(unedited)

Stuck now so long,
We just got the start wrong.
No more last place,
You better get your story straight.
You can't stop this.

"Haven't Had Enough" –Marianas Trench

Driving arrangements were a pain in the ass.

Nathan had originally planned it all out- him, Keira, Ashton and I in a car, Jacen, Skylar and Vanessa in the other, with him and Jacen as the designated drivers- then Ashton, control freak he was, decided he wanted to drive and switched everything up.

He put Keira, Nathan and Vanessa in a car, then him, Skylar, Jacen and me in the other. Which, I was okay with. Except it didn't stay that away.

Skylar didn't want to be in the same car as Jacen, since apparently she was mad at him for something he had done in the past week. So she switched into Nathan, Keira and Vanessa's car.

Since I hadn't really wanted to end up alone with Jacen and Ashton, I had asked Vanessa to switch into our car. But Skylar had refused the idea, saying she didn't want to be a third wheel.

Apparently I wasn't in trouble for that, since Jacen and Ashton didn't have anything going on.

Anything romantic, I mean.

Which was how I ended up in a car with Jacen and Ashton. For an hour and a half. Manageable, except for the fact that the air was stiff with tension, even if neither of the guys had talked. At least it gave me time to think, even with how suffocating it felt.

Ashton, damn him, had rang the doorbell before Kaden could had answered my question. I wasn't sure what he had been about to say, but it made sense. Why he wouldn't give up on the Elite's case.

Kaden wasn't one for revenge, really, but family mattered to him.

It wasn't like he had denied it, either. He had simply sighed and closed his eyes. Did that mean Blake and Avril had been killed by someone in the Elite or their families? The people I was spending an entire week with?

"You okay?"

I jumped and glanced over to see Ashton had taken his eyes off the road and was giving me a curious look. "I'm fine," I said. "Eyes on the road."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't think we're in danger of running into someone."

He had a point there. The highway we were on was practically deserted. There was a long stretch of beach on one side of us, and fields or forests on the other. Even Nathan, Keira, Skylar and Vanessa's car wasn't on the same road as us. They had taken a different highway.

Apparently it was a sort of bet they had every year. The highway the others had gone on was a lot shorter, without so many winding turns- but there was more traffic. While ours was half an hour or so longer, it had less people.

The last person we had passed had been twenty or so minutes ago.

"How far are we?" I asked, glancing out at window. The scenery was nice, especially since it was a hot, sunny day, but you could only see so many beaches before they got tiring. Though, I guess the most draining things were what I was thinking about and the quiet tension between Jacen and Ashton.

"Is that your way of asking 'Are we there yet?'" he teased.

I turned back to look at him and raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

"We're about ten minutes from the town it's located outside of. So, soon," he said. "Sick of us?"

"Maybe..." I trailed off, matching his light tone. It was a welcome break from the suffocating silence that had been present for most of the car ride before.

"Get a room," Jacen muttered from the back. "And Skylar was worried about being a third wheel."

"You should've complained before we started driving," Ashton said, an underlying harshness in his tone. Well, there goes the nice, almost playful thing we had going.

"Wouldn't have been a problem if you had left the driving arrangements as they were," Jacen shot back.

Ashton snorted. "Like, I'd let you drive my car."

"Guys..." I started. Well, at least it was happening now, when we were only a little over twenty minutes away from the beach cottage instead of earlier.

They ignored me.

"You have before," Jacen said.

I glanced at Ashton. He had actually let Jacen drive his car? But he hated Jacen. And Jacen hated him. Btu since Jacen was still sixteen; it must've been in the past year.

"Yeah, and you ran over three nails," Ashton retorted.

"You let him drive you car?" I asked. I wasn't sure how Ashton was with his car, but judging from the rest of his personality, he didn't seem like the kind of person to just lend it out. Especially not to someone he hated.

He sighed. "Long story."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you usually let people drive your car?"

He hesitated. "No," he said finally.

"But you let Jacen drive your car?" I repeated.

"I drove it better than you do," Jacen interrupted from the back. I resisted the urge to groan. Does he purposely try to piss off Ashton, or is this just his natural personality? There were moments were Jacen seemed genuinely nice, and then other times he was an utter asshole. Which I knew was probably normal for guys, but it was still pretty damn annoying.

"Watch the road!" I yelled at Ashton, when he turned to glare at Jacen. Thankfully, Ashton followed my order and faced the front again in time to see a turtle starting across the road.

He swerved, managing to avoid the turtle. Except, we hit a bump, causing the car to jolt forward and almost start spinning. Ashton jerked the wheel back before it could and hit the brake, making the car roll to a stop just before it fell off the edge of the highway. He started reversing, but before we got very far, a pop! cracked through the air.

I glanced at him. "What was that?"

He gritted his teeth, then eased the car back to the side of the highway even as it started shaking a little. "One of the back tires just blew out." He shifted the car into Park, and clicked the button to pop open the trunk, then unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out. When Jacen and I got out of the car, he was already leaning down to examine the back tire on the right.

