Scars [Ashton Irwin]

Chapter Twenty-Four

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:

Ashton's POV

Maybe I was overreacting. Was I overreacting? Abortion had always been a sensitive subject, because I was almost a victim. There were tablets that my mother had used in hopes to terminate the pregnancy, but it didn't work. I'm here. I'm alive. And McKenzie's baby could have been too, had she not been so stupid. So naive.

I reached the house and headed inside, ignoring everybody else as I made it to my bedroom. The bed was still unmade and it smelt like sex. I stripped the bed sheets and opened my windows. Putting on an AC/DC record, I sank to the floor and controlled my breathing. I was getting far too emotional about this, and I didn't like it.

So maybe it wasn't just the abortion that bothered me. It was knowing that she had basically murdered our chance of ever starting a family together. I wanted a future with that girl. I wanted the perfect family. Two lovely kids and a beautiful wife. That was the picture in my head, because I didn't have that growing up.

I grew up knowing that I was adopted. I loved and appreciated Anne so much, but there had always been a piece of me missing. I craved the touch of my real mother. For a while, I hated her for giving me away. Unlike Cassidy, I could still remember our real mother. I had always been so embarrassed to tell people that I was adopted. Calum, Luke and Michael didn't know until I had found my real mother and sent her a letter.

I was angry at myself for falling way too fast for McKenzie. We had been together for almost three months, but two of those months we spent separated. And in that time I still thought about her everyday, about how our lives would be together.

I was snapped back to reality by my cell phone buzzing in my pocket. I thought that it might have been a text from McKenzie, and thought of ignoring it and falling back into my thoughts. But I pulled out my phone anyway and read the message.

From: Michael
Meeting with the label tomorrow morning. Someone is in trouble.

I didn't bother to respond, but got up off of the floor and started getting ready for bed. I wondered what they would talk about. We were supposed to be on a break, and not be bothered by the label with a bunch of meetings. We would only start recording the new album in about two weeks, because for now, we were all spending some time with family and writing new material.

* * *

I walked into Dani's office. All the boys were already there, and Dani was sipping on a cup of coffee. I took a seat and apologised for being late. I looked over at my band mates and I realised that maybe I had missed them. I realised then that it was only the five of us in her office. It was always Dani, who is our manager, producers and our bodyguard, Sam, who used to be an MMA fighter. He was super friendly for such a big guy.

"I want to make this short." Dani announced, putting down her cup of coffee. "I know you're all wondering what this is about, and I'm sure you don't really want to be here right now."

"So, what is this about?" Calum asked when she did not continue.

"Yeah, are we in trouble?" Michael asked.

"It's mainly about Ashton." She said looking directly at me before reaching into one of her drawers and pulling a manila envelope out and setting it in front of me.

"What is that?" Luke wondered. I began opening the envelope and pulled out a stack of A4 sized pictures. I frowned and began looking through them, my heart already beating faster.

"Who is that, Ashton?" Dani asked.

"My girlfriend, McKenzie." I replied, still looking through the pictures. I wondered who had taken these pictures. There were pictures of us in the restaurant on our first date, a picture of us at the park, a picture of me going into or leaving the cemetery, a picture of a bloody McKenzie been taken out of an ambulence in front of the hospital. A picture of Kellin and I looking like we had been arguing in front of the hospital. There was a picture of McKenzie leaving the hospital with her mother. A pictute of her going into some kind of a therapists office. But the one that grabbed my attention, was the picture that had no one in it, just a sign that read Suicide Watch. The sign that hung above McKenzie's room at the hospital.

"Ashton, what is this?" Dani sipped on her coffee again.

"I-i.." I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say.

"Do you know what is going to happen if these photos are released?" She asked.

"How did you get these?" I wondered.

"That doesn't matter right now. The point is that I am paying a lot of money for these pictures not to be released."

"So, what's the problem?" Calum asked.

"The problem is that you guys cannot be linked with this. Suicide watch? Cemeteries in the middle of the night? Therapists? Hospitals? Ashton, did you ever think of what the fans would say if they saw this?"

"But she's getting better." I argued.

"Thats not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

"She is not good for your image. Do you know what people are going to think of her? They are all going to think that she is crazy. Are you ready to put her through that? Are you ready to put yourself through this? Look at this, Ashton. People are going to come up with all sorts of theories to try and explain what you were doing in a cemetery in the middle of the night with this girl."

"What are you suggesting I do, Dani?" I asked, but I already knew the answer to that. I just hoped that she wouldn't make me do it.

"You need to break up with her, Ashton. We can't have this."

"But I love her." I murmured.

"You haven't been together that long. Surely that's not true."

"It is, Dani. I really do love her."

"But she is too much, Ashton. How are we supposed to explain all of this? I'm sorry, but I can't have my client linked to a mental case. You signed a contract with me, and I am not just doing this because I can. I am doing this because I know how this business works. We can find you another girlfriend if that's what you would like, but for now, you have to get rid of her. These pictures are going to find their way online sooner or later, and I have to figure out a way to clear this up."

I said nothing. I only sat there and stared at her, then stared back at the pictures. The guys were staring between the two of us, waiting for either one of us to say something else. But there was nothing else to say. I knew that I had to break up with McKenzie. This was also to protect her, because I knew that the fans could be cruel. I needed to do this for the both of us.

I drove home in silence. The radio was turned off, and I wished that I could have turned my thoughts off too. I left that office without uttering a single word to anyone. I reached home in less than fifteen minutes, and I was glad about that. But as soon as I pulled into the driveway, I saw her. There she was, sitting on my doorstep, dressed in an oversized hoodie that made her look smaller than she was. She stood from her seat as soon as I was out of the car and walking to the door. Her eyes were puffy and red and her lips were dry. Another tear escaped her eyes as she stood looking at me, and I looked back at her.

This was turning out to be a really long day.

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Author's Note

Woah..

I'm confused like 99.9% of the time. Mind voting?

xxx McRee Black