#part 10!!

Calum sighed heavily and stopped for a second to look at you. Just a little bit of his cheeks had turned into a light color of pink. His hair seemed a little bit tousled, probably because of the sweat even though he wasn’t the one doing anything.

Standing and holding onto the boxing pillow without much pressure didn’t seem like the biggest activity. He was probably just sweating in irritation because you didn’t have any progress.

He looked up at the cloudy sky, a little bit of the sun peaking through and making him squeeze one eye tight. It wasn’t the warmest weather but he was still only standing in his shorts and a black hoodie with print.

You, on the other hand, looked pretty much like a mess.

Your hair seemed much more tousled than his, your ponytail was weak and strands of hair were pulled out from it. It was barely holding onto anything and your cheeks were in a burning deep shade of red.

You were wearing a lilac sweatshirt but with less fabric than Cal’s and you were wearing tight black leggings. When you looked into the mirror this morning you couldn’t stop laughing because you looked like a jogger. And you never jogged.

“I’m hopeless.” You sighed carefully, breathing in and out because of the exercises.

It was harder than you thought and if you asked Calum, you probably weren’t struggling enough. This was worse than cheerleading practices, for sure. You could do a split but trying to kick something hard just came off weak in the beginning.

“You’re not hopeless,” Calum answered, “You’re just not trying enough.”

You looked at him in confusion. You didn’t know what he was trying to say, you felt that you were giving in everything you had.

“Is there something on your mind?” Calum moved away from the boxing pillow to show that he just wanted to talk. You had been practicing for an hour it was great having intervals with breaks.

You shook your head and shrugged. You didn’t really know what to answer. You didn’t even know if there was an answer to his question.

You looked over your shoulder not wanting to look at him and scanned the garden. It was kind of pretty considering it was four guys living in the house and being the ones taking care of it.

You were standing under a tree where Calum had placed the boxing pillow. He said it was easier doing it outside, not only because that meant that you wouldn’t disturb the other boys but the fresh air was better for the body.

He compared it to always wanting to take a jog outside instead of meeting up at the local gym hall. You expected him to be banned though, as it made more sense with his history.

“You’ve been quiet lately. And suddenly wanting to practice with me? You sure everything is okay.”

By this, you looked at Calum again. He was having a worried look.

“I uh-,” You looked down at the floor, you didn’t know how to explain this properly.

“I found out about Amelia.”

Calum’s eyebrows lifted to the point of touching his hairline. He was quick to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat and he looked at you almost in doubt.

“Ashton told me...” You nodded your head towards the house, eyes glancing up at where his bedroom was.

He wasn’t home, out doing something you weren’t really sure. You didn’t want to ask, he was still affected by the situation. Just like you. You were still thinking about it even though it had been a couple of days.

“Oh my god...” Calum looked down at the grass pretty shocked.

“That is what’s going on. It feels like everything has been flipped upside down.”

You nodded your head in agreement and you could tell that he still wasn’t fully understanding where you had gotten the information. It was something they wanted to keep as a secret, they barely spoke of it.

So you decided to tell him everything about James and the basement. Apparently, Ashton had missed out the part that Amelia was mentioned. You couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty you had mentioned it.

But considering Ashton had never told you that you weren’t allowed to tell the others that you knew, he couldn’t blame you.

“Did you know her well?” You asked Calum carefully and he nodded.

“Come on,” He encouraged for you to start boxing and hitting the pillow again.

You nodded your head and started to hit. He was biting down on his lip and finally, he looked you into the eyes with a bit of sorrow.

“She was a close friend. Not the one you would talk to every single day but if you needed help, she was there. Right in the second.”

You watched his eyes glance down at the black boxing pillow, his eyebrows furrowing. He usually did that when he was overthinking.

“I remember the first time I met her. It was years back, probably around Senior year in high school,” Calum started to explain and you listened carefully.

“She was standing by the bonfire at some local outdoor party down by the lake. You know this place is known for its tradition and this was like any other. It was standing with Ashton and his eyes suddenly gazed at her. But before he even got the chance to blink twice, Luke was already standing in front of her.”

Calum shook his head in disbelief, “They even decided they needed to make a gun challenge fight, just to see who was going to get her. It was clear from the beginning that even though she met Luke first, Ashton was her true source of light.”

You looked at him almost forgetting that you were supposed to be boxing. But when he motioned his hand for you to continue, you did.

“I wasn’t in town when the kidnapping of her happened. It was all just a blur to me when I think back but I remember Ashton’s face when we met. It was horrible. I’ve never felt such pain for someone else in my life like I did with him that day.”

Calum ran a hand through his hair that had also become sweaty like yours. He was glancing down at the ground and blinking repeatedly. You weren’t sure if he was going to cry.

