“I don’t want to leave.”
“We don’t have to.”
He clutched Vincent’s shirt. “Really?”
Vincent paused his stroking and curled his fingers tight for a moment, tingles of pleasure sparking along Jasper’s scalp. “I can’t make this choice for you. Whatever you decide, I’ll support you either way. Even if it pisses off your family.”
Jasper swallowed hard. “You don’t think I’m being selfish?”
“No.” Vincent dragged his fingers to the back of Jasper’s neck. “In my experience, selfish is a word entitled people throw around when they don’t get their way.” He dug his thumb into a knot on Jasper’s shoulder. “It’s not selfish to protect yourself. Idon’t know anything about your relationship other than he was abusive.”
Jasper blinked against the prickling in his eyes. How was it fair that someone he’d only known a few months cared more about him than his own family? He took several slow breaths until he didn’t feel like he’d shatter into pieces anymore, though it didn’t help the choking sensation from all the words trying to escape. Talking about his father was the absolute last thing he wanted to do, but the day was already ruined. Fuck, probably the rest of the week, and the rest of the vacation too. How could he possibly enjoy himself now?
“He used to lock us in our room on the weekends,” he murmured. “Said we were too loud. Then he turned up the TV so he couldn’t hear us.” Vincent squeezed his arm but didn’t speak, and Jasper couldn’t stand the silence. “Would punish Noah whenever he got bad grades. He broke Noah’s arm when he got an F, but then some woman came around and started asking questions, and he switched to the belt.”
Somehow that had been worse, but then Noah took off the moment he graduated, and Jasper was left to deal with their father alone. He’d been old enough by then he could mostly fend for himself, and a locked door was more a blessing than a punishment. He’d expected to take his brother’s place with the belt and groundings, but he only ever caught his father’s attention when the bastard was drunk.
He’d chalked it up to the fact he’d kept his grades up and had learned to live silently. It wasn’t until Noah called one evening needing bail money that he’d overheard his father tell Noah he wasn’t his kid and to never call again. At first he’d thought that meant because Noah was an adult and not his legal responsibility anymore. It was only later that Jasper realized he’d meant it as literal truth when his father was drunk and muttering about finally being rid of “that bastard’s bastard.”
Exhaustion seeped through Jasper when he finished explaining all this to Vincent, though he couldn’t ignore the relief that came with it. He’d never told anyone about any of that before. He’d never even noticed the weight of the secrets until some of it eased away.
“You don’t owe it to him to be there,” Vincent said quietly when the silence stretched between them. “And you don’t owe anyone an explanation on why. But you do owe it to yourself to consider if there’s anything you want to say to him before you no longer have the chance.”
Jasper scoffed and burrowed closer. “Like what? Thanks for ruining my life, Dad?”
“If that’s something you want to get off your chest.”
“No….” He didn’t have much of anything he wanted to say. He didn’t even care about the why. He vaguely remembered his parents before his mother died, and he preferred to think it was her death that changed him. “I just don’t want to feel guilty for not going.” Or to lose his home, but even he knew better than to say that aloud.
“Not sure I can help with that.”
Jasper groaned and crawled completely on top of Vincent. “What good are you, then?” he grumbled.
“Not much it seems.”
He grunted and bit Vincent’s shoulder, then let out a frustrated whine. “We should go back,” he muttered, but he made no effort to move.
“Is that what you want to do?”
“No, but Amber will be a bitch if I don’t.”
“Forget Amber for the moment.”
Jasper made a face and rolled off Vincent to stare at the ceiling. “You don’t live with her.” Vincent’s curious hum almost distracted Jasper enough to get his hopes up, but he refused to stress about his living situation until he had to. “We could…come back after?” he asked softly. It was ridiculous to even think that was possible. He didn’t know how much Vincent had already spent on this cabin or the tickets, but it was too much.
Before he could try to take it back Vincent replied. “We could. We still have the cabin for over a week.”
A different guilt twisted through Jasper’s chest, but he tried to shove it down. Tried to tell himself this was his birthday gift. That if Vincent wasn’t willing to spend the money on tickets, he wouldn’t have offered. “I’ll pay you back,” he blurted, then winced. He barely had enough money to cover emergency necessities as it was.
“It won’t cost me anything,” Vincent said, earning a sharp look from Jasper.
“Why won’t it?”
Vincent cleared his throat. “I requested to borrow my grandfather’s private jet in case you decided to go back. It’ll be here late this afternoon.”
Jasper pushed onto his elbows to stare at Vincent. “You did what now? Wait, when did you find out?” The way Vincent refused to meet his eye probably should have been concerning, but Jasper was more interested in the fact that Vincent seemed nervous. It was such a rare phenomenon he almost wanted to take a picture.
“About three this morning.”
