Take My Hand - Lashton

Prologue

Prologue

-

Out the corner of his eye, a spec of familiarity caught Ashton's gaze. A bunch of curly blonde hair, a book clutched to his chest and nervously hunched shoulders. Ashton couldn't believe what he was seeing. He always thought fate would have them meet again, but the thought became deeply embedded into his subconscious, almost tossed out.

He had met his fiance. He has a stable and comfortable lifestyle and the job he had always wanted. He didn't need to fantasise about meeting him again. But, there he was. Sat in the middle of a crowd, looking down at his lap anxiously.

Ashton smiled and looked down himself. He shook his head and promised himself that the excitement he was feeling was only a surge of adrenaline from seeing an old friend, it wasn't his heart fluttering with adoration.

The room suddenly went silent, and the thirty-year-old could hear his heart beating in his chest. But it felt as if it were intensely pressed against his ear. The audience began clapping, Ashton joined in, his eyes still settled on the man a couple of rows in front of him.

As the author walked into the room, all heads turned. Forgetting to turn respectfully, his eyes locked with Luke's - or so he thought. The light blue eyes that screamed for help and also in hatred for Ashton now met his with shock and then a friendly hello.

He turned back around quickly, and Ashton followed the author around the room until she was sat behind a long table, her book situated in front of her. Ashton took a deep breath and smiled once more, allowing his mind to gently return to reality. His allowed his full attention to focus on the book launch.

-

Leaning against a wall, a glass of champagne in his right hand, his book hanging loosely at his side in his left, Luke was scanning the room. He'd never been to an event like this before, and he knew he should be interviewing different people to prepare for his project, but it felt awkward and wasn't the route he was going to take with this job. He wanted to provide something unique and felt that standing back and observing all those involved and interested in the novel might provide a deeper insight into his analysis.

Looking down at the book cover once more, Luke felt giddy. This was a big opportunity for him. Never before has he been asked to review a book before anyone else - he had been chosen specifically and this was all that he had wanted to do. He felt so lucky.

A voice broke him from the enchantment of the job opportunity. "Hello!"

Looking up quickly, Luke shuffled on his feet and smiled sweetly. "Hi. I didn't know you helped with this book! I wasn't expecting to see you again at a book launch!" he chuckled as he stared over Ashton's shoulder. Over the top of his smooth and well-finished suit jacket.

"I'm a friend of the authors. She knew I specialised in the main topic of the novel, and thought I could be her main point of research," Ashton explained, taking a sip of his own drink.

Luke flipped the book around and ran his finger over the other man's name. "You've got your name on a book before me! I'm jealous!" Luke also ran his finger over the two words on the blurb, the delicate theme of the novel.

"Jealous? I didn't think you did jealousy?" Ashton smirked, taking the book out of Luke's hands and staring at his own name. "So why are you here? I didn't think this would be where we met again!"

Luke looked down bashfully. "The publisher asked me to review the book, I've never done anything this big before, so yeah-"

"I've read a couple of your articles, the one's you've done for the paper, I think you're a pretty established journalist if you asked me," Ashton remarked.