Chapter 103

I woke up in a strange bed in a strange country but with very familiar arms around my waist.

When I looked at the clock I realised it was five in the morning.

I stretched in Ashton's hold and then reached over for my phone.

Noticing I had several messages from Ari I went to look at those, a state of confusion and curiosity settling over me as I read them.

'I really hate Ashton's ex!'

'Why is she so f**king rude?!'

'Like who the hell does she think she is?!'

I furrowed my eyebrows.

'What are you talking about?' I sent back to her and had a reply within twenty seconds of a link.

Pressing on it I was taken to Jenna Taylor's Twitter page.

'You never knew what it was like to be in love?'

'That's not what you said when you were with me.'

'You know she'll never be as good as me.'

'Stop saying you're married when you're not.'

'Whatever. Have fun screwing your whore of a gf. Hope you'll learn not to play with the sluts.'

I exhaled after I read the final tweet.

'Honestly I can't.' I texted Ari. 'I'm just so done.'

'I tweeted her back.' Ari texted me and then a heap of screen shots followed.

'After everything Carter has been through she deserves to find her happiness and she's found it with Ashton the same way he has found his with her. Why don't you stay out of their lives, stop harassing them, and get over yourself.'

'You can take your irrelevant ass somewhere else.' Jenna had tweeted back at her.

'I'll just take it to Ashton and Carters wedding instead.' Ari fired back.

I took a deep breath before replying to Ari.

'Thank you. I love you and miss you.'

Now not being able to sleep I sat up in the bed, looking at the tweets on my phone for a long while until I felt Ashton move next to me.

"Come back to bed." He mumbled into the sheets and I just gave him a half smile. "Why are you up?"

"Jenna went off on us on Twitter. I was just texting Ari about it." I told him and his eyes opened again and he sat up.

"Let me see." He yawned and reached for my phone. Ashton ran a hand over his face before reading the messages.

"For the love of God." Ashton sighed.

"Tell me about it." I breathed.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm just wondering when this is going to stop. I haven't done one thing to her yet she keeps going at us like its a war..." I shook my head.

"Well the more she keeps doing shit like this the more of an idiot she makes of herself."

"You're right." I sighed, then a question popped into my head. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." He replied.

"Did you love Jenna?"

"No." He shook his head. "I think at one point I thought I might, but then I saw how rude and mean to me she was so I cut it off. And then a year later I met you and I knew that any love I had before that was not really love because it wasn't you."

I smiled and reached over to take his hand.

"I'll handle this though." He said.

"We should handle it as a couple." I said and he nodded.

"Okay then my other half, what should we do?" He smirked at me.

"We are going to not respond to her directly, but I have an idea..." I trailed off with a slight seduction to my voice.

"Oh yeah?" He raised his eye brows, his eyes dancing.

I put one of my arms around his neck and pulled him down so he was over me before attaching my lips to his.

He seemed to know what I was getting at as he kissed me just as passionately if not more.

I used my other arm to snap a quick picture with my phone.

We broke the kiss to catch our breath, both of us breathing heavily.

"I think that was the hottest kiss we've ever had at five in the morning." He winked at me causing me to giggle.

"It was very nice indeed." I commented back.

He sent the photo to himself and I then went to share the picture, despite the fact that it was a bit more risqué than all of my other photos.

It needed no caption.  Jenna would get the message.

Ashton was mine and I was his, and that's how it was going to be.

I was just about to lay back down when I saw Calum's tweet notification.

'@ JennaTaylor you are so rude.'

"Oh god." I showed Ashton.

"He's sticking up for you." He pointed out.

"I know. He's sweet, I just wish he didn't have to in the first place."

"What are you talking about?" I heard Ender's voice and Ashton and I looked over at him.

"Morning End." I gave him a smile and he climbed out of his shared bed with Gracie and up onto mine and Ashton's.

"Why shouldn't Calum do what?" He asked again.

"Nothing." I shook my head.

"You're lying." He pointed out. "What happened."

"Just someone said some not very nice things about me on Twitter." I gave him a fairly vague answer.

"Was it that same girl?" He asked and I nodded. "What did she say?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." I said.

"Why won't you tell me?!" He asked, his voice getting higher.

"Because I don't want you to be involved with this."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing." I shook my head.

"You're not doing anything? What about Ashton?"

"Nope." Ashton shook his head.

"Why?!" Ender asked, on the verge of a total meltdown.

"Because I'm taking a page out of your sisters book and taking the high road." Ashton said.

