It felt like revisiting a dream.
Standing in the food court of the fair a variety of stalls, primarily offering messy treats, flanked Ashley on both sides. Crowds of people bustled energetically all around and the surreality of the moment left Ashley detached from her surroundings. Everything moved at an accelerated speed except for her.
The air vibrated with the roar of amusement rides and their loud music. Thrilled screams rang out into the evening from all directions. Every wisp of wind smelt wondrous with the sweet scent of fresh popcorn, sugar doughnuts and fast food.
Bright lights danced upon her pale skin, turning her arms and face every colour of the rainbow. A sad smile found its way onto her lips.
Ashley had never been anywhere like Pandaemonium before nor realistically known of a travelling fair so extravagant. The intoxicating atmosphere urged her to be a child again, to enjoy the treasure trove of sickly treats and breath-taking rides.
Two girls ran past her, they weaved through the crowd with windmills and sparklers held high in the air.
Ashley cast her gaze down to the flattened grass, the light from the sparkler left imprints on her eyes even after the girls disappeared out of sight.
Ashley was a pale wraith who didn't belong among these people, not with the company of wolves she'd brought along.
Everyone present didn't know they were at risk, too blinded by the bright lights and excitable climate to actually look at who walked among them, at least most were. In the line up of stalls, Ashley noticed a boy working the toffee apple stand had spotted her through the crowds. She glanced away at first, plagued with worry that he recognised her from the news but eventually looked back to meet eyes with him once more. Her cheeks glowed hot with blood at the unwanted attention.
It was dark now, but in the glow of the fairy lights hung all around the stalls she could see the boy looked about her age perhaps a little younger. She smiled on impulse at him in an attempt to appear normal and friendly. He gave her one back. It was a nice smile.
A firm hand gripped her shoulder from behind, Ashley quickly dropped her eyes and her smile waned instantly. The boy frowned at being abruptly shut out and tried to capture her gaze again, instead he locked eyes with the guy standing behind her. His expression hardened at the severely unfriendly look he received.
Michael fixed the stranger with a dark, unhealthy glower. It appeared he was attempting to catch Ashley's attention and Michael found that fascinating. It interested him so much he wanted to go over and have a chat with him.
Sam sauntered over from the side and casually shoved an oversized pink teddy bear into Ashley's face.
"Here, I won it for you," he grunted between eating a marshmallow rope.
Michael watched the kid hastily look away and quickly busy himself with a customer. Michael watched the back of his head for a few moments before looking down at Ashley. He held up a tiara he'd picked up from the stall beside them; she didn't complain when he placed it on her head.
"Teddy want one?" He asked, gesturing to her new cuddly toy.
Ashley shot him a fierce glare which coaxed a smirk out of him.
She spared one last glance at the boy from the stall who appeared to consciously avoid looking up again. It dawned on her that for all she knew he was a criminal guilty of some terrible crime, paying his way at the fair just the same as Sam and Michael. She moved on quickly.
The boys dragged her through the stalls, stopping at a few mainly to buy Sam food with their wristbands. Ashley shuffled along, manned either side so that the crowds didn't jostle her. It didn't make sense that they could go unnoticed when they were in plain sight. All the people around them were entirely unaware that they were rubbing shoulders with death. If that wasn't bad enough, all these young, unsupervised teenagers were running around. Sam and Michael's escape was public knowledge yet parents still allowed their children out after dark and of all places a crowded fun fair?
She thought there would be curfews, a shared public paranoia, young girls stashed away at home by frightened guardians. It would be a terrible way to live but was that not better than this show of plain ignorance? Why were parents turning their heads the other way while their young trampled through this hunting ground?
"Sam really loves his fairs."
Ashley jerked her head away from the sudden whisper in her ear. Michael was leaning close to her, acting discreetly as Sam ploughed ahead.
"You better wipe that sorry look off of your face. If he doesn't have a good time, it'll be your fault."
