Fight Me (Fighting #1)

Chapter 3

Ian

"Ava let's go!!" I yell from the bottom of our stairs. Why does it have to take women so long to get ready?

Hell knows I'll never understand that shit. Nova sighs, irritated beside me. "Something wrong, son?" His gray eyes meet mine, with a smile.

"No. Everything's fine." I nod, even though I don't believe him.

"You can always talk to me, Nova." I remind him. He nods, smiling like a shark, and I know he's going to crack a joke.

"Sure, mom. I know." I punch his bicep, and smile satisfied when he does not flinch. He gives me his shark-like grin, clearly satisfied with himself, as am I.

"Okay. Let's go." Nova and I start our sarcastic clapping (we do this every other day when she takes too long), as Ava walks down the stairs. Damn it. My little girl is turning eighteen soon. Can you see how gorgeous my baby girl is? She wears a sun dress, and her black hair is in a pony tail. "Would you mind if Nathan hung out with us for a bit?" Ava asks me, her eyes full of hope, but there is no use. I hate that prick.

"No fucking way. I see that asshole again today, I will beat him." Nova growls.

"Language, Nova" He apologizes with his eyes and a nod. "Did he do something?" I ask him. He nods.

"Yeah. He was born." He respomds.  Ava slaps Nova's head. I glare at her.  She apologizes with her eyes. And that look alone has me turning to jelly inside. Keep it together, man. Don't let the eyes get to you. "I know you are mad at me for slamming him, but I only slammed him a little bit..." He says innocently. She growls.

"I don't want to hear it. Let's go." I say before they start to fight again. She stomps out of the house, without a backwards glance. Quite the temper on that one.

It runs in our blood, actually.

"Where did you put the surfboards?" I ask Nova as we make our way out.

"The Range Rover." He tosses me the keys, which I catch without looking at him. "About Ava...Dad-" he stops talking and I know he winced. I freeze and a pang of guilt makes my chest ache. I turn to look at him. I know I'm glaring.

I can't let them call me that. "Sorry." He says and tries to walk past me.

"Nova..." I stop him with a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs it off.

"I know. I can't call you that. I already said I'm sorry. It slipped." He walks, this time. I take my time closing the house, because I never cease to feel like shit when they accidently call me  dad, because I forbade them to. And it eats me, because I know it hurts them, but I can't do it. I can't let them do that.

I close up and walk over to our Range Rover. I get in and drive. Even though it's Ava riding shotgun, not a single word is spoken. She normally talks a lot.

And by a lot, I mean A-FUCKING-LOT.

"Guys, I'm sorry." I say once we are parked. I turn, so that I face a surprised Ava and a scowling Nova.

"About what?" Nova asks, rubbing at his eyes. I know when he does that, he is irritated, or angry. Or both.

"About being so hard on you...about calling me...that," Nova shakes his head, clearly angry. Ava puts a hand on mine and squeezes it. "We have a rule, and being the one who established it, I have to follow it too." Ever since they started to talk, I told them we would always speak our minds. No matter what it was and it has been that way always. People often approach me, shocked by their bluntness.

"If you were sorry, you'd let us do it." I open my mouth to speak, but he raises a hand. It pecks at my anger, but I push it away. "But I don't care. Your forbidding us to call you Dad, doesn't change our feeling that way." He breathes. I mimic him. I had no idea I had been holding my breath. "It doesn't change that you are, in fact our father, mother and uncle all in one. You just have to suck it up and accept that we love you as all those things." He finishes, never once leaving eye contact with me.