Ashton gives a look around the wide street he had just turned onto while slowing the vehicle. He turns on his phone to check if Hayden had texted him back, no. Six unread messages, 5 a.m, and still no news from the young woman who'd left him standing in Beswick earlier. His gaze stops on a silhouette near the liquor shop on the corner. The hair was too long, too blonde, the girl stood up and crossed the street, laughing so loud the noise actually broke through the night. It wasn't Hayden. Ashton, coming to a stop, turns off the ignition, already typing Hayden's number on his phone. He can feel his fingers going numb as the temperature in the truck cools down. And still, no answer from Hayden.
Late night December in Manchester is nothing like any other possible night. The chilly air comes through the doorframes and windows, you could almost already make snowflakes out and see your breath hanging in the air. It's nothing like a June's night. Like the one Ash met Hayden. Nothing like Ash had felt, the warm air mixing with the smell of storm and thunder right outside his window. Her screams had broken through the night back then, and he still thinks he can hear them now. Right now. Could he still hear her miles away ?
"Ash!" The girl insists, pounding with her fist again the passenger's window. "Babe, are you alright?" She adds as Ash opens the door for her from the inside, leaning against the passenger seat. He mufles something back, lifting the leather backpack she's holding from her hands, and throws it behind him, in the back of the truck. Still leaning against the other side of the car, he helps Hayden close the door and holds a hand close to her chin, cupping her face. Hayden repeats once more, "babe are you alright?"
Ashton pushes his face in the crook of her neck, her scent filling his lungs, her fingers, already trailing along his back. She mentioned the fact that his body was freezing, but he didn't care. He keeps on touching her, taking her jacket off and pulling her closer to him, warming himself. He drops her face for a second and pulls back, facing her. His fingers find her hair tangled under the hood of his sweater that she'd been wearing since this morning. With a finger, he lifts her chin and finds her eyes. No twitching, they're normal. Almost angrily, he grabs her right hip and pulls it to him, making Hayden's weight switch and finally, her whole body goes crashing against his on his lap, in the middle of helltown Beswick.
***
"Maybe we can make this work." Ashton finally exhales, Hayden resting against his torso. She turns to him and finds herself lining his tattoos with her fingers, tracing each line and each dot.
"It feels as if I'd never noticed you had so many of them." She laughs a weak laugh, speaking so low it almost sound like a whisper. "I think I just never had the opportunity to see things this clearly." Her eyes drop where her hand had found rest, just above Ashton's hip bone. She's no longer tracing black lines but rather, a bump along his skin, one of the few scars he'd found himself laced with along the years. She doesn't bother switching back to his eyes, already sensing his stare going down her own body. She knows full well he's about to state facts that none of them can change anymore, but she can't stop him now.
"I didn't know I was hurting you so much." He murmurs. While his eyes are still wide open, his left hand on Hayden' shoulder is already helping her turn over. His gaze doesn't leave her body as he scans her pale scarred skin. In the dim light flowing in from streets lamps, Hayden's arms look as white as snow, though the colors gathered on her body crash together like a painting. Ashton's panting now, randomly overlooking her body, as if examining something he'd never encountered before. She notices that he's trying hard to gather his thoughts, but he's losing that fight. "How-" he mumbles, not finding the words, "how did it come to this."
The darkest spots on Hayden's shoulders and necks aren't the largest. The largest tend to be more yellowish, changing, depending on the day it was given to her. Some, she'd understood, were permanent. Just like the one Ashton is currently rubbing with his thumb, in the back of her neck. "Those are just external bruises, you know? I mean, they do not change anything. I've given some to you too." She blurts, trying to find his eyes behind the madness creating its nest. "Please, Ash, it's alright."
"No!" He snaps, getting away from Hayden, trying to sit correctly while her legs are still tangled with his. "Look," he's demanding now, crying more than aking her quietly. He takes the small plaid cover they had arranged in the back of the truck earlier, from her body and uncovers her, forcing her look to stop on her own legs. "This isn't normal Hayden."
Scars cover her forearms, big clouds of blues and purples extend from her thighs to her hips. Looking at it now, Hayden feels vulnerable. But not broken. "It's alright." The words form a small circle of air and go crashing to the ceiling of the truck as she pulls the plaid back onto her body, as well as Ash near her. "It's alright." She sobs, tears crawling along her neck.
YOU ARE READING
Settle Down
Romance"She came and it was two in the morning. She'd been crying. She started screaming in my backyard. She was yelling for me to let her in while I had never met her before. Mate, she was nuts. She wore that fucking purple dress. You know, the dark one...
