Chapter 18
eighteen
NIALL
Liv had graduated from searching the inside of her Lamborghini for her keys and was officially on the ground, looking under the vehicle, when I made it out to the garage.
I had two of her massive fabric grocery bags in my hands.
Both were full of snacks, filled water bottles, and electrolyte packets.
Her water bottle collection came in handy frequently.
"Have you seen my keys?" she called out to me, without glancing up. "I swear I left them in the car. I don't really remember coming home, but I never bring them inside, so—" I clicked the unlock button, just so the car would make a noise for her.
She finally looked up at me, and saw them dangling from my fingers.
Her eyes narrowed.
"I'm driving," I said, opening the car's trunk with a button on my way over to it.
"You stole my keys?"
"You were at least half asleep when you got here. We can add driving after wiping yourself out in the orchard to the list of things you aren't allowed to do, after swimming alone."
"I wasn't planning on driving home tonight."
I wasn't convinced—until I saw the duffel bag she'd already put in the trunk. "You were going to stay there? With Jonah?"
"I was going to crash in one of the villa's many spare rooms, alone.
" She dusted herself off after climbing to her feet, and took the driver's seat despite my announcement.
"I don't want Jonah. He doesn't want me.
None of this has anything to do with him, and I still smell like your cum.
Don't make me say it again. The caveman thing is getting old. "
She hit the button to lock the door as I grabbed the handle. Before I could unlock it with the keys I still possessed, she rolled the window down.
"What's in the bags?" she asked, tipping her head so she could see me better.
I leaned over the window. It was a long way down. "Snacks," I said. "And water."
"For..."
"For our day in the orchard."
Her forehead creased. "What are you planning?"
"To spend the day watching you exhaust yourself for the sake of fruit trees. I'll try to one-up Gwen by feeding you before you get close to passing out."
"You don't need to take care of me."
"I'm aware. As you might remember, I actually enjoy it."
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. I want to 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."
"We weren'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. "Unless you think 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."
"It's not prejudice. It's irritation that you never thought that about me."
"Obviously, I fantasized that you were. I was too afraid of losing you to bring it up though, and my family didn't know about the magic thing until Callum was finally brave enough to let Kat feel his power."
"How does that work?"
"His power? It gets her off."
"Callum and the werewolf," he clarified. "I never actually pictured him with her, despite his obsession."
"Oh, he's way more obsessed with her now. I’d say it’s unhealthy, but he’s in pain when they’re not touching, so I guess it makes sense that he revolves around her like she’s the sun."
"What's she like?"
"Kat's pretty laid back. She's obsessed with coffee, and she always has her fridge stocked with leftover desserts and other things from her cafe for me.
She was Jonah's best friend before he became the Beta, which is how I met him, but they don't talk much anymore.
It was kind of a trauma bond, because Gwen betrayed them both when she agreed to be the Alpha. "
"Everything's about him these days, huh?"
She rolled her eyes at me. "Just read my texts with him. It'll make you feel better. We weren't ever even good friends."
"You're going to mock me for my possessiveness if I snoop."
"Nah. If you'd fucked someone else, I would've already taken your phone and read every message multiple times."
I believed her.
I scrolled through her texts with Jonah over the last five months, scanning the messages for anything even somewhat romantic.
Liv had tried to flirt a few times, but his responses had never been great.
She pulled into a drive-through, and I looked up with a raised brow when she ordered a small, fully-caffeinated iced coffee, my favorite mocha, and an assload of food. We were at the Werewolf Cafe location that was only a few streets from the orchard.
"Caffeinated coffee is a bad idea for you, Livvy."
"It's not going to give me a panic attack today. Growing plants drains me too much. I'll sip it slowly."
It was absolutely still going to give her a panic attack, but given that we were easing back into our relationship, I'd help her through it instead of arguing.
When she pulled up to the window, the woman in it greeted her by name and handed over the mountain of food without batting an eye.
"I come here a few mornings a week," Liv explained, as she pulled away from the building. "I'd rather go inside, but scaring people first thing in the morning gets old. I'm usually here after my morning run, so I can handle the wait for the most part."
"Are you still planning on running at the orchard most mornings?" I'd be running with her in one of my beast forms, if she was. I hated running in human form.
"Nah. I'll just go up and down Fae Row now that I'm free from Jonah. I think our friendship is already dead, considering the way he and Gwen played me."
Thank fuck.
Liv parked in a small lot on the far end of the Orchard, only a few minutes from the coffee shop. "I figured we can share, unless you're suddenly afraid of my germs."
"I'm actually their biggest fan."
She snorted, handing me a fork and lifting her knee up onto the seat as she turned toward me, holding the box between us. The moment was so normal, it almost felt like the last two years hadn't happened at all as we ate together.
I tapped out on breakfast before Liv did, her magic making her basically a bottomless pit.
She sighed heavily when she finally leaned back in her seat. "How long do you think this is going to take me? I'm ready to be done with this place."
"I don't know. We can take every other day off, so it's not as overwhelming."
"It could be a month or two. Maybe even three."
"Three months isn't that long."
"Three months of this is." She sat back in her seat and stared out at the trees she must've grown the day before.
Growing plants always brought memories back for her. She had a hard time with it. Not magically, but emotionally.
I took her hand, lacing my fingers through hers. "We can go home now. Come back another day."
"Or you can fuck me in this car to distract me."
"Your vehicles have never been ideal for what I like to do to you."
She gave me a small, reluctant smile. "We might as well go out there and get it over with.
I was still getting faster when I left yesterday, so after today, I should have a better idea of how many days it'll take.
If I need a distraction at lunch time, I'm sure you'll have no problem pinning me to a tree to have your way with me. "
"Wouldn't be the first time."
"Better not be the last, either." She studied me. "You really want a mate bond?"
"I do."
Liv shook her head. "You're insane."
"So are you." I lifted our connected hands and kissed the back of her palm.
"True. Alright, let's do it."