Chapter 20: ❝ i can't let this go ❞

(unedited)

I can't let this,

I can't let this go,

When I got you right where I want you.

I've been pushing for this for so long.

Kiss me, just once, for luck,

These are desperate measures now.

"Desperate Measures" -Marianas Trench

I stepped off the plane, expecting to see Kaden, Raine, or even Devon waiting for me, but instead, an entirely different voice was calling my name.

Ashton Sinclair.

I froze and blinked a couple times to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me due to how tired I was.

Why would you imagine Ashton, though, Lena?

I blinked again.

Nope, he's still there.

I made my way towards him slowly, dragging my feet behind me. "What are you doing here?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He looked a little ridiculous, with a baseball tucked tightly over his hair, the brim shadowing the top half of his face. But I knew it was so he wouldn't get recognized. He wasn't a superstar or anything, but his family did have a lot of power and money.

"To pick you up," he answered, pushing me into motion with one hand on my back.

"Where's Kaden? And Raine?" I asked, eying him suspiciously.

He shot me an amused look."I didn't kill them, if that's what you're asking."

"Why aren't they here?"

"Something came up," he replied. Vague, much? "Kaden sent me to pick you up."

"Kaden sent you?"

He nodded. "You sound doubtful."

Yeah, because he doesn't trust you. I didn't say that out loud, of course, instead just pulled out my phone. "I'm checking."

He shrugged. "Go ahead."

I glanced up at the airport sign above us. "And I have luggage so we're going this way." I started dialing as I turned left, Ashton following closely behind me, his hand still resting on my back.

It took Kaden six rings to pick up, which was unusual for him. He usually picked up in two, or sent it to voicemail. Something about Raine putting on an annoying ringtone, then password protecting it so he couldn't change it.

"Hello?" he said. And he didn't check Caller ID. He sounded calm, but he never answered the phone without checking the ID. This time, I think it was because of something Kallie had done a while back.

I didn't mention my concerns, though. "Hey, why is Ashton picking me up?"

"Don't sound too happy there, Elle," the guy in question muttered from beside me.

"Something happened at the firm," Kaden replied.

"What about Raine?"

"LA. She'll be back tomorrow night."

"Devon?"

"Busy."

Busy?

"Shawn?"

"With Devon."

Oh. That kind of busy. Alright.

I was stalling. What I wanted to ask was whether or not Kaden really trusted Ashton now, but I couldn't since he was beside me and could hear everything I was saying. As we arrived at the luggage carousel, I got an idea.

"Can you grab my suitcase for me?" I asked Ashton. "It's black with a silver tag."

"Sure..." He gave me a mildly suspicious look, like he was expecting me to run away as soon as he left, but joined the crowd of people waiting for their bags.

"Didn't you bring your mosaic suitcase?" Kaden asked.

"Maybe."

"That's not black, Lena," he scolded.

"Close enough." I stood on my tiptoes, searching for Ashton. He was safely out of earshot. "Do you trust him now?" I asked, cutting Kaden off mid-mini-lecture.

"I think so," he replied slowly.

"What changed?"

"Nothing. I didn't have a lot choices, Lena. No one else was available."

"You know I can take care of myself, right?" I asked. It wouldn't have been hard to simply call a cab.

"I know, but I feel better knowing Ashton's there."

I raised an eyebrow even though he couldn't see me. "Really?"

"Okay, I don't know if it makes me more nervous, or less," Kaden admitted. "But I don't want you alone."

"And you think Ashton can protect me from whatever you think will hurt me?" Ashton was pretty strong, I guess, but I don't think you could consider him guard material.

"He can at least distract them long enough for you to get away," Kaden grumbled.

"And if he stuffs me in a body bag himself?" I checked for Ashton again to make sure he was still near the carousel.

"He won't."

I blinked. Kaden sounded awfully sure, considering he had doubted Ashton less than two weeks ago. Then again, a lot could happen in two weeks. The Elite had managed to flip my entire life upside down in a month. I wasn't sure if I thought Ashton was faking it, and he was the one who was guilty, but I wasn't sure if I could trust him either.

"You said he might be making things up," I reminded Kaden.

"Not anymore."

"What happened?" What had made Kaden change his mind?

"I'll tell you tomorrow," he said.

I didn't fall for it. "Actually?"

"I promise." There was a faint yell from his side, then voices. "I have to go, Lena. Be careful, alright? Love you," he told me before hanging up.

"Be careful?" I muttered. "Why would I have to be careful? Not like I'm with someone who might get the spontaneous urge to splatter my brains against a wall."

Though, I'll admit, I couldn't see Ashton doing that. It doesn't seem like his style.

"What?"

