Petunia's Tea and Cake Shop [5SOS AU] (Completed)

Ashton

Calum froze, then started putting bottles back into the box. "I was just cleaning this up," he half joked.

"That's not going to work this time, buddy." Ashton remarked with a humorless smile, and nudged Luke along. "And step away from the bar, I know what you have hiding back there."

Calum lifted his hands up and moved to the side of the bar, rolling his eyes at Ashton.

"Oh my god, would you two just stop!" Luke exclaimed, startling Calum and Ashton out of their bickering. "If I have to die to night, I at least want to know why you're fighting."

"You're not going to die, Luke, I could never..." Ashton's posture changed and he shook his head as he lowered the revolver.

It was deadly silent for a long moment as the three pairs of eyes flicked between each other.

A rustling in the back of the bar caught their attention, and they all turned just in time to see Michael emerge from the back entrance. "Alright, Cal, I've got everything set with...oh fuck no." He swore when he saw Ashton and started to go back the way he came.

"Stop it right there!" Ashton shouted and raised the gun again. "The police are on their way!"

Seeing no way out of this, Michael slumped down on a crate of gin and rested his chin on his hands with a disgruntled sigh.

"You called the cops on us?" Calum gave Ashton an odd look, that say 'wow, you really did that' - betrayal, mixed with disappointment. "You know what, Luke is right. If it's all going to end tonight, then I'd also like to get to the bottom of this. Tell us what happened, Irwin, tell us about the night you betrayed us all and nearly had us killed."

"Other than tonight?" Luke's comment went unnoticed as the tension muffled his words.

"You mean, the night you killed my fiancee?" Ashton retorted with anger, shoving Luke away.

Luke gladly moved away from him, and Michael shot up from his seat to join him.

"Whoa, hold on a second, your what?" He asked Ashton, and Calum looked equally confused. "And we weren't driving that truck, we were in the back." He added more calmly, as the pieces started to fit together.

Ashton gritted his teeth as his face turned a darker shade of red. "That's not what I saw, and I had a front-row seat." Ashton shouted, his voice getting rough with emotion. "I was sitting at her favorite table at the restaurant we'd gone on our first date. She loved the table by the window because of the way you could see straight down Market Street. We used to sit there and watch all the people coming and going, wondering what their stories where." His eyes got a little softer at the memory, but continued talking. "I had gotten there early to set things up. The waiter was going to bring the ring out in her champagne glass after dinner, but..." His face flashed with anger again, his cheeks turning a cherry red. "I saw her walking down Market Street in that shimmery dress she usually wore when she sang at The Viper. I waved to her as she crossed the street, and I shouldn't have distracted her, because...the truck came out of nowhere." His face streamed with tears, and it was clear he couldn't continue the narrative.

It was quiet as the other three tried to figure out what to do, when Michael broke the silence. "So, you ratted us out to the Prohibition Bureau? It was an accident, he didn't mean to hit Ang-"

"You don't get to say her name!" Ashton interrupted violently, nearly falling across the table separating him and Michael.

"James lost control of the truck; a tire blew out and he couldn't stop in time. It wasn't intentional, why would it be?" Calum asked.