PERIPHERY | NH |

FORTY THREE

Hunter

Waking up in Niall's arms feels so surreal.

We've been apart for what feels like forever and I hope that his arms are the only ones I find myself in from now on.

Last night felt like a dream.

After we finally made it back to Niall's rented house, we were able to sit down and talk with each other.

There were a lot of tears.

A lot.

Sitting down and spilling out every part of what we went through wasn't easy. Nothing is easy about hearing how someone you love was hurting. The same goes for them — there's nothing easy about telling them about how much they hurt you.

Niall and I are two halves that are meant to fit together, made to make each other whole.

Together.

Niall listened to me as I told him about taking the time for myself and going back to therapy. Holding me as I cried while I told him what it felt like going through all of my dad's things. How it felt like a final goodbye to him.

Then, I did the same thing for him.

My fingers drew lazy circles over his skin as he told me about focusing his energy into his own therapy sessions, how he hasn't felt so good in who he was before. That talking with someone else outside of the industry really made him see things for what they were.

I was happy that he took steps for himself to feel better.

If we had never crossed paths again, it would hurt but if in the end Niall came out on too that's all that would matter to me.

Turning in his arms, looking over his features, he's still just as beautiful as he's always been.

Tracing the curve of his jaw with the tip of my finger, I giggle as he nips my finger when I trace it across his cupid's bow.

"How long have you been awake?" I ask, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

Niall smiles, making my breath hitch in my chest. "Long enough to hear your brain overthinking."

"I wasn't—"

"Hunter, I love you but remember you're a bad liar." He laughs, pulling me even closer. "Don't overthink with me."

I chew on my bottom lip. "It's not that I'm overthinking. Just thinking about what it was like without you but how much the two of us have grown since we've been apart."

"Nothing without you was easy." Niall says, kissing the top of my head. "There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about you. I knew that if there was ever a chance that would get to be in your life again that I would have to change some things — that I needed to understand myself before I could ever expect someone else to do the same thing."

I hum as I lean up and press my lips to his. "You've always been enough for me, Niall. Whether you think you were or not. I'm lucky to be loved by you."

"I could say the same thing, bookworm." Lifting up my head, I smile down at him. "Hunt, are you hungry?"

Squinting, I tilt my head side to side. "I could eat."

A sly grin pull across Niall's face as he flips us over, pinning my hands above my head as his lips kiss down my jaw and down my
throat.

"Good, because I'm starving."

•

"Are you ready?"

Sitting in the car, I look out of the windshield and blow out a breath. "I think so. Are you sure you want to come with me?"