Chapter Forty-Four
~ Ashton ~
As I walked out of the bedroom, I felt sick. I didn’t want even an inch of space between us now that Carter was free. My hands clenched into fists. Half of me actually hoped he came after her so I would be able to rip his head off, but the other half knew that I needed to keep him as far away from my girl as possible.
When I stepped out of the front door, closing it tightly behind me, I beckoned Dean over. His face changed immediately when he saw mine, obviously catching on that something was wrong. “President Spencer just called. Carter Thomas has been released due to lack of evidence,” I announced.
His mouth opened and closed a couple of times. “Released?” he said quietly.
I nodded. “They’re sending over four new Agents from Washington. When they get here, we’ll have a strategy meeting again, but I think we’ll add an extra two for the day and night. One outside the building, one inside at night. Then during the day, I’ll bring you slightly forward again so that you can act as second near guard. I’ll then have the two extras take a fifty yard stance, one in front, and one behind,” I frowned, trying to think everything else through.
Dean nodded in agreement, obviously pleased with my plan. “Do you think he’ll come after her?”
A chill crept down my spine. I took a deep breath. “Honestly? Yeah I do.” I would kill him before he touched her though. There was no way that sick, abusive, asshole was getting anywhere near my girl again. Dean nodded, his face angry. “Let me know when the four guards get here, the President said within the hour,” I instructed, checking my watch. It was now ten to eleven; I sighed and frowned, looking back at the door. “I’d better go back in. Anna’s in the shower, I think she’s freaking out. Her dad told her about the letters.”
Dean winced. “Wow, shit, okay yeah, go be with her,” he agreed, nodding over his shoulder to the door.
I turned and stalked back in, making my way to the bedroom; I could hear the water running, so I quickly slipped out of my jeans and pulled on fresh clothes, putting two extra gun clips in my pocket. I’d need to carry extra bullets from now on, just in case. When I was dressed, I headed to the kitchen and just stood there waiting for Anna. She was going to be freaking out about this, but she obviously wanted time on her own because she’d sent me to speak to Dean. I’d have to give her time and let her come to me. She knew I was here for her.
About forty minutes later she came out of the bedroom, wringing her hands nervously as she walked into the kitchen. She didn’t look at me. I swallowed the lump in my throat, waiting for the outburst that I knew would come, and when it did, she would break my heart. I hated to see her cry, it was like physical pain.
“Hey, Baby Girl. You okay?” I asked quietly as she started making coffee.
She nodded. “Yeah fine,” she replied nonchalantly. I rubbed my hand down her back tenderly, wanting to soothe her. Wordlessly, she shrugged off my hand. “You want a coffee, Ashton?” She sounded so cold that it sent a shiver down my spine. She hardly ever called me by my name.
I frowned. “Um, no thanks.” She had her back to me, her shoulders were hunched, and her back was stiff. I moved close behind her and put my hands on her shoulders, massaging gently. She squirmed away from me. “Anna?” I whispered, frowning.
She just shook her head. “Just don’t, okay,” she said as she grabbed her cup and stormed out of the room into the lounge.
I stared after her in shock. She just needed some time, she’d come to me when she was ready for me to help her. She wasn’t used to opening up to people so it would take a little time before she was ready to talk about it. I’d just have to try and be patient and not rush her into divulging her feelings.
My cell phone buzzed, so I answered it quickly. “Hey, Dean.” I frowned, still watching the point where I last saw Anna.
“Hey, those four guards are here. We’re at the door,” he replied, at the same time that I heard him knock on the front door. I disconnected the call and walked out of the room, glancing into the lounge quickly.
“The four new guards are here. I might be planning for an hour or so, okay,” I called through to Anna; I thought I saw her stiffen but I was too far away to be sure.
I made my way to the door and opened it to see Dean standing there looking at me strangely, with the four new guards behind him. “I’m sorry, Ashton. I don’t know what’s going on,” Dean said as he stepped to the side.
The four other guards stepped forward in unison. “Agent Taylor, we have orders from the President to take you to the airport now,” one of them said.
Panic surged through me; maybe they’d heard something new – was Carter on his way here?
I turned quickly. “Anna, grab your stuff, we’re leaving!” I ordered.
