FLASHBACK
Saturday, September 26th- 11:50 p.m.
| The Bet |
| Castling | a special rule that allows your king to move two spaces to its right or left, while the rook on that side moves to the opposite side of the king.
× Ashton ×
"Okay, somebody else spin, quick," Calum said from beside her.
She was trying to contain her laughs over what Luke had said, and I was trying to cover my smile with my cup from the sound of it.
She was so gorgeous. God had specifically spent extra time on her- carved out the way her cheekbones dipped, created the color of her eyes with an angel in mind, and made sure her laugh brought happiness to everyone around her like music.
She was an angel sent from heaven, a special craft of our higher-up power. She was a deity- a man's downfall in human form, and I couldn't be more thankful to even sit in her presence.
"Someone!" Calum repeated.
"Fine!" one of my defenders finally said. He leaned in, spinning the bottle before Luke and Mikey could go at each other.
She was still laughing as the bottle spun around the circle, and my eyes couldn't leave her as she did. She looked so carefree when she was drunk. She looked happy.
I was too focused on her laughter to realize when it landed on her. She took a deep breath before looking up the defender who spun it.
"Truth," she breathed out.
"Have you slept with anyone on the team?
God, why couldn't you have picked any other question?
I watched as her eyes roamed around the circle, deciding if she had slept with any of them. When she finally made it the whole way back around the circle, she broke away from who had asked it, her eyes landing on me.
"Consensually? No," she started. I felt myself sit up straighter, knowing where this was headed. Her eyes broke from mine, falling to Andrew.
"Now non-consensually? I guess that just depends on how far it has to go to be considered sleeping with them."
Andrew looked over to me as her words sunk in. I knew how much it drove him insane when she would call him out, because he refused to admit to himself that it was an assault.
I refused to look at him though, rather I stayed focusing on Annie. I know I had said before to her that what he had done to her wasn't an assault, but I don't like who I was when I said that to her- he was lying to himself to protect his friend.
There are two very different versions of me. The Ashton that respects Luke and I's deal, and the one who physically can't. The one who told her it wasn't an assault was the one why was trying too beyond hard to not break it.
I felt my jaw clench as she looked back over to me, trying to keep my mind off how badly I wanted to punch Andrew.
"Someone else spin," Mikey finally said from the edge of the circle.
Calum leaned in, spinning the bottle again to ease the tension in the room. As it continued to spin, I watched as Annie stood up from her spot in the circle.
She walked across, her steps delicate. She looked like she was floating as she moved, like every one of her steps were calculated, like the wings on her back allowed her to glide with her every move.
"Where're you going?" Mikey asked her as she reached my side of the circle.
"The bathroom. Why does it matter to you?" she fired back in pure Annie fashion as she stepped between two people to step out.
She turned towards the kitchen, and I spoke up before I could stop myself.
"You better go upstairs," I said below my breath, watching as the bottle finally stopped spinning, pointing at me."Aj's throwing up in the downstairs one."
I could feel as she rolled her eyes in a way only she did behind my back. "Of course he is."
She headed for the steps, and I looked up to Calum across the circle. I didn't like the look on his face so I settled for the easy choice.
"Truth," I said as I took a swig from my cup. I looked up the stairs as Annie disappeared around the corner, turning back to Calum as he asked his question.
"Would you actually sleep with Annie if you got the chance?"
I laughed to myself, deciding to be honest since she was very easily out of listening distance. "Who wouldn't?"
Everything about her was perfect. Getting a chance to treasure her like she deserved would be like a gift to me.
"She would never sleep with you, though," Luke fired back.
"I bet she would," I cockily fired back on a high of anger, looking up from my cup to her brother.
"No way. She literally just said she wouldn't," Calum quickly added in. "She holds herself to too high of a standard. She would never stoop down to you."
"Wanna put money on it?" I said before I could stop myself.
I really didn't want to put money on it, but my ego and dominant personality refused to let me be challenged. I needed her- at least this way I have a way to have her.
"Yeah, sure," Luke laughed sarcastically. "She wouldn't sleep with you. I know her too well. She hates everything about you."
"I bet she has secrets you don't know about," I fired back, thinking back to what she had said earlier in the night- "we all have our secrets."
"No way, Irwin," Andrew said from Luke's other side. "She wouldn't sleep with me either."
"Yeah, well, when you try to force yourself on her she definitely isn't going to," I spat back at him before I could stop myself. He looked away as the rest of the team around us laughed, not realizing every word I'd spoken was true.
"I think she has secrets you guys don't know about, and there's a part of her that actually does like me," I said before I could stop myself. "Ans she doesn't show you guys that side of her cause she doesn't trust you."
Luke and Calum just laughed from across the circle.
"I'm serious! I'd put money on it," I defended.
They both rolled their eyes at me, calling someone to spin.
"No, wait. You both don't think I'm serious?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know now.
"No, Ashton. I don't think you're serious because I'm her best friend. I know her better than anyone. She wouldn't sleep with you," Calum explained, sarcasm lacing his voice.
"I'd put the deal on it," I said before I could stop myself, looking over to Luke.
