Nothing Left to Lose (27 page)

I smiled back
weakly as my heart started drumming wildly in my ears. I needed to
leave. “Okay, Pretty Boy, I’m sure I’ll fall madly in love with
you, right about the time that you fall madly in love with me.”

“About two more
days then,” he replied, winking at me playfully.

My mouth had
gone dry, and my eyes started to prickle with tears. “I’m going to
go in the shower and then get ready to go out.” After excusing
myself, I headed into the en suite bathroom and closed the door
tightly. My breathing was coming out in short pants as I leant
against the door, trying to calm myself.
Why the hell did he
have to say that?
I looked down at my left hand and willed
myself not to remember.
Just forget it, Anna, he was just joking
around, stop being pathetic!
I mentally slapped myself and
switched on the shower, trying to forget his comment.

The shower made
me feel slightly better. Once dry, I searched through my closet,
finding a black skirt and a cute baby doll top. After drying my
hair and adding a few curls, I hesitantly picked up the make-up bag
that I’d brought with me. During our shopping trip, I’d filled it
with new make-up that I was yet to wear. Deciding to see how it
looked, I swept on some chestnut eye shadow and a little mascara.
Once I’d applied a small amount, I stepped back and frowned at
myself with my hand poised over the face wipes. I hadn’t worn
make-up since my sixteenth birthday, and I wasn’t sure if I was
ready for it again.

At that moment,
Ashton knocked on the door.

“Um, yeah?” I
called hesitantly.

“Hey, are you
nearly ready?”

“I guess.” I
picked up the face wipes, tearing them open and pulling one out. I
gulped, looking back at my reflection, still undecided.

“Can I come in,
Anna?”

I groaned and
narrowed my eyes, hating that the smallest bit of make-up actually
scared me. “Yeah, okay.”

Behind me, the
door opened and he walked in. I watched his entrance in the mirror.
He was wearing dark blue fitted jeans and a black button-down
shirt, open a little at the top; he’d left it un-tucked and rolled
the sleeves to his elbows.
Wow
was all I could think. He
actually hurt my eyes to look at because he was so incredibly
mesmerising.

He strutted in,
but stopped in his tracks when he was halfway across the room. His
mouth popped open, and his eyes widened as he stared at me.

I swallowed
around the lump in my throat. “Too much, right? I should take it
off, shouldn’t I?” I rambled, before realising he was still staring
at me. “Why are you staring?”

He finally
closed his mouth. “You just…” He blinked a couple of times, his
eyes still wandering over me slowly. “You look stunning, Anna. So
beautiful,” he complimented.

A small smile
tugged at my lips as I dropped my eyes to the floor. I hadn’t
expected that reaction. “I haven’t worn make-up for years.”

He walked over
to me slowly, hooking his finger under my chin and lifting my gaze
to his. “Anna, you look perfect, but if you’re more comfortable
without the make-up, then take it off. Either way, you are the most
beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” he said, dipping his head and
kissing my forehead softly.

His sweet words
made my insides squirm. “You’re such a charmer.” I shook my head,
smiling.

He shrugged.
“I’m serious.”

I took a deep
breath and looked back at my reflection. “Okay, I’ll leave it on
then. You won’t leave me tonight though, will you?” I asked,
feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of being on my own looking
like this while there were guys around.

His hand closed
over mine as he pulled me closer to him. “I won’t leave you,
promise.” I could hear the sincerity in his voice, and that gave me
the confidence I needed.

“Okay, let’s go
then before I change my mind,” I suggested, nodding at the
door.

He grinned. “I
honestly have the sexiest girlfriend in the world. I’ve got my job
cut out for me tonight to keep the guys away from you,” he teased,
winking at me.

“I need to get
you to earn your money somehow,” I joked.

He stopped at
the front door, his hand on the handle as his eyes turned to me.
“Do me a favour tonight, huh? Try not to flirt with me as much as
you did last night, because damn, I’m not sure how much I can stand
with those sexy legs out like that,” he growled, looking me over
again, making me blush.

“Stop being a
pervert, Ashton!” I scolded, slapping his chest playfully.

“Hey, a guy’s
allowed to perv on his girl!” he protested innocently before his
famous smile slipped onto his face.

