#8 - A Father
1126 Words
Asher
"He's yours."
"They are both yours."
I wasn't a runner.
Not from fights.
Not from consequences.
But I'd run last night.
And now I was running again, the early morning cold of the little town biting at my skin.
I ignored it.
My doctor's disapproval rang loud in my head. Take it easy.
It was drowned out just as quickly.
He's yours.
I'd never gotten anything so wrong.
Something sharp tore through my calf and I flinched. I'd definitely ripped something.
Good.
I didn't stop.
My mind wouldn't stop. The thoughts kept looping.
I let them.
I deserved everything.
For everything I'd done—or not done—for her... them.
That face flashed before my eyes. Not Jade's.
My Son—
I halted, something strange flickering inside me.
I was a father.
To a son and a daughter.
I shook my head, my chest pounding as I sprinted once again, pumping harder, eating up the ground beneath me. If only that were enough to outrun the last few hours... and my thoughts.
She'd kept them to herself.
Not a bloody whiff to let me know they existed.
And I probably deserved that too.
It didn't stop the rage simmering underneath it all.
"How's trying to kill yourself for being dumb going?" Grayson appeared by my side, grinning.
I knew the grin wasn't amusement. It was the look of a man who'd survived the same fall.
I wanted to keep falling.
"Hmm, probably not the best time to mention you have a wife and kids then?"
Wife and kids...
I stumbled at the reminder. "What the heck?!" I growled at my brother.
"Yeah. What the heck." Grayson stopped running. The grin vanished. "This is not you—"
"Maybe it is," I snapped, running a hand over my face.
"Maybe," Grayson shrugged, shoving his hands in his sweatpants pockets. "But it's not just about you anymore."
Not just about you.
The truth of that rang anew, knocking the air from my lungs.
I sank to a squat, chest heaving. "I don't know how the hell this happened."
"I have a pretty good guess—"
"Not that," I glared at my brother.
He squatted too. "Fate has the weirdest pranks, I'll tell you that."
"A prank? Really?" I gave Grayson the most incredulous look.
This was an overhaul of my entire existence, and I'd been totally drunk minutes before everything hit. Forget the months I could have had to prepare for it... them.
Okay, to be honest, I'd never have been ready even if I'd had centuries.
I'd known it the moment I fought the urge to go back to them and walked away last night.
At the time, I'd told myself I just needed to sober up first.
It was the biggest lie I'd told myself yet.
Grayson huffed under his breath. "If it makes you feel any better, it took me six years to know I was a father."
And he thought that was the problem?
Well, it was. But it was more than that too. Much more.
"I never wanted to be one." The confession slipped out.
I felt Grayson staring at me.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he said after what felt like an eternity.
I shot up and began walking.
I had become that kind of coward.
I hated it.
But it was better this way.
"You don't mean that." He grabbed my arm. "Tell me you don't— damn." He ran a hand over his face.
My chest tightened as I looked away. I'd never felt Grayson's disappointment.
Until now.
And I deserved it.
"Asher—"
"I've got to go—" I side stepped him.
"Wait, damn it!" He rounded in front of me. "I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine, Adi boy," I said tightly. "You're allowed to be disappointed when you realise your little brother isn't perfect after all."
I was more than imperfect.
He had no idea.
They had no idea.
"Cut the crap." Grayson arched a brow. "We both know that's not it."
I mirrored his stance. "And what exactly is it that you think we both know?"
He gave me a once-over. "You've never cared about being perfect. None of us bloody do. We just love—" he paused, eyes widening.
I preferred his disappointment to whatever the hell that look meant.
He stared at me a second longer, then let out a mocking laugh. "You're either the dumbest i***t I've ever met, or a complete coward. Did you actually think pushing her away would work? That you'd miraculously get rid of everything you felt?"
Damn.
How the hell had he jumped there so quickly?
I barely fought my jaw dropping to the floor.
"I don't know what the hell you are talking about." I began walking.
"Of course you don't," he snorted. "How's that working out for you so far by the way?"
I bristled at the sarcasm. At the reality that when it came to Jade, control was an illusion that I kept trying—and failing—to hold on to.
"What the hell do you want from me, Grayson?!" I snapped, glaring at him.
"That's the wrong question, don't you think?" he said calmly, going all big brother mode.
I hated it when he did that. Forced me to figure things out.
Except there was nothing to figure out this time.
I'd already blown it.
Everything.
She'd never forgive me.
I didn't want her to, but—
"I'm not playing this game with you," I huffed, walking away.
"Aiden might look like your replica, but I'm damned sure he takes after Jade while Aria—God, she's an absolute angel but even I can admit that she'll be one little rascal just like you."
Damn it, Grayson!
I spun to glare at my brother, throat closing up. I'd almost forgotten he could be ruthless too. Almost.
Aiden and Aria.
Their names. I'd been afraid to ask.
"What do you think?" Grayson shoved his phone into my hand.
It trembled.
My eyes blinked rapidly as they stung at the picture on the screen.
The world swayed around me.
My heart stuttered in my chest.
That illusion of control turning into something much worse.
"Are you okay?" Grayson asked, panic creeping into his voice.
I wasn't.
I didn't know what I was.
I sank to the pavement, willing my breathing to slow—and failing.
They were so damned perfect.
And they were mine.
Mine.
And for someone who'd known instantly what to do with the Frost legacy the moment it'd been handed to me, I had no bloody idea what to do with the two tiny Frosts staring back at me.
- Writer
