Reach For You [Dad!Calum Hood AU]

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

FOR THE NEXT few days, Calum was trying hard to keep it together. After wiping everything off his dresser and throwing a glass against the wall, he managed to keep calm. He wasn't a violent person, by any means, but the frustration had built up to the point where he knew if he didn't let it out in some way, he was going to explode. The second he arrived back to his rented penthouse in the city after his parking lot confrontation with Aspen, Calum let every bit of his frustration, anger, and heartbreak out.

That was three days ago. Yet, come Saturday, Calum was still battling an overwhelming flurry of emotions he wasn't used to.

How could she? How could Aspen just. . . Not tell him that he had a daughter? He knew for a fact that she was aware of his desire to someday have a family, to be a father and love his children with every fiber of his being. Their breakup had blindsided Calum and broke his heart, no doubt, but he so desperately wished Aspen had told him that she was pregnant. Instead she stayed away, God knows why, and welcomed their child into the world without him.

He should hate her. With everything he has, Calum should hate her, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do so. He couldn't before and he still couldn't now. He was beyond pissed, completely devastated that she kept Luna from him, but hating someone he once loved seemed too difficult for him. Every second he spent with Aspen was constantly playing through his mind for the past four years, closing Calum off from the possibility of ever having those kinds of memories with anyone new. His heart was guarded by fifty inch steel, refusing to let anyone sneak a peek as he threw out any chances of ever being with someone so emotionally, so intimately again. And it was all because of Aspen.

She destroyed him. In a way, she had. Yet somehow Calum still couldn't hate her. And he hated that.

He exhaled a sharp breath, grip on the steering wheel tightening as he leaned back in the seat. Over the past few days he had managed to calm down, and quickly Calum had become excited and beyond nervous to meet his daughter. Luna. He was going to meet his daughter, and Calum had no choice but to revel in this excitement by himself. He didn't tell any of the boys, didn't even mention to his family that he saw Aspen again. For now, he needed this for himself.

Pulling into the parking lot of the apartment complex Aspen had texted him the address of, Calum took in a deep breath before stepping out of his car. He made sure to grab the gift bag from the backseat, though he was a bit apprehensive if Luna would like it. He'd gone to Build-A-Bear and bought a snowy white teddy bear for her—he'd received quite a few looks from the people there—and bought a number of those outfits for Luna to dress it as she pleased. He didn't even know if she liked stuffed animals. He just didn't want to show up empty handed.

Stopping at the front door, Calum's eyes gazed over the names of the residents on the side, before pressing the button next to the one labeled A. Russo. "Hello?" her voice crackled through a moment later.

"It's me," Calum responded gruffly, unable to help the way his eyebrows twitched into a frown at the sound of her voice.

Instead of responding, Aspen buzzed him in and Calum headed towards the elevators, bringing him to the fourth floor where she'd told him they resided. Each step closer to the appropriate door had Calum's heart picking up its pace. He can't remember the last time he'd been this nervous—maybe the opening of his first club around a year ago?—but this was so much more intense. Nothing in the world could prepare him for this, he knew.

The door swung open after he knocked, and Calum tightened his jaw at the sight of Aspen. Just by one look at her face and Calum knew she was as anxious as he was. Her eyebrows were drawn together slightly in apprehension and her dark green eyes were loud in their nervousness. It was a tense situation they found themselves in and it was obvious neither of them knew how to go about it.