There was a loud pounding at the door. I jolted awake and sat upright. When I looked at the alarm clock, it said 1:45 a.m.

I groaned and rolled out of bed, glancing over at Cole who was still sound asleep. When I got to the door of the hotel room, I opened it up to find none other than Ash standing there looking infuriated.

"Is your stuff packed up?" he demanded.

"Shh, keep it down." I told him. "Cole's sleeping."

He scowled, "Why the hell should I care if that scumbag is still asleep or not? I hate him so much right now. I can't believe you two would even think about sleeping in the same room together. Who's idea was that anyways?"

I looked down at the pine green carpeted floor, "Cole's,"

"I knew it! This was his plan all along!" he cried.

I heard Cole stirring in his sleep, and I turned my head to find him sitting up. "Who's at the door?" he asked, followed by a yawn.

"It's me, Ash." Ash stormed into the room and flipped on the lights. Cole's eyes widened at the sudden brightness and he squinted at Ash in disbelief.

"What are you doing here?" Cole asked him.

"I came here to pick up Evalynne." Ash replied evenly. "I heard that you were inappropriately touching her."

Cole chuckled lazily, "What are you, my mother?"

"No, but I am Evalynne's boyfriend. And I wasn't going to let her spend another waking moment with you."

"Ash, just relax," I told him calmly.

"Relax?" he shouted. "How do you expect me to relax when this tool is feeling you up?"

I bit my lip, feeling myself blush. "Just don't yell so loud," I murmured.

He shook his head in rage, "Evalynne, you're acting like this is no big deal!"

"That's because it isn't." Cole remarked, standing up out of bed.

Ash deadpanned him, "Shut up, before I get even more angry."

"I'm not scared of you." Cole scoffed. "And don't act so tough, because you're not."

"Oh really?" Ash demanded. And then to my horror, he swung his fist out, punching Cole right in the face. Cole collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Ash!" I cried.

"Would you please keep it down in here? People are trying to sleep!" a man called out. I turned around to find him standing in our doorway, with a tired and angry expression on his face. When he saw Cole lying on the ground with a huge bruise on his cheek, he glanced up at Ash who was panting in fury.

"Um...sorry for all the noise. We promise to keep it down." I apologized lamely.

The man shook his head, "I'm calling the front desk." Then he scurried off down the hallway.

"Great," I muttered. "You've been in this hotel for five minutes and you've already gotten yourself kicked out." I said to Ash.

"Well sorry, but he was making me mad." he replied.

"Yeah, well right now you're making me kind of mad."

"Sorry," he murmured.

I just rolled my eyes and kneeled down next to Cole, getting a closer look at his face. Ash had punched him really hard. I could tell by the black and blue bruise the size of a golf ball on his face. Cole's mouth was also slightly open and I could see blood trickling out of it. Ash must have really damaged his teeth.

Within minutes the manager and two security guards were in the room, dragging Ash out and pushing past me to kneel next to Cole and tend to his wound. I backed up and watched it all play out. And that's when I realized what a monster Ash was.

I never would have thought that he was capable of hurting Cole the way he did. And I never was really able to picture him killing his dad either. The way he talked to his mom sometimes was just so horrible. I barely knew anything about Ash.

And there was no way I was going to date, and definitely not marry someone who I knew nothing about. It seemed like every time Ash got angry, he snapped and hurt someone, whether it be emotionally or physically. And I didn't like that.

In fact, I hated it.