Hopelessly Devoted

Chapter 17

Chapter 17
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        As we were all drying off by our table, I felt myself become slightly disappointed when Ashton slipped his shirt back on. Eli and Kevin were starting a fire in the giant fire pit that was a couple hundred feet away from the pool, leaving Ashton, Scarlett, and I at the table. Savanah had gone off with the boy that she was talking to. I was too lazy to reach down and get my cover up, so I just kept my towel wrapped around me.

When Scarlett realized that it was just the three of us at the table, she smirked at me. It honestly scared me, because that was the smirk that she did when she had a diabolical plan.

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom... Brb!" She said and ran off, leaving me and Ashton by ourselves. Alone. I awkwardly turned to face him.

"Didn't she like, just use the bathroom?" He asked as he sat down.

"Yup." I answered. I looked over to my right, gazing at the fire that Eli and Kevin had set up. I unwrapped my towel from around me and placed it on my chair.

"I'm gonna go get another drink, do you want one?" I asked Ashton.

"Nah," he answered, continuing to look at the fire. I started back over to the pool area, where all of the alcohol was.

When I was pouring myself some vodka, I felt a firm hand slap against my right butt cheek. I let out a small shriek and whipped around faster than I thought was possible, spilling some alcohol on myself.

I met the gaze of a guy who looked a couple years older than me. He had a buzz cut and very big muscles. Although, his muscles weren't very swoon-worthy... they were just kind of big and scary to be honest.

"Um, excuse you?" I barked out, suddenly furious at that shithead. His smirk only grew.

"You're incredibly beautiful," he spoke, his voice deep and bulky. I mentally gulped. I knew there was no safe way to play this, but I could at least try.

"Uh, thanks..." I forced a smile and began to walk away. When I was about halfway back to my table, I felt a rough hand on my shoulder pulling me backward. I spun around to face the same guy, and I felt my heartbeat quicken.

"What do you want?" I asked him, but he just smiled creepily.

"You," He responded and took a step closer to me. I slowly backed away from him, growing more and more anxious. His smile turned into a dangerous scowl, and I felt my heart sink.

Just as I was about to try to run away from him, I felt an arm around my waist, pulling me into someone's side. The guy looked up at whoever was now next to me and stopped in his tracks. And from the tingling electricity surging through my body, I knew who it was.

I looked up to see Ashton, glaring down at the guy with a hatred that I hadn't seen before. I saw the guy gulp and continue to look up at Ashton.

"Why are you talking to my girl?" Ashton asked him firmly and all color was drained from the guy's face. Did he just say his g-girl??? I looked up at Ashton confused, but he was still shooting daggers at the guy.

I caught on a little to what he was doing, and as if it was natural instinct, and as if I had forgotten that he currently wasn't wearing a shirt, I brought my hand up to rest against his stomach. When I did this, his breath caught and he shot me a little look, but swiftly covered it up and returned to glaring at the guy. My face was burning what I swore was the hottest it ever had as my hand rested on his soft skin and defined muscles.

"I-I'm not bro," the guy said. "Sorry." The guy said and went to start backing away, but Ashton chimed back in.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to her," he told him, but the guy only gave him a weird look and apologized again under his breath before walking off. Ashton let go of my bare waist and I felt the warm sensations leave my body. I turned around to look at him.

"What the fuck was that?"

"His name's Bill. He's a dirtbag that shows up to Eli's parties all the time uninvited," Ashton explained.

"Oh.. well, thank you," I said to him. He shook it off.

"I didn't do anything more than I what should have," his eyes remained cold and hard, but I couldn't bring myself to return his harsh gaze. Whether it's what he should have done or not, a lot of guys still wouldn't have.

"I do appreciate it, though," I said, not caring that slight vulnerability was showing on my features.

"Let's just never bring this up again, okay?" He said and I nodded. He started to walk to the fire, and I felt unsafe without his presence. I took a big swig of vodka and followed him, sure that he was headed over to the rest of the group.

When we got to the fire, I noticed that most people had made their way inside the house to begin the night life portion of the party. Eli, Kevin, Savanah, and Scarlett were all sitting by the fire laughing and talking to each other.

I didn't know where the boy and girl went that Kevin and Savanah were talking to, but to be honest I didn't really care...

"Finally... Why did it take you guys so long to come over here," Eli complained, then gestured to the seat next to him. I started to walk over to the vacant space.

"They were probably making out," I heard Scarlett say. WHAT?!Everyone looked at Scarlett surprised. "Kidding, kidding... Jeez take a joke."

Ashton sat down on the opposite end of everyone than I did. Since the seats were in a circle around the fire, we were facing each other. I didn't even dare look at his face when Scarlett said that, mostly because I was afraid of the look that he was probably sending Scarlett's way.

"Very fucking funny," I muttered and she laughed. The other people in our group had joined her in laughing, except for Ashton and I of course. I eventually looked over at him, his face perfectly lit up with the warm light of the fire.

He was staring at the fire with as much burning fury as the fire itself. I couldn't help but stare at him. He looked amazing,  lit up with the fire light. His blue eyes looked even deeper and darker than usual.

His eyes softened as they snapped up to meet mine, and I instantly looked away. I hesitantly looked back, to see him still staring at me, his expression once again unreadable. How did he do that??

I joined in on the conversation, realizing that I had become super antisocial today. I joined in on the laughing and filled the conversation with my usual sarcasm.

After about a half an hour later, we were the only ones still outside, besides two people in the pool. Eli looked at all of us suggestively.

"Wanna go inside?" He asked us and Kevin smirked.

"What time is it?" Kevin asked him.

"Time for you to get a watch buddy," he said standing up. "It's 10:47, which I think is about time to go inside." Eli said and Kevin got up.

"Let's go get drunk!" Kevin hollered and started towards the house.

"Dear god..." I heard Ashton whisper under his breath and I chuckled a little bit. I followed everyone inside, instantly becoming overwhelmed by the amount of people and lasers and alcohol and dancing and fun.... it was insane. The music was earsplitting but it was getting everyone super hype.

Just then I realized that I was still only in my bathing suit. So was Scarlett.

"We should put some clothes on," I yelled to her over the music.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked and laughed. She gestured to all of the girls in the room, who were still only wearing their bathing suits as well. I guess she was right... It would be kind of weird to be the only people wearing actual clothes. I shrugged as she began to drag me into the house.

Oh boy.... Tonight's going to be crazy.