Ashley's eyes widened and she pulled away from Michael. He gave her a swift, meaningful look before turning his attention elsewhere.
Ashley tried to fix her face. She needed to keep herself in check, it was all too easy to slip up and Michael was watching her like a hawk. Walking around a fun fair with the face of someone attending a funeral didn't make for good acting.
She had to make a conscious effort to get along with Sam and keeping him pacified came with the job. Unless she wanted recent history to repeat itself she had to make a show of it. Until Michael was convinced her presence was genuine the only way to prove herself to him was by making nice with Sam.
Ashley was convinced she'd have better luck defusing a time bomb.
Giving Michael a sour glance, Ashley made a point of jogging up to Sam. What she would do or say once she got there was something she hoped would magically come to her.
She hesitated just before she reached him. A small group were queuing near the ghost train, three long-legged girls with flowers and braids in their hair. They appeared to be hardcore festival girls which suggested to Ashley they were probably careless and open to fun in all forms. Sam had already clocked them and was working the charm from afar.
She felt like a deer in headlights. Should she intervene or hang back; was she seeing the makings of a murder or just Sam having his fun? Both options seemed equally terrible.
One of the girl's gazes flickered over in her direction and then returned to her directly. Ashley shared an awkward look with a redhead whose long hair hung laced with big daisies. An awkward sensation swamped Ashley and she instinctively took a step back. Her eyes slid to Sam for a split second before returning to the girl. The redhead looked at Sam too before turning away to herd her friends further down the queue with a few words.
Ashley caught Sam frown before he turned and laid the full weight of his unimpressed gaze upon her. He looked like the dog that didn't get the bone.
After a last glance towards the ghost train, he backtracked over to her. Ashley struggled not to retreat knowing she'd unintentionally messed up whatever he had planned at that moment.
He stood in front of her with folded arms. His jaw twitched as he clenched it.
"You're gonna seriously throw off my game tonight, aren't you," he muttered darkly.
Ashley's cheeks grew hot. Her first go at making peace with Sam had crashed and burnt before it'd even lifted off of the ground.
Michael joined them with a grimace.
"Not so hot with the girls anymore" he mused, adding salt to the wounds.
Sam shot him a dignified glare before turning back to Ashley. She clutched the bear tighter in her arms whilst hiding half her face behind its bulbous head. Sam's chest swelled with air and his lips parted as if to whip her with his wicked tongue but he appeared to have a change of heart and his chest quickly deflated.
"I'm going back," he mumbled. "I'm bored of this."
He stalked past them both back in the direction of the trailer. Ashley followed him with her eyes before she caught Michael looking at her as if it were her fault. She lowered the stuffed animal to reveal her own irritation. He hadn't exactly helped the situation.
"You're spoiling his fun" he hissed at her.
She tilted her chin up defiantly. "I did nothing wrong. Besides what am I supposed to do in those situations, stand by and watch him fish for innocent girls?"
Michael cocked his head to the side. "He's allowed to play around. What's it to you?"
People were all around them but the general noise hid their conversation. Ashley still leant closer after a wary glance around. "I'm not going to let him hurt innocent people. I'm surprised you're not worried too, having him drag girls off is hardly going to help us stay low" she hissed.
A small bemused smile slithered across Michael's mouth. "What do you think he's going to do? Get fairground girls?" He asked with the hint of a laugh behind his words.
Ashley picked up that the word get was a cryptic term for do terrible, unforgivable things.
"He's done it before" she responded bitterly, irritated by Michael's nonchalant, even bewildered response to her obvious concerns.
Michael's smile only grew.
"Has he? Were you there?" He gave a playful, inquiring look. "Do you really think Sam needs force to get laid, that he's ever needed force? He might now, with you breathing down his neck."
Disapproval rippled over her features.
Michael lent in, closing the gap between them even more. "You know, I don't think it should automatically become rape just because you kill a girl after she's consensually shagged you within an inch of her life, but the law doesn't agree."
