Protector

Chapter 7

As I arrived home after my walk with Shiba, I saw Aston pulling up on his drive.

"Hi again!" I shouted over to him, smiling.

"Hey" he half smiled, before heading into his house. Still no attempt to start a conversation with me. But I had to get closer to him, as quick as I could. I decided to bake for him, that'd give me an excuse to go over to his house, and maybe go in for a chat. I'd have to quickly nip to the shop around the corner, but it'd be well worth the hassle in the end.

After a couple of hours, I had a batch of 12 cupcakes to deliver. They were chocolate sponge, with creamy vanilla icing, and a full cherry on top to finish it all off. I but them in a tin and crossed the road to Aston's house. Walking up the driveway to the big brown door, I admired his house. It wasn't the same as the one I was staying in, it was much nicer.

I knocked on the door, and waited for him to answer. He opened the door wearing only joggers and a tight white vest top. I struggled to stop myself drooling. He definitely didn't have the thin arms and small shoulders he used to have.. He was very muscular.

"Chloe.. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I baked for you! I wanted to bring a warm introduction to the community" I smiled. 

"You do realise in situations like this, the neighbours are supposed to bake for the new residents?" he chuckled, taking the tin off me.

"Well" I shrugged, smiling.

"Come in" he said, welcoming me into his house. BINGO, I was in.

"You gotta gorgeous house Ast" pretending to take in the decor, although I'd already seen it.

"Is it not pretty much the same as yours?" he asked, leading me into the kitchen.

"Nah, mine isn't as big as this" I said as he opened the tin.

"Oh wow, these look amazing!" he beamed.

"And hopefully they taste okay too!" I smiled.

"Do you want a drink?" he asked.

"Please" I said.

After he'd poured us both a glass of wine, we made our way into his living room and sat down.

"You've changed your tune" I said, sipping my wine.

"Huh?" he questioned.

"Earlier this morning you were saying you only wanted to be colleagues, but now here we are, drinking wine in your house" I chuckled slightly.

"Well, it'd be rude not to invite you in" he shrugged.

"You didn't have to.. I can go if you feel uncomfortable" I said shyly.

"No, stay.. Look, Chloe, if I'm being completely honest.. I've missed you too" he sighed, looking me in the eyes. I smiled at him. "But I want us to be no more than friends with this, okay?" he warned.

"Of course" I nodded. There was a nice silence then, as we both sipped away at our glasses of wine.

"So, how does an office worker afford a house like yours?" he asked me curiously.

"Well, last year.. My mum got a call saying my dad had been killed in a car accident, and he'd left me all of his savings, since I'm the oldest child.. Turns out he'd done pretty well for himself in the years he was away" I shrugged.

"I'm sorry to hear about that" he sighed, putting his hand on my arm sportively.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm wasn't affected by it at all, I hated the man. He was never there for us" he said, looking down. Aston knew all about my dad.

"Yeah, but he's still your dad.. Did you really feel no emotion about it?" he asked. 

"No, not really.. I was just really shocked that he was so rich" I shrugged again.

"That's surprised me actually.. I thought you'd have been upset by that kind of thing" he said.

"So would you be upset if you found out your birth father had died?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

"I'd never find out in the first place.. He lost all contact with my mum when she got pregnant with me, you know that.. They wouldn't trace back to us" he shrugged. Aston had never met his birth father. He'd left his mum when she found out she was pregnant.

"No, but if you did somehow find out.." I questioned.

"No" he said bluntly.

"There you go then!" I smiled slightly.

"Yeah, but that's different.. I've never met my dad, as far as I'm concerned, I don't have a dad.. Apart from Orjan, of course" he said.

"He left you just like my dad left me, its still the same princible!" I said, trying to convince him.

 "Whatever" he mumbled.

After that, we got onto a much more positive topic of conversation, and even ended up a little tipsy.

"We'll have to go out for drinks sometime" he smiled as he saw me to the door.

"Yeah, we'll see if you can handle your drink now you're older" I smirked.

"Hey, you were just as bad!" he chuckled. I smiled, thinking back to that night.

*FLASHBACK*

"Come on, drink up" I slurred, passing the bottle of vodka towards Aston.

"I think.. I think I'm gonna be sick" he gipped, pretending to throw up on me.

"Stop it!" I snorted, laughing, shoving him away from me. He reached his arms around my body and hugged me tight, in a playful immature manner. He pushed me down and laid on top of me, still squeezing me tight.

"Get off me fatty, I can't breathe!" I gasped, both of us bursting into fits of giggles.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

I sighed, wishing things were how they used to be.

"Yeah, anyway, drinks! We'll sort something out" I smiled.

"Yep. So.. I'll see you tomorrow?" he questioned.

"Yeah! Bye" I said, hugging him. He cheekily kissed my cheek. 

"Thanks for the cupcakes" he winked.

"Thanks for the wine!" I repeated.

"Bye then" he chuckled, closing the door behind me.

I skipped over the road, returning home. I collapsed onto the sofa, grinning to myself. Things were slowly starting to get better.

Ok guys, here it is, Chapter 7. Thanks for voting again, this story is now at #649 on the What's Hot thriller list! I really appreciate every vote, it means a lot to me :) Vote if you enjoyed, comment to give me feedback, and fan be for more updates! Thankyou!xo