Page 171 of Without Fault

“I tried.”

I keep my gaze on the bracelet. “Is this supposed to be us?” I lightly touch the girl and boy holding hands and playfully roll my eyes as I look back up at Liam.

“No, it’s a twin charm.” He gestures at it. “It’s you and August.”

I let my smile break through as I look back down at the charms. My finger runs along the A, L, and S, and I shake my head softly. “August, Lis, and Sire?” I peek over at him, and he only nods.

I take in the bracelet, and I don’t think I could’ve gotten charms to describe myself better than he did. There’s a gold Christmas tree, my favorite holiday. A paw print for the kittens. An emerald stone, my favorite color, and birthstone. My zodiac sign. A Jamaican and Haitian flag. A pumpkin right next to a coffee.

When I see a particular one, I take the bracelet out of the box for a better look and glance back over at Liam. “Is this a snow globe?”

He nods softly. “To represent you and Sire’s bond.”

It takes everything in me not to hug him, and I look back at the bracelet to stop myself. Every other charm is a location. The LA one makes sense, but then there are ones like Paris, Brazil, and Italy, and I realize they are all places I’ve been to.

“How’d you know all of these?”

“I took Moon's phone and looked through your travel playlist on your account.” My travel playlist is incredibly long, so I’m sure he meant he just looked at the locations, but still, he got all eleven.

“Thank you.” I wrap my arms around his neck and he wastes no time before pulling me closer and with the way he holds me, I believe what he said the other day about being touch-deprived.

I try to pull away and he holds me for a few more seconds before letting go. “Want to wear it now?” He sounds so hopeful, even if I didn’t want to wear it, I can’t say no to him.

I hold my wrist out, and when he clasps the charm bracelet on, it’s a perfect fit. I shake my wrist and move the charms over. “Half a heart?” I turn the charm, and when I glance up at Liam, he only nods but doesn’t explain the meaning of this charm.

He asks about how my day was, and I immediately tell him about the sweetest old lady I met today who helped me finish my meal. Liam seems to want to know how all my days have been, apparently because he asks about what I did yesterday and the day before that. I tell him my days are mainly filled with work for Vincent and preparation for the big show.

The band beside us plays the same song the entire ride, and I have no complaints because I can genuinely listen to it for hours on end. When they get to my favorite part again, I turn to Liam.

“I adore you,” he says before I can. “I love you.”

“Just translating.” I put my hands up in mock surrender as I finish for him, but he doesn’t add that part, and as he watches me, I actually can’t look away. My hands fall, and I don’t know if there are any animals in this water, but if a whale were tojump out from beside us, I wouldn’t even notice with how Liam watches me.

“My perfect girl.” His words are strained, and he looks off to the side as if he suddenly can’t breathe.

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

I look over at what he’s looking at and notice we’re nearing the dock soon… a part of me is bummed that the last half hour passed so quickly.

“Can we pretend we’re still together?” He turns to me now. “Just until we reach the dock.”

“Liam–”

“Justuntil we reach the dock, Dory.”

I glance back at the dock and we have maybe a minute. I don’t let myself think about it since I can’t see what two minutes will change. “Fine.”

He sits at the end of the gondola, and when he spreads his legs, I know all too well what he’s asking. I shake my head at him before getting up to sit on his lap. He guides my arm around his neck before wrapping his arms around my waist, and I softly laugh at how quick his movements are.

The second his face is in the crease of my neck I melt into him and a second barely passes before he softly kisses my neck.

“Liam–”

“We’re still pretending.” His nose rubs against me softly, and I let my eyes fall shut as he kisses his way to my jawline. “I love you.” His cool breath kisses my lips, and I don’t move a muscle.

A chill runs down my spine as his nose nuzzles my jaw, and then there’s that soft kiss on my cheek that I missedsobadly.

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