The guards stepped forward again, looking at me apologetically. “No, Agent Taylor. We have orders to escort you to the airport, not Miss Spencer. You’ve been reassigned,” the same guy stated. He held out an iPad, nodding down for me to take it.
I frowned, taking it from his hands and looking down at the official transfer request document that was signed and stamped by the President himself at the bottom. Front Line, LA office, immediate start.
My heart was crashing in my chest. “I don’t understand. Why the hell would I be getting a transfer? I just spoke to the President like an hour ago!” I countered, confused.
“Ashton,” I heard Anna say from behind me. I turned quickly, seeing her standing there, just watching me. “You’ve been transferred, because I asked for it,” she explained, looking at me with her face stern and cold, showing no emotion whatsoever. My blood seemed to turn to ice in my veins. She’d asked for me to be transferred? I turned back to the guy and handed him the iPad before slamming the door in his face and turning to Anna.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, stepping closer to her.
She stepped back, keeping the distance between us. “I’m sorry, but I can’t have you here. You complicate things, you make everything harder for me, and I just can’t cope with anything else. It’s best for me if you just leave. You and I have been in this little protected bubble for the last couple of days, and I thought nothing could come along and burst it, but I was wrong. You and I just can’t work, so it’s best that it stops now. That way, I can just get on with things and learn how to deal with it on my own. I’m sorry, but you have to go.” Her voice didn’t waver once. I looked into her eyes, and my heart started to break, they were the cold, heartless eyes that she used to have when I first started my assignment.
I gulped, swallowing my panic. “What?”
“I have too much going on right now, I can’t cope with having you here too and knowing that you think you’re in love with me,” she replied matter-of-factly, almost as if we were discussing the weather.
“That I think I’m in love with you? I don’t think it, I am freaking in love with you!” I corrected, shaking my head incredulously.
She frowned. “Look, I have more important things to deal with than some agent trying to seduce me while I’m upset and vulnerable. It’s best for me if you just leave so I can get on with it and deal with this all in my own way without you getting in the way all the time.”
“What the?” I gasped. “You actually think that I preyed on your vulnerability so that I could seduce you?”
She ground her teeth and shook her head. “No, that’s not what I meant, it came out wrong,” she muttered.
“Then what?”
She huffed in frustration. “There are lots of things. Carter being out, the fact that I still love Jack, the way you lied to me all this time about Carter’s letters and the reason you’re assigned to me. I have so much going on in my head that it feels like it’s going to explode, and most of them are because of you!”
Jack. I knew that Jack would come up at some point; for the last two days I had been waiting for her to freak out about the how close we’d gotten. “Anna, I know you love Jack and that’ll never change, but Jack’s not here anymore, I am. How the hell am I supposed to compete with a guy that’s not here anymore?” I asked desperately. “Look, I don’t need to complicate things for you. We’ll work all of this stuff out together,” I replied, stepping closer to her again. “As for the letters, I had no choice. It wasn’t up to me.”
She shook her head fiercely. “I just need to get back to basics, and I can’t do that with you here. You have to leave.” When she said it, she looked straight into my eyes. I could see she wasn’t lying, her face betrayed nothing.
“You love me too though, I know you do,” I said confidently, raising my chin challengingly.
Her eye twitched. “No,” she whispered. “I care about you a lot, I really do, but it’s not love. When you told me you loved me, I just said it back because I knew that’s what you wanted to hear. But it’s not true. Yes, I care about you, but my heart will always belong to Jack. I’m sorry. I was happy pretending otherwise, but now with this Carter stuff, I don’t have the energy to keep up this act. I just don’t have the mental strength to have you here. You’ll get over it. A few cold beers and one night stands and you’ll be right as rain again. You deserve better than me anyway.”
It was like she’d reached into my chest, ripped out my heart and showed it to me. My blood ran cold. Her hard, resigned eyes never wavered as she spoke. “You’re lying. I don’t know why, but you are. You love me, I know you do!” I couldn’t let her do this; I’d show her that she loved me. Before she had a chance to answer or react, I stepped forward, pressed my body to hers and kissed her. It took me a couple of seconds to realise that she wasn’t kissing me back. I pulled back. Her eyes were still hard, her jaw tight.
“Finished?” she snapped angrily.
