I don't belong and, my beloved, neither do you
The atmosphere in the house had altered. It no longer felt like a machine running smoothly. The cogs were broken; the engines had malfunctioned.
After Ashton's final sentence, he had left. As he stood on the sidewalk, he had expected Michael and Luke to follow suit, however that was not the case.
Demi watched as Ashton spoke on the phone and she couldn't help but examine the red marks which wrapped around his throat. He looked like a mess, what with the pepper spray inflammation still highly visible. It really had not been his night.
Karma's a bitch, she whispered under her breath.
What had happened in the house? Who had caused it? She wondered.
Ashton stared vacantly at the floor as he chewed on his nail. His walls were crumbling and he knew he had been defeated.
He blinked a few times, his mind whirling and fizzing with every decision he had made tonight. How had things ended up like this?
Calum had always been quite a placid, easy going guy (despite his job) and he had never shown anything close to what he did moments prior.
Even though Ashton's blood was boiling at the whole situation, Calum's intense reaction played heavy in his mind.
No matter how many times he told himself random hook ups for life would be a perfect life, having someone who truly meant something would be nice. And not even in a romantic sense either. Having any form of platonic connection would enrichen his soul for sure.
He cared for Hood a lot. He always had and always would despite his brutality. When it came down to it Ashton was speaking sense, he knew he was. There is nothing more painful than the truth sometimes. Sure, he wanted the boys to experience the good things in life, but he knew the bleak reality in which they all faced, especially Calum. You can't go around burying bodies and expect to live happily ever after. That's not how life works.
He just hoped a few days of cooling off would sort Calum's head out and they'd be back to their usual selves.
As for the girl, Ash hoped going ahead with the agreement would be enough to prevent the risk of her pressing charges, not that he had intended to force her in any way. Sure he had slept with hundreds of women in his time, but he wasn't a monster of that capacity.
Even though he was now estranged from his family, it didn't stop him feeling the protective love he had for his mother and younger sister.
His judgments of Demi painted her to be a strong, ballsy woman and in his mind she could take a bit of domineering- but his judgements were clearly wrong.
Within minutes of being on the phone, a car pulled up, Ash got in and he was gone.
Demi remained looking at the house. They had the lights on which made it easier for her to see the movements throughout the house.
She could see the DJ, no longer wearing his cap shoveling pizza into his mouth. He had Beat headphones around his head and he drummed his fingers on the table.
On the opposite side sat Calum. He nursed a glass of amber liquid and pushed the crusts of his pizza around his plate. His shoulders drooped forward and his posture looked painfully incorrect. He looked down-beaten and tired.
The taller blonde appeared at the window, his red shirt had been replaced with a dark tracksuit set. He stared at the window and he looked up and down the street repeatedly.
Shit. She whispered as if she was worried he would hear her from inside the building. Despite her windows being tinted she still found herself ducking out of view.
With force, Luke pulled on the cord and shut the blinds before yanking the old, dusty curtains across. When Calum bought the property, he added a few furnishings but largely kept it how it was; in the style of the elderly person who had lived there prior.
"What is it Hemmo?" Michael asked, slipping one of his headphones from his ear. The question caught the attention of Calum too.
"I have the feeling something isn't right, like we're being watched" he admitted, unlocking the front door and stepping into the street.
With his arms folded across his chest, he stood for a few minutes studying the street. Since moving in, Luke had spent many nights analyzing the people who lived on the street. He had memorized their faces, learnt their names(by reading post that was carelessly thrown on their doorsteps and calculated who owned which car.
As he scanned the street, he mentally checked off the 7-seater family car that was owned by the Sawyer family, the white van was owned by the single, 50 year old male who went by the name of Andrew and the ancient, luxury show car was owned by the car fanatic at number 61- the Addelers. His eyes ghosted over the black Mercedes Benz three houses down on the opposite side of the road.
That's new, he mumbled.
Luke stared right at her and it caused a wave of adrenaline to wash over her. Was she going to get caught? If she did, that would be ridiculous. She had left no crumbs at all. No trace.
He held his stare and let his mind wander but rationally, he could clearly see no one was in it so he gave up on his quest.
Lighting a cigarette, Luke sat on the step leading up to the door and took a long drag. His right hand rubbed at his tired skin before he tilted upwards to see the stars. Leaning up against the door, Luke connected the constellations in the sky.
He seemed peaceful here, not like how he looked at the club. He wasn't frowning or in a rush. He was still.
Nothing but a small nub of cigarette was left, stamping it into the concrete, he pulled his hood over his blonde locks and went in for the night.
As the night approached dawn, Demi allowed herself two hours sleep. She was used to sleeping in the back of cars. To others this may have seemed odd, strange, stalker-like, but to her, it was necessary.
As part of her vigilante campaign, she took it upon herself to locate and find justice for the women and anonymous victims that had approached her group.
Blake didn't let her go and interact with the targets anymore after the last close call, instead she settled with tipping off the cops. She would wait around, follow them until they made a wrong move and bam, she'd phone in the location.
For years Blake had tried to persuade her to stay away from this doomed lifestyle, it wasn't the healthiest or the most sane, and from time to time she listened. But the urge ticked over in her brain, like an unscratchable itch. Her fingers drummed with impatience. She was built to fight life's problems, not run away from them or avoid them.
That's why, he eventually gave in, but he forced her to agree on some very basic ground rules- clear communication with him about when she would be home and whether she was safe, if she wasn't, she wasn't to hesitate in contacting him. She was also to avoid contact with them, she needed to keep her distance. (Technically she didn't break that rule tonight, Ash wasn't someone she had planned on disliking to this degree. This wasn't how it was supposed to go).
The sound of the front door closing woke Demi. She watched as the tall blonde, hood still up, climbed into his car and set off down the road. She waited a minute or two before she too set off down the road.
