2:23am.
Sitting up, I grabbed my boxers, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. Moving to the mirror, I noticed the black and blue bruises, and the red scratch marks that her nails had made.
“Holy shit,” I whispered, turning around so that I could see the full extent of the damage. I didn’t even remember her scratching at me so much… Regardless, I wore it like a badge of honor as I walked down the stairs.
Sure enough, there she was, packing up all of her work, dressed in nothing but a shirt, my shirt. I smiled.
“Baby, come back to bed.”
She jumped, startled to find me standing there, or maybe her shock was because of the name I’d called her. Baby. It sounded so natural, so easy, so… right.
“Give me a second,” she said, and continued to pack away the files. “If I leave these out, you’re going to wake up before me and clean up everything again. Tomorrow is the closing arguments—”
Picking her up, I threw her over my shoulder.
“Levi!”
“I can’t sleep, and I have a big day in court tomorrow. I need you in bed,” I said with finality, as I carried her back to my room. Placing her on the bed, I slid out of my boxers and crawled in beside her.
“I heard a lot of ‘I’s’ in that sentence,” she whispered, as she pressed her back to my chest and allowed me to wrap my arm around her.
She smelled like wild flowers and her skin felt so warm against my skin.
“You need sleep too,” I muttered, my eyes closing. “When will you get it? I don’t just want you at my side, I need you.”
I love you.
CHAPTER TWENTY
THEA
I’ve never been wanted by anyone, the way Levi wanted me. It was odd to me. I didn’t understand it, and yet, I was stupidly happy whenever I was around him. I couldn’t explain it, I just felt… free.
No one outside my family knew about my secrets except for him. I had made the mistake of opening up to a few people in high school, but that blew up in my face. A few weeks later, people started whispering, and the rumors started to fly. My teachers grew worried, and it even went as far as the counselors requesting to meet with me every day. But the thing was, I had already gone through therapy. My grandmother had spent thousands on Selene and I, just so we could talk to complete strangers about how we felt, or how we perceived the world around us. But sometimes we couldn’t even speak. We just weren’t mentally ready to traverse down that particular lane of our memories. I didn't know what to say to them, and that had only made things worse.
After six years of being forced to talk to people, I swore that I would never bring it up again with anyone… until I meet Levi. From the first day I met him, my world kept changing.
“What’s wrong?” Levi asked, as he came up behind me, catching my gaze in the mirror’s reflection.
“Nothing. Where are we going again?” I asked, turning back around.
“We’re celebrating with a weekend date,” he announced with a smile.
He grabbed both my bag and his, and carried all our things downstairs. He of course, had won the case, and all the news programs were running on repeat about how the great Levi Black had done it again. He had made it look so easy that no one seemed to remember the predictions of Mrs. Nash’s case. However, some people were livid that Mr. Nash’s murder was still unsolved.
“You’re getting lost in your thoughts again,” he remarked, as he handed me my hat and scarf.
“I was thinking about the case—”
“No,” he held up his hand. “We’ve spent months thinking about the case. Now is the time to forget that we ever had any—” He stopped and patted his pockets, “Where’s my wallet?”
“In the kitchen, which reminds me…” I headed to the kitchen while he trailed behind me. Opening the fridge and the cupboards, I began grabbing apples, chips, water, and whatever else could fit into my bag.
“What are you doing?”
“You said it would take us an hour or two to get there, right?”
“And you’re going to get that hungry? I’m not judging you, but—”