Haven Harbor • a.i. •

Chapter 48

I closed my phone and flung it down onto the counter then snatched it back up again.

"Where are you going?" My mother asked me as I stomped out of the kitchen.

"Making a phone call." I said and went out to the back porch, dialling Michael's number.

"I'm assuming you read the article." Was the first thing he said to me, not even a hello.

"Yes." I growled. "My kids man, they took pictures of my freaking kids."

"Woah calm down." Michael rushed to settle my anger. "They don't know who she is, it's going to be fine."

"It doesn't matter. There's pictures of Carter, Gracie and Ender plastered all over Twitter and there's nothing I can go to protect them now."

"Then maybe that's a sign you should tell her." Michael said and suddenly it hit me.

This was it.

"You're right." I said and bit my lip. "When we get back to Haven I'll tell her."

"Good." Michael sighed. "You can only keep this up for so long until the fans find out who she is and the paps start taking photos of you guys."

"I just thought I would have a little more time." I almost whimpered like a hurt animal.

"Well you should've told her a long time ago, so this is just realisation setting in on you that the jig is up."

"Yeah..." I trailed off.

"Look, management is going to get calls from media asking who she is and trying to find you tomorrow so I want you to be safe man."

"We're going to the zoo tomorrow so that will be interesting."

"Just try."

"I will."

"Alright talk to you later."

I hung up the phone and slid it into my pocket again, dropping my head.

Tomorrow was going to be so stressful. I couldn't have security because that was too obvious and we'd stick out like a sore thumb. And Carter had already been freaked out by the body guard I had in Haven to make sure no fans found her so there was no point.

But I would have no control over how tomorrow went.

If fans did approach I would tell them no pictures, that I was with my family but that wouldn't stop them from trying.

Hopefully since it was a Thursday and most of them would be at school it wouldn't be so bad but my anxiety levels were already heightened in anticipation.

My worst fear was that Carter would find out from a fan who came up asking for a picture, so I had to make sure she was never around when that happened.

I went back inside, tired and ready to go continue what I had started with Carter earlier.

"Are you okay?" My mom asked as I shut the door and made my way to the hall.

"Yeah." I sighed.

"What's the plan for tomorrow so I know what to do?"

"If any fans come up to me, distract her and walk the other way. I'm going to say no pictures but they'll do it anyway so I don't think there's much I can really do."

"Okay then." She nodded.

I began to walk away when she spoke again.

"Ash?" She called out to me and I turned around to look at her. "You treat Gracie like she's your own child and you've only known her for a few weeks...there's something admirable about that. You're going to make a great father to her."

"Thanks." I gave her a soft smile and told her goodnight before going back to my room.

When I opened the door I wasn't too surprised to see Carter sitting up in the bed, her eyes closed and her head resting on the wall as she had fallen asleep waiting for me to come back.

Laughing lightly I climbed in bed and carefully moved her body down so that she was laying down normally.

Per usual, she gravitated towards me and her cold arms hit my chest as I swung my arm around her to pull her even closer to me.

I was really looking forward to what I had planned Saturday night because I knew she was going to love it.

It was easy to convince my mom to watch the kids for us and I was going to take Carter out to a really nice dinner, a few other places, and then we would spend the night in a really nice hotel downtown.

Even though it excited me for us to have some alone time together (besides when we sleep) I was also extremely nervous.

It wasn't because of fans or paparazzi or leaving Gracie and Ender for the first time, none of that concerned me because I was focused on something entirely different that made my heart beat a million times faster.

I was going to tell her I love her.

--

Screams!!!

AHHH yay!! haha

This is short I know but the next one is much longer with plenty of drama so you have that to look forward to I guess lol

Anyways, thanks so much for reading! As always, vote and comment if you'd like and the next part will be up soon!

much love xx -m