“I know.”
Nope, not going to stay level. “You didn’tchoosethis. We havescienceanddataandstudiesandidentified genes—” Her voice rose with every item on her list, ringing out over the cliff’s edge. Telling the trees, indeed.
“I didn’t know any of that as a kid,” Tai said. “All I knew was what he told me.”
“And howdarehe callanyonewho deals with this selfish, much less his ownchild!”
“Claire, I know.”
An urge overwhelmed her to spring to her feet and pace the width of the cliff to calm herself, but Tai needed her to stay close. She had to focus on him, not make this about herself. “Sorry. My ranting isn’t helpful.”
“It’s okay.” A faint smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “It’s kind of nice, seeing somebody else mad at him.”
“I am so mad I can hardly see straight.”
“Thank you.” Tai reached out and squeezed her hand. “Really.”
“So he told you all this crap, and you tried to conquer hematorexia with teenage willpower.”
“That’s exactly what I did.”
No wonder he still didn’t know how to take care of himself. No wonder he chose to shiver when he could simply wrap up in a few blankets.
“Have you seen him since you turned eighteen?” She already knew the answer.
“No. He told me I was no longer his son, changed the locks and blocked my number. Mom’s money saved my life, accessible as of my eighteenth birthday. It didn’t even matter that he cut me off financially; I was able to pay for college entirely on my own.”
“What a woman,” Claire said.
“In college,” Tai said without pausing, his words now flowing like a downhill river, “I tried for a science degree. I wanted to study genetics, figure myself out. At eighteen I had big dreams of curing myself, curing all of us. But I’m not Ryker Maddox.” He grinned, a flash of good-natured self-deprecation as well as admiration for his friend. “That head he has for equations, statistics, number strings a mile long… I’m great with consumer math; if I weren’t, I couldn’t do my job. But my head prefers art to science.”
“So what’s your degree?”
“I considered music next, but once I explained why I’d tried science in the first place, my advisor steered me toward a bachelor’s in public relations. She said my people skills were unusually strong, and with a relevant degree I’d have a lot of vocational options to help people. Then I got my Master’s in communication, also thanks to Mom’s money.”
“So when you got the position with Josie Strong…”
“Yeah, I was still trying to find a way into genetics research. I’ve always wondered if my mom was a bloodfiend. I look just like her—black hair, same mouth and nose, same weird eye color. Then again, today I found out eye color has nothing to do with the condition. Peter’s eyes are green.”
He’d been trying to understand himself all his life. Claire felt the weight of that settle in her chest. “Doesn’t Josie Strong work only with human disorders?”
“For now, yeah. Once I got involved, I learned how vast the research field is. So many people need help and can’t get it on their own. So no, I don’t go to work to help cure hematorexia, but I do help treat or cure other things.”
She took hold of one of his hands and with her other began to rub his back. She didn’t know what else to do, how else to show him the depth of care inside her. The man she loved had been through too much, but he would never be alone with it again.
He hadn’t said everything. Not yet. She knew this, deep inside where her own stories lived, but she didn’t know what question he needed now to free the rest of his.
“I’m sorry, Tai. I’m sorry you lost your mom so young. I’m sorry your father refused to love you for exactly the person you are.”
“He didn’t stop there,” Tai said quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“The entire family knows what I am, Claire. He told everyone, down to the most distant cousins. Made sure they knew not to take me in. Made sure they knew I was rebelling against vampire moral codes and had no interest in ‘bettering myself.’”
“And none of them told him off? Or at least reached out to you? Not a single one?”
He was quiet. He kept his eyes fixed on the distant mountains.