“Have you uhm-,” You looked down at the ground almost wanting to shake your head in disbelief by the question you were about to ask.

“Seen the USB?” Calum finished your question and you nodded your head in agreement.

He shook his head slowly, looking down at the grass.

“Only Luke and Ashton have watched it. Both in respect for Ashton but also in respect for Amelia. They’ve only watched the video once or twice. There wasn’t even evidence they could have investigated. She’s just gone and that’s just how life is now. We’ve been processing it for years.”

You were happy to hear it was a few years back, it gave some kind of warmth that he hadn’t just slept with you ‘trying to get over an ex who was in fact dead’.

“Is that why Ashton is so closed about everything?” You asked and he nodded his head.

“Ashton has always been the outgoing one, more than Luke and I. He loves being around people, that’s where he gets his energy. But since that day, he barely speaks about anything. Let alone his feelings. He’s a closed book and if you manage to open it, you’re a special person.”

It made sense when Calum was explaining how Ashton was feeling. It also made sense why he could get kind of dominate and wanting to be in charge. He’s just afraid of losing again.

“Notice how he acts around you,” Calum mentioned and it made you furrow your eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” You asked and stopped the kicking. Your foot was also about to start hurting.

Calum looked down at the ground with a small smile and glanced back at you again.

“When Amelia died Luke didn’t want to take the chance to let something happen to you. He knew, if Marc was able to do something, he would go right after you.”

That wasn’t a surprise. But what Calum was about to say made you shiver just a bit.

“Luke and Ashton agreed that Ashton would be your guardian as long as Marc was in town. It wasn’t until he was charged that the deal was over and Luke knew you would be safe. I mean, except for the bubble gum gang member James.”

You could feel how the hairs on your arms raised. That made sense why he always was so dedicated to making sure you were okay. It wasn’t just because he was protective, it was because he had made Luke a promise.

“But now that Marc’s back... Things are going to be different. I don’t know what’s going but I know he’s back for revenge.”

You cocked your eyebrow confused that he was speaking about revenge but before you could ask, you heard Ashton’s voice from your behind.

“What are you guys doing?” He asked, running a hand through his hair. It looked a bit messy but no wonders as he was holding his motorcycle helmet.

“Y/N asked me if I could teach her some self-defense,” Calum explained and you looked over your shoulder to see him walk up to you.

“No really?” Ashton questioned almost in disbelief and he threw his helmet to the ground.

“Come on, Y/N. Show him what I’ve taught you.” Calum encouraged and you looked at him hesitantly.

He nodded his head again, wishing that you would just do it. You were afraid that you were going to disappoint him because you didn’t feel good enough.

“I doubt you could have taught her anything in thirty minute-,” Ashton barely managed to finish his sentence when he placed his hand on your hip and you flipped around with your hand around his wrist.

You didn’t want to knock harsh, but you did enough for him to fall to his knees as your knees his soft spot, his eyes widening in the process.

Calum grinned widely in reaction, a satisfied smile on his face. “Get him,” he thought.

You both fell to the grass, you weren’t sure if it was a part of the process or if he was pulling you down but you landed on top of him. You still managed to pin his hands down on each side of his head.

You looked down at Ashton with wide eyes, surprised that you had managed to force a 6’2 man to the ground. Ashton was also looking up at you kind of impressed by your sudden skills.

“I didn’t expect that…” He mumbled to himself, his hazel eyes only centimeters away from yours.

You looked almost confused, laughing it off because of the situation and quickly stood up from the grass.

Ashton glanced over at your flushed cheeks as he sat up in the grass and dusted off his leather jacket.

“You taught her well.” He mentioned and Calum nodded his head in agreement. He knew Ashton was always too proud to ever say sorry. It would be on his dead body if he did.

“She had the best coach.” Calum replied and stuck his tongue out when Ashton rolled his eyes.

You dusted off the grass you had on your knees and watched them interact.

“I think I’m gonna head for a shower.” You mentioned quietly, feeling the need. You could honestly feel it through your shirt and you didn’t think that was the most attractive thing ever.

Calum nodded his head in agreement and mentioned how great the practice was. You didn’t believe him at first but Calum wasn’t a lier. He was always true to his words and you knew where he was standing.

Ashton watched you disappear towards the balcony, walking up the stairs and headed inside. He stood for a second just watching your shadow disappear but he was quickly drawn out of it by Calum’s tattooed hand grasping onto his shoulder.

“How could you possibly leave out the detail about James announcing the death of Amelia!”

Ashton’s jaw fell by Calum’s sudden confrontation. He looked angry, not because Ashton had told you but because Ashton didn’t have the guts to tell the guys.

