Rule 7

Rule 7 (As per usual, not proofread so please ignore any errors, they will be fixed on the final edit).

I was woken up in the morning by the feeling of a shirt landing on my face. I jumped and twisted, squinting in the light. Ash was going through the chest of drawers and grunting under his breath. I took my time admiring his body in just his jogger bottoms before throwing the shirt back at him.

"What are you doing?" I asked groggily.

"Looking for my jacket," he replied, not looking up from his piles of clothing.

"Fancy looking for it a little quieter?" I grumbled. Ash straightened and shot me a look, picking up the pillow and battering my head with it.

"You have 'college' remember?" I cursed under my breath and pushed myself to my feet. After running my hands down my face, I started to make my way to the bathroom. Ash, however, had other ideas and positioned himself into my path

"Get out of the way. I have college, remember?" I mimicked and he smirked, glancing down at my baggy shirt and trousers.

"Yeah, I know, I'm your ride." I frowned and attempted to look over his shoulder.

"What about Dev? I thought I was going to the garage with him?" I asked. Ash shook his head and rested his shoulder on the doorway.

"No, Dev is driving Mel to the convention thing and you're coming to the practice tracks with me," he explained. I rolled my eyes and started to shove him out of the way. As soon as my hand touched his warm, soft chest, I drew it back and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Move."

"As you wish, your majesty," he teased.

I'd managed to get myself ready in a pair of jeans and a large jumper before grabbing a breakfast bar from the fridge.

Melinda soon sauntered in to the living room, a skin tight blue dress on show. Ash walked in after she did and smirked, looking her up and down. Rolling my eyes, I shoved past him and went back into my room to grab my mascara.

Ash and I had to leave before the other two and we had another argument about the motorbike. It didn't take me long to work out that I'd either have to walk 10 miles to get there, or stay standing on the pavement outside the building when my sister came out, effectively proving that I'd flunked out of college.

My pride was gone and so was any feeling of relaxation as soon as I swung myself onto the bike. Ash, as expected, was a total arse about it as well. The entire trip consisted of me holding onto him so tight that he nearly popped and my eyes closed so that I didn't know what was happening.

Cowardly? Yes. Did I care? No.

"It's okay, you can let go now," Ash taunted, trying to pry my fingers apart from the front of his jacket. I opened one eye and let my arms fall slack, my hands shaking a little bit. I had the helmet on but it didn't make me feel much better. The last experience I'd had with a motorbike, I'd fallen off and broken my collar bone. My dad wasn't too chuffed about the whole thing either.

"I'm not going home on that thing," I hissed and tried to get off the bike with my jelly legs. Ash raised an eyebrow and watched me straighten my bag with a huff.

"Did it really frighten you that much?" he asked. I shrugged and turned my back on him, looking at the training arena in front of us. It wasn't very big, in fact, it was quite small and didn't even look like an arena. It was literally just an old go-kart looking track. There weren't many places to sit so I guessed that I was going to be sitting on the floor.

I felt a hand on my lower back and Ash guided me through the car park towards the gate that opened up to the large road. There were a few people around, not too many, but a crowd that I most definitely recognised. One of them was Ry and as soon as Ash walked in, he sneered.

"Training for another loss, Toms?" he hollered. Ash's fingers tensed on my back before he let them relax and moved me to the left, towards a picnic table next to a burger van.

"Don't recall loosing when I gave you that black eye last month!" Ash called back and turned to me, giving me a look that a father would give a five year old.

"You're normally the little rule maker but this time, I'm making a rule and I trust you to keep to it. When I bring you here, you do as I say. Got it?"

"Whatever, Mum," I grumbled and dumped my bag on the table.

"Don't call me that, it will make it weird when you scream out my name in pleasure in a few weeks time," he replied smoothly with a wink. I scoffed and fake vomited. It earned me a small chuckle and another 'stay here' before Ash took off towards a group of people who were crowded around a motor bike. I guessed that it was his bike that he used to race.

For a while, I was content in watching the bikes drive around, but it didn't take long for me to get bored.

"Hey there," I heard from behind me. When I turned, Matt was setting up in the burger bar with a small smile.

"Hi, you alright?" I pushed myself up from the bench and walked over to the counter.

"Yeah, you?" he asked distractedly as he started to set out various items beside him. I leaned on the trailer, waiting patiently for him to finish. It didn't take him long and he was soon leaning out, talking to me about how good it was going to be working together.