His words washed over Ashley like ice and left her shaking her head, her face twisted with disgust.
"You expect me to believe that all the girls you attacked willingly had sex with you both?" She snapped, her words practically sparking with the crackly flames of her anger. "What a heap of shit. The only reason you can say something so hideous is because they're not here to defend themselves, you made sure of that."
Michael's smile darkened and a torrid tension captured his features. He reached up to tip her chin with the end of his index finger. "You don't think someone would willingly have sex with me?"
Ashley jerked her face away from him and partially turned herself from that awful smile. Her stomach rolled. "It doesn't matter. There's no proof to say otherwise" she snapped, "perhaps you should have gotten some evidence from each girl beforehand if you're so concerned with proving how unforcedly fuckable you are."
Ashley winced when Michael grabbed ahold of her upper arm and dragged her back to face him again.
"Don't talk like that."
She looked up to see a stern disapproval in his eyes and it took effort not to laugh bitterly at the notion that bad language was the only thing he found unacceptable in their conversation. He didn't seem amused anymore, her irritability had seen to that.
They stared at one another whilst the fair raged on around them. Ashley glanced off to the side and awkwardly caught the eye of an intrigued nearby couple. It must look like a lovers tiff to outsiders.
"I'm going back to the trailer" she murmured, eager to escape both his company and prying eyes.
The burger she had forced down earlier had begun to cause her stomach cramps and sweats.
"What for?"
His hot demand sent another shot of fire up her spine. With her eyes diverted to her arm, his grip loosened enough to show he wasn't going to make her stay.
"Stay, enjoy the fair with me" he added softly.
Ashley couldn't think of anything worse.
"I can't, I need to go wash my mouth out with soap" she responded dismissively.
She pulled herself completely free of him, knowing sarcasm wasn't the best course of action but it was her immediate go to in difficult situations.
Bright green and blue dots of light rippled over Michael's face as a nearby ride sparked up. The alternating colours briefly illuminated the irritation in his pale eyes and a sickness in hers.
Irritating him on the first day was a sure fire way to dig her own grave. Ashley avoided his gaze and focused on something less intimidating: his shoes.
"You're right about before, Sam needs his fun. Whatever happened in the past is none of my business" she said in an attempt to make amends even though the words were as bitter as lemon to her tongue. "I'll go and apologise for getting in his way, we want to make this work right?"
Michael said nothing. When she glanced up, his eyes were turned down to stare at the toy bear in her arms. Ashley wasn't sure whether he believed a single word she said but he didn't challenge it.
Uncertain how to say goodbye, she stepped back, then proceeded to slowly turn and walk away from him. She retreated with the same cautious manner in which Prey avoids engaging Predator. After worming through the crowd a short way, Ashley was glad to realise with a brief look over her shoulder that he hadn't followed her.
***
The crowds thinned dramatically around the trailers, it was largely off limits but it was difficult to keep everyone out of any area in a place like this.
Ashley passed a gaggle of young adults and heard the end of a complaint amongst their midst about 'adult night' being moved from a Friday to Saturday. That's right, days of the week still existed and today was Friday. Ashley wondered what Adult night actually entailed and whether things were going to get more dangerous by tomorrow evening.
At first, she worried whether she could find the right trailer but as it turned out there was no need to stress. Ashley could spot Sam a mile away and he was stood outside with another cigarette hanging from his lips. She could see short plumes of smoke reaching up towards the night from her current position although upon closer inspection the air around him didn't smell like tabacco.
She eyed him up and down moodily.
Leant back against the trailer Sam looked right back at her through his latest smokey exhale.
Bad news was all Ashley saw in him and she couldn't imagine any girl willingly touching him. Was she biased? Probably. Once upon a time, she found him secretly albeit regretfully charming and that was behind bars. Who knew how he looked now to the oblivious. The thought triggered a metallic taste on her tongue. To be so naive again, if only in memory, made her furious with herself.