Bookscape was the last place she had imagined him to have gone. From across the high street, she watched as he took a seat in her booth. He sat quietly reading his book. She squinted her eyes trying to make out the cover of his novel. A small smile peaked on her lips, he was reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. She chuckled to herself: what a puzzle he is.
The buzzing of her phone, averted her attention, "Blake, I was just about to text you, I'm on my way home" she lied, she had forgotten about the real world around her...again.
He chuckled, "sure, well I'm at the gym and I've bought you some breakfast, come and get it whilst it's still warm".
"I'll be like five minutes, did you bring my gym gear too?" She asked, smiling at his thoughtfulness, "of course".
Demi glanced up one more time at the blonde, but to her surprise, he had vanished.
∆
"How'd last night go?" Blake asked as he reached down to tighten the weight plates on his barbell.
"It started off good..." his brow raised immediately and he turned his full attention to her.
"What happened?"
"I need a new pepper spray put it that way" she laughed, taking a gulp of her water.
"Fuck Demi, care to elaborate?" His tone switched to show his disapproval.
"Chill, he tried to kiss me so I sprayed him" she shrugged, "and then I followed him home and that was it, boring really" she continued to run on the treadmill, her pace increasing.
Blake didn't reply for a few moments. He turned over what she had described in her head. He did this quite often because if he reacted, like any normal human would, it would be filled with concern and negativity towards what situations she put herself into. He needed to look at it through the lens of Demi, a girl made of different stuff to the rest of the world. By her standards, the night actually wasn't too bad.
"You okay? You weren't hurt at all?" Was his choice of follow up questions. She shook her head before placing her headphones over her ear and shuffling her playlist. Blake accepted this and continued to lift.
Her usual stone cold gym glare was amiss today. Instead of looking at her treadmill screen, her gaze was out of the window. Blake swore he could even see a small smile. He waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. Carefully, she slipped her headphones and placed them around her neck, "mmm?"
"Who's the guy?" Blake giggled and gasped as her cheeks turned slightly rosy.
"There isn't a guy" she scoffed, fidgeting with her headphones. She was met with more laughter.
"You think I can't tell when my best friend is interested in a guy. It's obvious!" He continued to laugh as he dried his face with a towel.
"Shut your face, you're wrong" she tried to sound convincing.
"Whatever you say" he winked, irking her even more.
∆
It was Tuesday afternoon and Demi found herself in Bookscape once again. Her and Calum hadn't arranged to meet up every week per se but she kinda hoped he would show his face again.
Just as she was about to leave, he appeared but something about him just didn't seem right. He entered with his hood up and his eyes scanned the room multiple times with the occasional look over his shoulder.
He didn't go to the counter to order like last time, he headed straight over to the table.
"Hey," he smiled softly, his hood still tightly drawn around his head.
"Hi," Demi replied. Calum proceeded to shuffle in his seat and his head turned three times to check the surrounding environment.
She watched how his hands were clasped tight and his shoulders were rigid.
This was a man who felt uncomfortable and she hated it. Despite the way he felt, he had still made the journey to see her and that had to count for something.
"Let's go" she spoke, pulling his hand towards the door and out towards her car. "Get in" she instructed and so he did.
She drove and he didn't ask any questions. Turning into a country road, the road narrowed into a one track dirt path, signs of no entry and private property littered the sides.
Through a clearing of trees, Calum could make out the outline of a tiny shed-like cabin beside a small lake.
"What is this place?" Was the first thing to leave his lips since the cafe.
"A safe place and my favorite place" she flashed him a smile and got out of the car.
Calum followed closely behind her. Grabbing the keys from her bag, she unlocked the door. It was a quaint one floor, flat roofed cabin. In the front right corner there was a fire burning stove and a wooden bench worktop. In the back right corner there was a small section cut off with a door; the bathroom he guessed. To the left there was a decent sized bed, covered in navy bedding. The walls had wooden oak shelves sporadically put up with trinkets and photos dotted across them.
"Welcome I suppose..." she mumbled awkwardly showing Calum her house. He smiled in return trying to take it all in.
"You're the first person to ever see this..." Demi added. Calum's eyes widened and he turned to face her properly.
"I am?" It didn't make sense to him. They barely knew each other and nobody had ever allowed him this close before nor had he risked everything for essentially a stranger.
"How do you know you can trust me?" He asked his heart racing. She simply shrugged her shoulders and started to make hot drinks.
"Don't you want to know why I was so on edge back there?" Calum pressed, was he trying to dig his own grave?
"No," she said nonchalantly. "Weirdly, I know you're a good guy," she admitted. Did she also get the vibe that he doesn't always do the right thing...sure..but the overwhelming aura of him was good, warm even. She had never felt so calm, so at ease with somebody and yet she barely knew him.
He still couldn't understand it at all but he nodded when she asked him if he wanted a drink.
The chill from the autumn breeze that swept across the lake stopped them from sitting outside. Instead, Demi heated the log burner and they sat at the small table by the window. She set up a game of chess and for the rest of the afternoon they drank hot chocolate and played chess (well Demi did, Calum blagged his way through it and lost everytime. He didn't want to admit that he had no clue what was happening).
They chatted about trivial stuff- her favourite colour was navy blue, his was sage green, she liked reading whereas he prefer crime documentaries. She liked the rain, he preferred the sun, she loved moonlit skies but he preferred sunrise. She was yin and he was yang and just like the Chinese philosophical concept, they were opposites who were interconnected.
Calum smiled at her as she celebrated checkmate for the fifth time that evening and in that moment he realized that for once the world didn't seem so dark.
a/n
Thank you for reading, ily ⭐
I'd really love to hear what you think
I'm worried it's boring?!?