"High air pressure. The heat and the bump caused it to explode," he said, moving around to the back of the car.

Jacen leaned against the side of the car, looking bored.

Ashton ducked under the trunk opening and dug around for a moment before coming back out. "And we don't have an extra one, thanks to someone running over nails." He gave Jacen a pointed look.

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked.

Ashton pulled out his phone, and let out a low curse. "I forgot to charge it last night."

"I have mine." I said, going back to the passenger side of the car and opening the door so I could grab my phone.

"See if you can find somewhere we can get a tire. If not, a towing company," Ashton instructed.

I still had service out here, thankfully, so I opened the maps app and tried to find the closest place we could get a tire from. "There's a town with a hardware store a little more than half a mile from here," I told them, zooming in on the little marked dot. "One of us can walk down, buy a tire and bring it back."

Jacen straightened from his slouched position against the car. "I'll go."

Ashton glanced at him. "I don't trust you," he said, shaking his head.

I sighed. "I'll go with him."

But Ashton just shook his head again.

Jacen rolled his eyes. "What, do you want us all to go and make this a group bonding experience or some shit like that?"

"Someone has to watch the car," Ashton told him.

"Fine," Jacen said. "You go with Elena, then."

"I'm not leaving you alone, I don't trust you," Ashton repeated. I glanced between them. Ugh, I should really be used to this, but seriously?

"You and your trust issues," Jacen muttered. He looked at us, then at the slashed tire. "If you want to play babysitter, then why don't you come with me?"

"Bad idea," I cut in. "I don't trust you two together."

A wicked gleam entered his eyes. "Looks like none of us really trust each other."

"I don't trust you guys not to kill each other," I said, not even bothering to deny it. Ashton frowned, while Jacen smirked. Strange, how they were pretty alike, but at the same time opposites. Ashton took things a lot more seriously than Jacen, who always made it seem like he was playing a game.

Possibly something he picked up from his sister.

"What do you suggest then, Elena?" Jacen asked, turning to look at me.

I glanced between them. "Ashton can go. That way Jacen's not alone with the car."

"I'm not leaving you with him," Ashton said.

Jacen raised an eyebrow. "Scared she'll jump me?"

"More like the other way around," Ashton muttered.

I closed my eyes, then glanced up at the sky in exasperation. "This is going nowhere. So what, do you want us to all just wait here?"

"I'll call Sky," Ashton said. "And ask her to ask Nate to come by and give us his extra tire."

"How do you know he'll have one?" I asked.

"Because Nate is a safety freak like that," he replied. "He always has everything in case something happens."

"Didn't you say he was taking a different route?" I asked even as I entered my pass code and handed him my phone.

"It shouldn't be hard to come over." He dialed, then held the phone to his ear. "Hey, where are you guys?" he said a moment later, walking away a little. "We popped a tire. Can you tell Nate to come by?"

I glanced at Jacen as Ashton wandered a bit farther. He smirked. "Probably the most alone we're gonna be for a while, if-" He jerked his head towards Ashton. "Mr. Control Freak over there has anything to do with it. Anything you want to say?"

"Do you purposely try to provoke him?" I demanded.

He shrugged. "It's not my fault he gets annoyed easily."

"I know you hate him because of what happened with Olivia," I said, causing him to stiffen and the arrogant smile to drop from his face. "But why does he hate you?... Or do you just have a talent in pissing people off?" I asked, when he didn't reply.

"Something like that," he replied. "You'll have to ask him and see if he chooses to answer."

Knowing Ashton he probably won't.

Before I could reply, Ashton came back, a grim expression on his face. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"They're stuck in traffic, about half an hour away," he replied. "Which means we're on our own."

"How far are we from the cottage again?" I asked.

"Fifteen minute drive. A little less than an hour for walking, maybe," Ashton told me. We could walk, I suppose, though I don't know if Ashton would be okay with leaving the car here. "Jacen and I will go get the tire. Can you stay here and watch the car?"

"I don't trust you two together," I reminded him, glancing between him and Jacen. He sighed, grabbed my arm and led me a little bit away from the car so Jacen wouldn't hear us talking. "You're going to kill each other."

"He's not worth going to prison for," Ashton said dismissively.

"I'm serious, Ashton," I hissed.

"I'm not letting him go anywhere alone, and I'm definitely not leaving him with you," he replied, giving me a hard look.

"I can take care of myself," I told him.

"He's six inches taller and probably has twenty pounds more muscle," Ashton said flatly.

I glared at him. "I have pepper spray." Not a complete lie. Clark had given me some when I had turned thirteen. I just didn't happen to have it on me, since I had never needed to use it, and still wasn't a hundred percent sure it was legal. So I left it at home in the back of my closet.

"On you?" he asked.

"Yes," I lied.