You don't think someone would willingly have sex with me?
Michael's words whispered in her ears and made her body tingle uncomfortably. Girls throwing themselves upon him and Sam willingly was the last thing she wanted to think about, but now she considered it, it hardly changed a thing. They were undeniably attractive and even though it could be called bad judgement, choosing to sleep with them wasn't something a victim should be blamed for. Who anticipated murder moments after being intimate, only those two.
No, even if the girls had willingly slept with either of them, it only made Sam and Michael's crimes worse. There weren't words for the utter betrayal and disrespect they'd displayed to the girls who trusted them, only a horrid knotting in the stomach that made her feel nauseous.
She pulled open the trailer door and placed her foot on the first step intent on ignoring Sam.
"What are you doing?" Came a grunt from her left.
"I'm going to watch tv in bed" she mumbled before the door slammed behind her. She couldn't bear to speak to him despite telling Michael she was going to apologise.
Sam blew out his latest intake of smoke and turned his head subtly to observe her through the window beside him. The blinds were down but they were slanted at an angle, enough for him to peak inside.
Ashley pulled her pyjamas out from her bag before she exchanged her bottoms for bed shorts. As she yanked her t-shirt up over her head, exposing her chest she heard the snap of twigs outside and quickly held her top against her. Fear spiked in her chest before she realised the blinds were slanted enough to see honey blonde hair approaching Sam from the right. It wasn't Michael returning.
"Hey Sam, looking for some company?" Came a honeyed drawl.
Ashley turned her back on the window in an attempt to shut out the exchange outside. Her eyebrows knotted and her eyes shone with inner conflict. She couldn't always interfere, not if girls were willingly approaching him. If she got in his way again so soon who knew how he'd react.
Sam glanced away from the window and acknowledged the girl beside him briefly. She looked vaguely familiar, one of the girls Michael had spoken to when they first arrived perhaps? He absently flicked his bud away into the grass.
"Nah, I'm good" he muttered before he swung round to retreat into the trailer.
Ashley heard the door handle go and freaked. A quick scramble ensued to pull her baggy bed t-shirt over her head. The tiara got in the way and she yanked it out of her hair aggressively. It caught on her hair and Ashley yelled silently as she freed herself to toss it aside.
She hadn't expected him to come in yet if at all. She was relieved to some extent that she wouldn't have to worry about the girl he'd turned down, no, now all she had to worry about was herself.
The trailer shook as he climbed up the stairs, his weight made the floor under her feet vibrate. Ashley stopped scurrying to hide the fact she rushed to dress.
With her back turned to him she waited for words but a silence carried between them and that made her both uncomfortable and wary.
Gathering up her dirty washing Ashley stood up straight and turned to come eye level with the top of Sam's pectorals.
"You smell like cannabis" she muttered under her breath.
"Would you rather blood and sweat?"
Ashley briefly rolled her eyes at his response before she placed the back of her palm on his chest. "Do you mind?"
His top lip pulled back on a snarl of a smile. He wasn't moving and so she did her best to barge past him, which worked as much as a bird in flight barging past a skyscraper.
How was she supposed to get along with this pig-headed monster? It was clear he held as much distaste for her as she did for him. They left things in a very ugly place and no amount of fake smiles could fix that. Just looking at him made acidic bile scold the back of her throat.
She managed to slide past him and shoved her dirty clothes back into her bag. She glanced over her shoulder at him, feeling his eyes on her.
"You're hovering," she remarked, finding the courage to point out he was lingering like a bad smell.
"Shit, would you look at that."
She caught him place either hand on opposing kitchen counters to hoist himself up off of the floor. He snorted at his own joke.
If looks could kill, Ashley would have annihilated him.
He set himself down and flopped into a lean against the fridge, rocking the trailer like a boat at sea.
