Chapter Twenty-Five

Kim was pretty sure her heart stopped.

We need to talk.

Those were definitely words that never seemed to bode well when put together like that.

"What about?" Kim was pleased to note that her voice remained thankfully even, none of the internal panic she was currently experiencing managing to leak through.

Really, this was just the icing on the cake of her bad day. First she'd run into none other than Mr. Lahote, which was bad enough on it's own—and far worse than the strain she usually felt when interacting with Paul, lately. But then Kylie did exactly what Kim told her not to, and so the father and daughter finally met for the first time and although Kim was the only one who knew the significance of the situation, she could clearly tell that Mr. Lahote was suspicious of Kylie to some degree—seriously, she didn't know one man could frown so much. And to top things off, now her boyfriend wanted to 'talk.' What could he possibly want to talk about? She was stressed enough already as it was—not that he necessarily knew that—without having to think about what could have possibly happened to get Jared sounding so serious. And honestly, it was his uncharacteristic seriousness that made Kim think something was actually wrong.

Today just wasn't Kim's day.

"It's about earlier," Jared said, a small frown creasing his forehead. "I know you said you were tired, but you seemed really stressed out and…well, it seemed to hit you all at once when Mr. Lahote stopped by. And I guess I just want to know what's going on; because no matter what you say I can tell that there's something going on."

Alright, so apparently Jared did notice. In fact, he clearly noticed quite a bit. Damn him for being a caring boyfriend. How could she hide this without straight up lying to his face? This was why she'd been stressing about all of this ever since her mom first admitted everything to her. The last thing Kim wanted to do was lie to Jared or even continue keeping secrets from him. Damn her mother and the secrets she'd entrusted to Kim.

"I'm worried about you," Jared continued earnestly when Kim didn't immediately reply. "I know there's something bothering you, and I know it must be serious because I'd like to think you've been telling me when things bother you. I just…what's wrong, Kim? You know you can tell me anything.

And she knew that she really could. But she had a feeling she knew how Jared would react. And beyond that, it wasn't a secret she could ask him to keep from his pack brother.

"Jared," Kim finally began with a sigh. Then her eyes widened in panic as she caught sight of something over his shoulder. "Shit."

Mr. Lahote's red truck had just pulled up in front of Kim's house.

It appeared as if the decision about what to tell Jared was about to be taken out of her hands.

"Kim?" Jared questioned immediately, concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

But Kim merely shook her head; there was no time to form words and explain anything. She needed to go find and warn her mother now.

Without a word of explanation, Kim slid across the bench seat and hopped out of the door Kylie left hanging open, before sprinting for the front door. And, as she threw the door open, she steadfastly ignored Jared calling out her name from back in his truck. She didn't have time to worry about him anymore; she needed to worry about her family. Besides, there were two likely outcomes here: he was either going to sit in his truck in her driveway waiting for her to come back outside or he was going to follow her.

Knowing Jared, she had a pretty good idea which outcome was more likely; he could fend for himself right now.

"Mom!" Kim hollered as she burst into the house, the door bouncing off the wall and slamming shut behind her.

Almost immediately, Katie appeared down the hallway, having apparently been just in the kitchen.

"Kim?" Katie questioned, concern for her daughter written across her features. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Mom," Kim began urgently, "It's Mr. Lahote."

"Gene?" Katie paled visibly, and that reaction made Kim fleetingly wonder, not for the first time, whether or not her mother ever really planned to tell him the truth like she promised she would. Everything about this situation was a mess. "What about him?"

"He was at Sam's," Kim said shortly, breathing heavily from a combination of her mad dash for the house and panic over the situation at hand. "And he saw Kylie and now he's out front sitting in his truck, and I think her might know or suspect something."

At that moment, there was a loud knock on the front door and, after the briefest hesitation, Kim saw her mom's back straighten, a determined look appearing on her face. Well good. It was about time she showed some responsibility in all of this.

"I always knew I'd have to face up to my actions eventually and it's my own fault for putting it off for this long," Katie intoned, more to herself than to her daughter. "This may not end well."

"That might be Jared," Kim offered, taking a step closer to the kitchen, where she was assuming her sister was. She hesitated only briefly before continuing, "Tell him to go home if it is. I'm going to put Kylie in your room with a movie on the computer."

Katie took a deep, calming breath and then nodded. "Quickly, please," She requested as another knock rang out, this one somehow sounding more urgent—though that could have simply been Kim's panic making her hear things. "And don't forget headphones."

It was surprisingly easy to talk Kylie into moving her lunch to their mom's room (via the kitchen's other exit so as to avoid being spotted by anyone who might be at the front door or in the living room), and even easier to set her up on the bed with the computer—although Kim quickly realized she would have to venture to the living room for a DVD. When Kim peaked her head into the suspiciously quiet room, it was to find only her mother there, looking through a gap in the curtains..

