On Contract • Lashton AU

Part Twenty Seven

Something about Luke's demeanour stopped Ashton from focusing too much on Luke trying to take control. It wasn't worth it.
"This is for your own good, you already know that. People want you dead, and I don't. You need to understand that you should be thankful for me doing this."
Luke didn't seem to be listening, he was too absorbed in his own thoughts.
The rest of the evening consisted of Luke keeping his mouth shut and Ashton occasionally looking over. He was quite surprised that Hemmings didn't ask for anything to eat, but that didn't push him to offer anything. The only reason he had offered a drink earlier was that he knew it wouldn't take much longer for things to get nasty for Luke. The last thing he needed was to be dealing with hallucinations.
It was past eleven when Ashton finally stood up and glanced at Luke. Maybe he felt a little bad for the younger boy - It wasn't like this was easy for him.
Doing the kind of work he did, it had become difficult for Ashton to feel any kind of remorse or attachment. He'd watched too many people die; he'd watched too many families grieve without closure. That was part of the reason that he had decided to stop after this job. His work had begun to consume his life. Keeping Luke alive meant that he couldn't stop any time soon.
Hemmings was barely keeping himself awake by now and, despite his desperate attempts to hide it, it was easy for Ashton to tell that perhaps he had pushed Luke too far with all this. Even Ashton was willing to admit fault there. That was just something he would have to take into consideration next time. He had the urge to push Hemmings further, but his judgement was far better than that. It came to a point where his attempts to control Luke became inhuman and torturous.
"I'm headed upstairs now, you can sleep on the couch until we sort something out."
Ashton's words caused Hemmings to look up and mumble a few words of thanks.
"You know what'll happen if you try to leave," Ashton added.
Luke nodded quickly, knowing exactly what Ashton meant.
That was all Ashton needed from Luke before he turned away and headed upstairs, leaving Hemmings alone in the living room.