Dirty Little Secret

Fathers and Apologies

Jason's POV

I stand beside Nick as he goes to speak with my Father, my heart pounding in my chest as I look at the man, mixed emotions flying through me.

Anger. Hurt. Regret. Sadness.

A part of me wants to believe he had nothing to do with this, but there's no way he didn't. While my mom and I never really got along, Dad always tried his hardest to be the parents the three of us needed. He always did his best to temper Moms outbursts of crazy.

But that doesn't change the fact that he allowed Nick to be taken and played house with Mom and the three of us knowing it was wrong.

Breathe, Jace. We'll come see him by ourselves one day, but right now Nick needs us. Ryan tells me and I listen to him, taking a slow deep breath as Nick and Dad teach for the receivers.

And to my surprise, Dad is the first to speak, my super hearing allowing me to listen in on the conversation without my own receiver. "Hi, boys. Your sister couldn't bare to see me, huh?" He asks and I'm surprised at how hard the revelation seems to hit him. I notice that his body seems more frail than before as if he hasn't been eating, the bags under his eyes discolored and low.

"She doesn't know we're here." I answer loud enough for him to pick up on it with those wolfsbane cuffs on, and he glances up at me and nods, the tears in his eyes seeming to clear a little.

"Nick I-" Dad starts, but he stops to clear his voice. "I'm so sorry that I let this happen. When your mot- when Shannon took you all those years ago, I knew it was wrong. I told her it was, because we would be putting another family though what we went through when we lost the real Nick. She was desperate to stop the pain, and I selfishly let her do it because I wanted the pain gone too. But it never went away. It got worse over time because I knew you were really him, no matter how much pretending any of us did. But it felt like it was too late. I couldn't do anything to stop it without destroying our family. I was a coward. I chose keeping our dysfunctional family together over saving you and making sure you had the best life and opportunities. Which would have been with your family. And what made it worse was when I figured out you two." He explains and my jaw almost falls to the floor, Nicks face turning beet red, his hand around the receiver going white.

What?

"What do you mean?" Nick asks our dad with a shaky voice and I watch as his watered eyes spill over, his composure falling as he cried openly and while my heart squeezes, I stay stonefaced even as my Runt starts sniffling.

"Ever since Jace turned sixteen and he hadn't found his Mate, I had this feeling. I can't explain it. Somehow I knew that the impossible had happened and that you were his Mate. And then you turned sixteen and confirmed my deepest fear. Not only had we stolen you from your family, we had stolen your chance at finding each other and having the stress free beautiful experience of finding your Mate. We ruined your life, Nick and for that I can never forgive myself. I never did anything to fix the situation, I sat back like a coward and let things get way too far. I don't deserve to call myself a father." His sobbed words are like knives to the heart and stomach, sorrow and rage welling inside of me at my father.

For being in that situation because he loved someone so much, I felt pity and compassion. But for standing aside and watching our fate be twisted and all the things we endured because of it, makes white hot fury burn in my gut, tears filling my eyes though I don't know what emotions drives them.

To my surprise though, Nick speaks up, and his voice isn't broken or wavering. "When you get out, we should meet again. You might not be my dad, but you were the parent that took the best care of me. You can be my honorary uncle." He starts and I watch as my Dad sobs harder and my heart warms are the amount of compassion and kindness my runt has knowing that's all him, no way in hell he got it from our family. "But I can't forgive you. Not yet. You watched Jace suffer for years and let us go through so much and still we were the ones who had to fix your wrongs. Maybe when you have done your five years I'll forgive you or maybe you'll need to work hard once you get out, but... I don't think I'm ready to push my first father out of my life." He says and my own eyes fill with tears as I lean down to kiss my runt on the head.

My dad continues crying even after he nods and they take him away, but my eyes are only for Nicky. I grab his hand once my father is behind locked doors, and lead him back outside, the sun shining down on us brightly though a shiver pases through me.

I feel Nicky squeeze my hand and when I look down at him, he smiles.

"Thank you for letting me get closure." He tells me and I smile before pulling him to my chest, hugging him tightly.

"Anything for my little runt. Besides I'm proud of you I could have never handled that that well." I tell him honestly making him blush.

"You're the best." He tells me shyly, and coming from his mouth, it makes me feel ten feet tall.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Guys i think this book only has two chapters left TWO CHAPTERS LEFT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT OMG. I'm so excited to write all of the other books you guys picked out. this winter line up is amazing.

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QOTD: What do you want for christmas?