"I think you're lying," he said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because if you did, you probably would've already used it on us," he pointed out. "Look, Elle, I don't want you ending up in a roadside, ditch alright?"

The nickname. I was still trying to figure out why he used it at certain times, but not at others. "Why do you care?" I asked.

"Kaden would kill me if I brought his daughter home in a wooden box." He paused. "And I don't want to see you in a coffin, either, alright?"

I blinked. "Did you just admit you cared?"

"I said I didn't want to see you dead," he corrected. I blinked again. Then stared at him. He shifted uncomfortably, then sighed. "I care enough to not want you dead, yes."

"Okay," I said. Then I slapped him.

"What the fuck?" Ashton asked, raising a hand to his cheek. "Jeez, Elle."

"I'll stay with the car," I told him. "But I can still take care of myself."

Before he could reply, Jacen wandered over. "You guys done, or should I call up the nearest motel and request a room in your name?" he asked.

"We're done. You guys are getting the tire," I replied, heading back to the car.

Jacen stepped up beside me. "Nice slap. I didn't know Ashton was into the whole dominatrix thing."

I glanced at him. "I think you need to get laid."

"What?" Jacen sputtered. Wow. The first time I've seen him speechless, or almost speechless, I think. Score for me!

"Well, you're awfully concerned about a non-existent sex life," I said. "So maybe your own has been lacking."

"She got you there." I jumped, and glanced back to see Ashton behind us. He nodded to Jacen. "Let's go," he said, then turned to me. "We'll be back in thirty."

"Alright, I'll just wait here then." I leaned against the car for a second, then moved away, the scorching metal burning through my t-shirt.

"We only need the tire, we shouldn't be long," Ashton replied. He handed me his car keys. "Here, you can stay in the car and turn on the AC if you want."

"You trust her with your car?" Jacen asked.

Ashton glanced at him. "There's a flat tire. It's not like she can go anywhere."

"You know," I cut in, looking between them. "You guys are doing a very good job of convincing me that one of you will end up in a body bag."

"Don't worry, Elle," Ashton said, as he started yanking Jacen away. "He can't get me and I'm not stupid."

"What is with the nickname?" I heard Jacen demand as they walked away.

"Wait," I called before they could get too far. Ashton glanced back. "Do you guys know where it is?" Ashton's phone was dead, so that wasn't much help and I wasn't sure how well they knew the tone.

"Jacen has his phone," Ashton yelled back.

I climbed into the car and leaned back, closing my eyes. I had half an hour to wait. I considered getting out and exploring the beach or something, then decided against it. Instead I let my thoughts drift to Ashton and Jacen, or more specifically, what Jacen had said.

He hated Ashton because of what happened with Olivia, which was somewhat understandable, but why did Ashton hate Jacen so much? Was it just because Jacen hated him, or had Jacen also done something to him?

Then there was Blake and Avril. I had a feeling it wasn't someone in the Elite who had killed them, since that they would've been twelve. Not exactly the age where you can plot two murders well enough to get away with it. Which meant their deaths might not actually be related to the case.

If that was true, what had they been working on that pissed the Elite's families, or one of their families, off enough to kill them? What other horrible secrets could they have? What was so bad they had killed someone?

Maybe murder runs in the family.

Whoever was doing it now's parent had killed Blake and Avril five years ago. It was possible, but did that mean that the Elite knew about it? Had they known Blake and Avril had been my adopted parents at the time? Was that why I had been chosen?

I shook my head, almost dizzy from the questions. It was possible Blake and Avril weren't related to any of this at all, aside from being murdered by the same group of people. At this point I wasn't sure about anything, and I would most likely only drive myself insane with creating possibilities.

I checked the time, then decided to send a quick text to Kaden.

You have a lot of explaining to do.

PS. I'm still alive :)

I left out the fact that we had a flat tire and I was currently sitting alone in a car on the side of the road and hit send.

I looked up from my phone to see two figures down the road. Ashton and Jacen. They had a tire with them... And Jacen had a bloody nose.

What the hell?

I got out of the car as they approached. "What happened?" I asked, gesturing to Jacen's bloody face.

He jerked his head towards Ashton. "He punched me."

I trailed after Ashton as he opened the trunk and pulled out a couple tools. "What happened to 'I'm not stupid'?" I demanded, attempting to mimic his voice for the last part.

"That's what happens when he tries to steal my phone," he replied, moving to the back tire on the right.

I glanced at Jacen. "You tried to steal his phone?"

He snorted, but before he could reply with actual words, Ashton spoke up. "Can you guys find some big rocks to put at the front wheels so the car doesn't go sliding?"

Jacen, surprisingly, didn't protest, instead he walked towards the side of the road. I sighed and decided to check on the beach, the opposite way he had gone. As I moved through the hot sand, I realized something.

Ashton's phone was dead.

-- ♡ --

Teaser: "Why did Ashton punch you?"

QotC: Why do you think Elena was chosen?

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