"I didn't expect you back so soon," he remarked casually, his voice gravelly from smoking.
"I'm tired" she replied shortly and then caught herself. Her own irritability wasn't going to help the situation. She'd already proven that with Michael.
Sam clocked it too and stuck his tongue into his left cheek in amusement.
"Thought you two lovebirds would appreciate a little time alone," he mused whilst choosing to fiddle with something on the kitchen side. "Y'know, sit on the ghost train and talk about the first thing that pops up in the scary dark and all that."
It took willpower not to rise to the bait. Sam was an expert fisher just like Michael. For all she knew, he was trying to get her to lose her cool and expose herself. This could all be planned not that she gave him that much credit.
"I thought you would have appreciated that nice blondes company just now considering the internal, raging erection you always seem to have, but alas here we both are" she retorted, shooting him a superficial smile.
Sam bit down on his bottom lip to prevent a full-blown grin. These spats gave him life.
"Here we are" he mimicked lowly, letting his words hang in the air suggestively.
Ashley snatched the tiara up off of the floor and stuffed it into her bag too, keeping busy with her hands so she wouldn't have to respond straight away. She had a lot of things she wanted to say and they all hung on the end of her tongue, desperate for airtime. It was important to know what not to say just as much as saying the right thing, Ashley had never been good at the former and so the latter often got messed up too.
She had to play the game right.
"My intentions earlier weren't to stop you from... sleeping around," she finally murmured.
Embarrassment struck her in the chest as soon as the words left her mouth and then nausea quickly followed. To say such a thing to a serial rapist made her jaw want to self-dislocate. It wasn't the truth, she cared immensely and didn't want Sam to lay a hand on anyone ever again.
Sam blew out his cheeks and nodded dramatically. "Oh, sure" he mocked.
Ashley stood up straight and placed one hand on her hip and used the other to make firm gestures in the air.
"I just don't, I won't stand for anyone getting hurt" she continued quickly. "The girls should come to you and it has to be completely consensual on her part and, and you have to be gentle and gentleman-like."
"Not all girls like a gentleman" he interrupted, "in fact, most don't."
Ashley shot him another warning look. Yeah right, because he was such a ladies man.
"In fact" he went on, moving towards her with a hand reached up to trail along the roof of the trailer. "Girls who approach me aren't looking for a gentleman at all Ash, they're looking for some long, hard, rough, ball slapping, no strings attached sex."
'Whoever said Romance was dead' she thought bitterly. Her cheeks and ears burnt hot which was no doubt his goal with all his deprived talk but it didn't derail the point of the conversation.
He stopped just in front of her, the proximity he seemed to enjoy most with her. She tilted her head back and placed both hands on her hips despite the desire to fold her arms like a protective shield. She had long decided not to let him intimidate her.
"The girls who come to me, are the ones I hate the most" he murmured.
Ashley's eyes widened minutely before her lips hardened into a firm line.
"You know what I'm saying, what I'm asking of you. No force or violence, is that so hard?" she urged, ignoring his attempts to unsettle her.
"Maybe I don't know my own strength?" He offered flimsily.
"I think you've had enough time to work it out" she dismissed sharply, staring directly into his black eyes for any sign of understanding. "Or perhaps you'd prefer me haunting your every step, making sure you never lay hands on a member of the opposite sex ever again."
Sam let out a long hardy sigh and looked over her head for a moment before he smiled down regretfully.
"Whatever you say, Saint Wilton" he mused. "And don't let me stop you from taking the 'pop' from Michael."
He put a finger inside his cheek to make the 'pop' sound.
Ashley exhaled harshly through her nose after taking a moment too long to catch his gist.
"No really, I don't mind, I can see the whole incestuous, sexual whatever going on between you two" he continued hurriedly. "Just give me a 'pop' when you're ready to disregard your vow of chastity and I'll go get some cherry pie" he smiled down at her with his big goofy face.