“Stop!” I
warned.

He laughed and
nodded. “Seriously though, try and tone it down tonight if you can,
alright?” he asked, looking a little pained. I nodded and smiled
apologetically. “Right then, let’s go,” he chirped excitedly.

The line for
the bar was already about thirty people deep by the time we
arrived. Dean and Peter joined behind us, not talking to us so that
no one would know we were together. Thankfully, the line moved
fairly quickly so we were ushered in within fifteen minutes. As we
were let in, we had to show our IDs as proof of age. Ashton refused
to allow me to drink again tonight, so insisted that I show my real
ID that said I was only nineteen – which resulted in me getting an
underage blue wristband so that the barman would know I wasn’t
allowed to be served alcohol. Ashton showed his fake ID that he’d
been given when he started his assignment, so he was rewarded with
an underage wristband too. Frowning, and not very happy with the
colour of my bracelet, I folded my arms over my chest.

“Stop pouting.
Do you want me to get in trouble for letting you drink whilst
underage?” Ashton said in my ear, leaning in close so that I could
hear him over the band that was already in full swing. Rolling my
eyes, I shook my head. Of course I didn’t want him in trouble, but
it appeared that hanging out with an undercover cop for the next
eight months was going to put a dampener on my college experience
at ASU.

Not answering
his question, I looked around. The club was a lot bigger than it
looked from the outside. It was across two levels and had strobe
lighting coming from the ceiling. A stage off to my right housed a
live band that was slightly too loud, and slightly out of key as
they jumped around excitedly. There were cheap carpets and cheap
tables dotted around the edges. The long and well-stocked bar was
five people deep, most of whom sported blue wristbands like mine. A
smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. I actually quite liked it
here. My hand slipped into Ashton’s as I grinned and gave him a tug
towards the bar.

Unexpectedly, I
was actually having a nice time. It turns out that I didn’t even
need alcohol to enjoy myself. What did annoy me though was the fact
that every now and again, my safety would be put into Dean’s hands
while Ashton went to the bathroom, or got stuck at the bar buying
another round. Dean was trying to be discreet, I could tell that,
but him standing close to me, pretending to look around while
ignoring me completely was totally over the top and actually
screamed ‘bodyguard’ – but maybe that was because I knew that was
what he was. No one else seemed to bat an eyelid at him. Each time
he had to leave my side for something, Ashton would call or text
Dean and ask him to ‘watch the jewel’ for him for a minute. I
couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the stupid codename they’d
obviously come up with for me.

After a couple
of hours, a hand closed around my forearm. A little squeal escaped
my lips, and my body reacted immediately, making me jump into
Ashton as if a bomb had detonated near me.

“Whoa, sorry!
Didn’t mean to make you jump,” Tim said, laughing hysterically.

My heart
started to slow as Ashton’s arm slipped around my waist. “Hey,
sorry, you scared me,” I admitted, smiling with relief.

“Hey, Ashton.
How you doing?” Tim greeted, smiling warmly.

“Yeah, I’m
good,” Ashton replied, rubbing his hand up my arm; he was doing it
to calm me down I presumed, and it was certainly working.

“I’ve been
looking out for you two all night. We’ve got a table. You want to
come and sit with us? We’re upstairs,” Tim offered, nodding towards
the back of the bar. Ashton looked at me as if waiting for me to
make the decision. I would honestly rather stay here with him, but,
for his sake, I probably needed to start being more social.

“Sure, okay,” I
agreed, nodding. Ashton smiled and we followed Tim, weaving through
the sea of people to the stairs.

At the bottom
of the stairs there was a table that we had to pass to get to the
next level. It was full of a group of laughing men, all of them
wearing white ‘adult’ wristbands. My stomach tightened as one of
them turned towards me and raised one eyebrow as we approached. A
predatory smile crept onto his face. “Hey, sweetheart, I can show
you a better time than that guy,” he purred, nodding at Ashton
distastefully.

I scoffed and
shook my head. “I doubt that very much,
sweetheart
,” I
answered sarcastically, trying to appear confident even though my
insides squirmed.

His smile grew
bigger. “Well, you never know if you don’t try,” he flirted as he
leant forward and landed a slap on my behind.

