“I want to be a cowboy.”“You what?” She laughs and turns to look at him.He runs his hand across the dash board. “This could be my steel horse. And look at me? I could rock a cowboy hat.”“This song’s not about an actual cowboy. It’s about touring with the band.”“It’s open to interpretation.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, Keel. Because I do. I really do. It’s just, I can’t do it like this. You have too much already going on. You just told me you can’t choose between Nick and the Demon. I don’t want to be another option for you to choose from. And I can’t just be a distraction. I could say screw it and enjoy this moment, but we would both regret it. Nick’s my friend, and the way I want to be with you, it’s sort of in a long term way. I’m smart enough to know that if I kissed you now, it would end up being a bitter memory for both of us. I can’t share you. And I can’t lose you.”

“I’m going to take your shirt off. All right?”He laughs, his eyes locking with hers. “I have been waiting for a year to hear you say those words, Kiem. It’s not nearly as satisfying as I had imagined.”

“May I sleep with you?”Keely goes very still. Feels as if she is made of stone. Her stomach dips like she took the plunge on a roller coaster. That came out of nowhere. “Ugh, what?”“May I sleep here tonight? I slept so well this morning and I believe you will sleep better with me here as well.” He glances at her and smiles devilishly. “You thought I was asking to have sex.” He laughs. It’s such a wonderful noise to Keely’s ears. “I thought we were not allowed to do that?”

“I want to forewarn you,” Bryon says seriously. “It’s very possible that I may start talking with a southern accent.”“That’s all right as long as I can do my British accent.”He squints and shakes his head. “No. That’s stupid. Those don’t even match. Can you do a country backwoods toothless mumble? Because that’ll work.”

“I would run until the end of time for you, Keely. I would run until my feet couldn’t carry me any longer and then I would crawl.”

“You do not realize the power you have over me,” Asmoday says quietly. He brushes the hair from her shoulders.Keely’s body goes rigid. “What do you mean?” She doesn’t want power over anybody.“You could so easily destroy me,” he says matter-of-factly.”