Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“He’s no son of mine,” my father snarled. “Not while he wears the Blood Mark of another male!” He pointed at me. “I’m leaving and I want you out of my house by the time I come back. And don’t ever bother coming here again until you get rid of that Mark and start acting decently!”
“No.” My mother straightened up and brushed the tears out of her eyes. “No, you will not deny our son entrance to his own home, Harold,” she said, glaring up at my father. “You’re the one who’d better not come home until you’re ready to apologize for this horrible scene you caused and the terrible, hateful things you said. And if you don’t want to do that, I have some paperwork for you to sign and then you and I can go our separate ways.”
I felt my mouth drop open. Was my mom really threatening to divorce my dad, right here in front of all my friends?
Her statement seemed to surprise my father too because he stared at her disbelievingly.
“You’re really doing this now?” he demanded. “You’re choosing him over me?”
“I don’t want to have to choose anyone!” my mother cried. “We’re a family, Harold! We should love each other unconditionally. Why can’t you understand that?”
My father stared at me and the Mark on my forehead.
“Sorry, Claire,” he muttered. “I guess some things are just beyond my comprehension.” He looked at her. “Send the papers—I’ll sign them. Should have done it a long time ago, once I realized what we had on our hands and found out you wouldn’t let me fix him.” And he shot me a look of utter contempt that cut me to the bone.
“There’s nothing to fix,” my mother said passionately. “Avery is our son!”
“Your son—not mine. Not anymore,” my father said.
Then he opened the door and walked out of my life, slamming the door behind him.
29
AVERY
“Well, that could have gone better,” I said, but my attempt at sarcasm fell flat. My mom still had tears in her eyes and Saint looked like he didn’t know what to say. The messenger cloud from his father had said some pretty awful things too, but I guess they were the kinds of things you’d expect from a Drake. My dad was different—or at least, I had thought that he was. Now I thought he was probably as homophobic as Saint’s Sire—maybe even more so.
There was silence for a minute and then Emma and Kaitlyn and Megan all came and crowded around me. They hugged me as they had the night before, not saying a word but lending their strength. I could feel it flowing through me and it made the awful situation I found myself in at least a tiny smidge more bearable.
“Thank you, girls,” I said, hugging them back. Then I gently disengaged myself and turned to my mom. “Mom, I’m so sorry,” I said. “This is all my fault.”
“Don’t say that.” She sniffed and swiped at her eyes. “None of this is your fault. You know, your father always was stiff and way too serious—I thought I could lighten him up after we were married. But over the years, he’s just gotten more and more intolerant.” She shook her head. “I’m so sorry he said such terrible things to you, Avery. You know I’ll always love you.”
“I know,” I said and hugged her. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry he wouldn’t help you. I can tell you’re in kind of a tight spot.” She cast a glance at Saint and I knew that she’d felt his Drake when he caught her. She might be a Null, but my mom is very sensitive to the magic of others.
“It’s all right, Mrs. Conner,” Megan said. “We’ll find a way to help Avery.”
“Yes, we’ll be there for him no matter what,” Emma put in and Kaitlyn nodded agreement.
My mom sniffed again but this time she was almost smiling.
“I’m so glad Avery has friends like you!” she told them. “And I’m glad he has a special someone, too,” she added, looking at Saint. “I know he’s been wanting one for a long time.”
“Mom!” I said.
She laughed through her tears.
“All right, all right. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you—I’m just glad you have someone, honey.”
“All right—I’m glad too,” I confessed and took Saint’s hand again. “Well…should we go now? I mean, in case Dad comes back?”
Mom shook her head.
“I don’t think he’s coming back, sweetie. And please don’t feel like that’s your fault—it’s been a long time coming. Those papers I was talking about? I had them drawn up quite a while ago.”
She must mean divorce papers I thought and felt my stomach twist in knots. Divorce isn’t super common among the magical community and it was probably going to make my mother something of an outcast. Still, she seemed determined and if she said she’d had divorce papers drawn up and waiting for a while, I believed her. There was more than just me wrong with their marriage, though I had a feeling I was a big part of it.