"Because your worst mistakes are the only honest thing about you."
Zain huffed what might have been a laugh. Pressed a kiss to Seth's forehead. Felt Seth relax against him in increments, the tension leaving his body in layers.
"Brat."
"Your brat."
Something warm bloomed in Zain's chest. The start of something. Something that felt like trouble you don't come back from.
He tightened his arms and didn't let go.
CHAPTER 16
Two days before they planned to hit the Southwest site, Levi made his move.
Seth was alone when it happened. A stupid mistake, he knew better now, knew isolation was vulnerability, but he'd needed air. The safehouse walls had started to feel too close, thick with the scent of other people and the weight of all the things he and Zain weren't saying, and he'd slipped out the back door for a cigarette he'd bummed off Nate.
The December cold bit into him immediately. He'd been warm for a few weeks now, warm and fed and sleeping in a real bed, and his body had already started to forget what the other thing felt like. Dangerous, that. Forgetting.
He lit the cigarette. Inhaled. Let the smoke burn down into him like a small, controlled fire.
"Didn't expect to find you here."
Seth's whole body went rigid.
The voice came from the mouth of the alley. Casual. Friendly, almost, friendly in the way that had always preceded Levi's worst ideas. Seth turned and there he was, skinnier than the last time, which shouldn't have been possible. Sunken cheeks, twitchy hands, eyes that moved too fast and focused on nothing. In his twenties and looked forty-five. Still wearing the same army surplus jacket he'd had three years ago, the one with the broken zipper he'd never fixed.
"Levi." Seth's voice came out flat. Calm. Calmer than he felt. "How'd you find me?"
"I got friends. People talk." Levi stepped closer. His hands were in his pockets, which meant they were on something, a knife, a phone, nothing good. "Been looking for you, man. Heard you were dead."
"Not dead."
"Yeah, I can see that." Levi's eyes moved past Seth to the safehouse door. Measuring. "Nice place. Who you running with now?"
"Nobody."
"Bullshit. Nobody sets up in Corktown without backing." He rocked on his heels. That manic energy, the kind that came from whatever he'd put in his veins that morning. "Look, I didn't come here for trouble."
"Then why are you here?"
Levi licked his lips. The gesture was reptilian. "You remember the people who were looking for you? Before you... went away?"
Seth's stomach dropped. "You mean the people you sold me to?"
Levi had the decency to look uncomfortable. Briefly. "That was business, man. Nothing personal."
"They kept me in a cage for four months." Seth's voice didn't crack. He was proud of that. "They chained me to a workstation. They broke my ribs. Nothing personal."
"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I was in a bad spot. I owed people. You know how it is."
"I know exactly how it is. You traded me for a fix."
Levi's eyes hardened. The pretense of friendliness fell away like a dropped mask.
"Those people are still looking," Levi said. "Mercer's people. Word got out you survived, and they're not happy about loose ends. I can make that problem go away."
"For a price."
