Hybrid

Chapter 19

As soon as the door closes behind us, I burst into tears. Max pulls me into his arms, and I bury my face in his chest. "B, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." I can hear his heart breaking, and I know it's because of how hurt I am.

"What a bitch!" Mara blurts, and she starts pacing my room in rage. "She raised you for eighteen years, and now she suddenly can't live with you because you're half vampire? And making your dad choose between you and her! That's not fair! You can't make someone choose between their child and someone else!"

My cries are muffled against Max's chest, but I listen to Mara's rant. It makes me feel a tiny bit better.

I hear Mara go into my closet, and I know she's starting to pack my stuff for me. Max leads us over to the bed and sits down, pulling my into his lap. He cradles me as my cries turn into sniffles, wiping my tears away and planting little kisses all over my face.

"You didn't deserve any of that," he says quietly.

"I know," I whisper. "It really sucks, though. She's my mom. She raised me, and now that I'm suddenly half vampire, she wants nothing to do with me."

"I want to say that's not true and she'll get over it, but I don't know her well enough to say that," Max says, and I hate the hurt in his voice.

"I don't know if she will," I say, snuggling closer to Max. I'm mostly done crying, but I don't want to leave his arms. "I've never seen her that angry before. Like, ever."

And suddenly I'm laughing like a maniac. I can't help it. "I'm sorry," I say through laughter. "I don't know why I'm laughing. This isn't funny at all."

Max grins at me. "You handle this however you need to, B. I'll be here no matter what."

Mara reappears in the doorway of my closet, taking a shirt off a hanger. "Why are you laughing?" she asks, a crazed look in her eyes.

"Because this entire situation is insane," I say. I sigh, and my laughter stops. "I never would have thought that Lacey would do something like this. Making my dad choose between us. If she thought he would choose her, she's wrong."

I know my dad would have chosen me if he had to. He would have in a heartbeat, and that's what's keeping me going right now. My dad loves me no matter what I am, and I will always come first to him. I don't think he loves me more than any of my other siblings, but he's the only parent I have.

Mara heads back into the closet, and I bury my face in Max's chest, drinking in his scent. "I need to go say goodbye to everyone," I say, but it comes out muffled, and Max starts shaking with laughter as he leans back away from me.

"What was that?" he laughs.

"I need to go say goodbye to everyone," I grin. "I don't know when I'll be able to see them again." I move to get out of Max's arms, but he quickly pulls me into him for another hug.

"I love you," he says quietly, and he doesn't realize how much those words mean to me right now.

"I love you too," I say, and he lets me go. I leave him on my bed and Mara packing in my closet, and I head down the hallway to the playroom. Carter's playing with his train table, Ellie's cooking plastic food in the little pink kitchen, Xavier's watching Avengers: Infinity War, and Lexi and Levi are in an intense game of Jenga on the table.

I lean against the door frame and watch them all for a few minutes. They have no idea what just happened downstairs between our dad, Lacey, and I. I just introduced them all to Max not even an hour ago, and now I'm leaving until who knows when. What do I even tell them?

Lexi notices me first, and Levi looks up when she doesn't make her move. They stare at me with sympathy in their dark eyes. Lexi offers me a small unconvincing smile, and it doesn't take a genius to realize that they heard everything.

Carter's the next one to see me. "Brynn! Where's Max? I want him to come play trains with me!"

"Not tonight, buddy," I say, and I feel my heart start to constrict in my chest. I walk into the room as everyone else looks at me. Xavier pauses his movie and turns his body in my direction.

"What's wrong?" he asks, and the concern in his voice causes tears to well in my eyes. I didn't realize how hard it would be to say goodbye until now.

"I have to leave. I don't know when I'll be back," I say quietly, not meeting any of their eyes.

"Why do you have to leave?" Ellie asks. She puts down the plastic frying pan and walks up to me. "I don't want you to leave."

"I don't want you to leave either!" Carter says loudly. He drops his trains and runs over to me, hugging me around the waist.

I hug him back as best I can with the major height difference and say, "I don't want to leave either. I have to, though."

"Why?"

I don't know how to answer his question, so I squat down and hug him properly. I pull Ellie in with one of my arms, and I hold them both close to me. I can feel Carter getting fidgety the longer I hold onto him, so eventually I have to let him go. It feels like my arms weigh a thousand pounds when I unwrap them from Carter and Ellie.

Ellie's eyes are sparkling with tears as she looks at me, her bottom lip jutted out and quivering. "I know," I say, pulling her in for another hug.

"Are you going to stay with Max?" Xavier asks me. I force myself to pull away from Ellie, refusing to look at her face. It's heartbreaking.

"Yeah," I tell Xavier, and I push myself back up into a standing position. I walk over to the back of the couch to give him a hug. He stands up to meet me half way, and I pull him in. He loops his arms around my neck, tightening his hold with every second that passes. I don't tell him to stop until he's holding on so tight that I can't breath.

"Sorry," he says, and I look away as the tears well in both of our eyes.

"It's mom's fault," Lexi says sourly, and I snap my eyes to her.

Not here, I mouth, gesturing for her and Levi to follow me out.

"What's mom's fault?" Ellie asks, watching the exchange between Lexi and I.

"That Mara has to leave," Lexi says defiantly, not looking away from my eyes. One glare is all it takes to shut her up.

"Mommy wouldn't do that! Right, Brynn?" Carter defends, crossing his little arms across his chest.

"It's complicated, buddy," I breath. "I'll try and come back as soon as possible." I jerk my head towards the door for Lexi and Levi to follow me. They leave their forgotten Jenga game on the table and walk out after me.

"I'll meet you guys in my room," I tell Lexi and Levi. They walk down the hall and disappear through the open doorway. I pop my head into Ben's room, then Violet's, then Hayden's. I tell all three of them to come to my room. I wish I could include Ryder in this, but he's still not home. I don't think he'll be home anytime soon.

"Brynn, what's wrong?" Ben asks, his headphones still hanging around his neck as he walks in. With his headphones on, I don't think he heard anything that happened downstairs. Hayden looks furious as he lingers by the door, and Violet is sitting on the chair wiping away her tears.

"Close the door," I tell Ben from my position on the bed next to Max. Lexi and Levi are sitting on the ground, their backs up against the wall, and Ben joins them after shutting my door.

Mara has moved out of my closet and onto the floor right outside it, folding a pile of clothes and tucking it all into bags.

"Seriously, guys, what's going on?" Ben asks, now looking between everyone.

"Dude, did you not hear what happened downstairs?" Levi snaps at him.

"No, that's why I'm asking," Ben says, brushing off Levi's rude behavior like it was nothing.

Violet starts full on crying, giving up on trying to wipe her tears away. "Mom kicked Brynn out."