Page 14

Ben growled and stood from his armchair. He stormed over to Levi, ignoring the persistent ache in his knee as he grabbed Levi by his shirt and pushed him into the wall. “That’s not your fucking concern. I’m protecting you, kid. Not the other way around.”

Levi glared at him, flushed and squirming. A week ago, he would have turned this into an excuse to hit on him. Ben could see he wanted to. But that damn concern won out, which was almost worse.

“Just let me do it once,” Levi said. “Please. I won’t even make any jokes about being on my knees.”

A dozen unwanted images flashed through Ben’s head. Just let me do it once. Even after Levi promised not to make it sexual, Ben couldn’t help but imagine him saying those same words, breathy and pleading.

Levi swallowed. Ben’s gaze fell to his throat, watching it bob. He’d made a mistake, getting so close. He let Levi go and stepped back, regretting it when another bolt of pain radiated through his knee. He gritted his teeth through it, but Levi had already noticed.

“You’re such a stubborn asshole,” Levi said. “Are you allergic to not feeling like shit? I thought I was the one into being punished.”

Another slew of X-rated images ran through Ben’s head. He focused on the pain in his knee, grounding himself before he could start getting hard in his jeans.

“I’m going to make dinner,” Ben said. “Don’t try to help. I don’t want you in the same room as me.”

It was a low blow, and Levi was clearly hurt by his words, even though he quickly hid it under a snarky mask. But Ben didn’t care. He needed to be away from Levi, who was so close, every fucking day. If Ben wanted privacy, he had to retreat to his small bedroom or the bathroom. If he was anywhere else—the living room, the kitchen, the forest—Levi tried to tag along. Ben should hate it. He did hate it. But mostly he hated how much he secretly enjoyed it. If he wasn’t careful, this boy was going to undo him.

“You have to give me something to do,” Levi called after him. “I’m like a border collie! If you don’t give me something to do, I’ll find something myself, and you will not like it.”

It was pretty funny. Ben ignored the irritating impulse to laugh and kept walking. “Then find something,” he said, not looking back.

Twenty minutes later, Ben was sliding chopped potatoes into a boiling pot of water when he realized something suspicious: he couldn’t hear anything.

Usually, Levi could be trusted to make some kind of noise. He hummed to himself as he painted his nails or tapped loudly on a book as he read. He was noisy as hell whenever he moved, and he was constantly moving. And yet there was absolute silence through the house, save for the bubbling pot on the stove.

Ben stood still, listening. When no sound emerged other than the pot, he called, “Levi?”

No response. Ben turned the stove onto low and stalked into the living room. Levi was nowhere to be found. He checked the rest of the rooms, his blood pressure rising with every door he opened. Was Levi playing a fucked-up trick on him, or was he actually gone?

He checked the door and cursed. Levi’s boots were gone from the shoe rack that came with the cabin.

Ben grabbed his gun out of his ever-present thigh holster. Then he ran back to the stove and turned it off, gun still drawn. He didn’t want the place to burn down if he needed to be out there for long.

He stormed out of the cabin, grinding his jaw at the pain thrumming through his knee with every step. He’d been doing his goddamn stretches every morning and night, but the cold was working its shitty, painful magic.

Ben charged silently through the trees, his gun at the ready. After less than thirty seconds, the unmistakable sounds of grunts and thuds came through the trees.

Ben ran quietly through the trees to find Levi hacking the felled tree into firewood. If Ben’s knee wasn’t acting up, he could have finished it days ago. But they had barely finished stripping the branches off, only now starting on the trunk.

Rage and relief warred inside Ben as he watched Levi hack away at the wood. He’d clearly been at it for a while, his face flushed and his coat discarded on the snowy trunk. His slight arm muscles bulged under his sleeves as he swung the ax again. His form had improved. Ben hated the pride that followed the realization.

“What the fuck,” Ben said, low and dangerous, “do you think you’re doing?”

Levi didn’t even startle. He just stood there, panting, before he turned to give Ben a defiant glare. “What the fuck does it look like?”

Ben stared at him, incandescent with rage. He wanted to slap Levi. Didn’t he understand what was at stake? One uneventful week didn’t mean they were safe. Dominic checked in every day, and so far, they had made zero fucking progress in dismantling that activist group. Levi was in danger. He could fucking die if he didn’t follow Ben’s very simple rules. And he acted like Ben was the unreasonable one.

Ben didn’t think. He just moved, grabbing Levi’s coat from the felled tree, and then Levi himself. He hauled both over his shoulder, ignoring Levi’s shocked shout and his demands to let him go.

Levi struggled and smacked Ben in the chest. Ben ignored that too, lost in the rage and the clear, absolute purpose that sang through him as he carted Levi back into the cabin. He slammed the cabin door shut behind them and walked into the living room. Only then did he drop Levi.

Levi fell to the wooden planks with a yelp. His coat tumbled with him, and Levi threw it off his face. Ben expected another glare, but was distracted when Levi only stared at him, his full lips parted.

Attraction raced through Ben, hot and unstoppable. He told himself he was still operating on instinct as he bent down and grabbed Levi’s cheeks, squishing them like he had wanted to for days. But something so much bigger than instinct was working its way inside him as he listened to Levi’s muffled whine.

“I told you to stay in the fucking cabin,” Ben snapped. “Jesus fucking Christ, Levi. Do you want to die?”

Levi shook his head. He couldn’t do it very hard with Ben’s hand clamped around his cheeks, but he didn’t seem bothered by that. His face was hotter than ever, burning against Ben’s fingers, and his blue eyes were all pupil.