He sat up. “What? What time is it?”
“Just past five. You need to get up. Ashton went to the track. He lost control and spun into the barrier. Damien, he’s in the ER.”
20
“I feel like a damn idiot,” Ash says the moment we enter his room. He’s been treated for a broken arm, a fractured rib, and is being held for observation for a concussion following a head injury. He looks pale and fragile in the hospital gown, but I think he actually looks better than Damien, who has lost all color.
I take his hand and give it a sympathetic squeeze.
“You got lucky,” Damien says. “It could have been a lot worse. I saw pictures of the car, and it looks like something out of a trash compactor. Honestly, Ash, what the hell were you thinking?”
To my surprise, Ash laughs.
Damien catches my eye, clearly surprised. “You think this is funny?” he asks Ash, who shakes his head.
“No, I—oh, hell. I grew up without a father. I think you just conveyed the full experience in a few words and one hell of a harsh tone.” He smiles, and the humor is gone from his voice when he says, very simply, “Thanks.”
Tears sting my eyes, and I’m not surprised when Damien reaches to steady himself by holding the back of a nearby chair. After a moment, he sits, and I busy myself pouring both of them some water.
“You still haven’t answered my question. What were you thinking?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t. After you left the hotel, I had a drink and went for a walk. I was trying to shake it off, you know? This anger at my grandfather. But I couldn’t. It was eating at me. So I went down to San Diego —”
“You what?”
“I know, I know. But, yeah. I confronted the bastard. And you know what? He admitted everything.” Ash shakes his head. “Lying to me about you all these years. The videos and texts. Hiring someone to sneak in and tape a note to the portrait. All of it. He said he was a weak man and that you’d never loved him, and that I was his second chance.”
He shudders, and I feel cold. That’s the same, manipulative Jeremiah Stark who’s shown himself so many times to Damien, and I can’t tell yet if Ash realizes that, too, or if he bought Jeremiah’s bullshit.
Then I see him draw in a breath and look Damien in the eye. “I saw it all then. The lies. The manipulation.” He scoffs. “It’s like I’d been wearing rose colored glasses, but I’m damn sure not anymore.”
“So what did you do?” I ask.
“I left. I told him he was a prick and I needed time to think, and then I just left. I drove around for a while, but I wanted more. So I went to the track.” He looks to Damien. “You know that track in the Palisades? I know the owner,” he adds after Damien nods. “And I keep a car garaged there. Have twenty-four hour access. A perk from my years behind the wheel.”
“That was reckless.”
Ash lifts his arm, now in plaster. “You think?” He shakes his head. “It wasn’t reckless. It was downright stupid. I haven’t raced professionally since that first accident, but I opened her up on that empty track anyway. A tire blew, and I spun out. If I’d been in a better headspace, maybe I could have corrected. Maybe not. Doesn’t really matter, since I ended up here. I’m just grateful one of the maintenance guys was on site. He called the ambulance.”
“We’re grateful, too,” I tell him, and he shoots me a smile. “How long do you have to stay here?”
“Overnight.” He taps his head. “Apparently someone needs to monitor me.”
“I think we can do better than that,” Damien says, and within fifteen minutes, Ash is discharged with instructions to stay the night at our house, where Damien, Bree, Gregory, and I will take turns waking him up every few hours until he’s out of the woods with the concussion.
“Are you sure?” Ash asks. “I don’t want to be any trouble.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Damien says.
Ash draws in a breath, then looks from Damien to me. “I’m not a man who breaks easily. But I have to say, I don’t know how to handle this. Seeing you here, caring about me, going out of your way for me. And me knowing how wrong I’ve gotten it for so many years.”
“I get it,” Damien says, moving to hold his uninjured hand. “You’re a good man, Ash. And you’re part of the family. I guess you’ll just have to learn how to deal with that.”
To my relief, Ash laughs. And his smile is a little watery when he says, “Thank you. Thank you both.”
It doesn’t take long to get his discharge papers, and soon enough we’re heading toward Malibu. The only downside is that the kids haven’t been prepared for this. Anne and Bradley are too young to question, but Lara’s already confused by what she heard Ash say at the vow renewal.
Gregory’s given them the head’s up that someone will be staying in one of the guest bedrooms, and Bree is outside with Anne and Bradley when we arrive. Lara, however, races toward us as we enter the house, then stops when she sees Ash.
“You’re the man from Mommy and Daddy’s ceremony.”
Ash shuffles his feet. “Yeah. That wasn’t my finest moment. And you’re Lara.”
She nods, then narrows her eyes at him. “Is Daddy really your daddy?”
“I am,” Damien says as she crosses her arms in full-on diva mode. “And that makes Ash your brother,” he continues.
“But you’re a grown-up,” she accuses Ash. “That can’t be right.”
“It’s a math thing,” Ash tells her. “You like math?”
Lara nods.
“Me, too. Maybe we can work some puzzles later. Want to?”
I meet Damien’s eyes, and we share a moment of pleasant surprise as Lara says, “Okay.”
“You want to show me to my room?” he asks, and she bounces with glee, then takes his hand. Ash has no luggage, so Damien and I linger, letting Ash and Lara have their own moment.
“I can’t believe how fast things have turned around with him,” I say. “I’m glad, too. I genuinely like him.”
“Me, too,” Damien says. “But what the hell was he doing racing like that?”
“Yeah,” I say, staring my husband down. “How could he possibly lose his temper and fly off the handle. I wonder where he gets that?” I smile sweetly, then watch as Damien lifts his hand in surrender.
I hear Lara chattering before we actually see them return. She’s going a mile a minute, telling Ash about the house and Sunshine and her dance lessons and on and on. He shoots us an amused glance as they pass, and Lara drags him outside to meet Bradley, Anne, and Bree.
“Should we invite Jackson and Syl over?” Damien asks.
I shake my head. “Tomorrow, maybe. He must be achy from the crash—we need to tell Lara that he needs rest—so I don’t think we should overwhelm him with relatives too soon.”
“You’re right. I’m just....” He trails off, shaking his head. “I guess I’m happy. And I want him to feel comfortable with us. With all of us.”
I tug him to a stop and slide into his arms. “I like you happy.”