Nothing Left To Lose. One Shot.
Now I was trapped...at Carter's house. I still don't know why he had to chose me that night at the club, but Ashton had been helping me with dealing with Jamie. Ashton...I really need him right now. I don't know what I was thinking when I sent him away to Los Angles. Maybe I thought he would come 'Indiana Jones'ing in to rescue me if Carter came to get me. Well that obviously didn't happen. I'm currently stuck underneath Carter on the floor, being forced to kiss him.
Drawing me deeper, I could feel Carter pushing closer into the kiss, and how forceful it was becoming. His tongue knotted itself around mine, and his free hand was now on the front of my chest, grabbing at my shirt and pulling me closer into the kiss. Bracing myself with hand that wasn't trying to push him away, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by Carter's domination of my mouth. Every time I tried to catch my breath, he just crushed his lips back into mine. Attempting to pull back from Carter was useless, instead causing him to pull me in closer. This kiss was nothing like the sweet, gentle, passionate kisses Ashton always gave me. And the way Ashton held me, forever loving and caring, always respecting me. I continued thinking about Ashton, getting carried away.
Carter finally pulled away, growling. “You're thinking about him again. Stop thinking about him. He's gone. I'm the one who loves you, Princess.” I gave him a blank look, pretending not to know who Carter was talking about. He just narrowed his eyes at me. “Don't give me that look. You know perfectly well.”
“I don't think I do.”
He growled again. “That b@st@rd. 'Agent Taylor' he called himself. The one who abandoned you. The one who pretended to be your boyfriend while I was in custody. Well where is he now?! I'm the one who truly loves you, why do you keep thinking about him?? I give you everything you deserve! My house, my food, my money, my love. I treat you like the princess you are! He never did anything for you! He didn't, and never would have deserved you.”
I bit my tongue to keep from defending Ashton. As much as I wanted to tell him that Ashton gave me everything I ever wanted, I knew that Carter would only get angrier. He would likely loose his temper, and show me all his 'love'. “I-I-I'm sorry, Carter. I just keep thinking that he's...here. We were acting as a couple for a long time, you know.”
He snarled, twisting his features even more than they were before. “I know. You shouldn't have gone along with the act, Princess. Now I'm just going to have to punish you. I've already dealt with the agent.” Dealt with the agent. In other words, he's killed Ashton. Murdered him. I had figured he would, but hearing him say that he was actually murdered only made it more real. He pressed down harder on my torso, making me shriek in pain.
“Carter! Stop it!” I could feel the tears running down my cheeks as I pleaded for him to get off me, but it only seemed to make things worse.
As I cried for him to get off me, he pulled both my hands together and pinned them down with one of his hands above my head. Now his other hand was free to glide down my torso and underneath my shirt, grabbing at my skin, caressing it while he kissed me with such ferocity that I couldn't help but be scared for what would come next.
Just as Carter was about to strip me, the door burst open. Actually, it didn't so much burst open as shattered into millions of splinters. Carter was dragged off of me in a matter of seconds. I heard a scuffle for only a few seconds, then a loud shot rang throughout the house. After the shot, there was an empty silence, almost as if nothing had happened. Darkness skirted around the outside of my vision, slowly taking over as everything faded into black.
I woke up in an emergency recovery room. At first, I thought I was still in Carter's house, so I immediately started to scream and struggle with the bandages, but it was only a matter of seconds before I heard a voice beside me.
“Anna, you're awake! Thank God, I was so worried!” I felt someone's arms wrap around me, and the voice kept whispering how much it loved and missed me...and how sorry it was. It could only be one person.
“Ashton?! Y-you're supposed to be d-dead!” I gasped in shock as I looked up to his smiling face.
Ashton looked at me lovingly, melting my insides like only he could. “Am I? Then I must be your guardian angel.”
“B-but how did you survive? I thought...And Carter said...You can't still be...” I was so elated, yet confused at the same that I couldn't even make a complete sentence without stuttering or switching thoughts in the middle.
Luckily, Ashton seemed to understand what I was trying to say. He laughed, “I had a Kevlar vest on. All it took was a water balloon cleverly filled with food coloring, plus a sleeping pill to slow my heart rate until they left me to bleed to death. It was actually kind of comical how they just assumed I was dead. They were obviously not professionally trained.”
I don't know if it was because his joke was funny, or because I was just emotionally and physically drained, but I simply burst out laughing and hugged him. At first, Ashton was surprised, but then he chuckled and hugged me back. I couldn't stop laughing for the next 5 minutes, but during that time, I remebered exactly how much I had missed him while I was with Carter. How much I had truly loved him before. How wrong I was for making him leave. How badly I needed him.
"I love you, Ashton." That made him stop for a second.
"But...but you said...you said you didn't love me!" $hit, I did! What if he doesn't want me back after what I said to him? I know it really hurt him. If I couldn't figure it out from all his texts and calls asking if I was alright, I couldn't miss all the presents and letters I received from him after our public 'break up'. I really did love him.
"I know. I'm so sorry for that! I...I don't know what I was thinking. I just--" Ashton looked at me like I was crazy.
"No! Anna, I love you too. I'll always love you, whether you love me back or not. But it's even more fantastic that you love me back. I love you." He looked me right in the eye when he said the last sentence. "I love you too much to ever let you go."