"You're not defending her! And you're not defending yourself!"

"Ender, it's about picking your battles." I said in a calm voice.

"Why won't you do something?! You let her be mean to you! She can't do that! Why is she doing this!" Ender began to totally freak out, tears streaming down his cheeks and his voice trembling.

"Hey hey hey." I moved to pull him into my embrace. "Calm down baby."

Ender just sobbed in my arms, and I glanced at Ashton who had wide eyes, trying to figure out what had just happened and what to do.

"Ender I need you to breathe. Take deep breaths." I instructed the boy mid-meltdown.

He did as I said and I said soothing words into his ear, hoping he would settle down.

His outburst had surprisingly not woken Gracie but had definitely rattled the eleven year old boy in my arms.

"I think you are a bit emotional, and stressed, and overwhelmed right now, and I want you to calm down so we can talk, okay?" I told him and he nodded, sniffling and wiping away his tears.

"I'm sorry." He sucked in his words.

"It's okay." I assured him. "Right now is a very upsetting and confusing time in your life. You had to leave home, leave Bear, you left school, you're in a strange place and there's all of these new people and things happening in your life, and it's natural to be overwhelmed by all of that."

He nodded.

"Aren't you mad at what that girl said about you?" 

"No. Because I know everything she said about me isn't true."

"But what about everyone else?"

"Who cares what they think, End? The only people's opinions of me that I care about are my family and friends. That girl is just jealous of me and is lashing out, and in the end is only going to make herself look bad. I'm not concerned and you shouldn't be either."

He nodded and then leaned his head against my chest.

"I love you." I kissed the skin of his forehead.

I moved so I could lay down with Ender between Ashton and I. Ender had his back to me and nestled his face into Ashton's chest.

"You good bud?" Ashton asked him and Ender nodded. Ashton pressed a kiss to Ender's hair, the boy finally relaxing.

"Why won't you say something to her?" Ender asked.

"Because mom taught me when I was really little that if someone is picking on me, it's better to ignore them, because they won't get the reaction from me they want and will stop. So that's what I'm doing. I have plenty of people around me who know the truth, and that's all I'm going to focus on."

"I don't like her." He said and Ashton and I laughed.

"A lot of people don't, End. She'll stop eventually." Ashton said and Ender smiled.

It was quiet for a while and I watched Ender's eyes flutter close as he fell back asleep.

"I'll stay with him if you want to go order room service." Ashton said and I nodded, kissing his cheek before sliding out of the bed.

I watched in adoration as Ender snuggled more into Ashton.

The two were so close. Ender really looked up to Ashton and relied on him to be there for
him. And I knew Ashton loved my little brother so much and would do anything for him.

I made my way to the living room and ordered breakfast for us and started the coffee pot.

The sound of the door opening behind me had me turning to see Becca walking in.

"Hello hello!" She smiled, walking over to hug me. "Wow, can I look as great as you do in the mornings?"

"Oh shut up." I laughed.

"So what are your plans for today?" She asked me.

"I don't know yet. Ashton has a writing session so I'm kind of on my own."

"Ah yes, those rock stars can be a little flaky."

I giggled.

A few moments later the bedroom door opened and Gracie with her little French braids appeared.

"Hi baby." I grinned as she ran to me and I picked her up to hug her.

"Mommy it's morning!" She said and I laughed.

"I know." I smiled and hugged her tighter.

"Hi Aunt Becca." Gracie waved at the girl and Becca swooned.

"Aunt Becca, that's the cutest thing ever!"

Gracie just grinned and I kissed on her face a few times before setting her down.

"Can you go wake up Daddy and Ender for me, breakfast should be here in a minute or two."

"Okay Mommy." Gracie ran to the bedroom and Becca and I laughed when we heard her sing "Daddy wake up its morning time!"

A few minutes later Ashton, Ender, and Gracie came out in their pyjamas.

While the two boys greeted Becca, room service arrived and as they set it up the three boys from across the hall walked in.

"How you doing?" Michael asked me as he hugged me in greeting.

"Good. We had a bit of a rough morning," I kissed Ender's hair as he was currently hugging on my waist, "but it's good now."

Everyone dug into the breakfast and ate around the room and I cleaned up once we were done.

"Okay, come here love let's get you ready." I picked up Gracie and took her to the bedroom to get her clothes for the day and get her dressed.

Once she was ready Becca began to look through the clothes I had brought and since I wasn't doing anything special today I changed into shorts and a high collared long sleeved black shirt.

