Chapter Twenty-Three

He gazed at me for what seemed like hours, eyes wide and mouth hung open.

"D-do you remember me?" he asked slowly.

Everything had rushed back to me at once.

The kidnapping. Being held hostage. Discovering who my father once was, and what he had done to Lucien.

Falling for my kidnapper.

Ashton.

It was really him. And I actually, remembered him. Everything. It was like I had been knocked over the head, and whatever part of my brain that wasn't functioning, had suddenly switched on.

"I remember everything," I whispered. The look of bliss on his face had quickly turned to panic, but he hadn't backed away. "You kidnapped me, and then I escaped… you never came for me!" The words spilled out of my mouth, and anger flared in me within seconds.

"You never met me, I searched the entire manor for you!" Ashton exploded, his blue eyes lit with fury and fear. "Charles and I looked everywhere, I panicked. It wasn't until a guard said someone was spotting running for the tree line, that I knew where you were. I tried, Ava–" his voice cracked.

Ashton fell to his knees in front of me, his head hung.

"I tried to get to you, but I–I was too late." My heart broke at how wounded he sounded. All the anger I had before vanished, and I dropped to my knees as well. "The car– I saw the headlights, and I saw the shadow. I knew– I knew something…" his voice broke off again, and I was taken back when I heard light sobs.

I grasped his hand in one and wrapped my other hand around his neck to rest our foreheads against each other. There wasn't anything that needed to be said.

"I was so afraid," he whispered after a little while. "I thought I wasn't going to see you again. I didn't know if you had survived for the longest time, it was pure torture. I had one of the housekeepers call the hospital every day and ask on your condition, but no one could tell her anything."

As he had said that, I remembered something from the hospital.

"Did you come to see me?"

Ashton lifted his eyes to meet mine, and nodded. "When she had finally called, and was told that you were awake, but that was all she could know, I went to the hospital every day, and tried to see you." He cut off, and something flashed in his eyes. Why hadn't he?

"The first day I tried, your father had security outside the door, and your mother had been inside the entire day. She refused to leave your side, so I had no choice but to wait and come back the next day. That was when I overheard a nurse and one of the security guards speaking about you and your condition." He stopped again and frowned. He looked extremely pained.

"What happened?" I urged him to continue. His eyes flickered back up to mine, fear and pain evident behind his blue irises.

"I heard them say you have total amnesia, you couldn't even remember your name. I knew, right away, that meant you didn't remember me. Even after so many months, I still remember how crushed I had felt when I heard that, but I still had hope. I waited outside your hospital room, until another nurse had walked out, and I confronted her about your condition. She confirmed, that you didn't know anything about your past life, or who you even were."

"So, that was why you never entered the room," I whispered to myself, but it was loud enough Ashton could hear.

He nodded. "I wasn't sure if you had saw me, I thought you were asleep. I wanted to get at least one look at you, afraid that it was my last time. But when I really saw you, lying in that hospital bed, covered in wounds and bandages, I couldn't let that be the last time I saw you. I didn't want that to be the last image I had of you, as beautiful as you still were."

"You followed me," I stated. Ashton looked shocked, but nodded again slowly. "I remembered seeing a person, and getting the feeling of being watched ever since I had left the hospital. I can only assume, that was you."

He bit his lip. "Yes, I kept tabs on you the minute you had left. I'm sorry, please don't be upset, I know it was wrong, but I couldn't help it. I needed to see you, know you were okay, at least from a distance."

I cut him off swiftly by brushing my lips against his. I heard him suck in a sharp breath, parting his lips slightly. I pressed my lips to his lightly and pulled back, but he tugged the front of my shirt to bring me back down and crush his lips to mine in a heated kiss.

"I missed you, so fucking much," he whispered between breaths. "I don't ever want to be without you, Ava." I didn't know what to say back, my mind was still lightheaded from that kiss. I was saved by the bell, or rather, the call of Alex behind me. I could hear him and Daniel calling my name from around the corner, just a few feet away from us. The school had probably notified them that I had ditched class.

"Bodyguards?" Ashton asked. I chewed my lip nervously and nodded. He frowned, but turned and fished for something in his pocket. He took my hand and placed something heavy in my palm.

My cellphone!

"Oh, thank god. I never thought I would see this again." That was kind of a lie, I hadn't actually remembered or thought about it."

"You may want to add another passcode, Lucas helped me break through yours." He kissed the top of my head and scurried off, just as I understood what that meant.

He snooped through my phone! That jerk!

***

I had found Alex and Daniel before they had the chance to round the corner, and see Ashton run off towards the other side of the school and behind the trees. Alex scolded me for running out of class, but I had quickly made up a lie that I had a panic attack in class, and needed some air. He had frowned, but seemed convinced enough, since the teacher had only explained that they saw me rush out of the room, and that was all.

How had they not seen Ashton run out after me? Or see us intently speaking in the back of the room? We had been the only ones whispering or making any noise at all, besides the teacher themselves, it hadn't been hard to hear us.

When I had thought about it, I had realized that my father probably had eyes and ears all over the school, to make sure that nothing would happen to me, since Alex and Daniel couldn't enter the school at all. How was it, that no word had made it back to my father, that I had been seen with a stranger at school? A boy none the less. A gender I'm sure my father was very stern about me avoiding during my time at school.

Now that I had remembered everything, I realized just how no word had travelled back. Because no one had said anything, even if they were to report back to my father; whether it be a teacher, student, or any faculty member, like a custodian. Ashton had probably paid them off, or pulled his own strings, so he could be there.

Even I knew the risk he had taken to enroll in the same school as me, even under a fake name, his face was still known. It was attached to Lucien's name. Just being seen with me, was enough to be sent to jail, like Lucien.

I pushed those worries to the back of my mind. I had bigger things to worry about.

Like telling my parents, and everyone else, that I had my memory back.

And I remembered who had hit me that night.