Scars

Chapter 13

I excuse myself just as Ace gets up and leaves to make a call.

"Guys, I am gonna call Chris as well. Give him the updates and all."

I make my way to my room, stopping momentarily at the sight of Abby's locked door. I felt guilt and sadness settling in my gut. Sighing, I step into my room, locking the door behind me as I go and sit on the edge of my bed. I get my phone out of my pocket, calling him as I put the phone on speaker and keep it on the bed beside me.

It rings as I take my hair out of the fishtail braid I had made this morning and observe how the brown strands have turned lighter, almost caramel brown now. It won't be long when the others notice it. Watching me daily has made them not realise as my hair was turning lighter each day.

"Please don't tell me what I have heard is wrong and you have not turned into a price target overnight and I have the wrong information."

Christopher's voice literally pleads over the phone, the man coming right to point instead of beating around the bush. I chuckle, the sound colder than I thought it would be, as I pick up the cell phone and put it off the speaker and start the conversation.

"No Chris. Apparently I am a price target."

"It was not him who declared you, was it?"

"No. He... He actually saved me last night. Man I have so much to tell you..." And I proceed to tell him everything.

How I was kidnapped then released when Michael met me, how he informed Jayden about me being here and Kane's murderer, how he came to meet me in the gym, how I saw someone suspicious once or twice, how Jayden has bought the whole building. The attack yesterday, Jayden saving me, we interrogating the man, Jayden deciding to declare me under protection as well as the hug he gave me, the ice cream he remembered.

How I told Abby the truth... well, the part of it she heard anyway. How she reacted, how she has gone to Camille's place, how I feel about all this...I told Christopher each and everything.

And he listened. Patiently.

"Damn Ash. This is a lot. This is a bigger mess than what I expected. And it has a lot of feelings involved."

"Hmm..."

"Ashlyn... don't lie, and honestly tell me... do you really think he is safe? Or do you still believe he did that?"

I fall silent, unable to respond.

Do I believe he is safe? Yes I do. Despite everything that happened those months ago, my gut tells me to trust him. I felt safe last night, knowing he was there, just as I always felt safe with him all those years we spent together.

Do I still believe he did that? I... I don't know anymore. I had proofs that he did, yet they seem insignificant when it comes to how he has reacted to seeing me alive, or how he is still treating me as he did years ago.

"I don't know anymore. For months I believed he did it, set me up to my own doom but now... I just don't get it. I have spent all those months hatting him but I cannot deny that I didn't feel a single thread of hatred for him when he came in front of me. I-I had to convince myself and remind myself of the night for me to not talk to him normally."

"Ash... I have said this before, and I will say it again. I don't think he did that. I have seen him before that incident, with you, and after the incident, without you... trust me when I say this, believing that you died had affected him worse than the nightmares you had."