I paired that with my converse and put my hair in a ponytail before joining the boys in the main room, Ashton and Ender dressed now as well.

The bands management team was going to be meeting with us in our hotel room since it would be convenient for everyone.

Ender hadn't let go of me almost the entire morning. He was having a tough time adjusting and I understood how homesick he must feel.

I was standing in the middle of the room hugging Ender when a group of people walked in.

First was a man in his mid thirties with dark hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. He wore a suit like a businessman.

Next was a woman in her thirties also with light red hair hair pulled into a ponytail. She was pale and had blue eyes as well but was dressed more casually in a nice shirt and jeans.

Then there was another man in his twenties with dark hair that was thicker on top and shaved on the sides, his brown eyes were dark and he had a calm smile.

There were five other men who walked in who began to greet the boys.

"Adam, this is my fiancé Carter." Ashton introduced me to the first man. "Car, this is the bands manager, Adam."

"Hi, it's so nice to meet you." I shook his hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you as well. I've heard a lot of wonderful things about you." He smiled at me.

"Then this is Carters brother, Ender." Ashton introduced the boy who was still clutching to me.

"He's just a little homesick." I gave Adam an apologetic smile. "Ender." I nudged him to shake Adams hand which he did.

"And then this little princess," Ashton captured Gracie as she ran by him, "is our daughter Gracie."

Adam said hello to Gracie and then Ashton introduced me to the other man named Bryan who was their tour manager.

The woman I was introduced to was named Katie and was their publicist.

The other people I was introduced to were on their social media team, assistants, and people who worked with management.

"End, can you let go of me for just a little bit and go keep Gracie entertained for me? There's toys in her duffel and you can use the television in the bedroom." I asked the boy who had his cheek pressed into my stomach.

"Okay." He sighed.

"I love you." I kissed his hair again. Ashton did the same before handing Ender the little girl and they went into the bedroom, closing the door so they could play with their toys and watch television without disrupting everyone.

Everyone pulled seats into a circle and I sat in a chair next to Ashton.

We held hands as the management team began to discuss things that I didn't understand.

There were a lot of terms and vocabulary that went right over my head and I just held onto Ashton's fingers, loving how they felt between mine.

"No Gracie, you're going to get us in trouble!" I heard Ender say and looked over to see Gracie leaving the bedroom, a doll in her hand.

She ran up to Ashton who looked down at her.

"Daddy, play dolls with me?" She asked him.

"In a minute baby, come here." He said and lifted her up into his lap.

She smiled happily at this and cuddled into her fathers arms.

Ender came to sit on the floor next to me, leaning his head against the side of my leg.

Gracie played with her doll in Ashton's arms and he chuckled as she talked and giggled while she played.

He shushed her when she got a bit too loud and she ended up looping her arms around his neck so he could hold her.

The meeting finished and the management team left, the guys talking about different things until there was another knock at our door.

"That should be your new tutor, End." Ashton said and went to answer the door.

"Mr. Johnson?" Ashton asked once he opened the door to reveal an older man in his sixties with barely any hair but a friendly smile.

"Yes." The man shook Ashton's hand.

"Ashton Irwin, nice to meet you. I'm Ender's brother in law."

"Nice to meet you as well." Mr. Johnson stepped into the room.

"This is Ender." Ashton walked up to us with the man who reached out to shake Ender's hand.

"Nice to meet you Ender."

"Hi." Ender said in a mousy voice.

"Then this is Carter, she's Ender's older sister and my fiancé." Ashton introduced me.

"Hello." I shook his hand.

"Shall we get started?" Mr. Johnson suggested and we sat at the table in our room. "Now Ender, I've read over your transcript that your father- I mean brother in law sent me, and I see that math is a bit of a struggle area for you?"

Ender nodded.

"Yes, that's always been where he's struggled the most." I said.

"Can you tell me what your study routine is like?" He then asked Ender who looked up at me, not knowing how to reply.

"Well, he does his homework right when he gets home and Ashton and I will help him if he needs it." I answered.

"Daddy!" Gracie shouted as she ran into the room.

"Gracie, Daddy's talking, you have to be quiet." Ashton said to her and she pouted as she came over to sit in my lap.

"Mommy come play." Gracie tugged on my neck with her arms.

"I'm talking with Ender's teacher right now, we can play in a bit." I told her and she frowned before flopping her head on my chest.