I didn't know why I was saying a single one of the things I was in this moment. I didn't have to prove to anyone that I knew Annie more than they did, but I also needed an excuse for Luke to finally let me close to her.
I can't keep just watching her from afar like I have for the past three years.
"If you win, I'll keep up my end of the deal forever, and you don't have to keep yours," I spoke before thinking. The only part of me speaking right now was the side of me craving her every moment of the day, not the rational side that thought of her too.
"And if you win?" Luke asked with a cock of a brow.
"You drop my end of the deal but keep up with yours until we graduate," I offered up.
"Nah, where the hell is the incentive for me? Either way, you get Annie," he asked, taking another drink.
"Not if I lose," I mentioned. "If I lose, I'll never touch her again, and you're free."
"Completely free? No strings attached?" Luke asked, sounding like he was weighing if it was worth putting her on the line for himself.
"Completely free. I'll leave you both alone."
Luke bit his lip as he thought over the deal I had just made up, and I wished I could take it all back.
But how else was I supposed to get Luke to let me near her?
"Okay," he finally sighed out. "But there has to be rules."
I nodded, agreeing that we needed rules.
"You're not allowed to tell us when you win. You don't win until she tells me or Calum," Luke laid out his rule. "You can't just force yourself on her. You have to genuinely prove that there is some part of her that does like you."
"Yeah," I nodded. Like I'd ever force her into anything anyway.
"Two- neither of you can be drunk or on anything. She has to be completely sober or she's not thinking clearly."
Damn, he really had this all thought out.
"And three- she's not allowed to know about the original deal on the line."
"Agreed," I nodded from across the circle. "Now mine. No one is allowed to tell her about the bet."
I looked around the circle to the whole team who had just heard this conversation. "If she finds out about it before I win, I lose regardless. So no one is allowed to speak of it."
The circle around me nodded, officially sucked into this as much as I was.
"Then you need a time limit. We can't just let this go on forever," Calum spoke up. "If we're not allowed to speak of it until you win, how is there any chance Luke will?"
"Fine, but I'm gonna need longer than the end of soccer season," I told them.
"No. End of season," Calum said. "If you don't win by November 13th, you lose."
"That gives me two months," I said completely dumbfounded as to how I would be able to do it that quick.
Yeah, I knew more to Annie than I let on, but I did know she held herself to some kind of standard and would never give in that quick.
"November 13th or it's off," Luke finally said. "That way you don't hurt her right before a holiday she's excited for since I know I'll be the one picking up the pieces."
"Fine," I nodded from my seat. I didn't think I was going to be able to do it, but at least I got to be close to her for some time. "Is that a bet?"
Luke took a deep breath, already sounding like he was regretting this. "We have a bet."
Don't worry, Luke. I was regretting it too.
"Okay, someone spin again," I said, trying to move the conversation on from this.
Mikey reached into the circle, spinning the bottle in the middle. I watched as Andrew stood up, walking around the outside of the circle.
"Where are you going?" I asked as he walked behind me.
"Get something from upstairs," he answered. He pointed to the center of the circle. "It's your turn anyway."
"Truth or dare, Ashton?" Mikey asked with a smirk on his face.
"Jesus, how is it always me?" I sighed. "Dare."
"Name the best girl you've ever slept with and then delete her contact."
"Good God, Mikey. I'm not even the one who brought up the ex or Luke's," I sighed, trying to recall every sexual encounter I've had.
"Just do it," he whined. "Don't be a bitch."
"I can't even remember half of them. I'm almost always wasted," I defended, trying to remember even one name at this point.
"Then just drop any of their names," Mikey egged me on.
"I don't-"
My sentence got cut short when I heard the sound of someone scream and a door slamming shut.
"What the fuck was that?" one of my fellow forwards asked.
"I don't know," I said slowly moving to stand up. "I think it came from upstairs."
"No, you don't," Mikey spoke from the couch. "Answer the question."
"I don't know," I sighed, rubbing my hand up and down my face. "What was captain's sister's name from sophomore year?" I spit out a random girl I remember sleeping with.
"Bella?" Calum asked from across the circle.
"Yeah, sure. That one," I pointed in his direction. "That's the only girl I-"
I stopped mid-sentence as I heard another scream and something slam.
Holy shit.
As soon as it clicked in my head, my eyes landed on Calum. I watched the dots connect in his mind too.
I shot up from my seat and threw myself up the steps, turning the hall as quick as I could. I threw the same door open as I had earlier this summer, being met by an even worse sight than before.
Annie was thrown down against the bed, her hand pinned beneath her, his hand holding her mouth shut. Tears were streaming down her face as he pulled the last of her jeans off, her eyes squeezed shut as she pleaded with God for it to stop.
In that moment, I wasn't scared of the deal I'd made with Luke like I had been earlier in the year. And I wasn't even thinking of the bet I had just made.
In that moment, Annie was just a girl in need and I was just the person who had the ability to save her. In that moment, she wasn't Luke's little sister or the girl I had been sworn to stay away from for the past three years. She wasn't a pawn on my chessboard, but she was a piece that needed someone to defend her.
She was Annie- my Annie- and she needed help.
And that's why after I physically threw Andrew off of her and beat him to the point he couldn't stand, the first place I ran was her.