“I don’t know. If I go back there, it’ll be the same old shit, you know? Sorry, I don’t mean to keep cursing,” Ash says. “But I know she won’t change. Once we lost my dad, it’s like I lost her too.”
His words make me so sad. He may have his mother physically, but she’s not really there for him. I can’t imagine dealing with something like that.
“Stop apologizing. We all curse in this house. Sometimes even Beck,” Mom says wryly, which is the truth. When Beck was younger, he was a total parrot, mimicking all of us, usually only the bad words. “If you don’t want to go back and live with your mom yet, you don’t have to.”
“I told him the same thing,” Dad chimes in.
“I’m going up to my room,” Jake says, sounding totally bored. He exits the living room, stopping short when he notices me lurking, and sends me a quizzical look. “What are you doing?”
“Sshh.” I rest my finger over my lip, but too late. Everyone heard Jake call me out.
Ash leans around the edge of the doorway to see both Jake and me standing there. “Callahan, whatcha doing? Why you lurking around out here like a stalker?”
The amusement in his voice, the smile on his face and the sparkle in his gaze fills me with infinite relief. It seems like forever since I saw him last, even if it’s only been around twenty-four hours, and I wish I could run up to him and grab him like I want to.
But I don’t. Instead I smile at him in return and duck my head, a little embarrassed I got caught spying. “I thought you might want to talk to my parents alone. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“I think we’re done.” He leaves the living room without saying another word to either of my parents and comes toward me. His dark gaze is all for me, and I tilt my head back as he draws even closer. Probably too close, especially if Dad’s watching. “Let’s go outside and talk,” Ash says, his voice low. Intimate. “I’ll tell you everything that happened.”
I send him a look, trying to communicate with my eyes that maybe that’s not a good idea, but he’s not getting it. Of course he’s not. He’s too focused on me, and while I appreciate that, we have to watch what we’re doing. I don’t want to make my mom worry, or my dad suspicious.
“Come on,” Ash says when I still haven’t spoken and I follow after him, going through the kitchen, pleasantly surprised when he opens the back door for me.
All I know is I was an antsy mess while he was gone, and I’m so glad to have him back. To know he’s safe and in my house. With me.
I don’t know if I ever want him to leave.
Twenty-Seven
Drew
“Why are they going outside together?” I watch my baby girl, my firstborn, follow after Asher Davis, toward the pool. They disappear from view for only a moment only to reappear, and I watch in disbelief as Ash settles himself on a lounge chair and pats the spot in between his now spread legs, a shit-eating grin on his face.
Just like that, Autumn plops in between his legs, snuggling up close, her back to his front as Ash wraps his arms around my daughter and gives her a squeeze, dropping a kiss on the side of her neck.
What the ever-loving fuck?
“I think you know why they’re going outside together. They want to be alone,” Fable murmurs as she stops to stand next to me. She’s staring out the window as well, slowly shaking her head, though she’s not scowling. I know I’m scowling. I can’t believe that little shit is touching my daughter like he owns her. “I knew this was going to happen,” she adds, like the all-knowing mother figure she is.
“What was going to happen?” I tear my gaze away from Ash and Autumn, my heart twisting in my chest. My baby girl isn’t a baby any longer. I know this. I’ve known it for a while, but it’s hard for a father to look at his daughter, and not see a precious little toddler screaming Daddy! Daddy! every single time she caught sight of me.
Now she’s a seventeen-year-old, in her senior year, about to graduate and leave our home to go to college, and she’s sitting way too close to one of the horniest players I’ve got on my football team.
I fucking hate this.
“I think they’re together. As in, they’re in a relationship,” Fable says, like it’s no big deal.
But it’s a huge deal. “We’ve got to break them up.”
“What?” I turn to see Fable is staring at me, her green eyes narrowed, her cheeks turning pink like they do when she’s upset. “Why in the world would you want to break them up?”
“He’s not good enough for our daughter,” I say with a fierce shake of my head.
“Andrew Callahan, I can’t even believe you would say something like that.” The disappointment in my wife’s voice is undeniable. I just thoroughly pissed her off. “I thought you liked Ash.”
“I did. I do. But come on. Let’s be real, no one is good enough for our daughter. None of these kids are. Hell, I couldn’t stand that little Ben Murray wimp,” I say, not bothering to hide the disgust in my voice.
Fable rolls her eyes. I must frustrate her on a daily basis. “Ben was the sweetest boy. I adored him.”
“I never liked him.” I shake my head, glance through the window one more time to see Ash and Autumn’s heads bent close together as if they’re kissing, and I can’t take it any longer. I leave the living room completely, heading into the kitchen with Fable hot on my heels.
“Don’t you dare go outside and cause a scene,” she says.
I turn to face my wife. “Like I’d do that.” That wasn’t my plan. Not really.
Fine. I was going to head out there, make a lot of noise to get them to jump apart, and then I would’ve asked Ash to help me with…something. A made-up project, maybe.
She stops short and makes a funny little face. “Hey, I don’t know. Just seconds ago you’re saying he’s not good enough for her and now you’re making your way to the back door like you’re going to barge outside and tell him to keep his hands off your daughter.”
That’s a good idea too. But I’m guessing Fable’s joking. “You’re really okay with the two of them together?”
Fable stands quiet for a moment, and I know she’s mulling it over. I trust my wife’s judgment completely. She doesn’t make rash decisions—not anymore—and we’ve been together for so long, we can usually read each other’s thoughts.
But I’m shocked when she finally gives me her answer.
“I’m okay with the two of them together. I like Ash. He reminds me so much of myself when I was a teenager. My mom was a nightmare, you know this, and I don’t think Ash’s mom is much better,” Fable explains.
“His mother is piece of garbage, and that’s me being polite,” I say tightly. I watched how that woman talked to her son over breakfast. I made sure I was facing their table. I even heard a few of the things she said to him. She tried her best to manipulate him, even crying while she said she missed him so much and wished they could be a family again. She kept saying she wanted him to come back to their apartment.
Her behavior made me suspicious, and I could see the guilt written all over Ash’s face as she kept talking. And talking. I’m not sure why she wants him back so badly. When he’s home, which isn’t much, she yells at him all the time, even smacks him around a little when she’s completely wasted. Ash never fights back, because he’s not about to hit a woman, especially his own mother. That’s what he confessed to me a few days ago.
Just hearing that story broke my heart, yet it also infuriated me. Yes, I like Ash. I think he’s a fucking amazing quarterback, he’s a decent kid, but he follows trouble. He also causes trouble. He’s reckless and does stupid shit, but hell, he’s seventeen. Of course he does.
If he keeps his head on straight, he could possibly go on to do amazing things. He’s talented. Smart. His grades are decent. He has tremendous potential. I could help him with his future if he’ll let me. Guide him. Just like I plan on doing with my son.