"I'm aware. As you might remember, I actuallyenjoyit."
She studied me, like she was trying to decide whether or not I was telling the truth. "It'll be long and boring."
"I can handle long and boring."
"Gwen can keep me alive just fine."
"You fucked the love of her life five months ago, and you trust her to be on Liv duty 24/7? Do you think she's really going to care the way I will if you burn yourself out? If Jonah almost took himself down with his own magic, I'd help him into the grave."
She clenched her jaw, looking at the steering wheel.
Thinking.
"We were doing better, in my apartment. Things were mostly normal. We'll get there again, Liv. Iwantto get there again. Before that night with Larson, this is exactly what we would've done. We were a team."
"I felt bad about that, Niall. You've always had to put way more effort into this than I do." She gestured between us. "I'm difficult."
"I loved every fucking minute of it."
She looked back at me, and there was something raw in her eyes. "If we sealed a bond and didn't end up being fated, I would always be this much of a mess. It gets really old."
"I would do anything I could to make you feel a little less tired of it. Fucking you in the bed saved you from a midnight stroll and a morning run, right?"
Liv nodded grudgingly.
"We can handle it. We always did. And we had fun with it."
She gave me a small, reluctant smile, and finally hit the button to unlock the passenger door. I took the seat, dropping the keys in the cupholder as she started the car with a button.
"What did I do to make you feel bad about your power?" I asked, after she'd basically peeled out of the driveway and was hauling ass down the street. "You never seemed guilty when we were together."
"You didn't do anything. I sort of spiraled after we broke up. Spent weeks sitting in your studio, staring at everything and wondering what I'd done to make you choose Larson's life over mine. I decided that it must've been my magic. That you must've had some doubts about doing all of the stuff to satisfy it long term, because everything else between us was just..."
"Perfect."
"Weweren't perfect. But the dynamic was."
"It was. Tell me how to make it easier for you to let that go, because I fucking love you. Magic included."
"Stop assuming I'm going to screw Jonah again. Drop it. Move on. I know you weren't with anyone else while we weren't together, but I saw our situation differently. I'm sorry I fucked him. I wish I didn't, but I can't take it back," she said.
I clenched my jaw. "I'll try."
It was the best I could do at the moment.
"I'll try to stop assuming you're going to get tired of me, then." She paused. "Unlessyouthink you will. Because believe me,immortality with all of this is a lot. I would know." She gestured to herself.
"I want it." I set a hand on the back of her neck, dragging my thumb lightly over the one tattoo on her skin. "All of it."
"I'll try to convince myself of that. Can you turn some music on?"
I grabbed her phone, typing in the new door code. It didn't work, so I tried her old password. That one went through.
"You can snoop, if that'll make you less possessive," she added.
"I don't think anything will make me less possessive." I started the playlist she'd listened to the most recently. "You thought you were fated to a fucking werewolf."
"A little less prejudice would be ideal."
