"Something in your eye?" Avery teased suddenly taking the seat next to him as he handed him a paper plate with a generous portion of birthday cake and a scoop of ice cream.

"Man screw you." Jayden snapped back blinking his eyes. He refused to cry; he refused to acknowledge that it still hurts to see little kids at birthday parties enjoying the fussiness of not only their mommies but their daddies too. Damn, why did he come he cursed himself. His mind wasn't done with the mental torture just yet.

"Birthdays still bother you eh?" Avery observed taking a large gulp out of his own cake.

"Eh… It is what it is…" Jayden commented. He still couldn't shake those unwanted thoughts of his father. He hadn't seen or heard from that old man since the incidence. He cringed thinking about how much he had buried his pride and asked the man if he could come stay with him? He wondered how was he doing and then mentally kicked himself for worrying about the man. At twenty-five he still wrestled with issues of abandonment, resentment, anger and curiosity as to why did his father never wanted to be a part of his life. Still to this day he wondered what his father looked like; it had been almost ten years since he had seen him.

"You're a grown up now… It's over; forget about it." Avery encouraged just before he suddenly got up and left going to his own son.

His entire life everyone who knew his father always said the same thing, 'my-my-my, you're Jacob Ellis's splitting image.' However when he did see the man, he could never see the resemblance. Jayden had to be honest; he did go out of his way not to have any resemblance to the man; be it in looks, demeanor, personality, lifestyle, habits, women etc. Whatever it was and at whatever price he had to pay, he would be nothing like his father.

"Hey A.J. here- look here; look here lil' man…" He watched as Avery called out to his son vying for his attention. Avery was attempting to capture a candid look of A.J. and was trying to get him to look his way so he could snap it up. Click-Click-Click went the digital camera in rapid succession followed by Avery's ever increasing smile as he watched the photo materializing before his eyes. This was as close to fatherhood that Jayden was comfortable with and wanted to be; godfather. He couldn't risk having the kind of swag his own father carried. He was scared that his father's ways were genetics and that he had inherited them. He couldn't and wouldn't run the risk of hurting another innocent child like he had been. Therefore he was determined never to get into a committed relationship with a woman. That was definitely an accident waiting to happen and no one was ever going to turn him into a whipped pup dictating to him on how to live his life and be. Jacob Ellis was the perfect example of what not to be as a man; and for damn sure not a father. Jayden was determine that his swagger would be different if by nothing else than the power of his will alone.




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