My nervousness
suddenly gave way to anger and my hands clenched into fists, but
before I had a chance to respond, Ashton whirled around, looking so
angry that he actually looked like a different person as he pushed
me in front of him, away from the guys. “Hands off my girl if you
wanna keep them!” he growled.

The guy
flinched. “Whoa, chill dude, I was just having a laugh with her,”
he said, nervously.

Ashton’s
shoulders were tense. “Oh really? I didn’t realise. I tell you
what, touch her again and then we’ll see how fucking funny you find
it,” he suggested, smiling but at the same time looking at him
menacingly. The guy held up his hands in protest, shaking his head
quickly as his eyes widened at the threat. He actually looked
frightened, even though he and his friends outnumbered Ashton five
to one.

I gulped,
looking back at the stairs that were only a few feet away. I didn’t
want him to get in trouble. “Let’s go,” I urged, pulling his hand.
His jaw tightened as he nodded, putting his hands on my hips
possessively as he gave me a little push towards the stairs to get
me walking.

“You okay, Baby
Girl?” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded.
Spotting Tim already at his table, we wove through the crowd to get
to him. Rich and Serena were already sitting there, along with
Monica. I suppressed my groan as her predatory eyes landed on
Ashton again. I had hoped that my jealousy would have evaporated,
but she seemed to make it rear its ugly head again immediately.

Behind Monica
there were three other people. Two new boys and one new girl. Tim
waved a hand at each of them in turn. “This is Sam, Andrew and
Rosie. Guys, this is Anna and Ashton.”

“Hey, nice to
meet you,” I greeted as they all scooted over to let us sit down.
Ashton nodded for me to sit in the booth first. I bit the inside of
my cheek and looked at him pleadingly; I didn’t want to sit next to
the new guy I’d only just met. Ashton smiled, obviously
understanding my silent plea because he sat down and pulled me onto
his lap.

The new girl,
Rosie, smiled warmly and leant over to talk to me. “So, you’re new
to the college? How come you’re starting mid-semester?”

I smiled in
return. She looked extremely nice. She was actually exceptionally
pretty; she had long reddish-brown hair and brown eyes that were
warm and welcoming.

“Um, well, I
didn’t like my old college, so we transferred here,” I lied,
shrugging.

Rosie looked at
Ashton, raising one eyebrow curiously. “You came all the way here
because your girlfriend didn’t like her college?” she asked. Ashton
smiled and nodded, which made Rosie make a cooing noise as she put
her hand over her heart. “That’s so sweet! Do you have a
brother?”

“Nope sorry,
only child,” Ashton replied, laughing and tightening his arms
around my waist.

Rosie sighed
dramatically, looking disappointed. “That’s a shame.”

The three new
people were really nice too; I liked the whole group of people if
you discounted Monica’s doe eyes that she directed at Ashton. Due
to us all having blue wristbands, we were all on soft drinks
tonight, but it was fun, I enjoyed it.

When the band
finished their set, a DJ came on which seemed to get the crowd even
more fired up. Serena looked at her watch. “Shall we dance,
girls?”

I looked at
Ashton questionably. I actually did want to dance, but I wasn’t
sure if that would be okay. Did that mean that he had to dance too,
or could he wait here with the other boys?

“You can dance
if you want,” he confirmed, nodding. I smiled and stood up, downing
the last of my drink as he pulled out his cell phone and sent a
quick text. I rolled my eyes, seeing Peter appear out of nowhere
and walk about five steps behind me as we made our way to the dance
floor downstairs.

“So, how long
have you two been together?” Rosie inquired as we danced.

Okay, time
to remember all the lies we made up.
“Just over a year.”

“Where did you
meet?” she asked, seeming genuinely interested.

“We met at a
basketball game,” I lied, shrugging.

She sighed,
stepping closer to me. “He is so damn hot, Anna! Are you in love
with him?” she asked, looking at me hopefully. She struck me as a
bit of a romantic, the type of person that would cry at soppy
movies and enjoyed a good love story.

My hands were
getting sweaty, and my insides starting to tie in knots at the
questioning. “Yeah,” I lied, nodding.