Page 70 of Blinded
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BAYNE
"That should be the last of it." I dusted off my hands as I set the last box in the living room of Brett's parents' new home. "You sure you don't want help unpacking?"
"No, we'll slowly get through the boxes as we settle in. You guys have done enough helping us get the large stuff inside. I really have to thank you and the pack for all the help." Phil smiled.
"I told you this pack was nothing like our old one." Brett grinned.
His parents had joined pack several nights after they arrived, and since then had been a very active part in pack life. They would be great assets and I was excited to see what role they would play as they got comfortable with life here.
"You'll stay for dinner, won't you?" Brett's mom stuck her head around the corner to look at us.
"Actually, we are going to go. Kurt needed to talk to me about something and we promised him we'd drop by." Brett glanced over at me.
I nodded. "Another time?"
"Any time you want. You two are always welcome here." She smiled.
I really liked his family. I had yet to meet his sister, but his parents were amazing. It made me wonder what my own parents would be like if they were still around. I was glad Brett had his family close, and that they seemed happy with the location and the new pack.
"Thanks, Mom." Brett went over to her and hugged her. "We'll be by soon. You guys call us if you need anything."
"We will, but I think we'll be fine. You two go and do what you need to do. Thank you again for all the help, and for finding this house for us." She kissed his cheek.
The house was smaller, perfect for a couple who didn't want a lot of upkeep. It also was less than a mile from the pack house, making it easy for them to spend time there and have a place to run and hunt when they wanted.
"We'll be by soon." Brett waved as he took my hand.
"Have a good night." I smiled as we headed out the door.
Once we were in the car, Brett glanced at me. "Any idea why Kurt wanted us to meet him at the cells?"
"No, but I'm guessing it has to do with Mark, the other guy who was working with Justin. If it's not that, then it will be some other problem. He only uses the cells when it's not safe to bring someone to the pack house." I pulled out on the road and headed toward the cells.
"I hope it's nothing new. After Bridger's death, it's the last thing the pack needs." Brett stared out the window.
"There's always something going on. Kurt is good about keeping most of it from the rest of the pack unless they need to know. I see more of it than most since I work with him so often. Most of the time it's just one of the pack members being careless or getting drunk. Nothing major, but every now and then something comes up where he has to bring in others to help." You couldn't pay me to run a pack. I don't know how Kurt manages to keep his sanity. Dealing with so many personalities would be more than I could handle.
"I don't know why he would call us if it was Mark. Wouldn't they just kill him?"
"That depends on how involved he was with the attacks. Kurt's good at smelling a lie. He will have interrogated Mark to make sure he got the truth. Kurt can't kill him unless he's a risk to the pack or shifters in general. We have no idea how much he knows."
Brett rolled down his window, turning his face to catch the wind. "I'd almost let myself forget he was out there."
"You've had a lot going on. Besides, it wasn't your place to worry about him. That's what Kurt's job is." Through our link, I felt Brett's uneasiness. He didn't want to think about the attack anymore, and I didn't blame him. Now that he had his sight back, we both just wanted to move on. I hoped if this was Mark we were going to deal with, it would be the final step before we could find closure and move on with our lives.
"Corta pulled me aside yesterday and had me talk to Gloria. She runs the elementary school in town. They have a position open for a third-grade teacher." Brett didn't look at me as he spoke but kept his face toward the window.
"Do you want to take it?" The thought of us being apart for eight hours a day nearly killed me, but I'd known the time would come where we would have to get back to work and face the fact that we couldn't be together all the time.
"I do. But how do you feel about it?" He turned his head, finally looking at me.
"I hate the idea of being apart for so many hours every day, but it's how things are. I mean Kurt and Josh aren't together all the time, and look at Cohen and Stephen. Cohen is gone sometimes twelve hours or more working at the hospital. I guess it's something I'll get used to." I ran my hand over my chest, feeling an ache at the thought of being apart.
"I don't like the idea either, but I know I'll go nuts with nothing to do, and I can't do what you do. I don't have the stomach for it. I miss being around the kids. I enjoy teaching. I don't want to refuse this offer and miss my chance to get my foot in the door. Who knows when another position will open up?" Brett reached over and touched my arm as I held onto the steering wheel. "If you're okay with it, I'd like to take the job."
"Babe, if you want the job, take it. I'm not going to stop you. I want you happy, and you're right, we can't be together all the time. As much as I would love to have you by my side all day, we do need our own lives. We'll drive each other crazy if we don't. Besides, there are things I do in my job that I'd rather not have you witness. I don't want you having those memories or thoughts in your mind. If what was done to Justin makes you uncomfortable, a lot of what I do would bother you. This is for the best. You go teach the future of our community while I continue to take down the bad seeds." I hated that he asked me for permission to take the job. "We'll figure out how to deal with the separation. It's only a few hours a day. Others survive it, so will we."
