Revolution (The Angel's Sins)

Chapter four: Ashton

When I arrived, the lights were all on. I checked the time again, "Nine fifteen." I stepped off of my bike, and took off my helmet. I looked at the house again, and walked towards it. This was this first time I'd ever been to Rick's house, and his parents weren't there.

I knocked on the door, and heard footsteps approaching. Rick opened the door, and instantly hugged me. "Hey." I hugged him back, "Hey." He pulled away, and I saw what he was wearing. A white dress shirt, and dark jeans. I stood on my toes and he kissed my head.

I smiled with satisfaction as he grabbed my hand and led me into the house. The lights were actually all off, but candles illuminated the house. The living room was completely red, and had a few black pillows on the wraparound couch. Rick picked me up, and set me down onto the dark red couch.

He walked behind me, and took my hair out of the bun, and gave me a peck on the neck. "You look better with your hair down." He walked into the kitchen, and cracked his knuckles.

He opened the fridge, and began rummaging. Before I knew it, he was sautéing ingredients that smelled interesting. I walked to him, and put my arm on his shoulder, looking into the multiple pans that held various sauces and veggies with some shrimp mixed in.

Rick glanced at me every now and then, but he was quiet and serious otherwise. I loved seeing his inner culinary side, he was so focused, calm, and collected. When he finished, I helped him dish it up. "Uh...could you get a third plate?" I raised an eyebrow at him, and asked why. "Well...um...we aren't exactly alone tonight. My brother is here." I grimaced, "We aren't exactly alone?" He smiled nervously, his eyebrows twitching.

"Well then, I guess I need to meet your brother." I heard a grumble escape his lips. He put his hands on my shoulders, "This is your doing, you cannot blame me if you die." I nodded, and he grabbed my hand, leading me to the basement where extremely loud music was blaring.

He tapped on a large, black door that had a gold handle on it. The music stopped, and Rick hid behind me as the handle began to move. The door opened.

"What is this? The new girlfriend?" A tall, blue-eyed, very dark haired male leaned on the door, and he wasn't wearing a shirt.

I furrowed my brows, and turned to rick, pointing at his brother, "He looks nothing like you."  The male laughed a little, tapped my shoulder, then spoke. "We're half brothers. Same dad." "Ah...okay, I've seen enough. Rick dashed upstairs and I laughed a little. "I've heard about your dad. I'm assuming that he did that?" He pointed to my cheek. I nodded. "It hurt like hell. He used his damn keys."

"By the way, what's your name?" "Alice. Yours?" He smiled a little, "Ashton." He held out his hand, and I shook it. I turned and headed up to Rick. He regained confidence when he was upstairs. Odd. He grabbed two of the plates and sat them on the island in the kitchen.

We ate, and afterwards he invited me to stay the night, which I gladly accepted. He led me to his room, and handed me a blue T-shirt. He took off his shirt and pants, putting on grey pajama pants. He flopped onto his bed, and looked at the ceiling. He turned away as I took off my outfit, and slipped on the shirt that he gave me.

I sat with my back facing him to his right, looking out his window. He kissed my cheek, and laid back down, closing his eyes. I put my head on his chest after returning the kiss on his cheek. We formed a L-shaped position, and fell asleep like that.

I woke up at midnight, hunger lingering in my stomach. I sat up, and stepped off of the bed, heading to the kitchen. I opened his white door, tiptoeing downstairs. I opened the fridge, various veggies lining the shelves. I grabbed three stalks of celery, washed them, and sat at the island, eating them.

The fridge opened, and I fell out of my chair, holding the piece of celery out like a sword. Ashton was rummaging for a snake as well. He jumped a little. "Well, it seems that you've forgotten that I was here too. Oh, and what's with the outfit?" I looked down at myself, the T-shirt was pretty much all that I was wearing. "Well, I couldn't sleep in a skirt."

He was still confused with the fact that I was still in his house. "Wait...did you two-" "No!" I shook my head quickly. He tossed me a can of beer. "You drink?" I nodded, opening the can. He opened his own can and chugged it down. "You do it too!?" He looked at me strangely. "Hmm?" I shook my head and chugged mine down as well.

I laid down on the countertop. "Why did you fall in love with Rick? He's an idiot." I looked at Ashton, smiling. "I'm not really sure. He was just nice, I guess." I sat up, hanging my legs off of the table,"I guess he just has something about him that I admire."

Ashton sat on the floor in front of me, leaning back onto the cabinets. "Really? He's a good cook and gets good grades, but there isn't much else appealing about him. Then again, he dates a lot, but I've gotta say that you've been the longest he's had."

I got surprised by that, "Really? He dates that much?" He nodded. "Although, those relationships only lasted a week or so." Tension filled the room as I made a signal that I wanted a drink. Ashton handed me another beer, patting my head. Minute after minute passed as I pondered.

I finished my beer and hopped off of the table, knees wobbling. Ashton stood, approaching me. He pulled my head to his chest. "Do you hear this? It's called purpose. Everyone has a purpose for someone. Don't worry too much about Rick. He's a good guy."

His bare chest was warm, his skin soft. I could feel and hear his heart very clearly, the repeating thump, thump's, consistency remained unchanged. I hugged him,"Thanks." "No problem." Ashton picked me up, carrying me out of the kitchen, and down the stairs to his room.

He put me down in front of his door, grabbed my hand, and opened it. He picked me up again, and laid me down on his bed. He pulled the blankets over me. "I'll sleep on the couch. You need this." Then, he left the room.

The blankets were white, and silk with grey bordering in intricate patterns. His room was painted bright white from wall to wall, and had nothing lying on the floor, unlike Rick's room. I curled up in the blankets, inhaling. His smell was like Rick's, very calming. I wondered what their dad was like.

Then, I drifted to sleep.

My dreams were rapidly zooming inside of my cranium. A headache developed as my dreams flowed into my mind. I saw Ashton and Rick, along with Garrett. Ashton grabbed Rick's throat and began strangling him, and before my voice could reach him, Garrett charged towards me, a shiv in his hand. He plunged the knife in my stomach over and over again, hatred and pain burning like fire in his eyes.

Blood pooled around us both, but I wasn't in pain, or screaming. It was like it wasn't effecting me at all. Garrett's face molded into an intense frown, his eyes becoming black with darkness. He stopped stabbing me for a moment, then began to speak. "Why is it like this? Why can't she die?" He looked to the sky as he spoke, returning his gaze to me after finishing. He looked to my shoulders, and grabbed them.

He flipped me onto my back, and I was motionless. I felt him press my back to the ground, crushing my ribs in the process.

I knew what he was doing. He was taking something important from me! "No! No! Stop, please, Garrett!" He didn't stop at all, he pushed me down harder, then pressed the shiv to my shoulderblades, slicing away at my most important possession. I screamed in sorrow and pain, trying to kick him off of me, but the effort was futile.

I woke with a start. "NO! NO! STOP! NO!" Ashton was in the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. He whipped around to face me, a worried expression on his face. I remembered what he was doing in my dream, choking Rick. I jumped onto him, grabbing his throat and pinning him to the floor. "I won't let you!"

My grip loosened, my vision became blurry. I fell off of Ashton, before seeing the door swing open, it was Rick. He ran to my side, picking me up and setting me on the bed. "Alice!?" He was extremely worried. "H-he...he was k-killing you Rick. I need to..to st-stop him." Rick held my head up, feeling my forehead, kissing it afterwards.

I fell back into unconsciousness.