Love Her Wilde

Epilogue: Six Months Later

Ace

I stood in the hotel bathroom and watched as my little brother fiddled with the collar of his sky blue dress shirt. I had missed so much of his life. He wasn't the boy I remembered, but a full-grown man, making a way on his own. I chastised myself for allowing my father to come between us. I should've been there. I should've been there to help him, to teach him, to teach myself. Maybe if I had been...

"You alright?"

I snapped out of my daze and met is gaze in the mirror. "What? Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure?" Asher asked with a knowing smile.

I flashed him a less than convincing smirk and nodded. "Yeah, just thinking that the last time we were doing this, the roles were reversed."

Asher's smile slipped into one with more sympathy. "Have you talked to her?"

I shook my head. "For like a second, before she hands the phone off to Chloe."

His mouth tightened. "I'm sorry, Ace."

"Divorce papers were delivered this morning," I stated, my voice an even, emotionless monotone. "Sorry if I'm not really in celebrating mode."

Asher turned to face me, leaning his backside against the bathroom counter. "Are you going to sign them?"

"What choice do I have?" I asked with a shrug. "Summer won't even speak to me."

Asher took a beat and a deep breath before he spoke. "Look, I... I don't want to piss you off."

"Say what you want to say."

"The Ace I know, the one that basically raised me, he wouldn't just lay down and play dead."

I scoffed. "The Ace you know isn't the Ace that stands before you, Ash. A lot has changed since we were kids."

"Bullshit," Asher insisted, folding his arms over his chest. "I grew up idolizing you and Summer. You were the only family I knew. You were the only people that showed me what love was supposed to be like."

"Yeah, well, I think you and Dylan have us beat now, all things considered."

"Only because you're laying down instead of digging in."

My eyebrows inched onto my forehead. "Fuck, bro. Tell me how you really feel," I chuckled, amused at the unusual reversal of roles happening right now.

"You know I'm right," Asher insisted. "You're just letting her tell you it's over. You're not fighting. You've put up the white flag and given up and what I can't figure out is why. Why aren't you fighting this, Ace? What's going on?"

I heaved a sigh so heavy that it inflated my cheeks as I leaned against the doorframe behind me. Slowly, silently, I began shaking my head. "I don't know. I honestly don't know."

"I think it's because you're punishing yourself. You screwed up and you think you deserve to lose everything. You don't want to fight because you don't think you have any right to."

I ran my tongue along the front of my teeth. "You're not wrong."

"I know I'm not," Asher retorted with a cocky smirk. "But let me point out one small thing."

"Go for it."

"If Summer didn't want you to fight, why did it take her a year to file for divorce? If she was so done, why not do it right away? Why wait an entire fucking year to dig the grave?"

I blinked, my brain spinning like top on the floor. "I... I don't... I don't know."

"She WANTS you to fight, Ace. She wants you to fight for her. She wants you to TRY. Fucking send back those papers and do something," Asher advised, his voice as cold and stony serious as mine in the courtroom. "Do ANYTHING. But don't let it end like this. Don't let the only woman you've ever loved walk out of your fucking life thinking she isn't worth the battle."