Jasper bit his tongue against asking if that was really okay. It was fine. He didn’t want to see his father, and if he died it was likely because he’d been a drunken bastard for most of his life.
“So I’m going to tell her you don’t want to talk right now. And that you’re thinking about what to do,” Vincent said after a moment. “You don’t have to change your decision, but I did make arrangements for a flight back this evening in case you do.”
He wouldn’t, but he didn’t bother saying so. He pulled back and rolled over to bury himself under the covers. He didn’t care. His father had made it clear how much of a nuisance and disappointment Jasper was. Why should he have to give up the first vacation he’d ever had because the asshole might die?
When Amber took him in, his father never once called him to see where he’d gone or if he was coming back. Jasper assumed Amber had informed him at some point, but it’d been over a year since he’d last seen or spoken to his father.
He tugged the covers tighter when he heard Vincent speaking downstairs.
“No, he doesn’t want to speak to you. He’s awake. Yes, I told him. I’ll let you know when he makes a decision. No. No,” he repeated, sounding more than a little aggravated. “He’s anadult. He can—” Vincent snarled softly a few moments before he started up the stairs.
Jasper heaved a sigh and sat up, not at all surprised she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Even if she’d let Jasper move in, she didn’t know the full extent of his father’s neglect. Or pretended not to.
“She wants to hear from you,” Vincent said softly, putting the phone on Speaker and holding it towards Jasper.
He almost took the offer of being a coward, but dealing with her in a week would be bad enough without adding not speaking to her now on his list of offenses. He took the phone from Vincent and turned off the speaker. At Vincent’s questioning look, Jasper shook his head and waited for him to go back downstairs before staring at the phone and the call-duration time ticking up. He finally lifted it to his ear and said, “I don’t want to talk.”
“Jas,” Amber said, exasperated and harried. There were muffled voices in the background and the faint squeak of shoes on linoleum. “You need to come to the hospital. There’s a flight leaving at one. I already bought the tickets for you. I sent Vincent all the info.”
“Does he want to see me?”
“What—”
“Does he even want to see me,” he repeated slower, enunciating every word.
“Of course he wants to see you.”
Jasper scoffed. “Sure. Let me hear him say it, then.”
“He’s asleep right now.”
“Then call me back when he wakes up.”
“Get on the plane, Jasper! You can talk to him when you get here.”
Jasper sneered and resisted the urge to find a hammer to break the phone into pieces. “No.”
“What the fuck do you mean, no?”
“I’m not coming back just because he might die.”
“Heisdying,” she snapped. “The cancer’s already spread everywhere. There’s nothing they can do but make him comfortable.”
“Which is more than he deserves,” he said before he could stop himself.
“Jasper Paulos Saris!”
He jabbed the End Call button and tossed the phone aside. It immediately started ringing, but he ignored it. Then ignored it again the next two times.
Five minutes later, he finally got sick enough of the ringing to answer, and she didn’t give him time to say a word before ripping into him. “Stop being selfish! Vincent can take you on another vacation whenever you want. Your father is on his deathbed, and you will be here by tonight!”
“Or what?” he asked tightly, struggling against the painful racing of his heart.
A beat of silence followed before she answered. “Or you can find a new living arrangement.”
“You’re a fucking bitch, Amber. Stop calling.” He threw the phone aside and stalked downstairs to the balcony. The near-stifling heat did nothing for his desire to scream, but he held it in. What peace and happiness he’d found the past several days was utterly obliterated now, and the guilt wriggling its way through him only made it worse.
He hated that he felt even a shred of guilt for not wanting to go back. Sharing blood didn’t mean anything. If it did, Amber’s family should have been there after his mother died, but those long years after her death, Jasper had only had his brother. Until he disappeared too.
