1969 | a.u. a.i

10

Ashton's P.O.V

It's Saturday night and I'm sitting at the town bar sitting at the counter. I look up at the bar tender, "Another one please." I push my glass away from me. She brings me another beer and a shot of whiskey. I take the shot letting the hard liquor burn my throat. I bring the rim of the glass on the table.

I look around the half empty bar. A few lads playing pool at the back of the bar and some ladies sitting around probably gossiping. I look back at my beer and took a big swig and put the money on the counter. I stumble off the stool and made my way into the cool air.

I bring my hands into my leather jacket pockets and make my way to my house. I walk by a group of men socializing on a porch. "Hey!" One of them call out to me. I ignore them and continue to walk. "Hey I'm talking to you, you wog." One laughs as his colleagues laugh along with him. My blood boils at the racist term towards me.

I stop and look at the group of men, "What did you just call me?" Bring my hands out of my pockets popping my knuckles.

They make their way towards me. I have my guard up. They walk onto the side walk and surround me, "A wog." The muscular man smirks at his words.

My fists clenched to my side. I narrow my eyes, "You know what? I'm not even going to tolerate this. You fellas have a nice night." I unclench my hands and walked out of the circle. Then I feel hands grab me and I start to get dragged off the streets.

Grace's P.O.V.

I wake up to a sound. I slowly get up trying not to wake up Mary Lou. I rub my eyes and grabbed my robe. I walk over to my window and opened it. I look down and sure enough I see the Australian man standing in my yard. "I'll be right down." I say closing it. I creep out my room and walked downstairs.

I unlock the door and opened it. I step outside and came face to face with a bruise faced Ashton. "Wha-" before I can ask, he brings me into a hug.

I wrap my arms around him. "Are you okay?" I ask. He shakes his head, "No, but I will be since I got you in my arms." My stomach erupts into butterflies. I pull away and looked at his face.

He has a black eye, a bruised cheek, his lip and nose have blood coming from them, and he has a scratch at the end of his eyebrow.

"Do you hurt anywhere else?" I ask, softly patting him down. He shakes his head but when I touched his rib cage he flinches. I smell smoke. I bring his shirt to my nose.

The smell of cigarettes and alcohol fills my nose, "You were at the bar huh?" I ask already know the answer. He nods not saying a word. I sigh. I take his hand into mine and brought him inside.

"Come on let's get you cleaned up." I say, opening the door. We walk in and I close it behind us locking it. I bring him into the downstairs bathroom. "Sit." I point at the toilet.

He closes the lid and takes a seat. I go to the medicine cabinet and grabbed the first aid kit. I take a wash rag and run it under warm water to get rid of the blood and dirt that's on his face.

I get on my knees in front of Ashton placing the first aid kit beside me. I take the warm rag and placed it on his face. I gently rub the dry blood off his lip, nose, and eyebrow.

I throw the wash rag into the hamper and grabbed the first aid kit. I start to clean his wounds with Neosporin. He watches me. I smile. "You'r-" before I can finish he backs away from me. "I know. I'm staring." He crosses his arms over his chest. I laugh at his action.

I pucker up my lips and he starts to lean in. I dodge the kiss and start to clean his face again. Hurt written all over his face. He sticks out his bottom lip. I smile at his puppy dog face. I place a soft kiss on his cheek, "I am not kissing that lip." I point at his bruised lip. "It's okay. I wouldn't either." He smiles. I finish his face.

"Alright take your shirt off." I place my hands onto my thighs. He gives me a smirk, "Yes ma'am." He takes off his leather jacket carefully and starts to unbuttoned his flower pattern shirt. He takes it off and balls up the clothing and kept in his hands.

I look at his torso. A couple of scratches and a bruise above his ribs. Who could do this to another human being? I push back the tears and start to clean up his cuts.

He groans as I accidentally touch the bruise. I gasp, "I'm so sorry." I place my hands on his thigh. He places his hands onto my shoulder, "It's just sore. Don't worry." He tells me rubbing my shoulders.

I nod and went back to aiding. Once he's all bandaged, we walk into the dark living room. Ashton takes a seat at the couch and I went to the lamp, "Leave it off." He says in a hushed tone.

I back away from the lamp and sat next to him. He grabs my legs and placed them onto his lap. He wraps his arm around my back and brought me close to him. I lay my head against his shoulder, taking in our alone time.

He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He places a kiss onto my temple and places his head on top of mine. I smile at the gesture.

He takes my hand and starts to play with my fingers, "I'm so glad I ran into you at that party." He admits still looking at my hand. I smile, "Why?" He looks up but continues to play with my hand, "Because you're beautiful inside and out. You have the biggest heart I have ever seen. You're smart, funny, intelligent, the whole nine yards." He admits. I kiss the side of his mouth avoiding hurting his cut.

"Thank you. You're not so bad yourself. I never would've thought I'll meet somebody who would be protective of the opposite race. It honestly makes me have hope in this cruel world. Beside from my parents." I smile up at him.

He brings my hand up to his lips and gives it a gentle kiss. I yawn, "Go back to bed. I'll be fine down here." I look at him, "Are you sure?" He nods. I get out of our position. He lays down. I grab a blanket and cover him up.

I walk towards the stairs, "Goodnight Ashton." He looks over at me, "Goodnight beautiful." I creep up the stairs and entered my room reveling a sleeping Mary Lou. I get back into my bed and got comfortable. After awhile of tossing and turning I finally fell asleep.