Torn In Three | Malum, Muke, Mashton

Chapter Nine

-Michael's point of view-

Luke's lips moved against mine hungrily; I closed my eyes at his touch and enjoyed the sweet taste of his kiss. As if by default, Luke's arms wrapped around my waist with a tight grip. Letting out a soft moan of pleasure, I pushed myself deeper into the kiss.

After a few more seconds of this, I pulled away to breath. Luke's chest was heaving and I could see pure lust in his eyes: no love, no feelings, just a need for my lips.

"As much as I hate to break the fun we're having, I feel pretty guilty as I told Calum only minutes ago that I wouldn't cheat" I whispered in Luke's ear. My words spoke only the truth, however I said it softly incase of Luke taking it that I didn't want to make out with him - which is not the case at all.

"I understand, Mikey," Luke whispered in reply, "but what he doesn't know won't hurt him right?"

Nodding slowly, I let Luke's truthful words sink in. Calum was naive to everything until now, who's to say he will find out about this small fling? Afterall, Luke is just a fling.

"You speak the truth, Hemmings. When did you become so quick-witted?"

"It's in my bones"

**

Hours passed and soon I had to face Ashton again. This time it seemed as if he was forcing himself to ignore my existence, which did not surprise me one bit.

"Can you pass me the TV remote?" I didn't want it, but I wanted some reaction from the boy.

He sat there quietly, staring at his phone. He blocked the screen from my vision so I couldn't see what he was doing, not that I was interested anyway.

"Ash?" Silence. I repeated his name numerous times, but to no avail. "Babe?"

"I'm not your babe. Don't try and fucking flirt your way back into my good books" Ashton continued to stare at his phone, but I could tell by the tone of his voice he was still beyond pissed.

"Sorry" I muttered. "Can we at least talk?"

"Can you not realise I'm nowhere near ready to accept any form of an apology from you?" He calmed his voice, however cringed at the last word of his sentence. None of his actions towards me were particually startling - I deserve all of this and more.

"When you are ready to speak to me, and I know you will soon because I'm not the type of boy you can simply walk away from," I paused, turning to face Ashton even when he was not facing me: "come find me".

I decided to remain seated near Ashton to wait for any sort of movement, but he stayed still.

I can't deny I don't miss him: his soft hair, his sexy remarks - and, well, his sex. Withdrawal from the golden haired boy suddenly kicked into my system and I felt a sudden urge to cry. Maybe I had gone too far, maybe there was another option instead of what I did. But then, how would I have had my other two relationships? It's not so simple when you're torn between three perfect boys. How was I to choose? I'm only human. I live with that excuse: a human cannot just make one decision and stick with it. Especially when that decision is to pick your preferred out of people you love equally.

Calum interrupted my thoughts as he walked into the room Ashton and I were located.

"Hey Ash- oh" disappointment in Calum's voice was evident when he saw me.

"He won't leave" Ashton sighed and looked up towards Calum.

"He's such an asshole" Calum replied, sitting next to Ashton.

I felt as if a knife had stabbed into my heart and twisted it. Asshole is such a minor word, however coming from Calum about me is painful. What makes it worse is that every ounce of that statement was true.

"Agreed. He should just go and fuck off somewhere, probably to fuck some other innocent person" Ashton finally put down his phone, ready to converse with Calum. We all knew where this was going, and the two boys seemed to be enjoying it greatly.

"Poor person, they have no idea what shit they're about to get themselves into" Calum cruelly laughed.

"I want to warn the world so they can avoid him, but I also want to see him get his heartbroken and see what it's like. Meanwhile, Cal, we can just laugh"

"I'm looking forward to it"

Done with this, though deserving, verbal abuse, I raised my voice: "please stop". I intended on sounding calm, however the pain in my chest overpowered me and my voice cracked and the hurt they were causing was apparent. By this, they already knew they won.

"Did you hear that?" Ashton said, mockingly putting a hand to his ear.

"Whatever it was, I have no care for it"

"The sound is making my eardrums bleed. Let's leave before it makes another unholy sound" Ashton's brutal words once again left a stab wound in my heart. At least they're leaving - I will be able to cry without anyone seeing.

**

That night we were performing our first UK headline show, however considering the band's current circumstances, it wouldn't be as perfect as past shows. Sure, we would be energetic for the crowd; yet I could feel that since the entire band (maybe excluding Luke) pretty much hate my guts, it would be harder to put our passion into the music. There was currently no passion whatsoever inside of me - deserving karma took it away along with my best friends.

"Ready for tonight, guys?" Luke cheerily asked the rest of his band as we sat in monotone silence. A muffled hum came in reply as a yes.

"Why are you all so down?" Luke hesitated then caught my questioning eye. "Oh, right"

I started down at my hands: the tips of my nails were torn off as I had bitten them so much in only the last few hours of today. My skin was beginning to get clammy in the crisp British air since I made no attempt to moisturise. But what's the point? The rest of my body was paler than usual and I could feel heavy bags forming under my eyes. Despite that, my hair was strong.

The fans, of course, were completely oblivious to what had been going on behind the scenes of what they describe as a "perfect" band. If they found out, I'm sure to be disowned. However, I'm sure Ashton was working on making that happen anyway. That was even more reason to put all my effort into tonight's show. No one can see my weakness - I must remain strong and not break to be completely vulnerable to the people I cheated on.

"Five minutes, boys" a member of management called out. I grabbed my electric guitar, ready to walk onto the stage.

What happens in this show is only up to fate now.