"Ashton, please take your bond with Parker into consideration, and don't leave me alone. I need you by my side. Please, Ash! I don't need anything else apart from you. With Jared and Joe, we can live the way we used to, carefree, can't we? I'll always be the same girl who needs the guidance of the three of you. Please don't leave me… I can't live alone!"
Her voice trembled, but it carried weight. I felt it in the air, in the way the shared space shifted around us. The pull of old bonds and familiar roles pressed against Ashton's senses, and I could see the change in his expression. The cold distance he usually kept began to soften, step by step.
He had never handled need well when it was directed at him.
I knew that about him more clearly than anyone.
