FADED (book I)

XX

He was still asleep, his back facing me. He was shirtless and I couldn't quite see clearly because the curtains were drawn. But if I squinted my eyes, I could spot dark marks littered all over his skin. The guilt was eating at me at the sight of all those bruises. I wanted to reach out to him and show him how sorry I really was and how much it hurt me to see him like this.

Ashton groaned in his sleep and my eyes widened in panic when he turned on his back. Not wanting to see more of the damage inflicted on his body, and not wanting to be caught intruding; I quickly stepped back and closed the door.

I stayed close to the room, making sure I didn't wake him up. But then I heard him snoring softly and I knew I was safe. I didn't know why I was so afraid of facing him - maybe it was because Ashton never dealt well with people who did him wrong, and now I belonged to that category. I managed to get on Ashton Woods' bad side and I had no idea what that meant.

Someone smacked my butt and I jumped, dropping my clothes in the process.

Tristan grinned. "Good morning, baby doll."

"G'morning," I mumbled as I picked up my clothes from the floor.

"What's with the long face?"

"Nothing," I answered as I headed to the bathroom.

Tristan followed me and leaned against the doorframe. He was doing that thing again where he was trying to figure out what was going through my head.

I caught his eye. "What?"

He threw a look behind him at the hallway and wet his lips in understanding. "He'll be fine. He called in sick today but tomorrow he'll be back on his feet."

I didn't want to talk about Ashton because I wasn't sure if I could keep the tears at bay. Instead, I grabbed my hairbrush and started combing through the tangled mess on top of my head.

Tristan didn't leave and I was about to ask him why he was still standing there but he cut me off.

"She's not going to do anything, Jade. She wouldn't dare."

It didn't take rocket science to know who he was talking about. I wasn't in the mood to talk about Penny either, so I just focused on my hair, trying to do something with it.

"I warned her not to bother you again. She'd be stupid if she took that risk, but I'm sure she hasn't lost all her brain cells yet," he tried to joke but I couldn't find the humor in it. Tristan sighed and closed the distance between us. He pulled my hands away from my hair and smoothed it down. "Leave it down, it looks cuter on you."

I looked up at him, unsure of what to say.

His eyes softened as he smiled down at me. "Come get your breakfast. I'm not sure how long I can keep Noah away from eating all the bacon. This morning I asked him how he wanted his eggs and he told me in a cake."

This time he did manage to get a small giggle out of me. "Yeah, that sounds like Noah."

FADED

At school, I caught Lauren standing by her locker talking to Anna and Sophie. I picked up my pace and shouldered my way through the mass of students.

Anna noticed me first and smiled. "Hey, Jade! You're still coming to my sleepover next week, right?"

"Yeah, wouldn't wanna miss it," I smiled.

Sophie nudged me with her elbow. "Preston's looking for you."

"What does he want now?" I groaned.

"Something about a date or something."

I rolled my eyes. "It's a group project, not a date."