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Rhys
The prospect of me being a father came twice in one day, and it was nothing I expected it to be. Both times I was wracked with fear and denial, not wanting to face the fact that both times could have been true. Neither planned. Neither wanted.
I knew Melanie had less than a five percent chance of being pregnant. Not only because of everything the doctors told me, but because on top of that, we never had unprotected sex. It could still happen, of course, but unlikely.
What really bothered me was that Ash was in the middle of everything. Melanie was her freaking mother. Melanie was my ex. And I hated Melanie more for the way she treated Ash than the way she did me. I could move on, but Melanie was always going to be Ash’s mother.
Did Colin know?
Doubtful, he never saw Melanie face to face. He couldn’t have picked her out of a line up.
I was pacing along the window where I had first seen Melanie, thinking she was Ash. At first, I wondered how I could have made that mistake, but knowing they are mother and daughter explained a little bit. They were the same height with the same build.
When the lights were on, that all changed though. The only thing they had in common was their eyes, and it made me sick thinking of how many times I told Ash I loved her eyes, fearing that I was really seeing Melanie’s at the time.
Pulling my shirt over my head, I growled and tossed it into the couch, just to release some anger. My hands ran through my hair and I pushed the urge to scream as deep as it could go.
My intention was to head to bed with Ash, but I was too wound up to sleep, and ended up spending hours pacing my floors. I was leaning on the railing of the balcony when I heard the sliding door open slowly. Turning my head, I saw Ash pad her bare feet across the tile toward me. I held onto my grip on the balcony, wishing I could change everything about meeting Melanie, and just have met Ash first.
“Hey.” Her voice was quiet, unsure of my mood. My knuckles were white from my grip and my muscles were tense. I didn’t want her to be scared to talk to me, so I softened my shoulders and turned to pull her into my arms.
“You having trouble falling asleep?”
“I slept for four hours. When I woke up, you still weren’t there.”
Four hours?I knew I had lost track of time but I had no idea that long had passed.
“I just can’t stop thinking,” I explained. “I don’t know what to make of all this. How are you and Mel even related?”
“I’m having a hard time, too. Processing the fact that my mother is your ex. That she has been so close and intimate with you. That she shows up at my door…” Tears were coming down her face as she tried finishing her thought. Reaching out to her, I pulled her into a hug and held on tight against my chest.
“Being with you was never about her,” I vowed. “Her being pregnant is not about us.”
“I know it's not fair, but just the thought of her being loved by you, fucked by you…it makes me sick.”
“I know.” I kissed the top of her head and rubbed my hands down her back. I would feel the same way, probably worse, if she had been with someone I hated so much. Someone that had done me wrong and left me the way Mel left her.
Like my dad.
“Earlier tonight, I thought there was a chance I was having your baby. I spent hours in tears, alone, scared. Then she shows up and acts like…fuck I hate her.”
My eyes squeezed shut and fear wracked my body.
“Please don’t leave,” I whispered, falling to my knees to beg her for the only thing that mattered. I’d spent most of my night scared that she would end things between us before they even got started because of the role her mothered played in my life. That she once thought of herself as my rebound and when it sunk in that it was Mel I had been pining over, she would hate me.
She pulled away from my hold and looked down into my eyes, more unshed tears that made my chest ache and my stomach turn. “She only wants you back because she found out I have you, Rhys. I know you loved her in some way, but Melanie has never loved anyone more than she loves herself. This is fucked up shit between us, but I won’t let her win. Especially when I don’t have to face her alone.”
I reached up, my thumb skimming the dried tracks of tears on her cheek as I took in her words. So young, yet so strong. Ash amazed me with her backbone and determination. We were important to her, and worth not giving in to Mel’s charade.
“We face this together.” I nodded, agreeing with her. Mel had brought damage to both of us, but it was Ash that had taken the bigger blows in her life. Pregnant or not, Mel would never be able to hurt me the way she had her own daughter. And deep down, I knew we had been brought together so that she never had to face off with Mel alone, again.
“I’m not her,” Ash whispered. “I’m not leaving. And I’m sorry, again, that I let her scare me away the night I saw that text. I had no idea it was her, I just thought I was imposing on something that you two were trying to fix.”
“Don’t.” I shook my head and leaned in to touch my forehead to her stomach. “Don’t go there.”
I stayed on my knees, still with no shirt on and my jeans digging into the skin of my knees. I was willing and ready to continue to plead with her if needed. Not until she lifted my chin for me to look up at her did I considering getting up. “We got this,” she reaffirmed.
I stood and wrapped her into a hug, feeling relief that she was so fucking strong.
