Page 42 of The Secret Life of a Witch

“So, you were lying …? About what?”

Cupping the back of my neck, he slips the balled-up jacket beneath my head like a pillow. “You said you should’ve known better than to think I’d ever lie to you and”—he audibly gulps—“I nodded without thinking.”

I stare up at the shooting stars now blazing across the midnight blue sky as I attempt to process what happened before I blacked out. He’s right; the pain only came when I declared he hasn’t ever lied to me, and then he nodded.

“So … you have been lying to me about something else?”

He smashes his lips together and nods. “But I promise that every single one of them is for a good reason.”

My eyes enlarge. “Every single one of them? As in, you’ve been lying to me about more than one thing?” I move to sit up, needing some space, but his fingers splay across my shoulders, securing me in place.

“I don’t want you getting up until I examine you,” he says, keeping me pinned to the ground. “I want to make sure everything is healed from the contract breaking before you start moving around.”

I rub my aching chest. “You might want to check my heart first, because it hurts the worst.”

“Eva …” A heavy amount of remorse weighs in his tone as his hand finds my cheek. “What I lied about … I did that to protect you. And to protect our friendship. If you knew everything I’ve done … what I’m still doing … you’d probably hate me.”

I shake my head. “The only thing I could hate you for is if you did put my sister in harm’s way. These lies … do they have anything to do with her?”

“Not entirely... But that doesn’t make it any better.” He moves his hand away from my cheek, sits back on his heels, and stares out at the road in the distance. “I’ve been lying to you for years. What kind of friend does that make me?”

“The normal kind, probably.” I turn my head to look at him. He seems so haunted, so broken, so unlike the Hunter I see every day.Does this pain have anything to do with what he’s keeping from me? “Besides, if you can deal with me possibly being a hybrid, then I can get over you telling me a few fibs.”

“Me being able to deal with that is part of the reason I’ve been lying to you,” he admits, turning his head toward me. If possible, his expression conveys even more guilt. The sight sends my heart thundering in my chest.

“What do you mean, it’s part of the reason? Wait … Have you known I might be one?”

He steadily carries my gaze, but his hands tremble. “I have.”

And just like that, my heart goes from being wounded to being completely shattered.

EVALEE

Idon’t know how long I lie there, staring up at the sky, wishing on every single shooting star that what he just said was a lie. Sadly, I think this might be the first time he’s ever been entirely truthful with me.

No wonder he hasn’t mentioned anything about the demon saying I was a hybrid. He already knew!

“How long?” I finally manage to choke out.

He kneels in front of me, his gaze locking with mine. “Before I answer that, I want you to know that our friendship”—he motions between us—“is real.”

“How long?” I repeat, ignoring him.

While I want to believe he’s been my BFF this entire time, I’m unsure what to believe anymore.

He closes his eyes and inhales shakily. “Since the day I met you.”

Quite possibly the worst answer in all of witches’ time.

A lump swells in my throat. “So, from the day you met me, you’ve known that I’m part demon?”

“Not the entire time... There was a while where they weren’t sure what you are.” A drop of panic creeps into his tone.

I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. “Wait, just how many people know this about me?”

He hesitates, his eyes skimming the fields around us. “Eva, I really think we should go somewhere private to talk about this.”

“Fine,” I lie. Like hell I’m going anywhere with him, not right now, not ever. “But you have to let me up in order to do that.”

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