He looked down at the ground trying to come up with an answer that wouldn’t leave him being called profanities.

“I don’t know okay,” He spilled the details in honest, “I don’t know because I don’t even know how to cope with it myself. There are many things that Y/N don’t know off, but that was one thing that I had promised myself she wouldn’t know.”

Calum watched as Ashton ran a hand through his curly locks. He understood his struggles, it was never actually easy being in his position.

“You know we’re going to tell her what happened that night?”

Ashton’s eyes flicked towards Calum with furrowed eyebrows and he licked his lips.

“I think I need a cigarette.” He mumbled below his breath, fishing the package out of his pocket and placed a cigarette between his lips.

As the sun started to go down, you could sense that something was definitely up.

It was hours after you had taken a shower you actually showed up from just staying at Luke’s room. Even if it was a little bit boring just sitting and studying you felt it was nice because just hearing their voices outside the door, made you feel safe.

When you walked out of the door ready to head back to your dorm after a weekend at Luke’s you furrowed your eyebrows because they weren’t about to cook dinner.

Usually, Ashton would be the one standing in the kitchen with Calum. Michael rarely made something unless it was burning toast and Luke, he kept his nose away from everything.

Ashton was leaning against the couch still in his leather jacket, arms crossed and not looking rather satisfied.

“Can you uh-, drive me back to my dorm?” You didn’t want to ask at first, only because he looked pissed but you decided to do it anyways.

“Of course.” He spoke in a quiet voice, nodding his head in agreement.

“But before you leave we need to speak with you about something.” Luke came from the kitchen, his arms crossed as well and you raised your eyebrows.

“What’s going on?” You looked between them and let your bag fall to the floor.

Michael and Calum were standing in the background, Cal’s hands in his pockets and Michael scratching his light beard. They were all going to join the conversation, you assumed.

“Come,” Luke nodded his head towards the couches and you looked unsure at Ashton but he wasn’t looking at you. He was looking down by the floor.

“Is something wrong?” You looked between them, biting down on your lip nervously.

They decided not to answer, not much to your satisfaction. You placed your bag on the ground in front of the coffee table and fell down to the grey couch. Ashton sat on the puff on the opposite side of you and Luke was still standing up.

“Just to mention it all again so we don’t have any misunderstandings.” Luke started out and folded his hands together.

“James, the little ass prick he is, decided to introduce Amelia to Y/N. Something, we tried to keep off our shoulders for two years now but of course, couldn’t be kept a secret forever.”

Ashton’s face fell just by thinking of it. He swallowed deeply and avoided the eyes of Michael. He wasn’t sure if Mike had been informed but he was now.

It was like a smack to Ash’s face even though Amelia’s name had been mentioned a lot of times the last few days. Marc was right. Even in her death, she would still be haunting him every day of his life.

“And now that James is back, secrets are about to be told.”

Your eyes met Luke’s blue ones, he looked sad at the same time but also very serious. This was not the time to fire off jokes, even Michael knew. He was sitting with his fingers touching, and elbows pressed to his thighs.

“What secrets?” You almost whispered above your breath. You didn’t want to look at Ashton because it was pointless. He wouldn’t look at you and a gutted feeling ran down your spine.

Please not be another one about Ashton.

“I know that words go around at college. And I know you know we were kicked out for a reason that was never explained.” Luke started and you furrowed your eyebrows.

“We never wanted to share the explanation because even if you know a lot about us it’s just the top of the mountain. You haven’t seen the bottom yet and we’re not sure if you’re ready for it.”

You tried to scan Luke’s face for anything that could conclude faster what he was going to say.

“When Marc kidnapped and killed Amelia, we all knew it was crossing the line. Even if we’re in different gangs there are certain rules. You don’t kill or touch family members. And the little sneaky ass he was, he was truthful. He never touched you in any way and he always showed his word. But of course he always figured out a loophole. And since Amelia wasn’t family, she was his target.”

Luke glanced over at Ashton and he was shaking his head in disbelief. His nostrils were fluttering and he was having his head almost in his lap. His shoulders felt that heavy.

“After that night, no rules were between the gangs in Sydney anymore. It started a war with no control of what so ever. We knew that we needed to print our mark and show that they can’t control us. So we framed Marc of a murder.”

By that, your head shut up as fast as it possibly could. Your eyes blinked twice and flashbacks flashed before your eyes to the basement with Alba.

“Oh my god,” You shook your head in disbelief, “You murdered Karen Johnson?”

Luke’s eyes widened in surprise. He did not expect that you could remember the exact name. Even he couldn’t, he was only on last names with most people.

He glared towards the other boys and they encouraged him to continue.