Ashley had never known the 'pop' noise to be so frustrating. She turned her back on him without giving a response and scooped up her bag to hide it in the lowest of three cubby-holes just to the side of her.
The fact he said he 'didn't mind' implicated that he thought she'd give a damn either way. His attempts to get under her skin were shameful. She shook her head to show her disapproval instead of giving him the satisfaction of her anger.
She heard him lick his lips behind her before she felt the pressure of his upper thigh and groin against her bottom as he bent over her. She tried to stand up straight but bumped into his chest and had to hold on to one of the cubbyholes for balance.
"If you want any tips, I'm here to help" he whispered breathily in her ear. "I'm surprisingly good with just the tip." He leant his head round and pecked at the corner of her mouth.
Disgusted, Ashley jerked her shoulder up into his chin. The noise she made in the back of her throat at his grotesque innuendo made it clear he'd achieved his goal to sicken her. He retreated away but not before he bucked his hips, sending her flying against the cubbyholes she clutched so tightly.
Ashley spun on him with sparks in her eyes.
"Will you stop! I'm not having sex with anyone and if I did it wouldn't be with him or you. If you're that horny there's a bathroom! Go tug one out in there you sicko" she snapped at him angrily.
She couldn't let him push her around just because Michael wanted them all to get along. He wasn't here to witness what 'getting along' with Sam entailed.
The comment only riled him up. He shadowed her from one end of the trailer to the other like she was a dog in heat.
"Will you watch me?" He teased aloud, "or at least let me watch you, y'know, for a bit of inspiration."
Ashley's face was good and ripe now. She felt so hot she swore the trailer windows were steaming up. She took his moody behaviour thus far as a signal that he wanted to steer clear of her, that he couldn't stand to be around her as much as she couldn't stand to be around him! His first words when she arrived here more or less told her to piss off yet now he was acting like this?
She didn't want him hurting other girls but that didn't mean she welcomed having his intimidating sexual frustration projected onto her instead.
Of course, she was forgetting something vital. Sex wasn't just about gratification. It was a form of punishment, a weapon. Why would Sam's attitude towards her change when he was madder than ever with her, if anything it would only get worse.
Ashley considered putting on a jacket and stepping outside before things turned nasty. His sexual banter was torture enough, she didn't want to hang around for the next act. She reached for her jumper but Sam blocked her way. She flinched back from him in frustration.
"What is your problem?" She snapped fiercely, lashing her arms out at her sides in frustration.
"No, what's your problem" Sam snapped, his voice loud and shuddering through her pores. "This is what you came back for" he held his arms open wide. "You came back for this."
"I didn't come back for this" Ashley said sharply.
"Then what did you come back for?" he retorted.
Ashley's heart skipped a beat. She beheld him with wary eyes.
Now he felt he had her full attention his demeanour changed. His eyes inspected her from their lofty height and Ashley feared they saw right through her. Was he testing her?
"I didn't come back to be harassed by the likes of you" she murmured.
"Evidently" he mused before his eyes cast down.
"Did you come back for him," he challenged precariously. "Because I know you didn't come back for me"
Her lips moved subtly but no sound passed. Was it a trick question?
She sucked in a breath to answer and his eyes flicked back up to stare at her. She paused again.
"What if I did," she finally murmured.
"I'd say you're full of shit" Sam snapped. "We both know you'd never sink so low."
"You don't know anything about me" Ashley warned.
Sam leaned down, bearing over her with a finger pointed in her face. "I know you didn't come here to play happy families. I know you hate me and him especially. I know the last time we spoke you threatened to cut off my dick with a scalpel."
"The last time we spoke, I saved your life" Ashley gritted.
"The last time we spoke," he said loudly, "I looked into your eyes and I saw hate and desperation and when I woke up and you were gone I knew I would never see you again, I thought I knew." He shook his head, his face twisted by an ugly flash of disgust.
"You're disappointed I came back" she murmured uncertainly.
