Behind The Limelight

26: Scandals With A Side Of Cocktails

The last place that Ashton wanted to spend his Saturday night was at a party filled with pretentious people and his exes. But well, life clearly had other plans for him.

He was invited to some event organized by a billionaire, and Malcolm insisted, no, ordered Ashton that he absolutely had to attend. Apparently it was good for his image to show his face at such places and mingle with people of high standing.

So there he was, making small talk with strangers while ignoring the ones that he did know. His stars definitely weren't aligned as no one other than Ryker was there too. The two hadn't spoken yet, but their eyes did meet plenty of times from across the room.

Ashton was only counting down the minutes till it would be acceptable for him to leave, especially after he saw that Maria was at the party too. He hadn't spoken to her since they met at that restaurant a couple of months ago, and frankly he wasn't in the mood to do so. At the time a part of him had thought that he wanted to be with her again, or at least be friends, but now he had changed his mind.

"Quite a turnout, huh?" Ryker said, coming up from behind Ashton and catching him off-guard yet again.

"When Callum Kaufman throws a party... everyone shows up," Ashton muttered.

"You planned your exit strategy yet?" Ryker asked.

"I'm about to get a migraine in like fifteen minutes," Ashton answered with a shrug.

"Damnit, I was going to use that," Ryker replied with a laugh.

"Maybe you can say that you have a case of explosive diarrhoea," Ashton retorted with a sickly sweet and fake smile.

"Ha ha, thanks for mental image," Ryker said. "I think I'll go with having an early morning meeting tomorrow."

"Good one," Ashton muttered.

"I'll see you around," Ryker spoke, keeping his hand on Ashton's lower back for a brief second before retreating it. Just the simple touch sent a shiver down the other actor's spine, but he ignored it. Or at least he tried his best to do so.

"If luck is on my side then no, no you won't," Ashton mumbled. Ryker chuckled again, not even bothered by Ashton's sass anymore before walking away. He was immediately pulled by someone else, probably a producer or businessman.

Ashton decided to have his last drink of the night before leaving. If he thought that it was a bad night before, then it proved that the universe was clearly out to get him as he faced with the one person he didn't want to be within a hundred mile radius of.

His mother.

"What a wonderful surprise," said Rebecca Archer.

She looked as elegant as ever in her black satin dress and her hair tied neatly in a bun with just a few carefully styled strands hanging out. Everything from her heels to her nails was picture perfect.

"Mom," was all that Ashton could say as he stared at the woman. She stepped forward to hug him, which Ashton stiffly returned for a second before pulling away. "What are you doing here?"

"I made a pretty big donation to the Kaufman Charity Fund, so of course I'm here," Rebecca answered. Ashton frowned slightly, he did find it odd that he was invited to the party as he had never been called to attend a Kaufman event before.

"I suppose you had something to do with my presence here as well," Ashton muttered.

"Speak loudly, dear. You're an Archer, we don't mumble our words," Rebecca retorted. "And well, can you really blame me for doing so? Imagine how it must feel for a mother to have to pull strings in order to be able to see her son."