"Mom?" Kim questioned and Katie jumped in surprise.

"It was Jared at the door," Katie replied to the unasked question. "He looked upset about it but he left easily enough."

Kim frowned slightly. Yes, she was incredibly stressed right now, but that still wasn't the reaction she was expecting from him; she'd at least thought he'd put up more of a fight about it. But oh well, she would have time to worry about that later.

"Gene is still sitting in his truck," Katie said, peaking out of the window once again. "I don't think that will last much longer, especially since he must have seen me talking to Jared. He always was rather impatient."

"I'll go stay with Kylie," Kim stated as she grabbed several of her younger sister's favorite movies, just in case.

After a brief stop to actually drop the movies off with Kylie so that she would be distracted as soon as possible, Kim then headed towards her own bedroom. She had every intention of eavesdropping on the conversation between her mom and Mr. Lahote, but she wanted to first grab a book or something to pretend to read so that Kylie wouldn't be suspicious—or distracted from her distraction—by Kim sitting there doing nothing. Clearly it was a good, well-thought-out plan, she couldn't help but think to herself sarcastically.

Kim took two steps into her room and barely stifled her shriek of surprise.

Jared was sitting on her bed, legs stretched out in front of him and arms crossed over his chest.

"Did you really think you could get rid of me so easily?" He questioned sardonically, clearly taking advantage of her momentary speechlessness.

It didn't last long, however.

"How did you get in here?" She hissed, rushing to close her door so that no one would overhear them talking.

Jared shifted and swung his legs over the side of the bed so that his feet were now resting on the floor.

"Your window was unlocked," He informed her.

"You broke in through the window?" Kim demanded incredulously.

"I came in through the window," Jared stressed. "There was absolutely nothing broken in the process."

"Well you can't just come in to other peoples' houses whenever you feel like it," Kim declared, one small step away from complete hysteria. This was so not the reaction she'd been expecting from him. She couldn't deal with him being here right now!

"Well you can't just act like something is bothering you all afternoon and not expect me to want to help you out," Jared shot back.

Then again, her boyfriend was notoriously strong-willed when it came to seeing to her happiness. And she had been suspicious about how easily he left before when he came to the front door.

Kim sighed heavily in defeat, and then she sighed a second time for good measure when she heard the distant sound of knocking. Mr. Lahote was finally here. There was definitely no way she could hide this from Jared any longer.

"You were right earlier," Kim told him as she also took a seat on the bed. And she knew it didn't escape Jared's notice that she left a good foot of space in between them. "There is something bothering me; something that's been bothering me for a while."

When Kim paused to steel her nerves she could see that Jared wanted nothing more than to demand answers from her but was holding himself back. At times like this she couldn't help but feel like she didn't deserve all of his patience; he was too good for her.

"It's about Kylie," She stated and Jared immediately frowned.

"I thought Paul was the problem," He clearly couldn't hold back his confusion any longer.

"He's not really the problem..." Kim hesitated. "It's my mom who's the real problem. But Paul is the reason I haven't told you about this sooner," Kim admitted. She sighed yet again. "I've wanted to talk to someone about this for so long, but I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to put you in a position where you would have to choose between your loyalty to me and your loyalty to your pack brother—although, admittedly, at the time I didn't realize how deep your bond with him is."

"Okay…" Jared said slowly. "That sounds reasonable, I guess. But what is this big secret that you've apparently been keeping to yourself? Because I'm not gonna lie, I really have no idea how Kylie and Paul could both be connected to it; the only thing those two have in common about anything is you."

Kim winced, and it probably would have been practically imperceptible, too, if it wasn't for Jared's wolf senses.

"Kim?" He questioned.

"That's not entirely true," She informed him. "There is one other person they have in common.

"…Me?" Jared questioned uncertainly.

Kim let out a mirthless laugh at that. "No, not quite. It's—"

"I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO TELL YOU!" Katie's sudden shout cut Kim off mid-explanation and Jared's eyes widened in alarm.

"What—" He began but was promptly cut off by another voice yelling.

"OH, HOW ABOUT 'HI, I'M PREGNANT WITH YOUR DAUGHTER…I JUST GAVE BIRTH TO YOUR DAUGHTER…I'M RAISING YOUR DAUGHTER.' REALLY, ANY OF THOSE WOULD HAVE WORKED!"

There was a moment of total silence and then Kim could just make out the sound of angry voices resuming speaking at a lower volume. A glance at Jared's face told her he could still hear the entire conversation perfectly, thanks to his wolf hearing.

"Kim…" He finally said. "Are you trying to tell me…Is this why…"

"Mr. Lahote is Kylie's dad. Paul and Kylie are siblings." Kim said all of this quickly, afraid to meet Jared's eyes and anxiously awaiting his reaction.