Page 38 of The Secret of Pain

"Yeah, Colt mentioned something about it."

"Well, just keep your guard up, okay? Even with Ben, we might have known him a long time, but a lot can happen in between cycles." His smile is tight and doesn't reach his eyes. "Anyway, enough of that. I hope you're ready to get messy."

We stop at the back of the house, where he reaches up and plucks a key from the doorframe and opens the door. "Mind your step."

I follow him in and gasp at the sight before me. The inside has been completely gutted, the brickwork is exposed on one side of the room, and the other walls are all whitewashed. The majority of the downstairs has been opened up into one space, the kitchen to my right, and the rest stretching out around us. Something about the room just feels so familiar.

"You've been working pretty hard, I see."

"I haven’t been home long, but I wanted to get a start on it. The vision for this place never really got realized, so I wanted it to be right. It's huge, so huge, so I decided starting down here was a good idea. There’s still the sunroom and the library separate down here, plus the utility. There’s stables outside that need patching up too, and that's before I even think about the next two floors, but I'm happy with what I've managed so far."

"Can I look around?" I ask wistfully.

"Sure. What’s mine is yours." He smiles at me and it warms me. "Just be careful where you stand."

I nod and take off to explore, leaving him to get started on whatever it was that he brought me here to help with. I'll help, but first, I want to look around.

I discover seven bedrooms, four baths and what looks like a game room over the next two floors. This place is huge. I make my way back to Creek and find him topless, paint roller in hand.

Holy freaking cow.

Like, I knew he'd gotten ripped, because, well, he's a hulk of a man now, but holy freaking ovary explosion. I clamp my lips together to keep the word vomit from spilling out, because nope. Can't start drooling over my lifelong best friend, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to ogle the fuck out of him while his back is to me. I might be his friend, but I'm not fucking blind.

"You want to come and help, Remy?" he asks without turning around, but I can hear the laughter in his voice. Shit. Stupid Hunter hearing.

"Yeah, sure, just getting my bearings," I say with a blush. "Where do you want me?”

He looks over at me with a heated stare, but I turn away and take off my jacket. "There’s another roller on the counter. These walls need another coat of white before I start on the floors. White paint on gray carpet isn't the easiest to get out."

"Sure thing!" I say, almost too eagerly, and go and grab the roller before joining him again.

"Did you enjoy exploring?" he asks, looking me over again.

"This place is phenomenal, Creek. I'm almost jealous it’s not mine." He smiles at me, but disappointment clouds his eyes.

"Thanks. It'll be better once it's finished." He shrugs and begins painting again. I pull my phone out of my pocket and press play on my music list, Wildwood Kin's "Steady My Heart" pours through and I smile before I start painting too.

The silence isn't uncomfortable, so I don't think. I just lose myself to the physicality of painting. It might not exactly be strenuous, and with my new Hunter strength, I don't tire, but it’s more than I've done in a long while.

We finish the room in almost no time, and I look around, trying to envision the place when it's finished, when a memory hits me. I've been here before. With Creek. I see the room, not as it is now, but what it was. Before. In another time. He looks different, but I know it’s him. He looks so jaded, and yet, so at peace. The vision flickers before disappearing, and I come out of it to find him staring at me.

"We've been here before," I say, my voice barely more than a whisper, and he nods, still looking sad.

"It was so different. We were so different." I chase the memory, but nothing else comes. "I only saw us, in this room, in a different time. I don't know when, or why, but…"

"It’s strange when they hit you like that." He smiles softly and comes toward me. "But sometimes they show you exactly what you were missing." He stands so close to me, and it’s as if I can't breathe. My eyes meet his, and it’s like I'm stuck. Fixed in place, unable to move. His hand lifts and brushes the hair fallen from my ponytail behind my ear, and his thumb strokes my cheek so softly. My breath hitches as I lean into him.

"Yo! Where you guys at?" Colt’s voice reaches us, breaking whatever spell we were under, and I step back from Creek, trying to steady my racing heart.

"We're in here," Creek calls out, walking toward the sound of Colt’s voice.

Holy shit, what the hell was that?

"I figured I'd find you guys here. I brought something for Remy. She’s had the ritual now and I decided she shouldn't be without it all for much longer," Colt says as he enters the room, a black duffel slung over his shoulder, his gaze bouncing between us, trying to read the room. "It’s looking good in here, man."

He claps Creek on the shoulder, and they do that weird bro hug thing they do, and I shake my head.

"What did you bring me?" I ask, once I feel back in control of myself.

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