Diary of An Unnatural (BOOK #2)

We Are Family

Ava's POV

       I stepped outside in the cool winter's air, feeling the hair on my skin rise but more over the fact that William sat there on the porch steps with his head in his hands and his whole body shaking. 

"William," I whispered. "William, talk to me."

He kept his head down but stopped shaking while he spoke. "What, Ava? I told you, I need time. I give you yours. You give me mine."

"That's the thing though," I said, sitting down next to him. "Every time I find myself suffering from an emotional breakdown, you come to me. You know just what to say. You know how to make me feel better about myself. To make me feel a little less worthless."

The muscles in his back showed prominently through his thin hoodie. He hunched over like a broken down god. I realized then that I'd never seen William so vulnerable. Ever since I met him, he was the statue holding me up when I felt like nothing. Seeing him break made the inside of me feel like a bunch of hot air—pointless.

"You are not worthless," he sighed into his knees.

"You might think so, but that doesn't change how I feel." I tried getting a look at his face, but he kept it buried in his hands. "I know I can't change how you feel about Der—your father. I know you want time. I know you don't want to talk about it, but...You can't just keep your feelings all bottled up. You're angry, I get that. You've seen how I feel about my mom, and I don't even remember my dad. He's always been a figment of imagination, just someone Val talks about sometime. Someone I can't even tell you what he looks like, what he sounds like."

"It's not the same, Ava," he said, his voice soft and low. "This...man has been watching me my whole life and the one after that. He never came to me. He didn't look me in the eyes until a few days ago when he strolled in with a new title and that smug smile. I didn't tell you what he said when we first met back at the Hunters' base—that he said he knew me. He said that if I looked hard enough I would see that I knew him, too. Like he believed I saw him before."

"Or that you saw some of yourself in him," I offered.

His head shot up and his eyes bored into me like steel. "Don't say that. Dear God, don't compare me to that man. We have nothing in common, and there is no way I want to ever be like him."

"He's your father, William." I couldn't believe I was the one trying to convince William of Derek's goodness now. Not that I fully trusted Derek, but he had save us all. Whatever his motives had been was business of his own, I guess. "Isn't that what you always wanted? The man you always thought was your father, the one who beat you and kicked you out and blame you for something so horrible, no longer holds the title. Doesn't that make you feel a little better? That you don't have to live thinking you might end up like him? That it's not in your blood?"

"Not when the blood I do have is even stranger."

"Then talk to him," I insisted feeling sort of like the pushy therapist or the concerned girlfriend. "I know you want time. I know you want to figure this all out on your own, but you're not going to get very far. Derek sounds like he has his reasons. He sounds so sincere when he says he's sorry. Whether he means it or not, I don't know, but..."

William chewed on his lower lips before ducking his head back down in his hands with a groan. The way he held himself now, he seemed lost. Only a few days ago I found myself in the same position. My mother had lied to me just as his father. The difference though was that Derek helped us while my mother chased at our tails.