"I don't know. It probably depends on whether or not he wins the challenges. He's been saying he's over her for years, but he's never had another girlfriend."
"Does he do casual hookups?"
"Every once in a while."
"You talk to Jonah about sex?" Callum asked.
"When it comes up. You talk to Liv about sex." I gestured toward the screen with her name on it. "Jonah is kind of like my Liv."
Except if he ever got back with Gwen, our friendship would probably cease to exist. But whatever.
"Aww. I think that makes me and Jonah like fated friends or something," she said. "Anyway, I might be semi-interested in hooking up with him. It's time I get back on the horse, you know? Maybe. A year and a half of abstinence after a breakup is a long time. I'm thinking about moving on, with him. If he's interested. But not if he's going to get back together with Gwen, because it would make things awkward at Cabinet meetings if they were mated but we had screwed, you know?"
I nodded. "Completely get it."
"I think I'm being pushed out of my own friendship," Callum remarked.
"Oh, shut it," Liv said, and I grinned.
"He only started fighting professionally because he wanted to train to kill Simon to get Gwen back, so I don't know. Might be risky. He didn't sign up for the challenges right away, so maybehe really is over her, but he did sign up. There are benefits to being Beta other than just access to the Alpha, though. He could have a real pack again. We were both kicked out of ours, not just me."
"Well, that's not helpful."
"I know. Sorry. You can come to dinner with us if you want, and see if you even like him."
"Fine. Don't tell him I'm considering using him as my first hookup post-Niall, though."
"We won't. We're meeting at the café right after we leave the pit, and picking up food on the way."
"Okay, it's a plan. I'll drive," Liv decided.
"No," Callum and I said at the same time.
Our eyes met in the rearview mirror for a second. It was kind of hot.
"We have Callum's car," I explained quickly.
"Dare just got here, he's waving me out of the car. Gotta go." Liv hung up.
"See, dinner won't be so bad. We can watch them flirt," I told Callum.
"Do you enjoy flirting?"
"I think everyone enjoys flirting." I looked out the window, watching Shifter Borough fly past us. There were trees everywhere, and—there it was.
A flicker of pride rolled through me as we went by one of my cafes, and I saw the nearly full parking lot.
Finding my soulmate in the ice king wasn't quite ideal, but that bargain had still been worth it to me.
"Why did you make sure my cafe succeeded?" I asked Callum. "We didn't really have a bargain, so you didn't have to."
"It mattered to you." He paused, and my chest warmed a bit. That was sweet. "And you would've realized something was going on if I didn't uphold the deal."
...there went the warmth.
Was Callum even capable of loving me?
God, I hoped so. I was bound to him forever, regardless.
