Don't worry so much-hood

Part 9

You sighed as you stepped up onto the porch of your old house. You hadn't set foot in town since the confrontation that night in your room when you told the boys you were leaving... That was two years ago.

It had been slow going at first as you'd left town without so much as a goodbye to anyone but your brother. You'd got a job at a local pawn shop and quickly worked your way up to manager before you started putting yourself through school at a community college.

For the last few months, you'd had this feeling inside your gut. You were constantly looking over your shoulder, constantly peaking around corners and looking in closets waiting for someone to jump out at you... You knew someone was watching you; you just didn't know who or why. That feeling had finally brought you home. You needed to know you were around people you could trust; you needed that feeling of security that you hadn't had since you fell asleep on the bed of your brother's best friend as he sung you to sleep.

You raised your fist hesitantly and knocked on the door, readjusting the strap of your duffel nervously. Your eyes were glued to your feet, and you felt the overwhelming urge to run. You only talked to your brother about once a month on the phone, mainly to check if the other was alive before one of you hung up. What if they didn't want to see you? What if they were happy you'd left?

"(Y/n)?" The door had swung open while you were thinking, and you only had a split second to react as a pair of arms engulfed you and pulled you tight into a muscled chest.

You dropped your duffel bag and shifted to look into your brother's face. "Ashton, I missed you!" You smiled up at him, but it slowly started to fade. Something was different about your brother. The muscles in his arms and chest were much larger and more defined; he had a serious tan you didn't remember being so dominant before. A disturbingly long scar ran down the side of his jaw, hidden quite well under the stubble he was sporting. Then there were the tattoos... So many more of them than he had before. "What happened to you?"

"Oh nothing, just grew up a little," Ashton chuckled. He bent down and picked up the bag you dropped slinging it up onto his shoulder. His smile faded slightly, and he scanned the street above your head as if he was looking for something. "Let's get you inside; then we'll talk." He took your hand and tugged you through the open door.

You nodded in agreement and glanced back over your shoulder as he pulled you through the door, but you didn't see anyone there. "What's going on?" You asked him in a worried tone.

"Oh nothing," He put his arm around your shoulder and yelled out into the house. "Boys put your pants on and kick out your whores! We have guests!"

There were so many more questions brought up by that sentence that you didn't even know where to begin, but the clattering and banging from upstairs gave you some reassurance that some of them would be answered soon.

Sure enough, a few moments later a girl, clearly a prostitute or stripper of some sort, came rushing down the stairs half naked, clutching her shirt to her chest as she ran past you and Ashton and out the door like she was running for her life. Another girl, a little more put together came down after her and rushed out the same way.

With the two, and you hoped only, girls in the house gone you heard much heavier footsteps on the stairs and smiled. Michael came trudging downstairs in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt scratching the back of his head and yawning, clearly only just woken up. "What's with all the ... (Y/n)?"

You took a moment standing there to take him in. Like your brother, he'd added countless tattoos to his body, and there was a piercing in his eyebrow that hadn't been there before. His general demeanor seemed to have changed as well; when you left he'd come across a lot more caring than hardened jerk. "Hi Michael, long time no see."

Michael chuckled and jogged forward, scooping you up in his arms and swinging you around in a tight hug. "(Y/n) it's been way too long! Where have you been?!"

"I think I should be asking you that question." You poked one of the new tattoos on his arm, and he laughed. The sounds of footsteps behind him made you lean around and look over Michael's shoulder. Luke was standing on the bottom step, fully clothed, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Hi Luke."

His head jerked up at your familiar voice, and he smiled at you. "Well hello again stranger." He casually walked over towards you, and you could see him giving you a once over, and you weren't sure if you should be repulsed or flattered.

"Eyes off my sister," Ashton said in a very wary tone to Luke. You laughed and rolled your eyes, pushing past Michael and hugging Luke tightly around the neck.

"What's going on?" You froze slightly as you heard the all too familiar voice call out, followed by multiple pairs of feet running down the stairs.

You side stepped Luke and saw Calum jogging down the stairs in nothing but his boxers, two giggling half-naked girls following after him like he was some kind of god. Any semblance of happiness about returning fell from you as your eyes trailed over the two girls and then to Calum. Even from here you could tell they reeked of sex, and each of the girls was beautiful and covered in love bites all over their very exposed skin.

Calum's eyes finally connected with yours, and you saw the recognition there a moment later as he took time to process what was happening. "(Y/n)... you're back..." He held out his arms in welcome and took a step towards you, almost acting as though nothing had happened between you and he wasn't half naked with two girls he'd just slept with.

"Yeah," you ignored his arms reaching for you and looked up at Ashton. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute, bro?"

Ashton's mouth curved slightly in a smirk, and he put an arm around your shoulders, shoving his way past Calum and leading you upstairs. Ashton knew seeing Calum with those girls must have hurt, but he was sort of glad. It established right from the start of whatever you were visiting for that Calum was not the same Calum anymore. He wasn't nice and easy-going. He was an ass, and Ashton knew that. Now hopefully you would too. "What can I do for my baby sis?"

"What are you and the boys into?" You asked, pulling Ashton into his bedroom and kicking the door closed.

Ashton raised an eyebrow and tossed your bag on the floor, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's with the tattoos and the piercings and the random hookups and the people following me around back home?" You went off on him, two years of anger bubbling up inside you.

Ashton's whole body tensed, and he sat down on the edge of the bed, clasping his hands together and glaring at his feet. "People following you around? What happened?"

"Well," you chewed on your bottom lip, not particularly happy that Ashton was focusing on that half of the sentence... That meant something really was up, "I don't know for sure exactly, but I'd be walking down the street and feel eyes on me, or I'd have stranger than usual customers at the shop who'd ask me one too many personal questions... Then about a month after that started happening things weren't right at home. I'd come back to my apartment after work and nothing would be missing, but everything was in the wrong order; nothing was where I left it. Then my neighbor came and asked me why my boyfriend kept showing up in the middle of the day, and I got this feeling that someone was watching me, even when I was home alone."

"That's why you came back then..." Ashton looked up at you, jaw tense as he seemed to be contemplating something. "I'm glad you did... We'll figure it out." Ashton got to his feet and headed for the door.

"Wait," You grabbed his arm, "Ashton what's going on?"

Ashton shrugged off your hand and looked back over his shoulder at you, "You can sleep in my room for now till I get Calum out of your room. I'll go get you some of your old clothes and move them in here."

"You're not answering my question, Ash," You pointed out in a wary tone.

Ashton turned back around and met your gaze, "Things changed here, (Y/n)... People changed when you left. Nothing's like it used to be, just... We'll take care of it okay? Don't worry so much."