Page 19 of The Secret of Pain

“Sorry, sweetheart, we weren’t…” Maddie starts, and I wave her off.

“Don’t be silly, I was playing. You guys can keep your hushed whispers as long as I can get a plate of whatever that smell is.” I eye the stove behind Creek; he always could cook, but the smells of meat and herbs from behind him are divine. I flutter my lashes at him playfully and he laughs before handing me a plate. I take a bite and groan, heading to the table to annihilate the meat, potato, and egg goodness before me.

“Am I missing something?” Colt asks, his eyes bouncing between me and Creek. “I am definitely missing something.” He eyes me almost suspiciously as he sits next to me with his own plate before the others join us. Dad and Maddie chatter away while the rest of us eat in silence. Creek smiles at me, causing me to smile back, and Colt’s frown grows.

“So… I guess you guys should know,” I tell them after I finish eating. The silence that drops into the room is almost deafening. “Last night opened my eyes. A lot. This Hunter thing is a lot. Like beyond anything I could have ever even imagined.”

“Remy, you don’t have to decide yet,” my dad says gruffly, and I shake my head.

“No, Dad. I do. I’ve already made my decision. I have so much to lose, no matter what I choose, but I can’t give this up knowing the truth. I choose to be a Hunter.” I finish saying the words, and I feel something settle inside of me, almost like I just stepped onto a new path of my fate. “I couldn’t continue living my life, knowing what I know. Looking over my shoulder every day, being afraid of the dark. Giving up my family, my heritage. Knowing that people were dying, that maybe they wouldn’t if I hadn’t made the selfish choice to ignore the knowledge that I have now.”

Maddie’s eyes well, and she blinks to wash away the tears that threaten. I can’t tell if she’s happy or not. My dad’s face barely changes, but he does give me a small smile with a nod. “Well, good. I’ll contact the Elders to prepare the ritual.”

“Hell yes! Little sis is with us once again. Remington motherfucking Bennett, ladies and gentlemen. Factions beware, ’cause my sister is a badass!” Colt says and I laugh at his enthusiasm. “You knew, didn’t you, asshole?” he says to Creek who shrugs and stands, clearing the table.

“If I did or not, I’m just glad she made the choice she did,” he says softly with a smile before loading the dishes into the dishwasher. I feel a little guilty, he saved me, cooked, and is now cleaning, but he looks almost content doing what he’s doing, so I smile back.

“So, now that you guys know, I have to go blow up my life,” I say with a heavy breath.

“I know this is hard, sweetheart, and if you need any help, we’re all here. For anything,” Maddie says, and my dad grunts his agreement.

“Well, first, I need to deal with school, unenroll from everything I just started, cancel my whole life I guess, and then I need to speak to Jack.” I hold my head in my hands before running them through my hair.

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but he cannot know, Remy. He can’t know any of it,” my dad tells me, and while I know he’s not sorry to see Jack go, I can see in his eyes that he’s sorry I’m hurting.

“I know, Dad. I won’t tell him. He’d try and have me committed if I started talking about this stuff in front of him. I just need to kinda break my own heart and hide it while I break his, and that’s not easy.” Maddie stands and comes to hug me while Colt squeezes my hand.

“I can’t tell you I know what this is like, I’ve loved my Nate since I was nothing more than a girl, but I can’t imagine how much it would hurt to have to let go of him like you’re having to do. Regardless of our feelings about the young man, we know that for you this decision was harder than it was for us. None of us have ties to the human world like you do.”

“Thank you. It hurts, and I don’t think it's hit me how much it’s going to hurt yet, but I know this is the right decision.” I smile at her as she squeezes my shoulder.

“Can you give me a ride back to my place?” I ask Colt.

“Sure thing, little sis. You about ready?”

“Yeah, I’ll leave my stuff here from yesterday, I just need to grab my bag.”

“You ready, man?” he asks Creek.

“Yeah, I’m good to go,” he replies and shrugs his hoodie on.

“I’ll see you soon, Pops. Mads,” Colt says, hugging them both as he heads out, Creek doing the same.

“If you need anything…” Dad says as I hug him goodbye. “Anything, Rem.”

“I know, Dad. Thank you.” I kiss his cheek before hugging Maddie and heading outside toward my new life.

CHAPTER EIGHT

This week has been, well quite frankly, a shit show.

I’ve removed myself from the resident program I joined ready to move with Jack, I canceled my dance classes earlier than I’d already planned to, much to the dismay of my instructor, canceled all of the funding I’d secured for myself to study. Basically, I erased all of the plans I’ve spent the last year making, and now I’m sitting on my couch, spinning the engagement ring on my finger, trying to work out what the right words to say are. I know that, really, there are no right words for what I’m about to do. My heart feels like I’ve cut it out of my chest slowly, but I know that the decision I’ve made is the right one. That this is the path I’m meant to take, the path that I can live with happily.

Jack is on his way, he sent me a text ten minutes ago saying as much. After me dodging him for the last few weeks and my lame ramblings of us needing to talk, I know he knows something is wrong. He has to. Right?

When his key twists in the lock of my apartment door, Sushi leaps from the couch and runs toward my bedroom. He never did like Jack.

Strange little cat.

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