FIFTEEN
LEVI
This wasn’t even remotelythe plan.
Only after securing her to me in every way was I planning on breaking the Hunter ploy and admitting what I’ve been trying to for years—that I’m in love with her and always have been. That, without the mask, it’s always been me.
But this kiss? This was driven by rage and the evisceratingneedto protect her, to lock her up and ensure no one even fucking breathes near her. She’ll have me to look after her, defend her, pleasure her. Her days will begin with me beside her and end with me buried inside her.
Her pain rips me up; there’s nothing I can do in this moment to help. She must heal, because her pain is my pain. When she aches, my soul echoes the sensation.
I give her a moment to accept the change in our friendship, that there will be no going back from this. After another beat of our hearts, she sighs into my mouth, and her hands tentatively come to rest on my upper arms, body melting into mine.
I kiss her harder, deeper, as her mouth opens beneath mine. I fist her hair in the same way I did last night; if she were to focus,she’d realize me and Hunter are the same. Her fingers curl into my shirt as I walk us backwards, crashing against the door. A whimper rips from her throat.
“Levi…” She meets my eyes, a question darkening them into a stormy blue.
“I know. We’ve been wasting a lot of time.”
“How long?”
“Since the minute I met you, even before fucking up. Why do you think I cared so much about finding those marks on you? Why I was determined to be your friend, refused to let you get away? Why any guy who showed you interest was threatened away? Why I spent ensured my lawyers put your father away?”
“Years… You never said anything.”
“And ruin something so damn perfect?” I shake my head once, hard, the thought inconceivable. “I’ve been working up to this for a long time. My world revolves around you, darling. You’re my everything.”
More questions flit through her expression, her lips parting to ask, but I plaster a finger against them. “Don’t say anything. Let me find your father, and then we’ll talk.”
Unable to help myself, I kiss her forehead. Then, I reach by her to open the door and nudge her through it, shutting the door in her face.
Without another word, I get to work.
SIXTEEN
SUMMER
If Levi’sgoal was to make an official claim on me, then he succeeded.
I can’t keep up the lie. Whether I lose him to his family or not, this isn’t fair to either of us.
Because for the hour after Levi leaves, my mind won’t stop replaying the kiss, his touch—and every single interaction between us for years. Every laugh when his attention lingered a beat longer than normal. Every touch that had others inquiring if we were a couple.
The fact that he, as Hunter, recommended healing my trauma with Levi. What I took as him being a supportive friend was always more—and fucking him as Hunter is becauseLeviwanted to.
While I’m wrapped up in memories, my phone vibrates with his gamer tag.
Lunar_Warden
Sorry, Sunshine. I can’t come around tonight. One of the conditions of coming out here last minute was being available for virtual support in my job.
A lie to maintain the others, because we both know what he’s actually doing.
Everything with Hunter was designed to be temporary, but in many ways, he proved what’s right in front of me. Hunter wasn’t only the parts of Levi that could be mine.
HeisLevi, and I can’t have one without the other.
He’s my best friend and first love. He’s the person I’ve wanted for so long but convinced myself I could be without, for the sake of his family and future.