“My dad tried to hide her from the world. Not just from our community but from the whole world. Her name was Lana Ray.” Mr. Cole paused to take a drink from his glass. “Shaun, Tyson’s father and Quinton’s brother, he was my best friend. We’d grown up together since we were children. All of us grew up together, me, Shaun, Felix and Rick. But none of them ever knew I had a sister. Not even the Elders knew she existed.”
He let out a shuddering breath before draining the rest of his drink.
My mind was full of thoughts of a little girl being locked away in a room the size of a closet her entire life simply for being born with magic. I couldn’t imagine being locked away and hidden from the world. I stayed away from people because I preferred my own company and never really wanted to invite other people into my life so they could see what a mess it was.
A thought occurred to me. Mr. Cole had children. Did that mean they were witches too? And one of them was even a girl.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Are your kids…”
I snapped my mouth shut. I really shouldn’t just go around blurting out every thought that ran through my mind. It made me seem nosy and pushy.
“Adopted,” he murmured into his drink and without looking in my direction. “I can’t have children. They don’t know anything. I gave up magic to live a normal life with my wife and my children. I couldn’t have that around them and keep it a secret at the same time. After what my sister went through and what my father put the whole family through to keep her a secret from the world. I hated what I was, and I hated anything to do with magic and covens. It’s hard to hide magic from your wife and children, hard to hide what you are. I didn’t want that for my family. So, I stopped practicing altogether, that way I didn’t have anything to hide. And, I got a beautiful, non-magical family as a result.”
So, he gave up using his magic to have a normal family. Call me selfish, but I didn’t think I would be willing to give up my magic for anything, not even for a shot at a normal family. Then again, I had yet to meet a person who meant anything to me and resembled the word normal.
Quinton sat his now empty drink back onto the counter. He wrapped his free arm around my stomach and pressed his face into my neck.
My face heated. What the hell was he doing? And in front of Mr. Cole no less. We weren’t at a place where I was comfortable with him touching me in such a way in front of other people. Heck, I wouldn’t be comfortable with him touching me like this in private.
I couldn’t think of a way to escape his arms now that wouldn’t further embarrass me.
“They found out about her anyway. Even after all the trouble our father went through to keep her a secret. The Elders came to our home and took her away, claiming they wanted to keep her safe. My father wanted her to have a choice in life. He didn’t want her to be forced into the roll we’ve placed our women in. He wanted her to have a choice.”
Quinton’s arms around me tightened almost painfully but I didn’t care. I was too busy running Mr. Cole’s words through my head. He made it sound like women didn’t get a choice in the way they lived their lives. Quinton made it out to sound different. Like it was your choice and your choice alone. But he also made it sound like you wouldn’t want anything other than what your coven had to offer and if, by some chance, you did want something else they’d step aside so long as you were happy and safe.
I was so confused.
“What happened to your sister?” I asked quietly.
I had to know. He talked about her like she was gone, like she’d been lost to him for a long time now and it hurt him simply to talk about her. I wanted to know why.
“She…” he paused to take another gulp of his drink. “It didn’t work out for her. She couldn’t take the pressure. She… She ended it herself.”
Quinton squeezed me again and I remembered what he’d said about taking the lead with asking the questions. I didn’t mind because Mr. Cole’s revelation about his sister had rendered me speechless.
“Did she meet anyone else yet?” Mr. Cole asked changing the subject abruptly. I didn’t like being talked about like I wasn’t even here.
“Nope,” Quinton answered.
“You should keep it that way.”
“Not gonna do that and you know it,” Quinton shot back. “Not gonna hide her from anyone. Nothing good ever comes from that, and you damn well know it. Hell, you basically just said that same exact thing but with different words.”
“You’ll take care of her?”
“Yeah. We all will,” Quinton bit out angrily. “You should stay and do the same.”
I sighed. Did I want Mr. Cole to stay and take care of me? Hell yes, I did. I finally had a parent who gave a crap about me. I couldn’t do it, though. I couldn’t handle moving and leaving when I finally had friends and a place I felt relatively safe in. But I wouldn’t try to guilt Mr. Cole into staying for my sake. I wouldn’t be the person who held him down and kept him from getting what would make him happy. It would break my heart to watch him walk away from me, but I’d do it with a smile on my face so he’d never know how much it killed me on the inside. After everything he’d done for me I could easily do that for him. Well, it wouldn’t be easy but no one but me would ever have to know about that.
“We have obligations to-” Quinton started to guilt Mr. Cole some more, but I quickly cut him off and talked over him.
“No,” I said forcefully. “Nobody has obligations to me because I have magic and I’m a girl.” I pulled out of Quinton’s arms, stepped away from him and turned so I could face them both down. “I don’t care how it’s supposed to be and I don’t care about how it’s done with the other girls. Those girls are not me. Nobody owes me anything.”
I paused to let in a shaky breath. I did not ever want to be considered anyone’s obligation. How horrible. It sounded like something my mother would have called me, right along with being a burden.
I squared my shoulders and looked from one man to the next. They were so different in looks but had more in common than I had ever imagined. And they both cared a great deal about me.
I looked Marcus Cole in the eye and, voice soft, said, “I’m staying here but I understand why you need to leave. I hope you can understand why I need to stay. So much has happened in my life in such a short period of time that I really need to find a place to settle, a place to call home and a place that feels safe for me to be in. The past few weeks that has been here with you. But now you have to go and I have to stay. Your family needs you right now and you need to be with your family for you, too. You don’t need to be dragging me along with you right now. You are all hurting so much right now and you don’t need to be dealing with me, my problems and trying to hide the fact that I’m a witch at the same time. That sounds exhausting, even to me.”