Now or Never ⇀ John B Routledge [1]

ii. drowning

Ashtyn was scared. In her sixteen years of life, never once had she been caught in a lie like this and tonight her good luck seemed to have run out. She had regained consciousness by the time Sarah and Topper got her to the hospital, but the two blondes wouldn't let her leave without seeing at least one doctor.

The brunette let out a sigh, raising her hand to cover the outline of Rafe's much larger one with her own. She looked like an absolute mess; hair wild and wavy, eyes bloodshot from tears. She wouldn't be surprised if there was even a stick or two hidden in the mess on her head.

A soft knock on the door caused Ashtyn to flinch, terrified that her mother had arrived to finish her off for good. "Ashtyn?" Sarah's soft voice calmed her nerves though.

The Hughes girl fully expected her brown eyed friend leave on the first ferry out of Swan Quarter that morning, but for some reason she refused to leave her side.

In a way, Ashtyn was grateful for the display of friendship, especially since she and Sarah had drifted apart in recent years. Ashtyn was focused solely on her future at Princeton - thanks to her parents - while Sarah... she's just living life.

The girl didn't have a stressed bone in her body. She's never had to deal with the bad situations life can throw at a person, and while Ashtyn may only be sixteen, she knew the reality ahead of her.

The Hughes family had more money than they knew what to do with most of the time, but if she ever wanted to reep any of the benefits later on, she had to abide by her mother's rules.

The goals set for her were considered 'easy': go to Princeton, get an engineering degree, and join the Hughes empire.

Simple as that.

If she didn't... let's just say that Luke wouldn't be the only one hiding on Kildare Island.

Knowing all of this, Ashtyn could only imagine the kind of hell her mother would unleash once they were alone.

Claudia Hughes is one of the most respected business women in the world, traveling far and wide to give speeches about how she came to be the person she is today. She's worked hard, Ashtyn knew that, but that could never excuse her parenting methods.

She married Peter about a year after graduating from Princeton to take claim of his well known last name. Since then, the two had become the Bonnie and Clyde of the business world. Hughes Enterprises owned almost half of the small businesses in North Carolina now, and everytime Ashtyn saw how many zeros were on her parents pay stubs, she almost faints.

So yeah, in a way she was glad that someone was here to to be a buffer between she and her mother.

"Yeah Sarah?" She called back through the bathroom door, keeping her blue eyes focused on the purple tint around her throat. Her grip tightened a bit, frowning when the skin turned an even darker shade than it already was.