I jumped. I hadn't even noticed Ashton reappear, with my suitcase in hand. "You found it," I said, genuinely surprised. Black was a horrible way to describe it. There were black lines, but most of it was a mix of blue and purple.

"Yeah, I think you might need to get your eyes checked, though. There's no way this classifies as black."

"There are black lines on it," I protested, even though I knew he was right.

"It still doesn't count as black."

"How'd you find it, then?" I asked.

In response, he flipped it over, showing me the tag, which had my name printed on it in bold, black letters. "That's in black," I pointed out.

"I can't win with you," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Come on, let's go."

I tried to take my suitcase from him, but he shook his head, insisting on bringing it to the car himself. It wasn't that far, though, since he had the airport valet bring his car around to us.

"So who wants to splatter you brains against a wall?" he asked once we were both settles into his car, with my things in the back. He pulled off the baseball cap and ran a hand through his hair before starting the car.

"You," I replied flatly, hoping he'd take it as a joke and let it go.

"Ouch," he said, though he sounded neither surprised nor offended. "I see you trust me a lot."

Is he serious right now?

"You can't ask me to trust you when I barely even know you," I said.

"So get to know me then," he replied.

I stared at him. "What kind of game are you playing now?"

He glanced at me. "I'm not playing a game, Elena."

"Yes, you are." I shook my head. "All you and your friends do is play these goddamned fucking annoying games."

He was silent for a long time before answering before replying. "Harsh," he said finally, making me want to hit something. The only reason I hadn't punched him yet was because he was driving and I didn't want to end up in an accident because I had distracted him. And because I was almost certain punching him would change nothing.

I could, however, get back at him verbally.

"Deny it all you want, but you and Jace are like twins," I told him, in a slightly fake casual tone, watching him closely.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel, but other than that, he showed no reaction. "If you don't know me well enough to trust me, you don't know me well enough to make that judgement," he replied, his voice steady.

"You can know someone without trusting them," I told him.

He let out a breath that seemed part laugh, part frustrated sigh. "Do you know me, Elena?"

No.

"Why'd you agree to come pick me up?" I asked, instead of answering.

He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "Maybe I was missed you too much to wait until tomorrow to see you." I was almost certain he was joking, but his tone was flat and a little bit annoyed, so I couldn't be sure.

"Don't you have better things to do?"

He snorted. "Yeah, I could be watching Nate and Keira suck face at one of my dad's boring parties right now."

"Since you're here, it obviously wasn't mandatory attendance, you could be doing something else right now," I pointed out. "So that still doesn't answer the question."

"Kaden asked me to," he said.

"So you're doing all of Kaden's bidding now?" I asked. I knew that still wasn't the real reason.

He looked at me again, briefly taking his eyes off the road. "Why does it matter, Elena?"

I held my hands up. "I'm just trying to make sure I don't end up in a body bag."

"You should've questioned me before you got in the car then," he said. "Besides, if I wanted to kill you, I'd be a lot more subtle."

I turned to stare at him. "Subtle how?"

"Kaden knows you're with me. It's not hard to figure out who the first suspect would be if you disappeared," he replied.

"You sound like you've done it before."

"Made someone disappear?"

I nodded.

"I haven't." It wasn't a lie, he didn't say it unconvincingly. But he did say it in a way that made me think there was something more to it.

"But you know someone who has?"

"We're here," he said, instead of answering. I looked up. It was hard to tell in the dark, but I could see a slight, familiar silhouette of Raine and Kaden's house.

I let the previous question drop. "Thanks for the ride." I opened the car door and got out.

"Not so fast." He got out of the car as well.

I turned to look at him. "What?"

"There's no one home," he said.

"I don't need a babysitter, I'm not five," I told him as he opened the trunk and pulled out my bags. He handed me my carry-on, but took my suitcase himself again.

He shrugged. "Kaden's orders. I'm supposed to send him a nice, high quality picture of you soundly asleep in bed."

I groaned. "You don't have to." I tried to take my suitcase from him. He didn't let me. "Really, Ashton, it's fine." He didn't reply, instead reached up to one of the hanging flowerpots and pulled out a house key. "He told you where we kept our keys?"

Ashton nodded slowly. "He trusts me."

"Until I end up dead tomorrow morning," I muttered, following in behind him.

"Unlike you," he called. He brought my suitcase upstairs, to my room, without me leading him there.

"I don't even want to know how you know how to get to my room."

"That's a first," he muttered, flicking on the light.

"Is Kaden not coming back tonight?"

Ashton nodded. "That's what he told me."

It must've been really bad then. Kaden rarely stayed overnight at the firm. Actually, he had only done it once- when he had to fire a lawyer for threatening and guzzling money from her clients. He spent the entire night reassigning her cases, distributing them so no one was too overloaded and so that each case would be handled carefully.