"We can work on developing strong and steady study habits for him while he's still young as well." Mr. Johnson continued. "Now Ender, I've brought you a pre-test that I would like you to take just so I know where you are at with all subjects. I'll expect to have this completed by tomorrow."

He pulled a thin packet from his briefcase and passed it to Ender.

"If you get stuck on a problem do not worry, we can work on them tomorrow." He smiled and then stood up.

Ashton told him goodbye and walked him out of our room before coming back.

"Okay, I've got to head out now." Ashton said and I nodded.

"Okay love, go say goodbye to Daddy." I set Gracie on the floor and she ran to her father.

"Bye sweetie, I'll see you later."

"Bye bye Daddy." She smiled and he kissed her cheek.

Ashton hugged Ender before hugging me.

"I'll call you later, I shouldn't be back too late."

"Okay, have fun." I kissed him for a few moments.

Ashton waved as he left and then I was alone with the kids.

"I'm going to head out as well, I've got to go shopping for a certain little four year old." Becca walked out of the dressing room.

"I go too?!" Gracie asked.

"You want to come shopping with me?" Becca asked Gracie who nodded. "Ask your Mommy if it's okay."

"Mommy pwease?" Gracie asked me and I sighed.

"Yes, you can go, but you must be a good girl. If I find out you acted bad then you won't get to go shopping again."

She nodded.

"Okay, give me a kiss."

Gracie gave me a hug and a kiss that I returned and watched as she left with Becca, the two holding hands.

As soon as they left, Michael, Calum, and Luke walked in.

"Hey End, we're going to go to this video game store downtown if you want to come?" Michael asked.

"Carter can I?" Ender asked me, practically begging.

"You have to finish your pre-test first." I said and he nodded.

Michael and Calum sat down and I sighed to myself. I really didn't want to be alone all day.

"We can go hang out if you want to?" Luke asked me.

"Really?" I questioned.

"Yeah. Come on." He smiled and I followed him, telling Ender goodbye and leaving with Luke.

He called a car for us and held my hand as we walked through the fans to get to the car once it arrived.

He had the driver take us downtown and then we got out and began to walk around the streets.

"So how are you liking being here so far?" He asked me.

"Good. I'm really excited to see you guys preform though. I've only seen pictures and seen the acoustic show."

"Yeah, it's fun. I hope you'll like it."

"I'm sure I will." I laughed.

We walked for a little longer until I turned and looked about to see a group of girls tailing us, a couple photographers were across the street as well.

Luke seemed to notice my nervousness and reached out to take my hand.

"Thank you." I gave him a smile.

"No problem." He squeezed my fingers.

Luke and I walked in and out of shops until we decided on a place for lunch and had a seat at one of the patio tables.

"So Luke, is there anyone special in your life?" I asked with a wink after I took a sip of my drink.

"No." He laughed. "I haven't found my Carter yet."

"What?" I laughed at this. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that I haven't found that one person I'm supposed to be with yet." He shrugged, his dimple showing in his smile.

"You're sweet." I returned his smile. "But I'm sure you'll find that one person, you're a very nice guy."

"Thanks, that actually means a lot coming from you." He blushed.

"Why?" I asked, curious.

"Well you just seem to be able to make good and trustworthy opinions on people. If there was a person you didn't like then I would know they must really not be a good person."

"Thank you, but it's just instinct."

He nodded.

"So what are you and Ashton planning on doing about what Jenna said on Twitter this morning?"

"Nothing." I shook my head. "I think he and I are both just over it. The most important thing is that Ashton and all of you guys know that's not true. I'm not those things she says I am, so I know the truth will be there."

"Well I just want you to know that we will always be there to defend you. You really are an amazing person, Ashton's really lucky to have you."

I blushed.

"I'm lucky to have him as well."

"So did you know when you met him that he was the one?"

"Well I hadn't been in a relationship before, so I didn't even know he liked me until we went on our first date. I was totally clueless. If I look back on it then it's all so obvious, but back then I really had no idea."

"He always knew, from the very first day." Luke shook his head with a laugh. "Wouldn't let any of us even try and go after you, he like claimed you basically the moment he saw you."

"You guys would've gone after me?" I laughed in surprise.

"Why wouldn't we? You're hot as hell, you're seriously the sweetest person in the world, you're mature and responsible, you're strong and know how to take care of yourself. We were all attracted to you, but Ashton just got there first."

I laughed at this.

"I'm serious!" He joined in. "He was so in love with you from the very start. I think you guys had been dating for two months and I walked in on him looking at engagement rings online."

"You're kidding." I giggled.

