brenton's girl

fifty

Vivian's pov

I threw on a hoodie and my tennis shoes and slammed the bedroom door shut. I still wasn't used to the house being this quiet, that's why there was always music playing throughout the house. Now the Ashton's in the hospital all of the guards left and people stopped just showing up.

I walked downstairs and turned off the music. I took my phone off the charger and grabbed my keys. I had two missed calls from a number I wasn't familiar with. I called it back.

"Hello?" The voice behind the number sounded so familiar. It was deep and gravely, I just couldn't put a face to the sound. "Vivian?"

"Who is this?" I asked walking out the front door. I turned around and locked the deadbolt.

"It's Ashton dad."

"Oh my-"

"Sorry got calling like this and got calling so many times, I just needed to talk to someone that knew Ashton well." He said. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arm around myself. "I'm pretty sure you know him better than anyone, Vivian."

"I'm not sure about that, sir."

"I am." I smiled and walked to my car, i climbed in and turned on the heat. The florida air was becoming colder and colder. "I just had a couple of questions. I know I could probably call the hospital but they wouldn't tell me the truth, they'd only tell me what they think I need to hear."

"It's pretty fucked up that they do that. We deserve the truth, don't we?"

"We do." He said. "That's why I called you."

"What do you need to know?"

"Why did ashton do this?"

"You know why." I said.

"No, I don't want to hear 'greenland'." He said sharply. "I said that I wanted the truth, damnit."

I understood his anger, I felt his anger for crying out loud. I had the same question when I first heard the news, 'why did ashton take a bullet for someone?' 'Why did ashton do this?'

"He wanted to be a better man, believe it or not. He wanted to change and he wanted to grow and mature into a better man. But like he's told me, no matter how much he wants to change he won't leave greenland because they're his family. He won't turn his back on family. So of course he went on his assignment, but I think going against one of his friends fucked with him a bit." I said. I buckled my seatbelt and put the phone call on speaker. I backed out of the driveway.

"I've raised him differently than that, Vivian. My son would not have risked his life like that. My son would know that his mother and I could not lose another child. My son would understand that!" I took a deep breath and nodded my head. I tried to keep my hands steady but they were shaking on the wheel.

"I know." I said softly. "I don't think he was thinking about that, I don't think he was thinking at all."

"That was not my son." He said angrily before hanging up. My heart was drumming hard against my chest, my hands were shaking, and my head was throbbing.

"Fuck!" I screamed and hit the steering wheel, I pulled over to the side of the road and closed my eyes. "It's okay, Vivian." I said to myself. I managed to pull myself together before I put my car in drive, I started driving towards the hospital.

Leah's pov

The house was empty when I walked in, it smelled like it hasn't been cleaned in weeks, and there was trash everywhere. I walked into the kitchen then upstairs looking for my parents but they were nowhere to be found. I tried the door to my dads office but it was locked, as expected.