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“It’s not a love song, and no, I haven’t shown him. Why would I?” I said, taking on a defensive tone that I couldn’t quite control. “This isn’t about us. It’s more…general than that. You know, for anyone who’s ever had feelings for someone but couldn’t act on them.”
“Like you and Levi.”
“Like you and fucking Halo,” I countered.
“Mhmm.” Viper sat back in his chair and reached for his sunglasses, slowly drawing them off. “I’m not judging you. I told you it was something else. It’s really fuckin’ beautiful, actually. But it’s pretty obvious who it’s about.”
I rolled my eyes and snatched the paper back, reading over the lyrics. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I generalized. If you’re picking up on anything it’s because you know me, that’s all.”
“So it is about Levi.”
“Drop it, Viper.”
“I’m just saying, if I picked up on it…”
Letting out a sigh, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “It’s not like that with us, okay?” Lie. That was such a fucking lie.
“Okaaay. But Kill?”
“What?”
“It’s totally like that.” As I glared across the table at Viper, he said, “How long have we known each other?”
“Too fucking long, I’m starting to realize as I sit here.”
“Whatever,” Viper said. “Who was the first person to tell me to pull my head out of my ass when it came to Halo?”
Yeah, okay, that’d been me.
“And who was the first person to point out that I never acted the way I was—all in love and shit—until Halo?”
Yeah…that’d also been me.
“We’ve known each other too long and too well not to see the signs, man. And all I’m saying is, you better show Levi that song before he hears Halo sing it to the rest of the world. He’s smart, Killian. He’s going to know you wrote it about him. Trust me.”
Shit, was it really that obvious? I thought I’d been subtle. I thought I’d made it general enough that it could be about anyone. There was no way Levi was going to let a song that blatantly told the world how I felt about him be blasted out to millions of people. Fuck.
“You’re wrong,” I said, refolding the paper and shoving it back in my pocket.
Viper scoffed. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you fucking are,” I said, suddenly annoyed and not having a clue why. “Unlike you and the angel, not everyone who sleeps together is madly in love. In fact, some of us are just doing it because it feels really good, and it’s easier than having to go out and find someone different whenever we hit a new city. So get off my ass, okay? Levi knows exactly what’s going on between us, and I can tell you right now, it’s not some great love affair.”
Even as the words left my mouth, I knew them to be the lie they were. I didn’t want a great love affair with Levi; I wanted a forever love affair with him. But when Viper said nothing, and his eyes rose up over my shoulder and widened, the hair on the back of my neck rose.
No. No, no, please, God, no. Don’t let who I think is standing behind me—
“Levi,” Viper said.
—be standing behind me.
I let out a silent curse and squeezed my eyes shut. This could not be happening.
“Um, would you like to join us?” Viper said, but the awkward delivery made it clear that whatever he was reading on Levi’s face said the last thing he wanted was to be anywhere near us—me in particular, I was guessing.
When all that met Viper was stony silence, I turned in my chair, holding on to some kind of misguided hope that I hadn’t just fucked up the best thing that had ever happened to me by trying to throw Viper’s gossipy ass off the scent. But as soon as I caught sight of Levi’s expression, I knew I was out of luck.
I thought I’d seen Levi’s every emotion. Anger, happiness, arousal, and annoyance. But as I zeroed in on his stunning face now, I realized there was one emotion I hadn’t seen on him before—betrayal—and the devastation swirling in those beautiful dark eyes of his were like someone plunging a knife right through my heart.
Jesus, this could not be fucking happening to me.
As I shoved my chair back and got to my feet, Levi spun on his heel, clearly about to make a beeline out of there without saying a word. I could feel the eyes of the other diners on us now, but I didn’t give a shit. And as he took a step forward, I reached out and grabbed hold of his arm, halting him.
Levi glanced down at my hand and said, “Let me go.”
“Levi—”
“I said, let. Me. Go.”
He was practically vibrating with emotions—none of which were good, I was sure—and as I slowly removed my hand, I heard him say, “Stay away from me.”
