25. Chapter 25
Rhett
“What the fuck is this?”
My eyes snap open because for a second there I thought I heard Weston’s voice, but it must’ve been a nightmare.
“What the hell are you doing in my sister's bed?”
Holy shit. This isn’t a nightmare.
I sit straight up as Aspen holds the sheet against her body. “Let us explain.”
His face is red with rage, and his expression is stone fucking cold.
A look that will be burned into my memory for eternity.
“Explain what exactly?” he asks, looking between us.
It’s as if I watch the light bulb turn on in his head.
“You’re joking. Aspen, is he the dad? Is that why you wouldn’t tell me? ”
“Yes, but it’s more complicated than that,” she pleads. “Can you please leave the room? I think this is traumatic enough of an event for us all without having to add in accidental flashing.” She levels him with a look that only a sister can muster. Though he doesn’t look happy, he obliges.
As soon as the door slams closed, Aspen buries her head in her hands. “I cannot believe this is happening. I forgot he had told me he was swinging by to check on me this morning. I’m so sorry.”
Unfortunately, with the luck I have, I absolutely can believe it’s happening. “You don’t need to apologize to me for a single thing. It’s going to be fine. We’ll be honest and the rest is up to him.”
She scoffs and looks at me like I’m crazy. “I think we both know this is not going to go well. He’s mad. I’ve actually never seen him that mad.” Her messy bun is completely disheveled, and seeing how he just caught us in the act, this isn’t going to go well.
There are a million different scenarios where this could have gone slightly better; finding me in bed with his sister was the top tier of worsts.
We both throw on clothes and stare at each other.
“Whatever happens, we will see it through together, okay?” I say to her as her big brown eyes, wild with anxiety, look up at me. I lean down and peck her lips.
“Okay.” She reaches down to grab my hand. “This is going to be painful for all of us, but we’ll get through it.”
We step out into the living room, and Weston’s eyes immediately gravitate to our locked hands. The look he gives me when his eyes come up could send me to my grave.
“Do you want to sit down?” Aspen asks, tone far more leveled than I expected for the level of stress she’s under.
“Not really.”
Aspen rolls her shoulders. “Enough, Weston. Either you hear us out, or you can leave. You’re allowed to be mad, but if you’re going to be an ass, there’s the door.” She uses her free hand to gesture to the door with enough attitude to choke the room out of oxygen.
“Fine.” He sits down on the couch, definitely not less mad but hopefully willing to listen.
Kind of wishing we would have taken a second to hash out how we were going to tell him. But I need to be a man and take the brunt of this. I’ve lied to him for years; if the shoe were on the other foot, I’d be mad, too. Hurt.
“The baby is mine. It obviously wasn’t planned. But the most important thing you need to know is I love her. I’ve loved her for years. There’s a lot of other really complicated parts to how this happened. But this isn’t going away.”
He grinds his teeth, his jaw visibly flexing. “What could be so complicated that you could lie to me and look me in the eye every day?”
“Believe me when I say it was eating me alive, the guilt. But I couldn’t stay away from her. And initially it wasn’t serious. But,” I look away from him to her, “there isn’t a scenario where I wouldn’t have fallen in love with her. I was always meant to be hers.”
I look back to him, and his stare is cold before he slowly nods. “What are the complicated parts? I’m trying to understand why two of the people I love most in the world would lie to me for what seems to be years.”
Until today, Aspen is the only one in my world who knows about my grandpa. Who knows what I’ve been battling behind closed doors. I should have done this years ago.
“I am currently being tested for an inherited disease. It’s fatal, and usually ends with the person losing all ability to care for themselves, stripping them of all dignity physically, while still being mentally there to watch your loved ones break their backs to take care of you, and then you die.
” I clear my throat, letting him take a second to absorb that before moving on.
“It can be passed on to kids, so I never planned to have any. And I was never going to get married because I saw the toll it took on my parents; they went from madly in love to resenting each other, so though I wanted to be with Aspen, I didn’t want that to be her life. ”
Weston stares at me, slack-jawed and brows furrowed.
“You’d think I would have taken a lesson out of your book, and let her decide what she wanted and what she could handle instead of doing it for her, but that isn’t what I did. I tried to decide for her, and then fate took control.”
He blinks slowly before asking, “Do you know if you have the disease yet?” His voice lacks its usual warmth.
I shake my head. “No. That’s what we were waiting on to tell you. Get the results, deal with it and then tackle the next issue.”
He nods slowly, looking away from me, to his sister. “And you?”
“You want to know why I didn’t tell you?” Aspen asks.
He nods in response. I don’t miss the way his knuckles are white and his face is still flushed. This angry version of him is a Weston I don’t know and I had hoped to never meet.
“There was obviously a lot going on, and a lot of reasons. I was worried about hurting you, and I knew you would be mad. I can handle all that, but I was worried you’d be disappointed in me.
” She pauses, looking over to me, her gaze softening just enough for me to notice.
“But I love him too. We don’t have a whole lot figured out, but we have that, and for now, that’s good enough for me. ”
“It’s more disappointing that you didn’t think I was someone you could talk to.
Or that you both couldn’t have just been honest about the whole thing from the start.
But,” he shakes his head, fumbling for words, “I don’t know what to do.
I’m mad. I’m hurt. I think I need some time.
” He gets up off the couch and heads for the front door.
“Weston, please, don’t go,” Aspen says, reaching for him.
He pulls his hand away and the heartbreak is clear as day on her face.
“Weston, come on. We’re all adults.”
“You’re right. So you two are free to do what you want, but I don’t know when I’m going to be okay with it.”
He heads out the door, slamming it forcefully behind him.
“West!” Aspen says, her voice cracking as tears stream down her face.
But he is long gone.
She looks at me then, with a tear stricken face.
Right now, I want to punch Weston straight in the jaw for making her cry. He may be her brother, but she is the love of my life. That will come first, always.
I drag her into my arms, letting her cry it out. Her chest shakes with silent sobs. My heart breaks for her and for my friendship. I don’t know if we will get it back. If maybe I ruined our family dynamic just as I’m starting to grow my own.
“He’ll calm down,” I say as I stroke the back of her hair, pushing her closer to me. Not entirely sure if I am saying that to her or to myself.
“He hates me.” The heaviness in her words breaks my heart for her. I’ve always been jealous of her family, how close they all are. I cannot imagine how scary this must be for her.
“No, baby, he doesn’t. He’s hurt and he’s mad, but he will come around. Give him a few days and then try talking to him. He loves you.”
She nods, her lack of words speaks volumes for a girl who always has a lot to say.
“The good news is, the Band-Aid is off, and the worst of it is over. It may be scary right now, and seem like a mess, but it will clear out.”
“We need to tell my parents before this happens again. This sucks,” she says, slowly pulling back.
“Today?” I’ll do it if she asks, but I think I’d rather get in a pin with an angry bull than tell Jack I knocked up his daughter out of wedlock today after dealing with his son.
She pulls back, her face twisted with horror. “I’m crazy but not insane. Let’s maybe wait twenty-four hours to process the current shit show and then we can go and tell them together.”
“Deal.” I pull back, my hands wrapping around her arms. “In twenty-four hours, the worst of it will be done, and we will have nothing but good things to look forward to.” My smile is gentle as I try to inch her back from the edge.
I leave out the part where we are still waiting on results that will tell us how our lives are going to end up.