Absence

5

I ran into the living room to find Asher standing in a defensive position, his hands balled into fists.

Casper stood up, seemingly cool and collected before kneeling down next to Paxton. "Hey buddy why don't you go get some toys to show me!" He smiled at Pax.

Paxton's face lit up. "Otay!" He said excitedly, running past all of us to go get his toys. Once Ash saw him go up the steps, he let out whatever he was holding back.

"How dare you have the fucking nerve to show up here and act like you've been here the whole time." He glared.

"For your information Asher. I have not been acting like that." Casper said calmly looking like he wanted to punch Ash square in the mouth.

Ash looked the same way.

"You fucking destroyed him Casper. DESTROYED." Ash snapped as I watched silently from behind.

"I'm aware of that," he said softly. "And I regret that but we've talked about it and things are clear. We believe that things revolve around what makes Paxton comfortable."

"What do you mean we!? In the end you have no say in any of this because he's not your son." Ash snapped at Casper.

Casper's jaw tensed and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Ash. I could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out what to say.  "I don't give a fuck about anything you have to say to me."

"Well you should, considering i've had more part in raising your son then you have pretty boy."

"We used to be friends." Casper said plainly, and Ash rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, emphasis on used too, you piece of shit."

"Ash." I called, but neither of them turned around to look at me.

"You're being childish." Casper muttered.

"Oh i'm being childish? Do we need to rewind a couple years, when I had more balls then you did to step up and help raise a kid that wasn't even my own, said kid being the one your arrogant ass walked out on?"

"You don't know what I was going through."

"Yeah, but I know what you put him through." Ash said, pointing over his shoulder too me. "So if you think you can just waltz back in here and not expect any backlash from me, or anyone else who knew Flint when you walked out, then you're the childish one."

"I'm still his father."

"DNA doesn't make you a dad, Woods."

I watched something go off in Casper's eyes, before he was shoving Ash back. "Get out of my face."

I didn't even need to see the look on Ash's face to know what was coming next. He was already raising his fist by the time I got over there, jumping onto his back to grab his fist. "Ash stop it!"

"Get off me Flint!" He shouted, stumbling back a little bit.

By this point, everyone was yelling and screaming at each other and I was 90% sure somebody was about to die as I tried to grab Ash's fists to prevent him from attacking the pop star infront of him.

A loud, ear piercing scream echoed off the walls, causing everyone to stop and look towards the sound. I saw the beautiful blue eyes I absolutely love with tears in them, holding onto one of his favorite stuffed animals, face flustered red and tear streaks down his face.

"Oh baby." I said, getting off Ash's back and rushing to aid my baby, picking him up and holding him close to my chest.

"No yell-" he cried with a hiccup, holding onto me tightly.