Rescue // Ashton Irwin

four.

Ashton.

Adley's head rested on my shoulder as she drifted off to sleep, finally looking at peace.

My heart broke just looking at her. She seemed so sad, so broken.

Bruises and cuts lined her whole body, the worst right in her face. Her nose was swollen three times its normal size, and both of her eyes were bruised.

It looked as if she hadn't eaten or slept in weeks, but she still made my heart practically beat out of my chest just looking at her.

Of course, I would never let her know that. She had a boyfriend, even if he was an abusive one. He was a boyfriend nonetheless.

Besides that, I wasn't ready for a relationship yet, not after what happened last time.

But, I tried not to focus on that. My past was dark, but it was in the past, and I wanted to enjoy the present without it hanging over me.

Adley was the best thing to keep my mind occupied. She was a puzzle, but one I was willing to be patient enough to put the pieces together.

"What the hell is going on here?" Someone screamed, drawing my attention away from Adley and her sleeping figure.

That someone happened to be... Noah Riggs?

What is he doing here? I thought to myself. I thought Adley told me only her and her boyfriend lived in-

Then, it hit me.

Noah was Adley's boyfriend.

I felt sick to my stomach. All this time, I'd had to hear the gruesome details of what Adley went through every day with this awful abusive boyfriend, and I knew him. We were friends.

"Noah?" I breathed.

I wished with all my heart that it was just his long lost twin, not someone I'd grown close with. I couldn't bear the thought of even knowing the person who hurt Adley so bad.

He didn't respond, confirming my fear.

Instead, he made his way towards us, Adley specifically.

"Wake up!" he yelled in her ear.

She woke up with a start, looking dazed and confused. She blinked her eyes a couple of times before jumping up, fully awake.

"It's not, um, it's not what it looks like," she stammered.

"I think it's exactly what it looks like," he spat.

"It's really not," I added, but he wasn't happy.

"You," he yelled, pointing at me, "Stay the fuck out of this."

My heart was racing.

I'd been friends with Noah since he came to me a little over two years ago with a drug addiction and a bad case of alcohol abuse.

I remember the first day he came in, looking distraught and lost.

It was before I started working for the group that Adley was in then. I had just gotten out of high school and was in desperate need of a job, and the only opening was at the Lake View Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center.

I was hesitant at first, only having a high school psychology background. But, the nice older woman that I spoke to at the job center had assured me that was all that I needed. The pay was extremely low, but I was running out of options and I knew that helping people was something I wanted to do anyways.