Changing Affection

Chapter Twelve

It's been five days since Aubrey watched Ezra being pushed into a cop car and her coming back home. She was happy that she was home, but she missed Ezra. She missed his arms around her. She missed the protective aurora that he radiated. Her father still firmly believed that Ezra was the bad guy and shouldn't be trusted, but he didn't know him as she did. From what she witnessed of Ezra; he wasn't what she thought he was going to be. He never harmed her or even threatened to. All he did was protect her from his boss. 

Aubrey tightened her grip on her mug and stood up from the table. Walking to the sink, she emptied the rest of her coffee and washed the mug. Her dad's coffee tasted nothing like Ezra's. Ezra's coffee was smooth while her dad's tasted bitter. A flash came from outside the window, startling her. She looked up to see a dozen different cameras outside of her house. She reached up and roughly shut the curtains, shutting the cameras out. 

She sighed and gripped the edge of the sink tightly. Why did everything have to happen to her? Why did she have to get kidnapped by that man and fall in love with him? Her life was perfect before she met Ezra. She didn't have much of a love life before she met him, but she was still happy. When he took her, she was scared out of her mind. It wasn't until he sat with her in the closet that she calmed down and started to feel safe with him. 

Her head snapped up quickly at that thought.

Did she love him?

When did that happen? She couldn't figure out the exact moment when she must have started to feel love for him. Her guess would have to be when they were in the smaller cabin. When she knew that he would protect her no matter what. When he went against his boss and took her away to another cabin; further away from Jearon. Further away from the man who wanted to harm her. 

Did he feel the same about her?

Aubrey shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know. She felt that maybe he did. The way he looked at her. The way that he held her and made love to her made her think that maybe he did. But she didn't know, and she would never know. She'd never be able to see him again. The police, and her father, were going to make sure that he stays in jail. 

She needed to go and see him. She needed to go down to the station and just ask him. She needed to know. 

She turned away from the sink and walked into her father's study. He was sitting at the desk with his head in his hands. Aubrey leaned against the frame and hugged her body as she hesitated to tell him what was on her mind. Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to her father's desk. "Dad?"

Her father looked up. Aubrey could tell in his eyes that he was tired. She was tired too. This whole situation took as much from him as it had taken from her.

"I want to go speak to Ezra."

Her father gave her a strange look before rubbing his eyes. "Why Aubrey?" he sighed. "The man kidnapped you and kept you away from me against your will. Why would you want to go talk to him?"

Aubrey was about to tell her father the truth about what was going on in her mind. But she decided against it. She had a feeling that her father would have a negative feeling about what she felt in her heart. Instead, she thought of something else quickly. "I want to know if he was truly protecting me or if he just wanted me to himself." She took a deep breath and pleaded with him. "Please, I need to know."

Her father sighed and shook his head. "Let me think about it, Athena."

"I'm going to go to the station whether you're with me or not," Aubrey spoke boldly. She stood up straighter and prepared herself to hold her ground.

Her father placed his head in his hands again. "Why do you want to know, Aubrey? Why would you even think about that?"

Aubrey shrugged her shoulders. "I need to clear my mind of it, dad. Please, just let me do this, and I will never want to go see him again."