Drowning

Chapter 41:

I jumped up about an hour later with my answer. My stomach was churning and I was cramping. Ezra sat up quickly when he felt me move away from him.

"What's wrong?" He asked with fearful eyes.

"I'm going to be sick." I jumped off the bed and dashed into the bathroom. I lifted the toilet bowl lid just in time to empty the contents of my stomach. Ezra was right behind me. He reached down and pulled my hair back out of my face. I continued vomiting violently until my body hurt. I slumped back down on the floor of the bathroom and wiped the sides of my mouth. In my mind, I felt like I deserved the side effects for making the decision I made. I deserved to be punished for this.

Ezra sat on the edge of the bathtub and pushed his hair back from his face. I moved back to vomit again one more time. He got up to hold my hair again. He was being very gentle and sweet, which surprised me. Most guys would have just left me in here to deal with this on my own. I was glad he turned out to be the type of person to stay with me as I went through this.

We heard the front door open and shut.

"Hey Ezra, you here?" JD called from the bottom of the stairs. My eyes went big. We didn't need this right now. JD drama on top of all of this would break me. "Is Ry still here? My Mom is freaking out. She hasn't heard from her all day."

He started walking up the stairs and I saw the top of his head from the bathroom floor.

"Yeah, she's here. She's hungover." Ezra said in his best, everything's cool voice.

JD stepped in the doorway and looked down at me. "You look like shit Lil Bit, no wonder you haven't talked to Mom."

"Yeah, Aiden took Brynn back to her house, so I stayed here to keep an eye on her. I figured your mom wouldn't appreciate me dropping her off on the doorstep like this." I was thankful Ezra is doing all the talking. I don't think I would have made it through this without spilling our secret to my brother.

"What's up with those two?" JD asked, leaning against the door.

"Don't have the slightest clue." Ezra said, laughing.

JD looked down at me again, "Let me put my stuff away and I'll take over Riley duty. I have to make sure she calls Mom. Stay again tonight, Lil Bit. You shouldn't be in a car right now. You're green. Someone can take you home tomorrow. No drinking tonight."

JD left the doorway and headed to his room. I looked up at Ezra, who sat back down on the edge of the tub and reached out to rub my back.

"I'm not leaving you. I'll figure out something to tell JD." He whispered.

"You have to." I whispered back to him. "JD is going to suspect something if you won't move more than two feet away from me."

"Are you sure that is what you want?"

"It is."

Ezra jumped back away from me when JD walked back in.

"Lil Bit, you think you can stand? You can go lay down in my room."

"I think so," I tried to pull myself up from the floor. Ezra bent down quickly and stuck his hands under my armpits to pull me up. He almost pulled me into a hug before he realized JD was still there. He was going to have to keep himself under control until we can figure out what we were going to tell him.

"Thanks." I said, putting my hand up to his arm to pat it.

"Are you going to be ok?" He looked down at me.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine." JD answered for me and laughed at him.

The angry, stormy gray flashed across Ezra's eyes.

I was a bit wobbly and made my way out of the bathroom to head to JD's room. Both JD and Ezra followed me down the hall. I turned and opened JD's room and went to sit down on his bed.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on her. She can be a handful." I heard JD laugh out in the hall.

"Um, it's no big deal, JD. I didn't have anything better to do today."

"I doubt that. You should go call one of your girls to come over to hang out. It's been a while since you brought one of them back to the house." He said, patting Ezra on the back. Ezra would be explaining the "one of his girls" comment later when I get a chance to be alone with him again. I was not going to let that one slide.

"Um, yeah. Good idea." I heard Ezra hesitate. "See you later."

Ezra looked back in the room one more time and I waved to him. He clenched his jaw and turned to go back to his room. His door slammed shut and I giggled. I couldn't believe he was offended that my brother wanted to take care of me.

"So Riley, what happened last night?" JD asked me, walking into his room and shutting the door.

"Brynn."

"That explains it."

JD sat down next to me and bumped my arm and I bumped his back. We sat in silence for a few minutes. My stomach was finally starting to settle back down. The only churning that was left was due to the awkwardness I was feeling with JD.

"Hey Riley, is everything ok?" He asked me.

I wanted to open up to my big brother, but I knew he would never understand what was going on. I had the urge to start from the beginning and tell him everything that had happened to me since I walked back into this house after graduation, but I just couldn't find the words. It wasn't a good idea to tell him with Ezra still in the house. JD would go after him in a heartbeat and there was no one here to stop him. When the time comes to tell him, I have to make sure Ezra is far away so neither of them would get hurt.

"I'm fine, JD. I'm just not feeling great."

"I get it. Just do me a favor and be more careful. I'm glad I have friends I can trust to look after you, but you need to start looking out for yourself too."

I turned my head to him, not sure where he was coming from.

"I just found out Ezra was the one who beat up that guy in the kitchen. They said he stopped a guy who was trying to do stuff to you while you were drunk. I'm glad he was there to stop it, but we both know this isn't the first time you have been in a situation like this." He said softly.

My green eyes were large and full of tears. I was ashamed about what I did the other night but slightly relieved that I had one less secret I had to hide from JD.

"I need you to know. I never blamed you for what happened that night. I would do it all over again to keep you safe. My friends would too, just look at what Ezra did for you and he barely knows you. Everyone who I have ever introduced you to adores you. You are sweet and loving and everyone can see how awesome you are instantly. Please just make sure you have a safety net before you jump into the drunk tank again. There are a lot of bad people out there who don't deserve you."

"James, I'm sorry." I wanted to add so much more, but nothing would come out.

"I don't need an apology, Riley. Just a promise that you will be more careful. You are getting older and will want to start living your own life. I am a legend, but eventually, you'll decide hanging out with me isn't as cool as it used to be. I don't want to see you get hurt."

I swallowed, unable to say anything back to him. I knew JD loved me and only wanted the best for me. He was a good big brother and I was betraying him by lying to him about Ezra.

"Now call Mom and let her know you're staying one more night. Take a nap, you little brat." He said, trying to lighten the mood again. "We have some people coming over tonight to hang out. You'll need some rest."

JD handed me his phone and I called my Mom and let her know I was still alive. She was relieved from the call. From her tone, I could tell she wasn't thrilled at my choice to stay with JD again. She didn't come out and say it outright, but I had been on the receiving end of that tone for years.

I hung up with her and decided to take JD's advice to get some rest. I had a couple of hours before anyone would be coming over and I would have to pretend I was completely fine. I snuggled under the covers of JD's bed and I fell asleep immediately.