What else is he capable of?
Fear slithers through my veins, and I don’t know what my expression looks like, but it has Levi holding his hands up in front of him.
“I will never hurt you. Please don’t look at me like that.”
“Leave,” I whimper.
“Kelcie.” His arms fall limply to his sides, the most heartbreaking expression I’ve ever seen settling on his face. “I didn’t play you. Everything between us was ... is real. The memories I shared with you were the truth. I left that family when I turned sixteen.” He lifts his arms again and scrubs his palms over his face. “I shouldn’t have kept from you who my half brother was, and I’m so sorry I did.”
His expression turns pleading again. “I didn’t want to lose you.”
While Levi talks, I can’t keep myself from remembering every moment we shared.
My head begins to pound from all the tension, and I wrap my arms around myself.
“I need time alone. I have to process it all. I can’t do this with you right now.”
Levi takes a cautious step toward me, and when I begin to shake my head, he sucks in a shuddering breath before saying, “I’ll give you all the time you need.” His eyes burn into mine. “I never meant to hurt you, Kelcie. Your beautiful nature and warmth drew me in, and I couldn’tfight it. Getting to know you has been the greatest gift I’ve received in my life, and whatever you decide, I’ll always treasure every second I got to spend with you.”
When he slowly begins to move closer again, I don’t have it in me to tell him to stop.
“Can I hold you, please?” he begs. “If this might be the last time I see you, can I be selfish and ask for one last hug?”
Tears overwhelm me, and as I begin to cry, his arms gently wrap around me and pull me against his chest. His scent envelops me, and I weep because the happiness I managed to find with Levi has just been cruelly ripped away from me.
I don’t think this is something I’ll ever recover from.
Levi
Unbearable pain keeps dragging me back down into the darkness that’s followed me throughout my thirty-three years of life on this godforsaken planet.
Kelcie is the only warmth and love I’ve ever felt, and I can’t bear to think I might lose her.
I hold her as tight as I can without hurting her, and as her tears wet my shirt, my eyes burn like they’re on fire.
It feels as if someone is ripping my heart clean from my chest.
“I love you,” I groan, buckling under the severe heartache. “I’m so sorry.”
There’s nothing I regret more than hurting Kelcie.
The instant I laid eyes on Rene, the woman who gave birth to me, the ground might as well have opened up beneath my feet. I was bombarded with every destructive emotion she and my stepfather have ever made me feel. The abuse I suffered at their hands tightened like a noose around my throat, threatening to once again squeeze the life from me.
During my entire childhood, they destroyed me, and now she has come back to destroy the happiness I’ve finally managed to find.
“I’m sorry,” I say again, hoping Kelcie believes me.
She begins to calm down, lost sobs drifting over her lips, and then she wraps her arms around me and holds me tightly.
“I love you, Kelcie. More than you’ll ever know. It might not matter, but please don’t judge me for what Wesley did. Please try to understand, I was terrified of losing you, and that’s why I kept quiet about being related to him. I haven’t seen my family since I was sixteen.”
“You deceived me.” She sounds broken, and it crushes my heart to dust.
Kelcie lowers her arms and pulls away. Knowing I have no choice, I move a couple of steps backward and desperately take in every inch of her face.
When I see all the strength drain from her and a grief-stricken expression dull her eyes, I know I’ve lost her.
Her light fades away, and it feels as if I’m dropped in the middle of the Arctic desert.