My mouth fell open in shock as she shoved me away from her. “Anna, don’t,” I whispered, now terrified because she looked so serious and resigned. She really did want me to leave. “We’ll work this out. If you’re not ready for a relationship, then I’ll wait. We can go back to just being friends. Just please don’t send me away with Carter on the loose,” I begged.
“This is what I’m talking about! You’re not listening to me,” she spat, waving her hand at me in example. “I have to do what’s best for me now, and that’s coping with all this shit the only way I know how. I don’t need to be dealing with some emotionally draining love sick puppy too!”
I didn’t believe her. Her words were harsh, hurtful and full of acid as she said them, but deep down, I knew that she loved me. This was about something else, something that I didn’t understand and that she didn’t want to explain to me. I decided to try another tactic.
“What about what’s best for me? Have you considered me in any of this?” I shot back.
Anger crossed her face as she slapped me hard in the middle of my chest. “Considered you? Of course I fucking have, you stupid,” she slapped my chest again, “annoying,” slap, “frustrating,” another slap, “son of a bitch!” With both hands she shoved me towards the door. “Just get the hell out. Go back to LA. Live your life, sleep with some girls, move on and forget the screwed up, little, rich girl that you fucked a few times!” She yanked open the front door while I stared at her, dumbstruck. My tactic had apparently blown up in my face and had just succeeded in making her angry on top of resigned.
“Anna...” I whispered, fighting for something I could say or do to make her reconsider. She needed me here.
She shook her head as she looked up at the four new agents and Dean, who were standing outside the door, probably hearing every word of what had just gone on. “Make sure he gets on his plane,” she stated, pushing open the door before turning back to me. “I’ll pack up your stuff and forward it on in a couple of days. Goodbye, Agent Taylor. Take care of yourself.” She then proceeded to walk calmly into the bedroom, closing the door behind her, leaving me in the hallway with my heart in my throat.
My mouth hung open in shock. I hadn’t even seen this coming. Everything was perfect before the news about Carter, and now she was trying to fool me into believing that she didn’t love me and that I meant nothing to her. It hurt like hell.
Every muscle in my body was screaming for me to run after her and hold her. I couldn’t leave her, not now. Carter would come for her eventually and she needed me to protect her. A hand clamped on my arm, I looked down to see it belonged to one of the new agents.
“Agent Taylor, my orders are to remove you by force if necessary. I’d much rather it not come to that,” he warned.
I looked over at Dean, shocked. “What the hell just happened?” I asked, still confused at the turn of events. It didn’t feel real. It felt like a nightmare was unfolding in front of me. Maybe it is actually a nightmare, maybe I’m still sleeping…
Dean shook his head. “I don’t really know, Ashton. The President called me and said that Annabelle had requested a transfer and that I’m taking your position. I was told I wasn’t allowed to tell you until the four guards arrived,” he replied, looking just as baffled as me.
“But they can’t transfer me, you need me here! She needs me here!” I cried desperately.
“Ashton, I said that to the President, but he said it was already done and that was the end of the discussion,” Dean explained, shaking his head sadly.
“Damn it,” I growled. “Anna!” I shouted, turning to go back into the apartment again. Another guard grabbed my other arm. I looked at him warningly. “You’d better take your fucking hands off me if you still want to be able to use them,” I spat angrily. No one would keep me from my girl.
Dean stepped forward quickly. “Ashton, just go to LA, call her later once she’s had time to think this all through. I’ll talk to her, but for now you need to go along with your orders. If you go against a Presidential order, then you won’t even get to come back here when she changes her mind again,” he suggested, looking at me pleadingly. I squeezed my eyes shut. “Just go. I’ll talk to her. You just do as you’ve been ordered,” Dean persuaded.
I nodded, knowing he was right. LA was only an hour flight away from here, by the time I landed in LA, she would have cooled down and I’d fly back. It would be fine. A small part of me knew that it wouldn’t, but all I had left was hope. Anna was my life. I couldn’t be away from her, she was everything to me and she needed me to protect her.
I turned to Dean. “Take care of her until I get back then,” I pleaded. “You know how important this girl is to me.”
He nodded, smiling sadly as he patted my shoulder sympathetically. “Yeah, I do. Don’t worry. I’ll go talk to her right now. She may even change her mind before you get on the damn plane. You know what women are like, temperamental beasts, and Anna is the worst of them all, feisty little sucker her,” he joked.
