Liam's driver side window slid down. "Aileen."
As always, seeing his face was like getting a punch in the chest. Sometimes I hated the hold he had over me. Other times, I didn't know what I'd do without it.
Emotions warred in his expression. I wasn't the only one who felt this breathless draw.
That thought warmed me, soothing some of my uncertainty. I wasn't alone.
His face told me all I needed to know. He'd mourn if I was gone. More importantly, he'd avenge me.
Call me twisted, but the knowledge that there was someone out there who would rain down bloody death and destruction on those who harmed me was comforting.
I set one hand on his window. "I know."
He took a deep breath, his struggle obvious. "Don't be reckless."
"That's like telling a cat not to sharpen its claws on the furniture. Mostly pointless."
His look turned irritated. "Sometimes I think I should have been much tougher on you in training."
Not in this lifetime. If he ever stepped up training, I was taking an extended vacation to somewhere warm and tropical.
"We're agreed then. I'll do what's needed and you'll be there to catch me if I fall," I said, hoping to ease some of his tension.
"Stay safe." There was a rare uncertainty in Liam's expression.
He always seemed so untouchable. Nothing and no one could breach that impenetrable wall he kept around him—except, apparently me. It was both heady and terrifying at the same time to know my actions and choices held that sort of power over him.
Love could be a cage. It was one of the reasons I'd never sought to lose myself in its grasp. Giving someone the power to destroy you was a scary thing.
I loved too deeply and completely to risk myself in that fashion.
What I'd forgotten was that love could also sustain you in the dark times. The right partner made you a better version of yourself. Only time would tell whether Liam and I were the former or the latter.
Impulse prompted me to lean down and kiss him. I tasted his surprise for only seconds. His hands reached up to hold me closer as he deepened the kiss, the desire that always sat within my middle kindling in seconds.
My lips were swollen and tingling when I finally pulled back, mourning the fact we couldn't finish this. "Hell of a sendoff."
My words banished some of the shadows in his eyes. Not all of them—but enough.
"You remember that the next time you decide to go it alone," he said.
I straightened, catching Thomas starring out the windshield, his normal arrogance missing, replaced with the same tiredness I’d seen last night, as if he was an outsider, yearning to be on the inside.
For the first time ever, I felt sorry for the man who'd had a hand in making me what I was.
A small part of me whispered that I'd misjudged him. That maybe I'd cast blame in his direction a bit too quickly.
Yes, he was manipulative, cocky, and arrogant, but so was Liam. The only difference was Thomas had been the one with the poor luck of choosing me as his target that night.
Even then, I couldn't entirely blame him, knowing the curse had a hand in that too.
So where did that leave me?
Forgiveness was a choice, but that didn't make it easy.
I'd held so tightly to my bitterness for all this time that it was hard to let go. I needed someone to blame for the shitty turn my life had taken.
I'd forgotten life came with its own set of knock-out punches.
