Page 22 of Livewire Witch

And that’s where we’ve been for the past two hours.

Fabian has spent the past hour sitting on a cushion against one of the massive windows, poring over a file of papers. And I have to admit, I’ve spent a good portion of the time studying him while he’s been distracted. He looks so much better than he has since I first met him. The dark circles under his eyes are fading. His skin no longer looks gray and unhealthy, either. Just reading the file of work stuff would have been enough to exhaust him only last week, but now he seems back to normal.

Almost, anyway.

Unfortunately for my bruised heart, he also looks damn hot when he’s engrossed in something, with his sandy hair flopping all over his forehead. He keeps on rubbing one big hand up and down his jaw as he thinks and I think I have a thing for hot nerds now, because the whole thing is really doing things for me.

Too bad my pussy hasn’t quite coordinated with my brain and my heart just yet. Or she’d know that he was off-limits.

Not ours.

Not anymore.

That’s proven after my bare feet accidentally brush Zeph’s bare leg and he lets out a little disapproving grumble. He promptly jumps up from the sofa and disappears from the room, leaving me alone with Fabian, who glances up and does an adorable little double take. If he wore glasses, he’d be pushing them up his nose right about now.

“Oh, hello there. I didn’t realize that Z had company.” He smiles, eyes warm and inviting, like he’s not just stabbing an ice-pick through my chest. The same thing happens every time he forgets that I exist.

Fabian gets to his feet and smiles sheepishly. “I’ll, er, I’ll leave you guys to it.” There’s a sense of déjà vu from our first meeting. When he thought I was one of Roscoe’s hook-ups, and right now, he clearly thinks the same with Zeph. With a jaunty wave, he heads off into Seb’s room.

Zeph returns with a blanket, which he plunks on my lap, I’m left gaping at him. It’s such a casually sweet thing to do, almost like he’s taking care of me.

Coming from the guy that spent the past few months reminding me that I’m less than. Trash. It’s a bit of a mind-fuck.

I’m left in a state of... not shock exactly, but something like it. Clearly, I don’t wrap the blanket around myself quickly enough, so Zeph huffs in frustration and tosses it over my lap, wrapping it around my cold feet.

“Silver lining,” he grunts. “If he still likes you when he’s like this, you’ll know you’re right for each other. Isn’t that the whole idea of soul mates? That you find each other in every lifetime, even when you don’t remember?”

It takes a minute for his words to sink in, and once it does, I’m left gawking like an idiot. “You think that me and Fabian are soul mates?” The words come out as a weird squeak as my mind reels. “Youbelievein soul mates?”

I’m kind of surprised he’s talking to me at all. I wouldn’t exactly call this small talk, but he’s still choosing to talk to me instead of ignoring my existence, which is something.

Zeph shoots me an unimpressed look that tells me absolutelynothingabout his thoughts on soul mates and then shrugs his big shoulders.

I flop deeper into the sofa cushions. Huh. His version of what’s happening to mine and Fabian’s relationship sounds almost romantic.

“There’ll be a way of fixing it,” he adds, keeping his eyes fixed to the TV. “Fabian won’t be like this forever. Then you can go back to being sickeningly sweet and making moony eyes at each other.”

Ugh. I can deal with a lot, but I’m not sure I can handle Zeph being sweet.

“You’re being nice,” I grumble at him, swatting his thigh.

Instantly regret the action, since it feels like my fingertips are hitting solid steel.

“And?”

“You’re not nice. You’re an ass.” I gesture around to encompass the whole situation. “This is confusing.”

He grimaces, looking about as uncomfortable as I feel. “Just don’t fuck with Ro in the meantime. I’d bet the two of them wouldn’t mind sharing, but don’t start shit with Ro and then drop him as soon as you get Fab back. Ro’s got a squishy little heart, and I have a feeling you could crush him.”

“I’m not going to hurt anybody if I can help it.” I let out a long breath. “I have to admit, it’s not just Fabian I’m drawn to.” Rather than delve deeper into my messed up feelings, I wave an accusatory finger in his general direction. “You’re still being nice. And this conversation is still weird. What’s going on here? What’s changed from last week or even yesterday when you were still calling me trash and being an ass?”

He growls like an angry bear. Or perhaps a puppy that’s trying to steal your socks off your feet.

“You used your powers to get me and Roscoe home safely after the explosion.”

I blink. “Uh, yeah?”

He leans forward, leaning his forearms on his thighs. “You used your illegal powers to help us. You don’t know if the people you used them on would know what you did and would flap their lips and tell people. Why did you do that?”

---