All We Thought // Ashton Irwin [AU]

Chapter 15: Truth Be Told

"You're lying" I stuttered, as I pushed Ashton off of me.  At first I thought it was true, but it couldn't be.  Evan would never do that.  

He sat up, his eyes wide with disbelief "Roxie, I'm being serious..."

I cut him off before he could say anything, "No, you're drunk.  You don't know what you saw.  You must be mistaken.  Actually, I know you're mistaken."  

He tried to reach for my hand, but I pulled away sharply.  His touch would hurt too much now. "Roxie, listen to me.  I saw him with whoever the girl was.  She was sitting on his lap and his hands were wrapped around her waist and he was kissing her neck..."

"Stop!  Just stop!  You don't know what you saw Ashton.  It's not true.  You're just saying this so I will leave Evan for you."  My hands were starting to tremble and angry tears streamed down my cheeks. 

"I would never do that and you know it!  I waited all these years for you and suddenly you think I would begin to sabotage your relationship?  I would have done it a long time ago if I was that kind of person.  Stop being so ignorant to what kind of person he is!  He's not who you think he is!"  he shouted.  I had never seen him so angry.

"I'm not ignorant!  He's been loyal to me ever since we've met and he has no reason not to be."

Ashton ran his hands through his hair.  When the words left my mouth he laughed at me and with a smirking grin said,  "Oh really?  You want to rethink that?  How about all those business trips he's been on?  Were they work related business, or a "private" business matter?"  he spat, making air quotes around the word private.  "Common Roxie, I don't know why you can't see this!  He's not marrying you for your beautiful looks or radiating personality, he's marrying you for your family's money!  You guys are old wealth and you would be a permanent sense of security for him!  He's not marrying you for the right reasons like..."  he stopped himself, midsentence.  

His smile faded and he stood there, our eyes locked on each other.

"Go on Ashton, what were you going to say?  You might as well just say it."  I said harshly.

"He's not marrying you for the right reasons like I would."  he voice was timid and quiet as he was fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt.  His voice was barely a whisper.

"See!  You're just telling me all this to stop the wedding!  This isn't about my well being, it's about what you and Evan have been competing for all these years, me.  I don't know why I believed you when you told me that whole story.  It was probably skewed to your perspective, and I was dumb enough to fall for it."   

He tried to grab my hand again to pull me back towards him, as I started to head towards the door but I refused his grasp.

He threw his hands in the air in exasperation, "Fine, you know what?  Fine. Go run to Evan, but when he hurts you and you realize that you made the wrong choice, don't come looking for me.  I'm not going to be your superhero anymore.  Easy love isn't always the best love Roxie.  Sometimes the love that you have to fight for, the love that goes against everything that you thought was right is the love that's worth it in the end."

As I was walking out the door I looked at him one last time, before turning my back to the sound of crashing alcohol bottles and quiet sobs.

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Two weeks.  It had been two weeks since me and Ashton had said anything to each other.  It felt more like months.  Work had been weird, not talking to him, just working silently side by side.  I missed him, but I know he was still angry at me.  My heart ached every time I looked at him, knowing how much I hurt him.  He wore his thick black glasses everyday to hide his tired eyes with their dark circles underneath.  His office door was always closed and in the lab he always had his headphones in, so talking to him was impossible.