I didn’t have the words to answer so I just stalked to the elevator, pressing the button. Two of the four new guards took my flanks, watching me cautiously as if waiting for me to sneak an attack on them or something.
Neither of them would talk to me on the way to the airport. Every time I asked anything, they just said they didn’t know. Eventually, I stopped asking questions and rested my head on the window, feeling my heart break a little more with every mile they put between us. When we got to the airport, they booked me onto my plane. The timing was perfect; I only had to wait thirty minutes before boarding. I sat on my own with my head in my hands, praying that Dean was right and that he could talk some sense into her before I even boarded. Out of sheer desperation, I grabbed my phone and called her, it rang a couple of times before she rejected it. I squeezed my eyes shut and called her again.
Please answer, Baby Girl!
Again, she rejected my call within a couple of rings. The third time it was turned off. Growling in frustration, I shoved my cell phone back into my pocket. My hurt was now turning into anger. She knew that I loved her; she knew that it would probably kill me being away from her and not knowing if she was safe or not, she would know that she was hurting me by doing this, but it was like she didn’t care. She’d spitefully told me that she didn’t love me, when we both knew that it wasn’t true. The only thing I couldn’t work out was why she was doing this.
When the speaker announced that my plane was ready to board, I called Dean. “Hey, what’s going on? Did you talk to her? Has she changed her mind?” I asked as soon as he answered.
He sighed. “No, Ashton. I’m sorry, she doesn’t want you here. I don’t think she’s going to change her mind today. She asked me to ask you to stop calling her,” he said quietly.
I gripped my hand into my hair roughly. “Okay, thanks for trying. I’ll give her a day to cool off and then maybe she’ll talk to me. Watch her for me, don’t let anything happen to her,” I begged, trying not to imagine all the horrible things that could happen to her while I wasn’t there to protect her.
“I will, Ashton. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. Just give her some time to miss you, that’s all it’ll take,” he reassured me.
I nodded knowing that, for the moment at least, it was hopeless. “Thanks.”
When I disconnected the call, the two agents escorted me directly to my seat and even waited outside the door until it was closed and the plane had taxied out onto the runway. I closed my eyes, resting my head back against the seat as I prayed that Dean was right. I just needed to give her time to miss me; she would miss me, eventually. I’d just have to hope that the time apart from her wouldn’t kill me before she changed her mind.
~ Anna ~
I couldn’t look at him again; I couldn’t watch him leave, it was too painful. Each step away from him actually hurt more than the one before. Eventually, my weary legs carried me into the bedroom. I’d barely managed to get the door closed behind me before my heart shattered into a thousand pieces. My legs finally gave out and I slumped to the floor, crying silently.
I felt sick; my whole body was shaking as I sobbed and sobbed. I knew I’d done the right thing; this really was the only way to keep him safe. But I just couldn’t get the image of his pain out of my head. The way his face looked so sad, so rejected, I knew I’d never be able to erase that look from my memory. I’d never seen Ashton look scared before, and I never wanted to see that look there again for as long as I lived.
I heard my cruel lie repeating over and over in my head. “I care about you a lot, I really do, but it’s not love.” I kept picturing the exact moment that I broke his heart. How his eye twitched, his face dropped and his whole body seemed to slump when I said those words. All I had wanted to do was wrap my arms around him and hold him, explain to him that I loved him more than life itself, that I was doing this for his own good so he wouldn’t get hurt. But I hadn’t done any of those things; instead, I’d pretended Carter was standing there in front of me, remembering how much I hated him, just so I could convince Ashton that this was over. I needed him to believe me so that he’d be able to move on, be happy, and live his life.
I sobbed even harder when I thought about the fierce expression that crossed his face just before he kissed me, almost like he thought that one kiss would make everything better, or would change my mind. My lips still tingled from the intensity of it. Staying in control and not kissing him back was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do, but somehow I had managed to hold onto the memory of the dream that I had a few weeks ago. I pictured his broken face and his groan of pain, and that was the only thing that got me through what had just happened.
If I didn’t love him so much, I would never have been able to cope with what I’d just done. In time, he would get over me and be back to his old self, his friends would help him through it, he would have his dream job, and in a couple of weeks he’d be right as rain. I, on the other hand, would feel this pain forever – but this was nothing compared to living with the knowledge that Ashton had been hurt or killed.
