Legacy (Book 5)

Only Love Could Hurt Like This

|Vaughn's POV|

Asher leaves for Japan today and I more and likely won't see him until the fall. That means he'll be missing out on my graduation and my birthday. He said if his schedule isn't packed he'll come back, but by the time I graduate, he'll have been there for 3 months. Who knows what he'll be doing. I won't get my hopes up.

I remember the day he told me he was leaving. He had been acting weird and was off during our training session. I confronted him afterwards and he broke the news. To say I was pissed was an understatement.

|Flashback|

We just finished our training session with Claudio. He pulled Asher to the side afterwards. I don't know what that was about. Claudio said goodbye to us both and I grabbed my stuff heading outside to Asher's car. The car ride was silent at first.

"What's going on?" I asked.

He glanced over at me before focusing back on the road.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Ash. You're hiding something. What were you and Claudio talking about?"

"You hungry? We can grab something before I drop you off."

I didn't say anything else. He could drive wherever. I wasn't leaving him alone until he told me. I knew in my gut something was going on.

We went to some restaurant and placed our orders. We were halfway through our meal before I started questioning him again.

"You good, V?"

"I'd be better if you'd just be honest with me."

He sighed.

"Alright, fine. Claudio has been telling me about some opportunities that are in Japan."

I wasn't surprised by this. He had brought it up to me to. Not necessarily wrestling in the indies, but he had some friends that I could train with once I graduated if I was interested. You bet your ass I was. Ashe and I had talked about going to Japan together.

"I'm going to Japan, V."

Asher and I had talked about going to Japan together so I wasn't phased by his comment.

"Okay. We talked about this."

"Yeah, we talked about going together in the fall. Claudio set some things out and I'm going now."

I dropped my fork and instantly started to feel a tightness in my chest.

"Now? What do you mean now?"

"I'll be gone by March."

"That's only a few weeks away."

"I know, V."

"How long have you known?"

"He just confirmed it with me today, but I've been..."

"You've been planning to leave and you're just now telling me?"

"V, we were going to go in the fall. What's a few months early?"

"It'll be 6 months before I see you again. Why can't you just wait?"

"I have the opportunity to go now. I have nothing holding me here."

"Oh, so I'm nothing?"

"V, come on. You know what I mean."

"No, I don't know what you mean. I'm here. We're training together here. You've made friends here. You have a job here."