I groaned, struggling against the breaths that were already coming out more rapidly than before. My panic was swelling.
Fuck anxiety.
Fuck being a fae.
"Ignore my feet, Lars."
There was a gigantic trampoline in my backyard.
A treadmill in my gym, along with a bunch of other equipment.
A hot tub next to my pool, indoors, to avoid the rain.
"What are my odds of drowning right now?" I wondered.
"Pretty high, probably."
"In a hot tub?"
"Lower.
That was good enough for me.
I tried to make it to my feet, and my eyes burned with tears.
There were magic-infused creams next to my sink, but I didn’t have time to put them on. I needed to be moving, or I was going to lose my shit.
Larson complained under his breath, but pulled me over his shoulder piggy-back style before trekking down the hallway. He knew where my pool was.
"Thanks," I said against his neck. "Don’t tell Niall about this."
"He’d kill me for having my hand on your ass anyway."
He wouldn’t, even if we had still been together. If it was anyone else, sure, but the brothers trusted each other implicitly. Niall also knew Larson had no interest in me.
When we got to the pool room, I saw a bikini hanging from a hook near the wall. I'd left it there about two years ago, so it wasn't clean. But if Niall was going to show up, I wasn't going to risk facing him in my birthday suit.
God knew I was always tempted to climb on his cock, whether or not I was fully clothed. The last thing I needed was nudity pushing me in that direction even harder.
When Larson set me down, he saw me looking at the bikini. "I’m not helping you into that. I have to draw the line somewhere."
"My feet aren’tthatbad. I can put on a swimsuit."
"Thank fuck." Larson was already on his way to retrieve it for me, despite his announcement against it.
He handed it over. I managed to get my clothes off and my bikini on before I flopped unceremoniously into the hot tub, then turned the jets on.
They weren't as effective as actually moving my body was, but they were much better than nothing.
Larson ditched his pants and plopped down on the hot tub’s steps in his underwear, staring out in front of himself like he was questioning his entire life.
Same, man.
"So, what’s new?" he asked me after a few minutes. "Other than the possible fated mate who’s sexually uninterested in you and not willing to make a bargain?"
"I’m going to kill you," I said unenthusiastically.
He wasn’t wrong about the first part, unfortunately. I wasn't sure how he'd put it together, but considering I had shown up alone, it wasn't a stretch. I hadn’t tried to make a bargain with Jonah, but I didn't struggle to imagine him turning me down on that front, either.