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I stiffened. I couldn’t let him see me like this. I wiped my face and took a deep breath. “What?” I huffed, trying to sound annoyed.
“Annabelle, can we talk?” Dean asked through the door. I pushed myself up and opened the door to see his sympathetic face. “Why did you do that if it’s upsetting you this much?” he asked, clearly confused as his eyes raked over my face.
I shrugged, trying to pretend that I wasn’t dying inside. “It needed to be done. I’m going to miss him, but I can’t give him what he wants. He’s in love with me, and I can’t love him back. It’s better if he’s away from me so he can move on,” I explained, lying through my teeth.
His eyes narrowed, clearly assessing me to see if there was some other hidden reason. “That’s why you sent him away?”
I nodded. “I can’t love him back; it wasn’t fair to keep leading him on. I asked for him to be transferred so he could get on with his life instead of staying here with an emotionless wreck,” I lied, swallowing my grief. “He complicates things with his feelings, and I can’t be dealing with any more complications now.”
He nodded slowly. “I can understand that, but you need him here to protect you, he’s the best one for this job. What with all of this Carter stuff, we need him here to lead,” he said, trying to convince me.
Wow, if only he knew that is the real reason I made him leave. “Dean, I’m sure you’ll cope. Ashton’s not the only guard in the world. I’ve requested you as my new near guard, I hope that’s okay with you,” I croaked, changing the subject.
“Yeah I was told, it’s fine. But, Annabelle, you really should think about this,” he pleaded, shaking his head in disapproval.
“Dean, it’s done, he needs this. You must see how he feels about me, he needs a clean break. I’m sure he’ll call you to try and get you to convince me to take him back, but that just won’t happen, so just stay out of it and let him get over me. I don’t want him to keep hurting and pining for me. I don’t want him to know that I’m missing him or upset. He needs a clean break.” I looked at him warningly, hoping that I made it clear and that he would help me by not interfering. I just prayed he wouldn’t tell Ashton I was crying.
He frowned. “Okay, I understand, Annabelle,” he admitted, nodding and looking at me fiercely.
“Great. Well, thanks. I’m gonna do some drawing.” I stepped back and closed the bedroom door in his face, ending the conversation.
I went over to the bed and flopped down on my back, staring at the ceiling, focussing on my breathing to stay calm. I grabbed a photo of me and Ashton from the bedside unit and looked at his handsome, smiling face. This was harder than I thought. I knew it would hurt, but the thought of never seeing him again felt like someone was killing me slowly. I pushed up off the bed and grabbed a suitcase from the closet and started to pack up his stuff, crying silently the whole time.
When I was done, I called my father again. There was something else that would afford Ashton some more protection. “Dad, I think we need to put out the truth about Ashton being my guard and that we weren’t actually together. It’ll be better in the long run if people know the truth, rather than thinking we’ve just broken up,” I suggested, grimacing. I knew it would hurt Ashton more, but at least it would keep him safer if Carter thought it was just an act. If Carter thought we were really together, he would hunt him down.
My dad’s defeated sigh blew down the line. “Okay, Annabelle, whatever you think. I’ll have someone draft a statement and have it released,” he agreed quietly.
“Thanks for doing this for me,” I mumbled gratefully.
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what this is about?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t. But thank you for trusting me,” I replied, willing myself not to cry anymore.
“Anytime, Annabelle,” he answered, ending the call.
The next few days were awful. We were splashed all over the papers and magazines; everyone knew we weren’t ever together and that Ashton was, in fact, a SWAT agent assigned to guard me. There were photos of him in the paper looking sad, his eyes cold and hurt, but he refused to comment on anything. Every day he tried to call me. I received about five texts a day, begging me to talk to him, telling me he loved me and that he always would. I didn’t respond. Whenever he would call I would reject it or turn my phone off.
School was extremely difficult. The three day guards I now had followed me around closely, drawing more attention to me every second of the day. Rosie and the guys asked about Ashton and couldn’t believe that he was a guard and nothing more. I changed back into the girl that didn’t allow anyone to get close to her. I barely spoke to anyone and shied away from all contact with people, just like I used to. Every night I would read through the texts that Ashton had sent me, looking at the photo of him, and then cry myself to sleep. I’d never felt so lonely in my life.