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I shivered from equal parts pain and pleasure. “Do you feel anything?”
“Do you ever stop talking?” he countered.
He had a point. I tended to ramble when I was nervous, because silence only made me more uncomfortable, but whatever he was doing was drawing out the weirdness I’d been feeling, so I tried to keep my mouth shut.
“It’s your wolf, but this isn’t a normal ‘wolf thing,’ as you put it,” Grayson answered another minute later.
My mouth turned down. “Am I still broken?”
He moved until he was cupping my cheek. “There isn’t, and never has been, anything broken about you, Kinsley.”
Fuck me. Why did those words make me want to strip our clothes off?
“Will you shut that stupid thing off?” Lia yelled from the living room. “I can only pretend I don’t hear everything for so long.”
Oops. Though I wasn’t sorry. I reached back and opened the microwave that had apparently been beeping for who-knew-how-long while I’d been enraptured by Grayson.
The corndogs looked even worse cooked, and suddenly, I didn’t have an appetite.
Grayson made a noise I’d yet to hear from him. “I’ll be back with something proper to eat.”
Before I could object or remind him of Drake’s unspoken warning, Grayson was halfway out the door.
I threw the corndogs away and tossed myself onto the couch opposite Lia. “This fucking sucks. Why did we come here again?”
She peeked her eyes back open and grinned. “You’re just hangry for your man and a proper meal. Once you get at least one of those things, I’m sure you won’t be so frustrated.”
The unicorn wasn’t wrong about that.
Considering I didn’t expect to get much alone time with Lia, I sat up and tucked my feet under me. “Are you trying to sleep?”
She turned her head, which was resting on a flat throw pillow. “Meh. More just trying not to be a third wheel.”
I glanced down at my twisting hands. “You got us to Fire and Fluorite. You don’t have to stay any longer if you don’t want to.”
Lia was up and out of her seat in the next second. She sat beside me and lifted my chin. “Where is that confident woman I met before who was putting Grayson in his place?”
I shrugged. “That was survival instinct.”
She grabbed my hand and held it between both of hers. The frostiness of her skin cooled my own, something I hadn’t noticed before.
“Listen,” she said. “Unicorns aren’t all-knowing. If I’ve offended you, please don’t be afraid to say something.”
I choked on a laugh. “If you’ve done something? I thoughtI’ddone something. You weren’t around much yesterday when I expected you to be, and I don’t know. I just… Well, I’ve never had a friend, so I don’t know. Just ignore me. It’s dumb.”
Her bright eyes stared directly into mine, and she glared. “Kinsley Ash. Don’t you ever say your feelings are dumb. I won’t tolerate that kind of bullshit. Not in our friendship. Even if you’re not seeing the situation fully, what youfeelmatters. You matter. Never be afraid to speak your piece. That’s the only way to build a true friendship. Something I hope you and I will have one day.”
Emotions burned at the back of my throat. “Seriously? I thought you were only here because you felt like you had to be and that you’d probably be gone just as soon as your obligations from the visions were met.”
She waved a flippant hand. “Hell no. Not unless I need to be for reasons beyond my control. I haven’t had a vision in years. Learning about you in the weird ways I did was the highlight of my decade. I only disappeared yesterday because you and Grayson need to work out your shit sooner rather than later. You won’t do that with me hovering around all the time.”
My hands covered my face. I felt so stupid. Maybe the reason I’d never had friends wasn’t only because I was supposed to be in hiding without knowing it, but also because I was just terrible at this whole thing.
Lia pried my fingers apart until she could see my eyes again. “Talk to me.”
I shook my head and dropped my arms back to my sides. “No. Just forget I said anything. Everything is fine. I swear.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Seriously, woman. You’ve got a vagina. Use it. Don’t be afraid to say how you feel. Anyone who shames you for that isn’t worthy of your time, and you should consider yourself thankful to get rid of them if they can’t handle who you are.”
