Her POV
Seth hadn't said anything; not after we had left the station, not when we got to the diner and definitely not once our food had arrived. He hadn't even ordered his food, he just shrugged when the waitress asked if he wanted his usual. There was no conversation, just staring and sighing...and sometimes his body would shake before he took a breath to calm himself down. We didn't completely know each other and I wondered if he was angry or disgusted or disappointed in me. Worse still, he might pity me.
"I know that that isn't what you expected to hear, I'm sorry I made you come with me" I said quietly. He didn't react, like he hadn't heard me but he must have, the diner was almost empty. It was clear that it had just opened. "Seth...I don't know what to say to you...please just-please say something" I begged, there were tears in my eyes and the back of my throat hurt. If this made him leave me I didn't know what I would do. I knew that we weren't together but it would kill me to have him walk away from me.
"Did you tell him everything?" he asked hoarsely. I was confused, I didn't know what he meant by his question but I nodded my head anyway. "I mean it Annie. Did. You. Tell. Him. Everything. About. Newton. Did you?" he asked through his teeth. Did he believe me? It seemed like he did, but I wondered why he would think that I was still keeping secrets. "Yes, I swear. I told him everything about Mike" I promised. He nodded slowly and went back to thinking. "You never told Sam about this?" he wanted to know, I shook my head. "Mike said that he had heard of Sam and that he was some kind of dealer...back then I trusted Mike more than I trusted Sam. And afterwards I had gotten away, I thought that Mike was done with me" I was as honest as possible, hoping that he would still be open to me.
"You have to tell Sam this, especially with Newton coming back. I know that you don't want to but that's not my concern right now, I'd rather have you safe than happy" he said, he pulled out his phone and sent out some texts before he turned his attention back to me. "Eat up, we're going straight to Sam and everyone else on the beach" he informed.
His POV
I was angry with her, so fucking angry and I couldn't even show it. She had known that that bastard was coming back and she hadn't done anything to protect herself, she had let the days move on and had only said something a few days before he would be here. I didn't know what Charlie would have planned for him but I knew that we needed to have a plan too. The pack was going to hear about this and she would be protected, there was no way we'd let anyone never mind an imprint get sucked into a situation like that.
When she finished I put her into the car and drove down to First Beach, thinking about how I would tell the pack about her problem. I didn't want to do it in the pack mind, she had barely held herself together and no one needed to know how scared she had smelled, but I didn't think that she could retell the story while she staying calm. I could do it for her but it would have to come out tactfully. She had hated talking about the details and she didn't need anyone focusing on it right now. I could simplify the story.
The whole pack was there, ready and waiting. Everyone knew that this had something to do with her secret but, like me, they probably wouldn't see this one coming. Sam was already acting like he wasn't stressed the fuck out but he must not have told the others what was going because they just looked confused. "You're telling them here? Are you going to tell them everything?" she asked nervously. "They need to know how to help you, they can't do it without the facts" I told her. "Just...don't tell them about the baby...please? They might not understand and-just please don't tell them" she begged.
I didn't want to tell her that they could already hear her and that she had already kind of spilled the beans. They didn't know anything other than there had been a baby. "No one is going to judge you for that, we've all done much worse anyway and that is your choice. Sam would kill anyone who gave you shit over that" I said it a little louder than I needed to to make them listen. No one could give her shit for it, I didn't need Sam to kill them I would do it myself.
"Just because you understand it doesn't mean that everyone else will. I know how people feel about it. But I'm not ready for anyone to find out about it. You can tell them what he did, just please keep this to yourself. I will tell them, I promise, just don't tell them" she pleaded. She was trying not to cry again and I had to agree to keep her secret. They knew something but they didn't know the full story and they never would unless she said something. Imprint trumped Alpha Order any day of the week. So I'd tell the story and leave out the baby.
Her POV
I listened to Seth tell the guys and Leah about my relationship with Mike, he had skipped some things but they got the general idea. I wasn't in the healthiest relationship. "Why didn't you say anything to us? We would have helped you" Sam asked. My ashamed gaze was on the sand, even if Sam had offered a way out in the beginning I don't know if I would have taken it. "He turned her against you. She didn't know you Sam but he did, all he had to do was put some truth in his lies" he answered quickly.
"Is that what you were talking Bennett about? You could trust him with this but you couldn't trust your friends?" Jacob asked, he looked hurt. But all I could focus on was the fact that he had known about Bennett, especially when I had never mentioned him to anyone. "Shut up Black" Seth hissed, did he know Bennett too? "Were you spying on me?" I demanded. "Oh please Annie, we could all hear you" he snorted. My heart felt like it had stopped, if they had heard my phone calls then they probably knew everything. Every embarrassing detail.
"Is that why you're all shutting me out? Because you know everything" I wanted to know. "No one is shutting you out, you just aren't ready to hear it yet Annie, once you know things will change" Sam said slowly. He was still talking down to me. "Things have already changed for me Sam, I might not have the same kind of experiences as you but my life hasn't been easy either. You have no idea what I can handle" I told him. Jacob stepped out from Sam's side and put a hand on my arm, "How are we supposed to know anything if everything is a secret with you?" he asked. "You're all doing the exact same thing!" I yelled.
"Maybe, but we know how to protect ourselves, you don't. Clearly we can handle our own situation" Leah shrugged. They were never going to get what I was trying to say, they weren't even trying to understand it. "I might not be able to protect myself from Mike but I've protected myself from plenty of things. And if I have to protect myself from people who keep talking at me instead of to me, I'll do it...Seth? Can we go now?" there was venom in my voice. I would leave La Push as soon as I could, everyone had changed too much here. I had expected home and familiarity but that had disappeared while I was gone.
My phone rang, the shrill sound cutting through the sudden silence and I saw Bennett's name pop onto the screen. "I have to get this" I said before I walked a few meters down the beach.
"Annie, I haven't heard from you for a while how's-""I did it today" I interrupted "you told me to trust someone and I did. And it didn't change anything"
"They are probably just a little shocked and need some time to process everything that happened. You did tell them everything, didn't you?""They know about Mike, and after today I'm not telling them anything else...it kills me to say it but Mike was right. He kept saying that everyone had changed and that they wouldn't listen and they're not...Seth...he knows everything that happened with Mike and he hasn't held it against me. But they're using this as an example for why I can't know things, I'm not living through this again. I'm just going to wait for Mike to come here and then I'm going back home"
"No! That's running away from it all. If it really gets bad then you come straight here and you'll stay with me. But you're not going to leave because it's a little hard right now""I can't live with people I don't trust Ben, I won't do it again. Please, please just get me a plane ticket so that I can leave, I'll get another job to pay it off, I promise. Just...just please don't leave me in this place"
"Okay, I'll buy a ticket and I'll send you the details. But if Seth is as trustworthy as you feel he is then let him know hard this is for you"After promising him that I would keep trying to stay open I turned back to see Sam and Seth arguing. I didn't know what it was about and Seth grabbed on to my arm and led me away from the group before I could ask.