He was dedicated that way, which was probably why the firm was so successfully.

I walked into the bathroom to change into my pajamas- shorts and a singlet. I threw on an oversized sweater in case Ashton was still in the room, then walked out.

And he's still here.

"Seriously, you can go now," I told him. "I don't need someone to tuck me in."

He didn't move.

"Seriously," I said, flopping onto the bed, a couple inches away from where he was sitting. "This is getting creepy."

"Hey, I'm just following Kaden's orders," he protested.

"I need to have a talk with Kaden, then," I muttered.

He laughed and leaned over me to flick off the light on my nightstand. "He cares about you, Elena."

"I know." I could barely see him now that it was dark. I waited for my eyes to adjust, but even after they did, I could only see the barest details. I sat up slightly when I felt him move. "Hey, Ashton?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

I felt him shift on the bed and lean in closer. "For what?"

"Picking me up and stuff."

"No problem."

"You didn't have to, you know, even if Kaden asked you to." I glanced at the glowing numbers on the clock beside me. "It's one in the morning. You could be sleeping right now."

He raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I wanted to," he said. He was close enough that I could feel the slight warmth of his breath brushing against my cheeks as he spoke.

For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me. Then he turned, and pressed his lips to my cheek, smirking.

"You're still a jerk," I muttered.

He chuckled. "Goodnight, Elle."

♡ the trouble with love ♡

I could feel someone shaking me.

I opened my eyes to see a familiar face.

I screamed and bolted up anyway, knocking my head against his. "What are you doing here?" I demanded.

He rubbed his cheek and leaned back a bit. Not enough, though that he wasn't in my personal bubble anymore. He glanced at me, then did a double take. "You sleep in that?"

I glanced down. Right, the singlet, which was awkwardly low cut. It was loose, an old tank top which had been stretched out over time. I tried to play it cool, even as a blush warmed up my cheeks. "I didn't know you were that kind of person. I thought that was Jacen."

He shot me a flat look. "I'm still a guy."

I rolled my eyes and got up to grab the loose t-shirt on the back of my chair. I also grabbed a couple mints and popped them in my mouth as I yanked the shirt over my head. "There, happy?" I asked, turning back to Ashton.

...Only to slam right into him.

"Would you quit doing that?" I asked, as I tugged my hair out, nearly hitting his cheek with my elbow.

"I will if you do," he said, swaying back a little. I winced as my elbow scraped past his jaw and the tiny shadowing of hair there.

Wait.

Five o'clock shadow? Ashton's always clean shaven.

...And how do you know that, Lena?

I pushed him away from me. "Did you go home last night?"

He didn't respond.

He didn't.

"Tell me you didn't sleep in the car all night."

He shook his head. "Of course not. Kaden said I could use one of the spare rooms."

"And when exactly were you planning on telling me about this spontaneous sleepover? Were you even gonna tell me?" I asked.

Another shake of head. "If you didn't notice, no."

"Did Kaden ask you to do this?"

This time he nodded.

So that's what Kaden meant by being nervous about him being alone with me. I had thought it was because he still didn't fully trust Ashton, but apparently not.

"I wasn't going to rape you in your sleep, Elena," Ashton said flatly, probably reading and correctly guessing what I had been thinking from my expression.

But my mind had already switched gears.

"What happened that's so bad that he stayed overnight and asked you to babysit me?" I demanded.

"I can't tell you," he said, with yet another shake of his head.

"You know I'll find out eventually." A pretty pathetic bluff since last time I had tried to find something out, I had gotten shipped to New York.

To my surprise, he agreed with me. "That's probably true."

"Just tell me. Kaden already said he would, anyway." He better keep his promise if I don't get Ashton to tell me. I'm so tired of being in the dark.

And getting sent to New York when I try to find out what's going on.

"Then I should let Kaden tell you."

"This has something to do with your case, doesn't it?" I asked.

He nodded.

"What about it?"

He closed his eyes, then opened them and glanced at me. "You're not gonna let this go, are you?"

I shook my head.

He sighed. "It's about the person they killed."

"Who did they kill?"

"Olivia Tunclet."

What?

If he's going to lie, he really needs to come up with a better one than that.

I frowned. "Bad joke, Ashton." Especially since Olivia's comatose.

"I'm not joking, Elena."

"But Olivia's alive," I pointed out.

­"Was alive," he said. He looked away, then back at me. "Someone killed her."

-- ♡ --

Teaser: "Ashton?" I asked. "Was that Kaden? What happened?"

He was silent for a long moment, hands clenched as he stared down at his phone. Finally he looked up. "Something went wrong. They got the wrong person."

QotC: Ashton and Elena? Do you like them together?

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