Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

But as we got to the last step, a cheeky grin broke out on Rosie’s face as she produced a pen and paper from behind her back. “Can I get Annaton’s autograph, I heard they’re going for ten bucks on eBay,” she teased, before bursting out laughing.

My shoulders relaxed as she shook her head grinning happily. Maybe I’d underestimated them a little. I smiled, grateful for their acceptance. Rosie York was an incredible person, and an even better friend, I would have been extremely sad to lose her because of this. We’d gotten incredibly close.

“Ten bucks, really? Maybe we should sign a load and sell them ourselves?” I joked, turning to Ashton. He laughed in response.

Serena smiled. “I can’t believe your dad is going to be the next President. My dad’s a paint salesman,” she said, grinning.

I shrugged, wincing apologetically. “I didn’t really want to announce it to everyone. People can be a little standoffish when they find out your father’s running for office.”

Rosie nodded and stepped forward; linking her arm through mine. She gave me a little tug away from Ashton and made me start walking up the hallway with her. “On to more important things,” she whispered, looking over her shoulder at Ashton conspiratorially. “I saw you two get interviewed. Do you think he’s going to propose?” she asked, grinning excitedly as her eyes sparkled happily.

I chuckled awkwardly. “I hope not. We’re too young.”

She sighed and nodded in agreement. “True, but he’s so yummy. Imagine being married to that,” she said, fanning her face dramatically as she winked at me. “You should accept if he does.”

I dropped my eyes to the floor. I hated marriage talk, it made me uncomfortable and brought back feelings and memories that I tried extremely hard to bury. “He won’t,” I assured her. I didn’t want to plant false hope there for her by going along with her excited chattering; after all, he was just a bodyguard who had become my friend, nothing more.

For the rest of the day, a few people came up to speak to me, most seemed a little intimidated. A rare few asked for autographs or a photo, which was more than awkward considering they were in my classes and had been talking openly to me for the last couple of months.

By the time the end of day came around, I was grateful to be out of the spotlight for a little while. As we stepped through the door to our apartment, I breathed a sigh of relief that the day was over and done with. There were only a couple of weeks left of school anyway, and then the semester was over. Hopefully, by the time we came back in the New Year, everything would have settled and people would be used to it even more and not bat an eyelid at me.

I flopped down on the sofa while Ashton headed to the kitchen to make coffee. When he set my cup on the side next to me, I smiled. “Thanks. I’m glad that’s over with,” I admitted. “Just another couple of weeks and then we can get away from all of this for Christmas.”

I frowned as I said it. I wasn’t actually looking forward to Christmas at all. Of course, I was looking forward to not getting up for classes and not having assignments to finish, but I wasn’t looking forward to being away from Ashton for two weeks. Because this one was a scheduled school holiday, he got the two weeks off, so I would need to brave it on my own with my parents at the Lake House.

He nodded thoughtfully and sat down next to me. “Yeah, Christmas. I wanted to talk to you about that actually, but there never seems to be the right time because we’ve been so busy lately.”

I nodded, already knowing what this would be about. “Yeah, we can go tomorrow or something. There are still a few bits I need to buy, but I’ve got most of mine already,” I stated, pre-empting him suggesting we go gift shopping soon. I’d been very organised and had already arranged the more important things that I wanted to get – like Ashton’s gift that Maddy had arranged for me.

“Go where?”

I smiled, confused. “Shopping. Weren’t you just about to say that you needed to buy gifts?”

He shook his head. “No actually, but I do need to do that,” he admitted. “Actually, I was going to ask what we’re doing about Christmas itself.” He frowned as if he was trying to work out a complicated algebra problem.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, picking up my coffee and blowing it gently to cool it before taking a sip.

He shrugged. “Well, I’m guessing that you’ll want to spend Christmas day with your parents. But maybe we could spend New Year in Los Angeles. What do you think of that?”

I almost choked on the coffee as he spoke. Spend New Year in LA? With him? “What? I don’t…” I stared at him, waiting for him to say something that made sense.

“If you don’t want to come to my place again, that’s fine, I just thought that you liked it last time and figured I’d suggest it.”

I smiled gratefully. “That’s a really nice thought, Ashton, but you should just go out with your friends. That way you won’t have to worry about me, and you can just have a good time.”

He frowned, looking a little angry at my answer. “I’m not going without you.”

I raised one eyebrow in question, confused by the turn in the conversation. “What are you going on about? I’m totally lost, Pretty Boy,” I admitted.

He sighed dramatically, as if I was missing something that was obvious. “What exactly do you think is happening at Christmas?”