Breakaway (Penalty Kill 1)

“Okay, Levi,” I snap my head to the right where she’s walking towards me. “What the hell am I doing on this campus in front of a creepy building?” Presley stops in front of me with her hands on her hips. “Is it even used anymore?”

I chuckle and can’t resist pushing myself off the building, grabbing her hips, and pulling her to me. She quirks that eyebrow up as she tilts her head back to look at me. I give her a short kiss and smile, already feeling a little relaxed.

“Just follow me, Smarty,” I say taking her hand and leading her inside. Every other light was on as we walked down the hallway to a door leading to the stairs.

“Levi,” she begins in a whisper sounding a little scared, I think, as I push the door open.

“Don’t worry, Presley. You’re safe with me, I promise. You trust me, right?” I gaze into the brown eyes until I see that she trusts me. She nods to affirm what I see. “Then c’mon,” I say pulling her with me as we begin to go up the stairs. After the fourth floor, she speaks up.

“Where are we going?”

“To the roof.”

“It’s cold,” she starts to object.

“I’ll keep you warm, Smarty,” I smirk at her.

Presley rolls her eyes and a few minutes later, I’m opening the door to the roof. There’s a greenhouse covering half of the roof thanks to those students studying plants. On the other side, it’s empty with nothing but scattered leaves from the plants. There’s a door on each side of the greenhouse, and I decide to walk through it since I have Presley with me.

“These are pretty. I wonder what they are,” Presley says, stopping me to look at a pot of pink flowers. She runs a finger over a petal and my heart drops as I realize what they are.

“It’s a zinnia.”

She turns her head to look at me. “How’d you know that?” she asks curiously.

I wonder if I should tell her or just shrug it off. With a deep breath, I decide, why not? “They were my mom’s favorite flower, especially the pink ones.” Presley squeezes my hand, and I hold my breath waiting for her response, wondering how much she might want to know.

“I can see why she liked them,” is all she says with a glance back at the flower.

“C’mon,” I tell her, tugging her once more. We walk to the other side without incident and leave all those plants behind. I stop at the edge of the roof and let go of her hand.

When I hoist a leg over, Presley practically screams, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to have a seat. Calm down, Smarty. I wouldn’t have brought you up here so you can be a witness to my suicide.” When I’ve got both legs dangling over the wide ledge, I hold my hand to Presley who shakes her head. “Presley, it’s two feet wide. You’re not going to fall off. You can even sit Indian style so your legs won’t hang off. Now, c’mon.”

She takes a step backwards and I cock my head to the side. “Not a big fan of heights, Levi. I’m fine over here.”

“We all have to face our fears sometime, Presley.” My voice is low and gentle.

“You’re not the one who’s scared!” she snaps as she crosses her arms over her chest.

I hold out my hand again. “Sit with me. You tackle this fear and once you do, I’ll get over one of mine, okay?” What the hell am I doing? “Presley,” I say when I can tell she’s thinking it over. “After I share and you still don’t want to sit here, we’ll get off. This is just another place where I come to think and relax.”

Having provided her an out, she steps over to me and takes my hand, squeezing the life out of it before she even moves to sit on the ledge. Presley’s eyes move between me and her soon-to-be seat before she huffs.

“How am I even supposed to get up here?”

I chuckle and earn myself a glare. “Face the other way and sit.”

“I might go too far back, -”

“No, you won’t. Quit being such a baby,” I smirk.

She opens her mouth to say something, but stops. I guess her want to prove that she isn’t acting like a baby overtakes her fear momentarily. She gets on the ledge and then slowly turns herself around to sit with her legs folded in front of her.

“I could kill you right now if I wasn’t terrified for my life.”

I try and fail to hold back a laugh. I scoot closer to her and wrap an arm around her to keep my promise of keeping her warm. The air is a little bitter, but the wind has stopped for now.