Eva's PoV

I'd been running to every place I thought he might have gone with them for hours, yet I still was no closer to helping Sirgani or Dean - or ashton for that matter. This had all been blown out of proportion and Ashton needed to be told the truth, as hard and painful as it might be to say.
Skidding to a halt at the last place I could think of, and seeing it empty, I knew I had to try a different approach. I had to think like Ashton. I had to be him. I took a deep breath in and out as I channeled my inner actress.

If I were Ashton, I'd be mad. Very mad. I lost the race, earphones was the person I was texting and opening up to. I'd feel betrayed. I'd want to take back the control. I'd want to go somewhere far away from any possible interruption to prove myself.

That's it. The derelict factory that was on the outskirts. Surely that would be the perfect place to set up and prove his point. However, as i thought of the situation more I realised quite how bad the whole thing was. Ashton must have been having a mental breakdown or something, this is out of even his league. I took off in a sprint, not caring about vehicles as I ran across roads to get to the factory, praying to everything and anything that no one would be hurt when I got there. An overwhelming sense of guilt seemed to hit me as my mind raced, thinking about how I'd started this by trying to be Ashton's friend in the first place. Things just kept building on top of that and I was at the bottom of pretty much every one of them. Shit.

I rounded the corner, the factory in sight along with a car that I didn't recognise. My lungs were burning as I breathed in and out heavily, barely getting the oxygen into my body before it was being expelled again. Sweat beaded my scalp and as I closed the gap between me and the building, my body seemed to only feel worse. I snuck up to the doors and carefully listened in for a second, making sure I wasn't interrupting something else or bursting in at the wrong time. It was quiet, too quiet. Then a punch echoed the walls, the sound of someone hitting the floor following soon after. My heart was in my mouth as I listened, scared of what I was about to see.

"No please!" I heard Sirgani shout and that was my cue. Without another thought, or care, I flung the door open and shouted.

"Ashton!" It came out angry yet really upset. My voice broke as I said his name, my body realising suddenly what I'd actually caused. I should have just been honest, told him everything he needed to know, denied what Maya was saying to get out of a date with Calum ... this was all a mess. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw Sirgani tied to a chair, his face bloody and bruised. Beside him, Dean was tied to a chair that was now on the ground and Ashton was looming over him with an angered expression. That expression changed instantly as soon as he heard my voice calling his name. His fist froze mid-punch and he spun round to me, his face contorted with confusion.

"Earphones?" He questioned just as Sirgani said "Eva?"

"What's going on? What's all this about Ashton?" I began my nervous verbal diarrhoea, my hands twisting together anxiously. "Whatever this is, if it's to do with me or not, this is not the answer." Ashton scoffed as he picked up a baseball bat and swung it round in his hand.

"Yeah, of course you'd say that now your boy is being hurt." He kicked some dirt at Dean as he spat his name like he was jealous of our relationship.

"This has nothing to do with Dean." I snapped back, shaking my head. "This is to do with YOU. You're the one kidnapping people, trespassing people's houses and beating people up, not Dean, not Sirgani, not me." My words were harsh but I didn't know how else to play it. I needed to come across confident enough that he'd listen.

"I'm not talking about this now." Ashton instantly put his walls up, turning his back to me. It was only then that I noticed his friends all hanging around the building, now looking at me and Ashton like they were watching a soap opera.

"Yes we are. If I've got to explain everything to your friends then that's fine, but we're fixing this right now." I stood my ground firmly for probably the first time in my life and weirdly enough, I was doing it to possibly the scariest person I'd met. Ashton was quick to whip his head towards his friends as i mentioned them, weighing up the pros and cons of each scenario. It took a few seconds but then he nodded.

"Alright, lets go." He said as he paced towards me, grabbing my arm as he led me out of the building whilst Sirgani called after me saying it was a bad idea. We walked outside of the factory and away from the others, silence consuming us before Ashton stopped suddenly, pushing me up against the wall as he balled my shirt in his hands. "What's wrong with you?" He snapped, shoving me into the wall again.

"Me? You're the one going psycho on everyone!" I snapped as I shoved him back. "I don't understand you, Ashton. Somehow finding out that the person you were texting was me seemed to be the end of the world but I don't get it, what's so bad about me that you have to lash out like this?" Ashton looked to the sky as if to gain strength before he answered.

"The person I was texting was my vice, my secret that helped me through all the shit. The person sticking up for me and understanding me in a way that no one else did. And i confided in them. But it was you all along. I opened up and told you my thoughts and feelings and every day you played dumb and ignorant." I could see him getting more agitated as the emotions he'd been fighting off were finally at the surface. There was something underneath all that though, some kind of vulnerability that he probably never showed to anyone else.

"And I get that. But I tried to speak to you and explain it all. I wanted to help you through your breakup, you were so upset and none of your friends even knew. If I'd have told you it was me you'd have put your walls up just like you're doing now and the emotions would have stayed hidden, building up until you exploded." I sighed, knowing what I was saying wouldn't make a bit of difference to him. He was in one of those moods, one where actions were going to speak louder than words.

"Well what does it matter now anyway? You're with Maya and I'm left looking like a fucking clown. I wasted my time and energy on you and you'd better believe I've learnt my fucking lesson now." He turned his back to me which only infuriated me more and before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed his shirt sleeve and span him back towards me, shoving him into the wall beside me.

"I'm not with Maya. She said that to annoy you and your friends because you're all idiots." I hissed. "But if anyone gave me a chance to speak, you'd know that!" Silence followed. Ashton stared at me in a confused state as he tried to wrap his head around it. I watched as his eyes took in all of me for the first time in a long time and for the first time, I saw the hesitation on his face. "Look, I know that's not going to make you forgive me but-" I began but before I knew what was happening, he grabbed me and pulled me towards him, our lips crashing together in a fit of mixed emotions.