Half an hour later, Ezra slowly walked up to the door of his apartment, with Byron Montgomery following closely behind him. It was now midnight, however Ezra was pretty sure Aria would still be awake. As he stuck the key into the door, Byron spoke again.
"I don't understand why you needed to drag me all the way to your apartment at 12 am, just so that you can tell me the reason why you're stalking my daughter."
Ezra turned back to him before fully opening the door, "I already told you, it's not like that at all! I'm not a stalker, or some freaky guy going after younger women, I promise!" He walked inside, to find Aria asleep on the couch, with her phone in her hand. The screen was lit up with an unopened text from Ezra. It was the text Ezra had sent her on his way home to warn her about her father coming home with him.
Ezra walked over to her and sat beside her petite body on the couch. He felt guilty for having to wake her up, since she looked so peaceful asleep, with a small smile on her face. "Ezra..." She whispered, in her sleep. Ezra looked up at Byron with fear in his eyes.
"Wake her up." Byron motioned to Aria, as he went to stand behind the couch, out of Aria's view.
"Aria, honey, wake up." Ezra gently shook her awake.
Ezra watched her face as her eyelids slowly fluttered open. A big smile appeared on her face at the sight of him.
"You're finally home." She smiled, as she rubbed her hands against her eyes.
She reached up to stroke his cheek, but Ezra grabbed her hand before it could touch his face.
"Aria. Your dad's here." He said, as he sat down beside her on the couch.
"What?" She sat up quickly and frantically looked around the apartment.
"Over here." Byron said, as Aria's whipped her head around, towards his voice.
"Dad." She said stiffly. "W-what are you doing here?"
"Let's just say, that I just found out all about your dirty little secret." He said calmly. "Both of yours... Is there something you would like to tell me? Ezra's spend the past hour trying to convince me that he's not a stalker or forcing you into anything. So before I call the police, I want to hear your side of this. W-what are you doing here anyway? You told your mother and I that you were staying at Emily's." He asked, as he took the seat across from the couch.
"Police?" Aria repeated her voice full of fear.
"You heard me." He replied back.
Aria looked back at Ezra, who also had fear reflected in his eyes. "Dad, I swear, if you call the police on Ezra, I'll never speak to you again." She looked him straight in the eyes, as she climbed into Ezra's lap. Ezra instinctively wrapped his arms around her, then quickly pulled them away when he met Byron's gaze.
"Can you please tell me what is going on here? Before I explode. Because right now, I see you cuddling up against your English teacher, Aria."
"EX-English Teacher." She clarified for him.
"Who cares? He was your teacher! That's what matters!"
"You are the last person, who can accuse me of doing something wrong." She said, her voice full of disgust. "You were in a student teacher relationship too, in case you forgot... And I'm at the age of consent, so I can be with anyone I want. And I choose Ezra." She said simply.
Byron watched Aria as she took hold of Ezra's arms and wrapped them around her waist.
"I think... We should wait a little longer before we tell Ella." Byron stated with a distant look in his eyes.
Aria nodded in agreement.
Byron sighed. "So, how did this all happen?" He gestured to Aria sitting on Ezra's lap.
Aria turned to Ezra and smiled.
"It started before school started. We met at a bar and started talking and-"
"What the hell were you doing at a bar, Aria? You're seventeen!"
"That's really beside the point." Aria replied swiftly. "We just felt this connection. I don't know how to explain it." Aria said, looking at Ezra, who smiled in response. "And yeah. You can probably guess what happened afterwards."
"Spare me the details please... Wait. You guys didn't..." Byron trailed off, watching Aria intently.
"No!" Aria shook her head fiercely. "We just kissed. Nothing more. I promise."
Ezra nodded in agreement.
"So the next day at school, I found out that Ezra was my new AP English teacher. That was more awkward than words can describe. So we broke off our relationship for like two days... Then we got back together because we were just too in love. And since then, we've had some ups and downs, trying not to get caught, but... it's all worth it. Daddy, I really love Ezra. Please, promise you won't do anything to get him in trouble." Aria pleaded. "If you really love me, you won't do anything to hurt us."
Aria's eyes were glistening with tears. Ezra pulled his arms tighter around her, while intently studying Byron's reaction.
Byron slouched down into the chair and closed his eyes.
"Daddy, please." Aria said again.
Byron opened his eyes and could see the love and sadness etched in her daughters' face. He felt a pang in his chest, as he realized that Aria hadn't called him 'daddy' in years. Ten years, in fact. As he watched Aria and Ezra for a moment more, he realized how perfect they were together.
"He's like, old." Byron said suddenly. "Doesn't that bother you?"
"No. Not at all. And it's only six years. Emily's parents are ten years apart." Aria fiercely shook her head.
"Fine. I won't do anything." He said, defeated. "Although, I could still get you for being with a student while teaching at Rosewood." He muttered under his breath.
"No. You can't." Aria said simply. "He's not my teacher anymore. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our relationship now."
"It's late, and this is too much to comprehend at this hour." Byron stood up, and pulled his car keys out of his pocket. "I'll decide what I'm going to do about this in the morning. You coming, Aria?"
"Can't I stay here tonight?" She asked sweetly. "That wasthe original plan."
"Fine." Byron muttered. "I guess I don't have much control over this situation anyway." He strolled over to the door and looked back at Aria. "When are you going to tell Ella?"
"I don't know. Maybe soon." Aria shrugged, as she watched her dad walk outside and close the door behind him.
"Bye Dad!" She called.
A few silent moments passed, before Aria looked around the apartment and stated, "I'm not tired anymore."
Ezra gave her a small smile. She twisted herself in his lap and brought her face closer to his.
"What do you want to do?" She whispered quickly in his ear in the sexiest voice she could muster.
"What do youwant to do?" He emphasized, while tucking a stray hair from her ponytail behind her ear.
She titled her head up and he placed his soft lips on hers. She nibbled at his bottom lip, an action she knew he loved. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her body closer to his. Her hands found the hem of his shirt and she quickly pulled it off, breaking the kiss for a second. She licked her lips at the sight of his perfectly toned abs. Her mouth met his once again and she opened her mouth slightly, giving entrance to his prodding tongue. Hers met his in a passionate battle for dominance. He brought one of his hands up to her head and gently pulled the rubber band from her ponytail, letting her hair cascade around her shoulders. She tightened her arms around his neck as she played with the hair at the nape of his neck. She moved her hand to his chest and ran a perfectly manicured finger down it, before stopping at the hem of his pants. She gave a light tug at the waistband, before Ezra pulled away from her mouth.
"Aria." He looked down.
"Ezra, I want this."
"Are you sure? You're not just trying to release your anger because your dad found out?" He asked.
"I'm sure." She whispered, as she crushed her lips to his once again. She shivered as she felt his hands move to her back and unzip the zipper on her white sundress in one swift motion. She shrugged the soft fabric off her body and it landed on the floor with a soft thud. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he slipped his hands under her legs so he could pick her up. He carried her over to the bed with her lips still locked against his. Gently, he laid her on the bed, breaking the kiss. Aria's heart skipped a beat as she felt Ezra's heavy breath against her face. She pulled his face to hers once more in a kiss full of raw passion, and they continued from there.
Wow! I was seriously blown away with the number of reviews I got for the first chapter! I decided to change this into a story instead of just one-shots. I'll still be writing One Heart, but I'm going to be focusing on this more. Please don't forget to review! ;)