The Dark Side of Family (The Dark Side, Book 1)

Confessions

I jolted away, gasping and drenched in a cold sweat. I was laying in a vaguely familiar bed, nestled underneath the covers. It must have been a dream, I thought to myself with relief. Comforted, I looked to my left and found Blain staring at me, an ice pack held to the back of his head. Well, shit.

"Hey, pretty lady," he drawled. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, why?"

"You don't remember? Then again, neither do I, really. The last thing I remember is kissing you. When I woke up I had an ostrich egg on the back of my head and was leaning against the mantle - you were passed out on the floor, kicking and screaming."

"I...I...I...what?!" I stuttered, dreading the confirmation I knew was about to come. Apparently it hadn't been a dream after all.

"Yeah. I couldn't wake you up - you just kept thrashing. So, I brought you in here so at least you'd be more comfortable," he said, then leaned in to kiss me.

"No!" I shouted, jumping out of bed and away from him like I was afraid his touch would scald.

Brows furrowed in confusion, he looked at me. "What's wrong, darlin'?" he asked quietly.

"N-n-nothing," I stammered, looking around like a trapped animal.

"Kylie..."

"I should go."

"Go where?!"

"I don't know. Home?"

"You can't go home, Kylie. Not after the last two days. He'd kill you."

"...Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Better him than you," I muttered under my breath.

"What?" he asked, alarmed. "Kylie. You can't say things like that! For the record, though, I would never hurt you," he said emphatically.

"You don't know that, Blain," I said quietly.

"What's gotten into you?"

"You don't want to know."

"Yes, I do, dammit. What the hell happened?"

"Blain, I..." I began, looking for the words to say. I couldn't find them. "It's not important," I said, sighing.

"It's important to me," he said, nearly inaudibly. His eyes were midnight blue and shining. They were so hard to resist. I knew I was hurting him, but what choice did I have? If I didn't push him away, one of us would wind up dead. Neither one of us would be able to live with ourselves if we did that kind of damage to the other - I knew that. Then again, I wasn't sure I'd be able to live with myself for doing him this kind of emotional harm.

"I'll sleep in the guest room," I said curtly, walking out and closing the door.

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What the hell just happened here? Blain thought angrily, pacing back and forth in his bedroom. Kylie had jumped of the bed so damn quickly he thought she'd fall over. She damn near did, actually - she's kind of klutzy. Any other time, it would've been comical. Right now it just disturbed him.

He could tell she knew how they'd both wound up unconscious, but she obviously wasn't sharing the details. He couldn't understand why. It boggled his mind that she was suddenly acting so distant, so...secretive. He couldn't comprehend what had her so spooked, but he was determined to find out.

His head hurt. His eyes hurt. Most importantly, his heart ached. He'd worked so hard to get back to her, sacrificed so much to be with her, and now she was being so damned indifferent. It was maddening. He thought she'd forgiven him; he thought she'd understood. Maybe he was wrong.

No, he thought forcefully. She did forgive you. You weren't wrong. Whatever happened earlier has her spooked, that's it.

He tried to remember, but he couldn't for the life of him recall what had happened. All he remembered was bringing her home with him and then leaning in to kiss her. After that, his mind was a complete blank. The next thing he remembered was waking up with a throbbing head, her screaming on the floor across from him. It had terrified him.

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Kylie sat on the guest bed, crying her eyes out. She knew she should break it off with Blain, but she couldn't do that to him. Not after all he'd been through for her. Hell, she couldn't do that to herself, either. Even if she could...where would she go? He was right. It's not like she could go home. Her father'd kill her in a heartbeat after this latest stunt.

Mentally shaking herself, she decided she had to get to the bottom of this. Focusing single-mindedly, she held up her hand. After a couple of minutes, it had the desired effect - a fountain of sparks jumped from her palm. Startled, she jolted backwards and shook her hand like she had something unpleasant stuck to it. Chagrined, she laughed at herself mockingly.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Focusing on her intended goal, she waited. Virtually instantaneously, she felt the heat. When she opened her eyes, she had a ball of fire floating above her palm. Looking at it curiously, she wondered just how this had happened to her; she wondered why her and Blain's lives had to turn into such supernatural disasters. She was angry. They'd both suffered so much at the hands of the world as it was - why couldn't it have just let them have one good thing? Why couldn't it have let them have each other?

Suddenly her door opened. Panicked, she shook her hand and extinguished the flame. It was too late, however. Blain was looking at her, wide-eyed and white-faced.

"I get it," he choked out past the lump in his throat. "You found out you're a witch,"

Too ashamed to look at him, she lowered her eyes to the floor. She tried to answer him, but she couldn't speak.

"Kylie," he said quietly. "Look at me." When she didn't, he walked over and gently grabbed her by the chin, tilting her face up so he could look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she blurted, tears streaming out of her eyes. She hated crying in front of him, but she couldn't help it.

"Don't cry, Ky. Please, don't cry. We'll fix it. We'll find some way to fix this. I'm not giving up on you - I'm not giving up on us."

"You have to," she said between heart-wrenching sobs.

"No, I don't. I'm not letting you go again. Never," he replied, wiping the tears off of her cheeks.

"I'm so, so sorry, Blain," she said, looking at him with regret. He sat down on the bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her and rocking her back and forth gently.

"It isn't your fault, Kylie. We'll get through this," he said, his heart breaking.

"What if we don't?" she whispered.

"We will. I love you, Kylie Artemis Ryan."

She looked at him, taken aback. "You don't need to say that..."

"I know, but it's the truth. I must confess, I've been in love with you for a long time."