Still Breathing

Desperate Measures

     Kacey's POV

     Man. That was fast, I thought to myself. Good thing my parents were on a business trip for the next couple of weeks.

     I wondered why he wasn't a part of his family anymore. However, I reminded myself of the fight an hour earlier. Did he really care that much about me to put himself against his own family, whom he had already not liked in the first place?

     In that moment I realized I knew him better than I thought. Years ago, when we were little, he had lived here with his family. We'd seen each other around the neighborhood, and our parents hung around each other at their work, so we had eaten dinner with them a lot, and we were actually pretty good friends.

     This only lasted a few months. Then they moved away, and I didn't see him again for a few years. I had forgotten about it.

     Maybe that's why I was so intrigued by this kid.

     It'd been a few days and I learned more about him than I ever thought. We had this connection I couldn't even explain. And now he's staying at my house? Is this some kind of sign?

     I was guessing he didn't want to get too much into the family stuff, which I completely understood. From what he'd told us after that fight, his family was a little more brutal than he was, and they liked hunting humans for blood, which he did not. Later on we figured out that his family had learned how to control themselves.

     Asher told us at dinner what his brothers said about the girlfriend thing, and how it was crazy what they were doing. I was amused by their little girlfriend comments, and it honestly made me feel a little flattered that he was so protective over me. If he really spent that much time in the woods, he had probably learned a lot about me from the edge.

     He explained to me that he needed to be around me most of the time when I was out, as to keep me safe. He told me that he wasn't going to let anything hurt me, and that when we were friends as children and his older sister was raped, that he told himself he would never let anything hurt me like that.

     Asher said, "Wolves get attached to one person, and they can't really control it, but they feel the need to protect that person no matter what. I wish I didn't have to get you involved in this. But they had been watching, and I didn't catch their scent. They found out that I had a... fondness for you, and they're basically making me choose between them and you." He took a deep breath.

      "Wolves aren't exactly supposed to be with humans, and my brothers know that, so they're trying to hurt you because they know it'll hurt me." He looked at me as to say, "I'm sorry," and I melted a little inside.

     No one had ever said anything like this to me. Out of all the wolves he could have gotten attached to, he got attached to a human; me, and I felt so flattered by this. It sounds crazy but this kid had me falling for him already. I mean, I had known him for most of my life. Now that I come to think about it, I think it was always him. I just never knew it. I mean, it's not like he could help who he was attached to. It was his instincts. And something was drawing me to him.

     I wondered what my little "friends" would think about this. They already didn't like me even looking at Asher across the hallway, but  what would they think when they saw me walk the halls with them? Quite frankly, I didn't give a shit. I was done with them.

     The rest of the afternoon we all sat around and played guitar and tried to relax a little. We all took showers and after that we tended to Asher's wounds before bed. As he laid there on the bed, face down and shirtless, Cody disinfected the deep cuts on his shoulders and back.

     I saw his arm again with all the scars, and when Cody went to get the bandage, I traced my finger over his old scars. He turned his head to look at me, confused. I was fixing to say something, but he sat up, preparing himself for Cody to bandage his shoulder with the deep gash. Cody came back in with a bandage and Asher winced as he wrapped it. Cody left, oblivious that I was going to stay there for a moment.

     Asher sat there and put a fresh long sleeved shirt on. I sat down beside him and grabbed his left arm gently. He looked at me with a shameful look on his face. "Don't," he said, letting out a whine as he scratched his shoulder with his free hand.

     "Shh." I said, pulling up his sleeve. "How long has it been?" I knew how to deal with this. Cody had done it up until about a year ago. He wasn't much of a really deep person when it came to people other than me, which is why he hadn't said anything to Asher yet.

     "Four days," he said with a sigh.

     I looked into his beautiful blue eyes and rolled his sleeve back down. "You don't need any other wounds, you know. You've gotta be strong," I said, wanting to wrap my arms around him, but I knew it'd hurt his wounds.

     He nodded. "It's hard. All the shit from my childhood still haunts me."

     "I know. Cody did it up until last year," I whispered. "Do you have them with you?" I asked, and he nodded at me, looking up from under his black hair that was still wet from his shower. He pointed to his duffle bag. I dug through it until I found a small box that looked like something earrings came in. He sighed as I did this, and I could feel his gaze on me as I was facing away from him. I grabbed his hand and led him to the bathroom, holding the small blades in my palm.

     "You saved my life. I'm not gonna sit here and let you destroy yourself. You protect me, I protect you. Okay?" I handed him the blades and motioned to the toilet. "You know what to do. Flush them. I know you're strong."

     He took a deep breath and tossed them in the toilet, and flushed them. I smiled at him and he smirked back at me a little. He was silent. "You're starting over. You can do it." We walked back into the guest room and he sat back down on his bed.

     "Thank you," Asher whispered as I began to leave the room. I stepped back in and nodded, smiling. I walked over to the bed and kissed him on the cheek, and I felt that feeling I got whenever we touched. Except this time, it was like fireworks. From that point on I knew there was a reason all of this had happened.

     Author's note:

     Red here! Christmas break is over for us and we go to school tomorrow, but we'll try and update as much as we can! Hope you liked this! :)