Page 18 of The 13th Daughter
Ethan picked up my hand and pulled it gently to him. Before I could stop him, he started to unwrap it. His breath hissed out when he saw the finger shaped bruises. "Is this why you didn't want me to walk you home?" he demanded, his eyes black with fury.
"No!" I said quickly and tried to pull my hand away, but he held firm. His fingertip traced the bruises from beginning to end.
"Why didn't you want me to walk you home then, Cassie, and don't use Kay as an excuse."
"Since Emily's death, my dad drinks a lot," I told him. "When I got home yesterday, I heard him and Mom fighting. I went to visit Emily long enough for their fight to cool down. I figured Dad would be drunk by the time I got home and I didn't want you to see that."
"Does he hurt you every time he gets drunk?" he asked, his voice low and hard.
"NO! Dad's never laid a finger on either me or Mom."
Ethan stared pointedly at my wrist. "Did he do this?"
"Yes, but he didn't mean to."
Ethan gave me a look I'd seen on countless people's faces on TV when they heard others say they stayed with an abusive husband or boyfriend because they loved them even if they hurt them sometimes. I was not one of those people.
"I'm not stupid and I'm not making excuses for him. Yesterday was the first time he's ever done something like this. We were talking about Emily and the Coven meeting last night. Something scared him and he grabbed my hand not thinking. He forbade me to ever go near the Coven. His eyes were crazy. My going frightened him so much, something snapped in him. He didn't even know he was hurting me until I told him. Dad didn't mean to do this, Ethan. "
"He doesn't want you to go to the Coven meetings?'
I shook my head.
"Well, at least you're not lying to me." He started to re-bandage my hand.
I frowned.
"You lip's not quivering, Cassie," he explained with a laugh. "And I'm sorry too. I didn't stop to think what you might have thought about me escorting another girl home when you and I were supposed to be on a date."
"Thank you." He apologized? Wow.
"So, what's your favorite color?"
"Huh?" I blinked at the abrupt change of topic.
"Your favorite color, Cassie," he laughed. "I'm trying to get to know you."
"Red," I said. His eyes sparkled at me. He knew how much he rattled me.
"The color of passion," he murmured and eyed my hair. My face flamed to match the color of my hair.
"What about you? You grew up in Virginia?" I quickly changed the line of questioning to something I was more comfortable with.
He grinned ruefully at me and winked. "Falls Church. It's a great place."
"Then why did you come here?"
"Because my dad thought it would be good for me to learn about his side of the family. He met my mom in college and she was never a part of the town or the Coven. She wouldn't even let us visit Granddad here. He had to come to us, so we rarely saw him."
"Your mom doesn't believe in any of it either?" I asked and tried to eat my burger one handed. It was simply too big to hold with one hand. Ethan laughed at my failed attempt and took the burger from me. He held it up for me to take a couple bites.
"My mom was raised to be a good Catholic girl and to her, witchcraft was evil," he told me and put my burger back down. "Dad, on the other hand, thought I should have the option of learning about my heritage. The Coven is very important to him so I thought I should at least give it a try for him."
Mom's words came back to me about owing it to myself to find out why Emily loved the Coven so much. Ethan's words echoed hers. It was important to his dad so he'd try it. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe I should at least think about seeing what it was about.
I'd promised Emily I wouldn't go near it. How could I break my promise to her?
"What are you thinking?" Ethan asked me. "I can never tell what you're thinking."