"No, he was! He was looking at rings, all he would talk about was marrying you and having babies with you. Literally that's all he would talk about."

"He's so sweet." I shook my head, a smile not leaving my lips.

"And when you guys found out about Gracie, he took a parenting class and went and talked with an expert on toddlers so he could help you out."

"He never told me that...he did that for me?"

"Yeah, he knew that this little girl would kind of be like your child, and he wanted to take care of her with you."

"He's so amazing." I sighed happily. "Gracie and Ender love him so much, it makes me so happy. Like this morning after Ender's meltdown, Ashton just laid with Ender and held him to calm him down, it was the sweetest thing."

Luke smiled.

"So what are your plans for when you get married?"

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"Well I know you want to wait a little bit, but how long?"

"I'm not sure. I just think our relationship is still very new, and while its strong and stable I'm just a little nervous that if we rush into marriage it could end up badly, and I love Ashton too much so that terrifies me."

"I understand. But I know that no matter what you guys will end up together, that's just how it's supposed to be. You guys were made for each other."

"I really appreciate that, thank you Luke."

Luke and I had a lovely rest of our lunch and spent the rest of our afternoon shopping.

He held my hand as we walked around which I greatly appreciated since I could see men with cameras photographing us.

Luke and I entered one clothing store and looked around and when we went to leave we were suddenly surrounded by fans of the band.

I gasped not knowing what to do and Luke saw me begin to panic.

"Excuse me guys." He said as he manoeuvred me through the crowd and down the street as quickly as he could.

"Oh my god." I breathed as we finally stopped.

"I know, I hate that too." He hugged me to calm me down.

Eventually we called the car to come pick us up again and it took us back to the hotel where Becca and Gracie were looking at all of the new outfits they had purchased.

Ender was still out with Michael and Calum and Ashton called that afternoon to say he would be a little later than he thought and continued to apologise repeatedly.

When Ender came back he showed me the comics he had got which he was very excited about.

"Car, I was wondering if maybe I could get a cellphone?" He asked me.

"You want a cellphone?" I asked and he nodded.

"Please? Everyone else has one."

"Let me discuss it with Ashton and I'll get back to you, okay bud?"

He smiled at this and hugged me again before taking off to go read his new books.

I ended up going out to dinner with the guys and the kids and we got back to the hotel where I got Ender and Gracie tucked into bed.

I got ready myself and then slipped beneath the covers, playing on my phone as I waited for Ashton to come back.

A wide smile came to my face as I scrolled through Instagram to see Luke had posted a selfie we had taken of us today.

'Had a great time hanging out with Carter today! It's always fun to talk to her and to hear about her life.
I learn something new about myself in every conversation I have with her, and I am so grateful for the wisdom and knowledge of life that she has passed on to me. It feels really good to have someone who listens to you and is interested in what you have to say.
For someone who has been through so much she really does have the most amazing outlook on life, and continues to inspire me everyday.
I hope everyone gets to have a conversation with her because you come out of it a better person.
Ashton, I hope you know how lucky you are to have found someone as amazing as Carter, and I hope I'm lucky enough to find someone half as amazing as she is one day.'

Luke was a sweetheart.

I texted Luke that I had a fun time hanging out with him today and then set my phone down, getting comfortable in the sheets.

I was almost asleep when I heard the click of the bedroom door opening.

Listening, I heard Ashton set down his guitar case and then take off his shoes. He walked into the bathroom and I heard the water in the restroom run for a moment as he brushed his teeth and then he came back out. I could hear him change clothes and then felt the bed dip as he got in next to me.

"Hey." I breathed as Ashton moved his body over mine, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, sorry I was so late."

"It's okay, how did it go?" I asked, my eyes still closed.

"Good. We got two songs and I laid out the drum tracks for them, that's why I was so late." His hand rubbed up and down my arm.

"I'm glad it went well." I smiled sleepily and heard him chuckle.

"Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah. It was fun." I said.

"Good." He patted my arm and then went to lay down so I could turn into him.

"I love you." I said as I buried my head into his chest, breathing in the smell of of his cologne and him.

"I love you too baby." He tilted my chin up so he could kiss me goodnight.

I was right.

Bad days could turn into good days.

--

Guys I'm so sorry for not having this up sooner! I JUST got back internet after not having it for over a week.

But here's the next part!

Comment and vote if you'd like and I'll have the next chapter up hopefully tomorrow!

Much love xx -M

ps. Girls Talk Boys is amazing I'm so in love !!!!!

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