He dropped his hand and straightened out.
"I'm disappointed that you think for a second we don't know the reason why," he said.
Panic shot through Ashley. Her eyes flicked to the door anxiously but Sam blocked the way. He was just trying to unsettle her, at least that's what she hoped. She fought tooth and nail to escape them only to return willingly. It was natural that she'd need to fight off his suspicion.
"Could you tell me the reason?" She asked, "I'm not sure I know the answer myself."
Sam frowned down at her, apparently uncertain whether she was being serious or sarcastic.
"You really are something" he chided irritably. "You wanted to go home, I risked my life to help you get there."
Ashley frowned at him. Her mind flitted back to Elsie's kitchen and then to the cabin in the woods where it all went so wrong. Was that truly what he was trying to do back then? It certainly hadn't felt like it.
"And I don't regret going home" Ashley retorted, "I needed to, to realise I didn't belong there anymore."
Sam shook his head, "so you came here? You could have gone anywhere."
"There was nowhere else to go. I left my home for Michael" she replied evenly. It wasn't a lie.
"You came back for him" Sam echoed. Her answer seemed to irritate him even more.
He reshuffled his feet, edging closer and in doing so forced Ashley to crane her neck to look him in the eye. Her arms twitched at her sides, desperate to wrap around her body.
"D' you think you're safe here? With him? With me?" he added softly, his tone perilous.
Ashley was taken back. His question was fraught with danger, and held an edge of repulsion that she'd think for even a moment she was safe around them, that they were any less dangerous to her than to others. It angered her that for all his valiant claims to help her, in the same breath he implied she was nothing but a victim waiting to happen by his hands. Did he have so little self-control that his fingers itched to kill women indiscriminately so long as they were close!
"Worry about your own safety" She countered quietly, summoning as much menace as she could muster.
Sam leant his weight on his back foot and clicked his tongue in his cheek. Her response surprised him.
"Oh yeah," he murmured darkly. "And who should I be afraid of?
Charged silence filled the air. Ashley stared hard at him and said things without uttering a sound.
Sam's expression lost the glimmer of amusement it held. He gave a short, quiet laugh in the very back of his throat.
"If this is you trying to threaten me, I'd maybe have something a little sharper than your manicure to hand" he challenged. The corners of his lips were turned up but his eyes were unfriendly.
Ashley swallowed uneasily yet equally her skin buzzed with an electricity and she felt a darkness squeeze itself into a ball within her chest because she meant it. Sam should learn to watch his own back. She came here to kill him. She was dangerous too.
"I'm not trying to threaten you," she replied evenly before grabbing the TV remote off of the bed-side table. "I'm trying to watch telly in bed."
Her answer seemed to dissipate the tension Sam was feeding off of. She folded her arms and quickly dampened her lips.
"Are you threatening me?"
Sam tilted his head back and regarded her through half-lidded eyes. He half smiled.
"No Ash" he murmured.
Ashley felt the pressure inside of her ease. It seemed they had both retreated from the dark brooding beast their questions were prodding. Ashley unfolded her arms and looked down at the TV remote to figure out the buttons, anything to fill the trailer with sound.
Sam gave her an unexpected shove and she fell back onto the bed. The fall jarred her neck and she hardly rebounded from the mattress before he was upon her. His hands easily wrapped around her forearms, squeezing them flat against her sides. Still standing, he leant over her, his weight crushing her into the mattress. Ashley's heart thrummed in her chest as he lowered his head close to her. She hardly dared to breathe with his dark eyes fixed on her.
"This is threatening you" he hissed, his breath a hot and sickly combination of sweets and smoke. "You can say what you like, but I can smell the bullshit from here and if I know you're lying, he definitely will."
Just as abruptly he released her, leaving her arms aching from how hard he squeezed. He snatched up the remote he'd knocked from her grasp and tossed it on to her stomach.
"Now watch your telly" he murmured.