He, much like Sid, turned his nose up when he noticed Ry standing on the other side of the arena.

"So what's life like with the lads?" Matt asked, shutting off the light in the trailer when nobody came over. He was soon standing by my side and walking over to the table with me to sit down.

"It's alright, I guess. Ash is a bit of a pain in the arse," I muttered and he let out a bark of laughter.

"That's Ash for you." I nodded in agreement and glanced out of the corner of my eye to see him resting his bike on the stand. He looked pretty good in his biking gear, but I wasn't about to admit that out loud.

Just as Ash turned and started to walk over towards us, Ry got up and stood directly in his path. I watched nervously as Ash's expression changed from bored to irritated. Their stances also soon changed to hostile and I began to worry.

"Matt," I whispered. Matt was also watching the events unfold and he got to his feet, asking me politely (unlike my roommate) to stay put. Matt didn't seem to be helping the conflict as Ash pushed Ry's chest, sending him back a few steps. Voices were raised and people started to crowd around. Looking around anxiously, I got up and started to jog towards the crowd.

Ash was shouting something and the arguement was getting pretty heated. I did the only thing that I could think to do, since nobody else was making an effort to stop the fight. I pushed forwards and shouted Ash's name. His voice lowered and he looked at me, rolling his eyes.

"Get back, Al," he muttered and looked over my head at Ry, who when I had glanced behind me, was giving me an amused smirk.

"Don't tell her what to do, you're your own person, aren't you, sweetheart?" he cooed. That sent shivers through my spine and I tugged gently on Ash's shirt.

"Ash, don't lower yourself to his level. I need a ride home, I can't be dealing with you in hospital," I whispered. Ash's angry eyes finally met mine, but they didn't soften. Instead of saying anything, he pushed me aside and flew his fist straight into Ry's face. From that moment on, everything seemed to be moving at 100mph and I couldn't point anyone out of the quick moving crowd.

I felt a hand grab my arm before I was shoved out of the crowd and out into the open air again. The next few moments passed quickly and the next thing I knew, I was flat against the back of the burger trailer with a very irritated, very sexy looking 19 year old guy caging me in.

"You shouldn't have gotten in the way back there," Ash muttered, his face a mere few centimetres from mine. I looked into his eyes before letting my eye line flicker back down to his bloodied knuckles.

"You shouldn't have punched him in the face," I retorted, silently wishing that the trailer would swallow me up. His scent surrounding me and his strong arms on either side, much like they were in the kitchen, made my heart race.

"I don't regret it," he reasoned, looking down at the gap between us. "But I have recently noticed something," he finished. I took a gulp and looked up at his face.

"That you stand too close, all the time? Do you not remember the personal space rule?" I breathed out and Ash smirked, leaning closer until I could almost feel his eyelashes on my forehead.

"Oh, I remember. Do you remember the 'stay put' rule?" he asked. I looked down guiltily. Prime example of being a hypocrite.

"What was it you noticed?" I asked, trying to steer the subject away.

"That all of your clothes are, like, two sizes too big," he replied, stepping back to survey me. I frowned and looked down at my baggy jumper.

"What's the problem with that?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

"That you're definitely not wearing it to the dinner this weekend," he retorted and glanced around the side of the trailer.

"I noticed something too," I replied. He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"What's that, then?"

"That there is some kind of conflict between you and Ryder," I said. He stiffened and sighed.

"Yeah, there is." He didn't elaborate, just looked around the corner and smirked.

"What was that?!" Matt exclaimed. He grinned when he turned the corner but when he saw me, his face turned suspicious.

"Did he touch you?" he asked me quickly, gesturing towards Ash, who was giving him an incredulous expression. I shook my head and Matt turned back to Ash.

"I gave him what he deserved," Ash said with a shrug. Matt smiled, shaking his head in disbelief.

"What did he say?" Matt asked. Ash looked at me and shook his head.

"I'll let you know later, man. I've got to get Dev's cousin home before he does or he'll kill me." Matt nodded and ruffled my hair.

"Bless." I swatted his hand away and grumbled under my breath. Whatever Ash was hiding, his distant facial expression told me that it was pretty grim.

A/N: Please vote and comment, I'd appreciate it greatly and it would let me know that you're enjoying the story and want me to continue with it :)