“Before you react,” He held his hand in front of you to make you calm down, “You need to hear us out before you freak and judge.”

You hadn’t noticed you were half up in your seat. You fell back onto the couch, almost feeling defeated. Everything about this whole situation was one big of a mess and Luke hadn’t even gotten to the details.

“We needed to come up with a plan to make sure that Marc would go down for a long time.” Michael stood up from where he was standing and took over for Luke.

“Knowing that Marc was the gang leader, a gang can never function without one. And with their leader in jail, they would invest more time in getting him out rather than plotting an act of revenge. With Marc down, we would be safe. So we came up with the plan that we needed to get him convicted of a murder he didn’t do. That was unfortunately Miss. Johnson. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time and we took a chance.”

Your eyes were focused on the ground but you were listening to every single word that was being said.

“Which one of you did it?” You looked at each boy, slowly.

They looked at each other but you hadn’t expected that their answer would make you sigh in relief.

“None of us committed the murder. We couldn’t risk having that on our shoulders in case the plan went wrong.” Calum explained and continued, “We paid a drug addict down by the beach to do so. You’d imagine what addicts would do just for a little bit of dust.”

“So we got Michael to turn off all the security cameras down by the library and make sure none of us would be noticed. We were wearing black hoodies and after luring Marc into the building we planned the whole thing out.”

Luke explained and looked towards Calum again.

“Cal gave him a morphine injection after knocking him out and pulled on the gloves that were used to hold the gun. Which we also placed in his back pocket and as we left campus, we called the police. You could say that it was too easy for us to handle, but it was a long process in court.”

Your eyes were focused on Luke explaining but then Ashton stood up.

“James was a witness. He’d seen us and told the police we had a part of the murder. But since they had nothing on us, nothing to charge us they let us go with a warning and being expelled from college.”

So much information at once, your head was about to explode.

You didn’t even know what to say, what to comment. You had almost forgotten you were holding your breath. It was like the thoughts were racing inside your head.

“But since Marc has escaped or being let out, we don’t know for sure,” Calum folded his hands together and looked over at Luke.

He was still having bruises but not as bad as when he came home that night after being beaten by one of Marc’s gang members.

“We know that his one target is us. And sadly, that also includes you. He doesn’t care about respect anymore. He’s thirsty for blood.”

A gutted feeling ran down your spine. You had been feeling uncomfortable with James. You didn’t want to know how it was with Marc and you didn’t even want to imagine it.  

“We’re not sure what he is up to but Luke heard faintly that he’s trying to connect all the pieces to frame all of us.” Michael looked over at Luke just to be sure that what he was saying was true.

“And if all of us is in jail.” Luke felt a shiver on his arms. You could see his goosebumps.

“That means he has the chance to get all of you without any sort of protection.” Ashton finished the last sentence and sighed heavily.

Now, he was looking at you.

In fact, they were all staring at you.

“And I promise you, we won’t let that happen.” Luke looked at you sincerely and sat down at the coffee table, “It just means we need to make sure we know where you are all the time. And it means we need to figure out where Marc is hiding because it won’t be long now.”

You nodded your head silently and looked down at the carpet.

This was, in fact, too much to handle.

“We’re all in this together.” Michael crossed his arms and watched the others nod.

You shivered and stood up from the couch, almost begging Ashton with your eyes to let him drive you home. At least Marc wasn’t going to meet up at campus with all those witnesses.

“Come on, I’m gonna drive you home.” Ashton took your hint fast and clapped his hands on his thighs.

Luke nodded his head in agreement and walked you to the door. He was even watching you head towards the car until you weren’t in sight anymore.

It was putting tension on both of you, you could sense it. The car ride was almost worse than when you found out about Amelia. It was dead and quiet.

It wasn’t until you were on the road to your dorm and you could see the building that Ashton was giving some sort of noise.

The moon was shining otherwise so bright on the sky and if you looked closely you could point out a few stars.

It wasn’t often you could see those because of the many lampposts.

“You sure you can handle it on your own from now?” He asked, his back leaning against the red mustang.

“You sure you can let me out of your sight even if it’s just for one night?” You asked back, quivering your eyebrow with a small smile.

“I don’t think I can, no.” He answered softly, his curls falling in front of his hazel eyes.

“Be safe okay.”

“I will.” You nodded your head in agreement and headed towards him to stan on your toes and give him a hug. Your cheek pressed against his and you could feel him sigh heavily.

When you moved away your noses were touching and just for a second, you looked down at his lips.

It felt like forever you were standing in the same position but the sounds of students pulled you away from your moment.

You looked over your shoulder for a second but when you looked back Ashton’s face was still the same.

His thumb came up to touch your bottom lip and gave it a small touch before he moved away and headed towards the front seat.