All Grown Up (Sequel To WDE)

8.

Ares' Pov

I call the police, but I'm black. What can they really help me with? Besides, Zeus could be in another country by now. I can't waste time.

I buy a Rottweiler to protect the house and a shot gun. I need Adonis to be completely secure. I love her so much, I can't explain. Would it be bad if I said I prefer it was Zeus than her? I don't know, maybe that's why I'm in the position I am now. Zeus is a strong boy, he can fend for himself. That doesn't mean I won't go to the ends of the Earth for him.

Adonis, I'm sure can defend herself now. It's just that when I met her at that college party, she was in an insecure shell of herself. She needed to be saved, she seemed so pure and honest. She reminded me of who I once was , she reminded me not to become the war I was a part of.

Speaking of the war, I remember being on edge all of the time. I was scared, I was young. I didn't grasp everything that was happening around me. I knew that saving someone else was the thing I should do since I couldn't save myself.

I went away to clear my head. I left to provide for my grandmother and to uphold my dad's legacy. I was a mess. My mother had been out of my life so long that I imagined my friends' moms as my own. I made up scenarios where they gave motherly advice and went to support me because that's all I ever wanted. My dad died when I was starting high school. His health was on decline and his heart gave out. That's the thing about my dad. He was the perfect father in his day, strong, proud, stern and loving. He put his all into me. He provided as best as he could and gave me love. I guess that's why my mom left me shortly after birth, she figured my dad had enough love for the both of them.

My dad took care of me and grandma. He did that until I was ten and he had a stroke. He raised me from a wheelchair after that, so when I got hit by the land mine, I knew I didn't want that suffering. He was dying in front of me and I couldn't do anything about it. He tried to hide his pain. I decided to be like Atlas and take on everyone's problems. I never knew that joining the army would put a strain on that. I enjoyed the experience, because I became a better man - from stealing food for support to providing bread to the family. However, I shot and killed a terrorist. I hated it. I hate what I did. I hate war, I didn't like innocent people dying because of what the rest of the world had going on. I seen women and children die by stray bullets or of thirst or hunger or the fumes...it haunted me for a long time.

When I met Adonis, I was at a low point in my life. My father was gone, I was in college, and my grandma was too old to take care of someone but needed to be taken care of. I left Afghanistan only to be stationed in Syria shortly after I met Adonis then back to Afghanistan. I seen so much in her, she was me when I was younger, in need of love she couldn't get but desired. Her fears were eating her alive. She had so much to give and I needed so much to receive. She made me believe that there is a God and she proved that He still loves me. I never met someone so headstrong, vibrant, levelheaded, and beautiful.

Before I was recruited, I made a terrible mistake that gave me the biggest blessing. I slept with a girl named Monica Lee. She was the school slut, I felt like I had to prove myself. I felt like I couldn't leave the country and possibly die while being a virgin. I saw more to her than she saw in herself, and she played me. She slept with my cousin while dating me.

When I met Zeus, I panicked. Zeus didn't. He attached himself to me. I knew what it was like to be abandoned by a young mother but raised by a father, so I did everything I could to be a strong dad. I guess as time grew on and the twins were born, I was worried Adonis would leave me like I've already been and Zeus. I knew deep down she wouldn't but I am a man built off insecurities. I wanted my kids to have both. I stopped focusing on Zeus because I saw so much of myself in him. I felt like he was strong like me. I was wrong ... I became my mother who abandoned her son.

Only this time I was here the whole time.