The anger lacing her words made him fear that she had discovered Calum's life.
Knocking on someone's door was never something that Ashton could have expected to be so purely nerve wracking but here he was, standing in front of his best friends house with a quiver to his hands, and a shake to his voice.
"It's open," a voice called from inside, the words that used to hold warmth and welcome now holding ice and venom.
This only added to Ashton's anxiety though he swallowed it down to be strong for the younger girl.
Walking the short distance to the living room he guessed, and guessed correctly, he would find her in.
Ashton found her practically radiating with anger, paper strewn across the coffee table in front of her - eyes glazed with either unshed tears or the numb she had forced herself into to hide from the pain - the small dog at her feet curling in on himself as though he felt the emotions his owner felt.
Summer looked at him through the hair that was framing her face, falling into her eyes in the process. Those same eyes held months of confusion and pain, all that stemmed into anger.
Anger that now had a release.
Ashton could sense the anger coming from her and his defenses immediately raised; he never could help it but some situations he found it best to simply block everything coming through at him.
"Care to explain what the fuck you and Calum dearest were doing behind our backs?" Summer batted her eyelashes and smiled innocently at Ashton as if to distract him from the sour poison lacing her words, contrasting her sweet tone.
"Care to explain what the fuck you're talking about, but sunshine," Ashton tilted his head to the side, making sure to copy Summer's feigned sweetness.
The walls around her heart were yet again crumbling but the remaining anger cemented the bricks together, protecting the pain.
"Maybe I mean the sketchy shit you were doing with Mitchy? You know, the meetings Calum would run off to after pulling me apart at home?"
"Sum-"
"No Ashton," Summer cut across him, "I'm sick of your bullshit of oh Summer's all fragile we can't tell her about this, that the other that's clearly been going on for years now. Please Ash just fucking explain what was happening, I'm not stupid I think it's fairly obvious you know something."
He was caught. Should he tell her and possibly get in trouble? Should he continue to hide from her and hurt the girl in the process? In his eyes he could see that lying to her would only hurt her more, but the truth would bring her to blaming herself; something that was already happening.
"Ash."
Summer's voice had turned pleading, not quite sad but begging for the answers.
"Sum I don't know if its safe to tell you this," he spoke through his arising fear for he know that he wouldn't win yet still trying to argue.
"Are you kidding me Ash, Calum is missing and you're worried about what telling me something that I'm hardly going to tell anyone about is going to get you in trouble, oh no," Summer was growing increasingly frustrated with her friend, all she wanted was for Calum to come back and he seemed to refuse to help.
"Please sunshine, you have to promise me you won't take any of this to heart," he gave in, too tired from the past years to put up a fight any longer.
"Ash I fucking swear on anything just tell me, explain everything now or you can get the fuck out of my house, and you won't be welcomed back."
Was Summer being serious, was she only threatening on false grounds? Neither knew, though both feared the former.
Ashton took a deep breath, Summer crossed her legs beneath her on the couch with expecting eyes, and his explanation began.
"Sunshine I don't know how I'm going to word this so please bear with me, yeah? And don't blame this on yourself, it's not worth it and does nothing.
Back in like - Jesus I can"t even remember, like twenty-fourteen, twenty-fifteen - you and Calum went public. There's been so much going on I don't know if it was an announcement thing or just stopped hiding but you went public with the relationship. People didn't like that.
Some were just obsessive fans, others were older people in a bad system, they had their eye on you and Calum. A young couple that were steadily growing more famous every day were bound to be drawn into the media, bound for people to want them, use them.
We were all so naive, fuck, but it's not like there's anything we can do about five years ago now. That feels so long ago sunshine...
Mitchy and his little shithole friends saw us as their way to get famous, and saw their key to get in through you and Cal. They started threatening you because they knew that Calum was far more likely to do anything if it was to protect you; and they were right.
They got Calum to come round, do some jobs for them... the jobs aren't important but they weren't always one hundred percent legal, but Sunshine I swear he was only doing it for you.
They promised he could go and you would be happy together as soon as they were famous but they were empty promises love. When 'Broken' got big Calum was never allowed stop.
He never wanted to tell you because he was afraid of you getting hurt, and the only reason he did it in the first place was to protect you. That's why he always lied to you, he made up them fights when he had to go do stuff, he didn't want you to think he was just running away to cheat or something," Ashton giggled a little, "but he definitely could have done a better job don't you think?"
Summer's eyes had grown wide, shock, pain, anger all flooding her at once.
"But Ash, what does this have to do with your why do you get to know any of this?"
"Because Sunshine, I found him crying in a fucking closet one day. We talked and he confided because apparently I was his best friend. He wasn't even upset because of what he was doing, but rather why he was doing it. It was all for you Sum, that's all it ever was."
Tears had begun to pool in Summer's eyes as the man spoke to her with a cracking voice, tone soothing in an attempt to calm her from their frustrated only minutes before.
"Why didn't you say something, we can do something now we can find Mitchy and- and I don't know but it's better than sitting around all day," confusion had been added to Summer's already overbearing emotions, threatening to let her tears fall.
"Because I'm a coward Sunshine. I was scared, for me, for you, for fucking Calum.
Do you realise how dangerous these men are? The one time he tried refuse them there was already someone on the way to your house. This is serious shit Summer, and we need to be careful. No- no before you even ask, no I don't know what happened that night.
He just said he loved me when I went after him to cover, he doesn't normally but I didn't think anything of it. Not until he wasn't back the next day. Not until Mitchy didn't answer my texts. Not until Calum missed one of his best friends birthdays.
I'm hoping for the best Sunshine, but anything could have happened to him."
well... that explained a lot:D I've been waiting a long time for this chapter so I hope ye enjoyed :) hoping it explained a lot of the reasoning behind Calun and Ashtons suspiciousness (if that's even a word) but it doesn't exactly say where Calum is, or what happened that night..
again, look into songs mentioned in the fic, lyrics that were quoted and yeah- enjoy :p
that being said, stay safe, wear a mask and wash your hands (or else you lose your right to read this book)
- becca <3
YOU ARE READING
lover ☆ cth
Fanfiction"I promise you this darling, we can always have each other whenever we need each other, and nothing can come between that." In which he disappears, leaving his lover behind. "Should you wish for something if you don't truly want it?"
