike asked.
"Yeah I'm at Hanna's with the girls. Do you want to go have dinner at The Grill since it's getting kind of late?" I looked around at the girls, silently asking if they want to go. They all nodded and began putting all of our magazines and stuff away.
"That sounds great! Ok I'll see you there about 7:30 then. Bye."
"Ok see you then, bye Mike."
"Ok so dinner at The Grill 7:30, does that work for you guys?" I asked them as I started to put all of the lingerie back into the box so I can put it in the car when we leave.
They all agreed and we made our way downstairs. Ms. Marin wasn't home, some kind of work emergency so she had to go in for a few hours. We decided to just take Mrs. Fitz's car; she had let me borrow it. That way I could just drop everyone off at their house before heading back to New York. We got to The Grill in no time and saw Mike already had a table and was waiting for us.
Dinner had been amazing! I know I just saw everyone yesterday but it was so much fun seeing them again. I had already dropped all of the girls off and was on my way to drop Mike off.
When we pulled into the driveway Mike turned to me. "I have something for you that I forgot to bring yesterday since I was in a hurry to leave before mom and dad saw me. Do you want to come up to my room and get it? If not I can bring it out here so you don't have to run into them." Mike glanced at our parent's cars that were parked in the driveway, indicating they were both home.
I shook my head with a small smile. "It's ok, I'll come in." I unbuckled my seatbelt and took a deep breath before getting out of the car. It's so weird looking at this house again when I haven't see or been in it for a year and I'm about to do both right now. It just feels like a house now; not a place I once called home. When we walked through the front door we made our way straight upstairs to his room. I was standing inside his room and glanced over at my old room, the door was shut.
Mike caught my gaze. "The door's been shut ever since you left. They haven't gone in there since; I occasionally do when I miss you. Everything is exactly how you left it." I gave a sad smile and walked around his room, seeing what he has changed lately before casting my gaze on my old room again.
"I'll be right back." I murmured quietly while he kept looking through his closet.
When I walked into my room I noticed Mike was right; everything is the same aside from the accumulated dust. I walked over to the window and ran my fingers along all the books I had collected over the years. I smiled when I came across a special one. Romeo and Juliet Ezra had given it to me after we found out we were Student/Teacher. I sat the book on my desk so I could take it with me, then I walked over to my closet to find something specific. Sure enough my guitar and case was still there, when I had a lot on my mind I would write songs sometimes in my journal then sing them when no one was home.
"I bet you missed that." Mike chuckled. "I remember pretending to be out of the house sometimes just so I could hear you sing because you would never sing in front of us."
I jumped at the sound of Mike's voice not expecting it. "Yeah, I had a lot of good memories with this guitar." I picked it up and sat it on my bed then turned to look at Mike.
"Uh here I found it; sorry for the wait I hid it so mom and dad wouldn't find it." He handed me a square shaped box that was wrapped in light blue wrapping paper with a small white bow on top.
I smiled up at him as he handed it to me. "Mike you really didn't have to get me anything."
"Yes I did! Now come, open it!"
I quickly ripped off the wrapping paper then opened the black velvet box. I smiled brightly when I saw a sterling silver charm bracelet. It had all sorts of charms on it: music note, an airplane, a book, the sun and an 'I 3 Cali' charm. "Mike I love it, thank you!" I reached out and hugged him tightly. When I pulled back from the hug he clipped it on my wrist for me.
Suddenly Byron came into the room. "What are you doing here? Finally decide to come home?" He smirked.
I scoffed and Mike quickly stepped in front of me to protect me incase Byron would try and hit me again. "Of course not, why in the hell would I come back? Especially after what you did last night! I'm here to see Mike, the only person in this so called family who cares about me."
"I am still your father and you will not speak to me like that." He said sternly and stepped closer to me.
Mike pushed me farther into my room and pushed Byron back toward the door. "You better stay the hell away from her! After last night you're lucky all they did to you was punch you, if I had been out there I would have beat the shit out of you for hitting her!" Byron just huffed and stormed downstairs, muttering incoherently.
I walked over to Mike and hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much Mike, you're the best brother ever!"
"As cheesy and cliché as this is, you're the best sister ever." He chuckled, still holding me tightly. When we pulled back from the hug he looked at his watch. "You better get going, it's already 11:00pm and you have a long drive ahead of you."
"Yeah you're right and our flight home is in the morning so I should probably get some sleep tonight." I sighed and went to pick up my book and my guitar.
We made our way downstairs where Ella and Byron were, Mike stayed close to me to make sure Byron wouldn't try anything. Ella heard us walking down the stairs and looked up at us; I just kept on walking with Mike outside to the car. I put my stuff in the back seat then turned to Mike.
"Oh boy I hate these goodbyes, you always make me cry!" I took at deep breath and hugged him. "Thank you again for everything you have done, I don't know what I would do without you. I love you so much Mike."
He patted my back softly and chuckled. "Well you know I hate it when you cry so I'm not doing it on purpose! I love you too. Besides, it's only 3 months until spring break and your birthday; so not too long until I see you again."
"I'll be counting the days, then graduation. Man I still can't believe you're graduating in 5 months; but you'll still be my baby brother."
He smiled when we pulled back from our hug. "I honestly can't believe it either but it's been a long time coming. And who knows, maybe I'll get into UCLA too."
I giggled at a sudden thought. "Yeah then maybe my fiancé will be your teacher!"
"I better get special treatment then! You can totally score me good grades!" He smirked.
"Hey you want better grades then you have to sleep with the teacher for them! I don't do other people's dirty work mister!" I said playfully.
He burst out laughing, "I can't believe you just said that!"
"Mmm what can I say, I'm a woman who speaks the truth! Ok I gotta go now unfortunately." I opened my door and climbed into the car, turning it on.
"Alright I'll see you in a few months!"
With that I pulled out of the driveway and made my way back to New York; my home away from California.
Okay so I wanted to clear up the questions I have gotten in reviews lately. Aria is 18, almost 19years old. Ella and Byron do NOT know that Aria and Ezra live in California, all they know is Mike had snuck off several times to see Aria where ever she has been living. I am writing the new chapter to Never Thought We'd Get This Far right now I hope to have it done soon but I keep getting interrupted by people so it will probably be up tomorrow with the new chapter of FFL If I get 20+ reviews again. : )