"Well you can’t run if this is the consequence." Niall met my eyes again. "Who is he? It hasn't been in the news. Why doesn’t he stop you?"
There was an edge to the words. He didn’t like the idea of me being with Jonah. Not at all. Guess his possessiveness had stuck around.
"He runs with me, and I don’t think he knows about the blisters."
"How doesn’t he know about the blisters? Do you fuck with socks on?"
"Something like that." I eased my feet away from Niall, and he finally let them go.
"I don’t think they fuck at all," Larson called out. "She was never this tense when she was with you."
I could officially imagine the blood dripping down his throat when one of my plants strangled him.
"Why are you concerned about my sex life, Lars? Is Rob not good enough in bed these days?" I tossed back, standing up.
The white-hot pain in my feet made my knees buckle. I bit my cheek so hard it bled, trying not to collapse.
Niall grabbed my hip, balancing me. Looking down, I saw his bare fingers on my skin, and memories flickered through my mind.
The way he'd gripped me like that as he fucked me from behind, in our bed.
His hand on my abdomen as he devoured me.
Niall stood up and grabbed my waist, lifting me just far enough off the floor that my feet didn’t touch the ground, and carrying me out of the room. Then down the hallway. "Where’s your healing stuff?"
He didn't have to ask if I had some. He knew I did.
"In my kitchen. The sink is the easiest place to wash and bandage my feet. Yes, I’m aware that it’s disgusting. I don’t care."
"So the blisters have been around for a while."
He had undoubtedly put together that it meant my fated matehadn’tbeen around for a while, since as he’d so kindly pointed out, Jonah would’ve realized the blisters were there if we had sex.
"I’ve kept them at bay for a few months with the spellcasters’ cream, but the last few weeks have been…" I let out a harsh breath. "I’ll stay off them for a few hours, and they’ll be recovered enough to make it through my night run."
"Nightrun? There's a morning run too?"
"Maybe."
"How many miles are you doing?"
"You don’t want to know. I don’t even want to know."
Niall set me down next to the sink. "I want to know."
I sighed. "At least a marathon’s worth every day. Usually one and a half."
The way he jerked back told me I’d surprised him with the admission.
"I’ve got it from here. Thanks. You’ll probably need to drag Larson out of the pool too. He seems wrecked from the spell," I said.
I felt his gaze on me as I physically pushed him away and turned the water on.
It was routine for me to go through the process with numbing soap and cream, healing ointment, bandages, and clean socks from the dwindling mountain I’d stocked there a few days earlier.
Niall disappeared into the hallway at some point, going to find his brother. I refused to acknowledge the many things I felt about him being there and taking care of me.
Acknowledging them would only lead to more pain.
