Scars [Ashton Irwin]

Chapter Thirty-One

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:

"Kenzie, just let me explain." Ashton sighed.

"Please leave." I said. I was furious that mother had let him in, and even more furious that she let him come to my room. I did not want to see him.

"Listen to me."

"No! You need to leave. You're dead if Kellin finds you here." I threatened.

"Look, I understand that you don't want to see me-" He started, but was cut off by my angry self.

"Then why the hell are you here?" I hissed.

"I just want you to understand why I said what I said in that interview." He muttered. "Dani said that that was what I needed to do."

"Have you not hurt me enough, Ashton?" I questioned rhetorically, my voice giving away the weakness that I felt inside.

"I'm really sorry, Kenzie." He mumbled.

"Stop calling me that." I pleaded. It hurt more when he called me that. An awkward silence settled upon us, and Ashton awkwardly shifted his weight from one leg to the other. I wouldn't offer him a seat.

"How have you been?" He asked awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck like he usually did.

"You can't be fucking serious right now." I groaned. I just wanted him to leave, and he insisted on starting a conversation.

"Kenzie, even though we're broken up, I still care. I said I always would care."

"Yeah, and you also said that you would never leave me, nor will you ever hurt me. Jokes on me for falling for that crap again." I said bitterly.

"Jace?" He asked carefully after almost a minute of silence. I had been thinking about Jace a lot lately. God knows why.

"Yeah, Jace." I said after a few more seconds of awkward silence. Ashton slowly folded his long body and took a seat on my bed, wisely keeping his distance.

"Would you- would you like to maybe -uh - talk about it?" He stammered. I looked over at him and creased my brows. I never really did fully open up to Ashton about my relationship with Jace. Something came over me that day, and I surprised both Ashton and I by choosing to talk to him about my past troublesome relationship. I should have been yelling at him, and begging him to leave, but here I was revealing my past to him.

"I don't even know where to begin." I sighed. Ashton kept his eyes on me as he patiently waited for me to speak.

"Start from the beginning." He suggested.

"Jace was so nice when we first met. I was thirteen when we met, and we formed a friendship. Kellin was very fond of him. They hung out all the time, but things changed once Jace and I started dating when I was fourteen. Kellin didn't approve, of course, because of the five year age gap. But he soon got used to it. Jace was treating me right." I said, starting my long story.

"What went wrong?" Ashton asked after a while. I sighed and shuddered at the memory of my past life.

"My dad ...he was ..he was abusive." I said, looking down at my thumbs that played with each other in my lap. "He used to hit my mom, and Kellin too sometimes because he hardly ever obeyed the rules. But, I was daddy's little girl. I believed that he could never hurt me. Although I was terrified of my father, we had a strong bond over art and music. He taught me most of what I know."

I paused again, leaning back against the headboard and hugging my knees. Ashton watched me intently and waited for me to continue. "But when I was fifteen, he did something ...bad."