“Don’t say it like you did something bad, Jack. You caught a car with your bare hands. You bench-pressed it. And then, oh my god, oh my god, that’s how you got me out. You moved the whole dashboard. You ripped the seat belt in two.”
She illustrated all these incredible moves with her hands as she said it. She had to, because she could see he wasn’t accepting just how amazing that was. In fact, even with her yanking and shoving imaginary obstacles in front of his face, he still seemed to resist. He gave her alook.
Anexasperatedone.
“Okay, all right, we get it, I’m grotesquely strong.”
“Grotesqueis not the word.”
He raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Then what is?”
“Awe-inspiring, dude. You saved my life with your superhuman strength.”
“Yeah, from something my dumbass caused.” He shook his head and looked away, marveling at his own gall. “I should never have revealed to you that I needed help. Never. I was getting desperate after years of trying to be better on my own, to be worthyon my own, and failing, failing, failing. And so I told myself it was safe to do what I did, to reach out, and it wasn’t and it’s almost gotten you killed, like, twelve times. Honestly, stopping your untimely demise is now practically my full-time job. And all because I couldn’t do things the normal way. I couldn’t just learn how to be normal after ten years like this,” he said, with so much bitterness aimed at himself she had to reassure him. She went to, one hand reaching for the fist he’d made on the table.
Only before she could, she replayed what he’d said in her head.
“Wait. Did you just saytwelve times? As in, many more than once or twice?”
“If I’m being honest that’s probably an underestimate. Which I know is awful to hear. I know that must be really scary. But just know, nothing will happen to you as long as I’m careful about what I say, and what I do, and I’m around to cover anything that slips through protection spells by, you know, watching over you.”
“You’ve been watching over me?”
“Well, I kind of have to. The more I reveal something to someone about all of this, the closer they are to the spell, the more danger from devil dogs and the like they’re put in. They’re contravening the rules of the deal. They’re helping me contravene it. So they get punished. And I can’t let that happen. I have to look out for threats—though I swear I don’t do it in a creepy way. I mean, yeah, I sleep on your roof now, but I never peep in your window. I’m not listening at any of your vents. In fact, the only thing I’ve ever accidentally seen or heard that I shouldn’t have was that time you came out your front door in your nightie because someone had left a parcel on your doorstep at six in the morning. And even then I looked away real fast the second I saw the nightie was that short and flimsy and low-cut,” he babbled, and she could tell that even as he was doing it he knew he was saying too much. He winced before she even managed to choke out her shock. Then she did,and he raced on. “I know, I know, I’m sorry. I just glimpsed it for a split second.”
He was being ridiculous, though.
It wasn’t the glimpsing that was hitting her hard, not at all.
“Jack, I don’t care about boobs you saw. I care about you on theroof.”
“Right, and I know it’s weird, but it just means that I can cover any threats perfectly, it’s a great angle. I mean, I tried being nearby in my car but then I can’t immediately clock anything happening around back, and I’m fast, even in human form I’m ludicrously fast, but there’s always a chance, you know?”
“I know that you just added car sleeping to this unhinged equation.”
“So car sleeping is worse to you.”
She put her face in her hands briefly. Because he just wasn’t getting it, he didn’t get it. “No. No, Jack. None of this isworse. None of this is you doing something bad. It’s just absolutely wild that the only place you’re getting any rest lately is in either an inexplicably busted and possibly possessed truck, or on my leaking, wonky, not even flat rooftop. Like, dude. It’s a whole slope. The entire thing is a slope. How you are even… why aren’t you… my god, no wonder you always look exhausted. It’s incredible you don’t have constant hypothermia. Human bodies are susceptible to the elements, you know,” she pointed out.
Though he was already rolling his eyes.
“Okay, first of all, honey, it’s not inexplicable that my possessed truck is busted. It’s just more convincing if things are broken down, and especially when this is the body and face I have. And second of all, said body and face really aren’t as vulnerable as your typical human being’s.”
“Notasvulnerable? So still some.”
“I can endure extremes. Like, I can walk around in the arctic.”
“Yeah, but would you want to? Is that nice for you? Is that comfortable? Would you like to get some shut-eye there with what I’m assuming is just a sleeping bag or a crappy blanket and maybe a small throw cushion?” she asked. Only now he wouldn’t meet her gaze. And she could see he was pulling that guilty face. “Oh mygod, you’re not even using those things, are you. There’s not even a blanket and small throw cushion in this whole business.”
“Well, I can’t spring into action while swaddled in comfort.”
“I’m not asking for swaddled. I’m just asking forsome,” she said, and knew she’d done it too desperately. The moment he heard that tone he stopped trying to protest, or insist this was all fine. Instead, he seemed to let it sink in.
And his expression was pure, sweet surprise and gratitude.
“It means a lot to me that you care, honey. A whole hell of a lot. But please think about you. Think about yourself,” he said, so gentle she didn’t know how to respond for a second. She had to swallow thickly around a lump of emotion. And doubly so when she felt something graze one of her bunched fists, and realized it was his fingertips. He was stroking her with his fingertips.
So she just did it.
