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“Binx fulfilled his purpose, and he did it well. I know you don’t like hearing that, but it’s true. That cat should have been dead months ago, but I believe he held on so he’d be able to make amends with leaving you all and saying his goodbyes. From what I hear, he hated most people but adored you from the moment he laid his eyes on you. Keep that thought close to your heart, and you’ll make it through this. Luckily for you, you’ll never have to go through it alone and we’re all here for you.”

Dash had warned me, but I’d been too wrapped up in everything else I had going on to listen to him. And now it was too late. I’d never gotten to saymygoodbye, and now I never would.

“My boy and I, we’ll take care of him. He was our responsibility, so it’s only right that we’re the ones to take care of him.”

He patted me awkwardly on my leg and stood up. I hadn’t even realized he’d sat down beside me, that was how out of it I was. I kept crying, and it felt like maybe I’d never be able to stop.

Who was I to talk shit about Finn being a crybaby when I was just the same?

Eventually, Romero went inside to make some phone calls, and Finn came out carrying my bag.

I followed him to my car without a word, and I didn’t even try to fight him when he very gently settled me into the passenger seat. Finn got behind the wheel of my car, and he floored it out of there, driving like a freaking madman.

He didn’t talk to me on the ride home, and it wasn’t until we were parked in the garage that he finally spoke.

“Do you know what the difference between you and the other Council members was?” he asked quietly, and I shook my head. Not because I didn’t know, but because I didn’t feel much like talking at the moment.

He turned in his seat to face me, and I could tell by the look on his face that I wasn’t going to like where he was going with this. I wasn’t going to like it at all.

He pointed first to my head and then my heart. “It’s what’s in there, and what’s in there. But what you did today with me was not okay. You’re better than that, and you’re better than all of them ever were combined. When you’re over your grief and remember this conversation, you’ll get what I’m trying to say.”

Did anyone ever really get over their grief? I knew it faded in time, but I didn’t think it ever really went away entirely. Given Rebel and then Finn’s story about his family, I figured he already knew an awful lot about grief.

“Do better, Ariel Kimber.Bebetter. Otherwise, you’re not worth it, and you’ll only turn out to be an utter disappointment just like the rest of the Council members.”

With that, he got out of my car and left me there crying even worse than before.

At least this time he didn’t slam the door behind him after he got out.

I stayed out there by myself for a long, long time after that.

When I did drag my sorry ass inside nobody brought my trip to the cottage or Binx up. But they did treat me like a fragile piece of glass that needed to be coddled and treated with the utmost care.

And for the first time in my life, I didn’t mind. It was actually exactly what I needed.

22

It didn’t hit me until I was standing on the grass staring down at the slab of marble that would forever be Binx’s tombstone that I hadn’t ever been to a funeral before.

I didn’t think watching someone being tossed into the dirt in the basement counted. If it did, then I supposed I had been to a couple of them before.

I didn’t want to be attending this one right now. It made the whole thing seem more real, more permanent.

There was no going back from this, and I absolutely hated every second of it.

But I was here for the whole goddamn horrible thing because that was what you did for the ones you loved. Even if they were dead, you showed up. That didn’t stop it from feeling like one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do, because that was exactly what it felt like to me.

Why did all the important things have to feel like the hardest?

It had been Damien and Julian who’d thought to pick out the stone and put in a rush order on it as soon as they’d learned Binx was gone. Very thoughtful of them.

It read:

Here lies Binx.

Beloved cat. Best friend. Troublemaker.

Always and forever in our hearts.