Love me or love me not

Stains || 12

           •• Ashton's POV ••

I sigh, annoyed. "Fine. Come in." I say, leading Daniel inside my house. Daniel was a friend of mine, we'd meet up most nights for races that took place at night.

I lead him inside as he takes a seat on the sofa. I sit opposite him. "What is it?" I ask, bored.

I watch him play with his fingers as he answers nervously. "You have a friendship with the host and everyone knows that. The only problem is that his wife will be giving birth in a few days so the races can't continue, which means—"

"I know what that means." I interrupt, rubbing my forehead. If there aren't any races, there won't be any money coming in which means I won't be able to give my mom money.

It's always been a difficult life for her. When my dad remarried, he'd come and visit all the time when I was little. As I grew, the visits became less frequent and mom began lending money to him to 'financially support him'. I haven't seen him in a long time and I hope it stays that way.

I lean forward to get a lighter off of William as I light a cigarette before throwing it back to him.

"You could host the race." Kai suggests, throwing a grape in the air and catching it in his mouth.
Fucking idiot.

"No, dimwit. I have to race to get the money. I can't host."

My eyes shift to William as he speaks up. "Technically you can still win money. The money is divided between the winner and the host, so if you win and host, you get all the money." He says and I nod my head. That is true. I'll just need to sort things out with Anonymous. Anonymous was the host, don't ask why he called himself that.

"What about the Brie chick?" Kai suddenly says as he licks his fingers. I look down at his lap as a bag of crisps lays there with crumbs everywhere. I don't even want to know how he got those.

"Who's Brie?" Daniel asks and I'm quick to interfere.

"No one." I look at the time- 5:38pm- time for her to go. "Kai, go tell Brie to leave. Her mom should be back by now." I blow out a puff of smoke as kai gets up, mumbling to himself about how he always has to do things for us.

I roll my eyes and look around the room. William was on his phone, texting whilst playing with his lighter in the other hand. My eyes land on Daniel staring at me.

"What?" I snap as he sits up straighter.

"This Brie girl, she could help with the races."

"No—" I'm interrupted by screams I know all too well. Kai and Brianna.

The screams erupt one after the other before a pair of heavy footsteps run down the stairs until Kai's frantic frame enters the room.

"Uh... Ashton? We have a bit of a dilemma."

I stand up. "Did something happen to her?" I hand Daniel my cigarette and look at Kai waiting for an answer.

"No...well, yes. I think it's better  you come see yourself." He says. My brows furrow and before I know it, I'm jogging until I'm standing outside my bedroom door.

Just as I'm about to enter, a hand on my arm pulls me back. Kai stands there with a worried look. "Just don't shout at her." Without saying anything else, he let's go and walks away.

Okay?

I'm about to open the door when a stifled cry reaches my ear. Why is she crying?