Chapter 15

Four minutes and twenty one seconds. That's how long it took for Ezra to drive to the bus stop. She knew, because she counted every second while she waited; too afraid to think of anything else but those numbers. At each second, she had expected to see her father appear out of no where and drag her back to the house, and each second that passed she grew more and more afraid that Ezra just might not make it time. But the sweetest feeling Aria had felt in a long time, came in the form of Ezra's silver Camry turning the corner and driving down her street. She jumped to her feet and checked her surroundings one more time, then paused to gather the courage she needed to get in Ezra's car.

"Are you-" but the next words died on his tongue. Aria tried to turn her face away from him, but Ezra raised his hand tentatively to her chin and turn her face gently back to him.

"Oh Aria." His voice was thick with sorrow and his eye glazed with sadness.

She felt ashamed.

"I'm okay." Her voice was husky and she didn't trust herself to say anymore. She felt nauseous and on the brink of tears. She could see Ezra shift uncomfortably in his seat while he tried not to stare at her injuries.

"Who?" He blurted through the silence but then quickly apologised. "You don't have to tell me Aria, I'm sorry."

She shook her head but still didn't make eye contact while she played nervously with the hem of her skirt."I want to tell you, I'm just not sure how." She looked at him then, but instantly regretted it.

She had only seen Ezra cry on one occasion, and that was when he found out about Malcolm. It had been such a heart wrenching sight to Aria, that she vowed she would do everything in her power to keep Ezra from crying again. But here he was, sitting mere centimetres from her while silent tears slid down his cheeks. She felt the familiar feeling of guilt grip her insides and she couldn't stop her own tears from falling.

Ezra wiped the wetness from his cheeks and reached out for Arias hand. His warm fingers wrapped around her cold ones and he squeezed gently.

"I am so sorry I didn't realise something was going on sooner. I'm sorry I let my own troubles blind me from yours." He squeezed her hands again.

"Please don't apologise." She whispered as she wiped her own tears angrily from her cheeks. "The only one to blame is me. I let this go on."

"Aria, please tell me what happened." His voice was desperate and pleading.

"You have to promise me something." She waited for his reply and when he nodded she continued. "You have to promise me that you won't think of me any less."

She could see pain twist his face but he nodded immediately.

Aria took a shaky breath to calm her nerves. "It started a few months ago when my mother moved to Europe with her boyfriend."

Ezra paled. "Your father?"

She nodded and continued her story. "He took the divorce very hard and tried to drown his sorrows in whiskey. It started as drunken insults and escalated very quickly to hitting."

Aria swallowed the lump in her throat and caught Ezra's eye. "I know your going to tell me that I should have left the first time he hit me and never gone back."

Ezra shook his head desperately in response. "Never."

She wanted to smile at him, but the gesture felt out of place. "I kept hopping that he would go back to the man he once was. I thought he would realise that I was the last person he had left."

As she spoke the words out loud, a crushing wave of sorrow filled her chest and she couldn't stop the sobs that racked her small fragile body. Ezra immediately gathered her up into his arms and held her as she cried.

Aria had sincerely hoped that her father would come to his senses, that maybe he would realise that everyone else had left him but she had stayed with him. But as she had said those words out loud, she knew how stupid she must have sounded. Of course Byron was aware of what he was doing. Alcohol was only the fuel that helped him take out his frustrations on her. Aria remembered the way he would look at her the next morning, both of them waiting to see if the other would say something first. Aria never did.

Thinking of her father tightened her chest, and fresh tears flowed freely. Ezra moved in closer and pulled her into his chest and Aria inhaled his scent with each gasp of air.

"I'm an idiot!" She laughed bitterly through her tears. Ezra didn't reply, only wiped her cheeks and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I think you are the bravest person I know." He said as he gently stroked her hair. "Not many people could go through all that you have."

"No." She sobbed louder. "I'm coward and I've done some stupid things these past few months."

"People cope in different ways, Aria."

She snorted. "I tried to self destruct."

Ezra looked away sadly and they sat in silence.

"He threw me down the stairs today." Aria regretted her words as Ezra pulled his hands from hers in shock, but she couldn't stop herself. "I thought I was going to die this time. He seemed hell bent on hurting me."

Ezra swallowed loudly and Aria could see his hands ball into tight fists. His knuckles turned white as the skin pulled tightly around the bones.

"I should kill him." He hissed.

Arias eyes widened slightly. She had never heard Ezra say something like that before; he didn't have a mean bone in his body. Aria placed a gentle hand on his arm and she could see him relax under her touch.

"Don't say that." She pleaded. "You're not a killer."

He shook his head and let it drop heavily into his hands. "I can't get the image of him throwing you down the stairs out of my head."

Her breath hitched.

"All I see when I close my eyes now is your father hurting you." His voice was thick with tears and Aria could see his shoulders shake and then he whispered: "I don't know how I would live without you."

She wasn't sure if she was supposed to hear those words, and she felt her heart tightened.

"Can we please just put this behind us?"

Ezra looked to her with an unsure look on his face.

Aria sighed. "I know I have a lot of issues to work through-"

"Then I will help you through them." He breathed. "I love you, Aria, most ardently, and I will never let him hurt you again." He placed a kiss on Arias forehead and her breath faltered with his emotional declaration.

"I would do anything for you, you know that right?"

Aria nodded as she sat up, wiping her wet cheeks with her sleeve.

Ezra smiled at her and turned the key in the ignition. "Come on, let's get you back to our place."

Just a short chapter for now because the next one is going to be huge and EPIC!