Thin White Lies | a.i.

Ten

Ashton had insisted he carry Lily all the way to the sofa, placing himself down first, and then the brunette girl on his lap a moment later. Lily ended up lying with her head on Ashton's lap as he played with the ends of her hair while the other boys messed around.

"They'll be here in five," Luke smirked toward Ash as he and Calum placed themselved on the couch beside the pair. "Woah, hey, Lily who the hell gave you this?"

Lily's eyes shot open as she pulled her long hair to the side, hiding the bruise. Oops. That was meant to stay hidden.

"That looks fresh, dude," Cal commented, trying to push her hair aside again, if only to get a better look.

Lily swatted his hand away, trying not to be too angry with Ashton. What was she meant to say now.

"Who the fuck gave you that, Lily?" Luke growled, his fists clenching. Lily refused to respond, only increasing Luke's anger. He slammed his beer on the coffee table, eyes filled with a rage only protective older brothers seemed to possess. "Lily I swear to fuck, if you don't--"

"I gave it to her, God," Ashton moaned, brushing it off like it was no big deal. "Don't take it out on her, I hardly gave her a choice."

Luke laughed out loud. Short and bitter. "That's funny, Ash," he growled. "It sounded like you said that you were the jackass who gave my sister a fucking hickey. But that can't be right, because you're one of my best mates."

"There are five other dudes about to be here, mate," Ashton reasoned. "All of them over eighteen. Can you imagine how they'd act towards little Hemmings if they saw her like this?"

Luke gave him a look, as if insisting him to go on, cause his explination was doing more harm than good at that moment.

Ashton sighed, rubbing a hand over his face in exhaustion. "She'd got the tiniest little shorts on, and one of my shirts, do you even know how hot that is?" He shouted, and Lily laced their fingers together instantly, a way of calming him down. "Imagine how those boys are gonna treat her. An innocent little girl. I don't want them all over her any more than you do."

"So why the fuck did you give her a hickey?"

Ashton shurgged. "So they know she's off limits."

"Except not to you," Luke growled. "Right, mate?"

"Come on, man," Ash pleaded. "It's just a love bite."

"It didn't mean anything, Luke" Lily adds sweetly, sitting up from her previous position on Ashton's legs, giving Luke her biggest puppy dog eyes, ever. "I promise."

Luke groaned, rolling his eyes. He'd seemed to be giving the argument up, or letting it go, Lily couldn't tell. Either way, Luke and Ashton's fight seemed to be over.

"You're not like . . . banging my sister, are you?" Luke asked, hesitaiting a little.

Lily's eyes could have shot straight out of her head, and Ashton choked on his saliva, blinking. "What?" he squeaked.

"Cause that would be weird, bro," Luke chuckled, seeming to laugh it off. "I mean, ew. I still can't believe you just called her hot."

"I think she's pretty," Michael mused quietly from the other side of the room, his head burried in his phone.

Luke scoffed, eyeing his baby sister up and down with dusgust. Don't get him wrong, he loved her to bits, but he hated it when people called her hot. It felt so wrong on so many levels. "But she's such a good girl," he blurted.

"Oh, you have no idea," Ashton smirked, wanting so badly to gently bite her shoulder again.

Calum chimed in suddenly, shrugging: "Good girls are bad girls who haven't been caught," then he threw back another shot.