Half Hearted

Chapter Fourty Four

| Teresa |

I woke up with the worst hangover I'd had since Oria's 20th birthday party.

Sighing, I sat up from my bed and tried adjusting my eyes to the light. Claire came to me with a glass of water, and I thankfully grabbed it from her.

She stayed quiet as I let my head rest. 

After a while, I managed to say some words. "What time's the flight?"

"Tomorrow," she chuckled, turning on the TV and lowering the volume.

I nodded, remembering that we still had a day to spend in London. I cringed as the headache worsened, and I brought my hands up to my head. "Don't ever let me drink that much again."

"Oh I tried," Claire sighed, keeping her eyes trained on the screen. "But then you kept wanting to drink for that guy. Dave or David or whatever."

"Who?" I asked. Claire shrugged.

"Just some guy you were hitting it off with last night before Ash came."

My heart skipped a beat. "What? Ash came?"

She simply nodded as if it were no big deal. "Yeah and they seemed to know each other, cause right before he punched him, they were having a conversation."

Raising my hands up in the air, I raised my eyebrows. "Who punched who?"

"Ash punched the guy, and then the guy started yelling out these really weird things."

"Like what?"

"Like Ash would pay for it next week or something. Something about a guy, but I don't remember his name. I don't know, Ter, he sounded scary."

"What else happened?" I asked, regaining some of my awareness.

Claire shrugged. "That's it, really. After all that, Ash took us back to the hotel and then he left."

"He drove us here?"

"Yeah, and he even carried you too, since you kept talking about your ankles hurting," she giggled, heading to the washroom to wash her face.

I just sat at the bed, dumbfounded. I only remembered parts of his face last night, but if Claire was telling the truth - and she almost always was - then that meant...

Ash had done all those things...

I took my phone from the nightstand and scrolled until I found his name. Then, I hesitantly called his number.

| Ash |

The phone rang in the middle of his training, so he had to take off his gloves for a while.

The phone screen was bright, notifying Teresa's number. He had deleted her from his contacts a month ago, but even then he still remembered her number.

Deciding that picking it up would be better than running away, Ash answered the call. "What?"

This must have taken Teresa by surprise, as she had to take moments to recollect herself. "I-uhm... I need to talk to you."

"That's what you're doing right now," he retorted, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Well, I need to talk to you in person."

Ash let out a long sigh. "Why?"

"To... tour us around town for a day."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the only one we know around here."

"So find someone else."

"I'd really rather not call up that guy from last night."

Ash remembered David's bloody nose. He sat on the floor with a feeling of defeat.

How could he focus on next week if she was still in his life? She'll be gone soon, just suck it up.

"Fine. Be ready at twelve," he ordered, hanging up the phone and releasing a breath he didn't even know he was holding.

He stared at the time on his phone. That left him two hours to train and get ready for them.

He'd been training since seven in the morning, but he couldn't stop. It was as much of an addiction to him as anything else.

Ash got up from the floor and continued punching the bag in various ways. His knuckles felt sore, especially from last night, but it gave him the edge to keep going. He knew he still had it in him. He was just unsure of who he'd be competing with next.

And it wasn't really only about the competition either. It was about the bets and the threats and his protection. He'd be back in the business, and he didn't know who would take that well.

The rest of the hour was well spent sweating. Afterwards he took a hot shower and cooled off his thoughts.

Now he'd have to focus on Teresa. Well, Teresa and her friend.

He didn't even know where to bring them, and gas money was starting to go up. Drying his hair, Ash shook his head.

As long as they were safe with him, he didn't care about where they would go.