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“You know it,” Levi said. He meant to say it with his usual aplomb, but it came out distracted. Ben’s chin bumped into his head, and Levi looked up to find Ben giving him a questioning look. That look triggered equal parts exasperation and fondness. Ben saw through him too easily.

“I’ve been going a hundred miles an hour since I signed up with my first agency as a teenager,” Levi admitted. “At the start, I was just happy to have a career. But now— I don’t know. I might take a break. My manager would bitch, but she would go with it.”

Ben grunted again. Seconds passed in silence, and Levi was relieved to find it was a comfortable kind of quiet. They would have to have an uncomfortable talk soon, but Levi didn’t want it to happen now. He needed more time. He told himself it was to figure out what he wanted, but if he was honest with himself, it was so he could have more time to convince Ben to give them a shot. Because Levi fucking wanted that. He wouldn’t tell Ben how much he wanted it unless Ben said yes. But if Ben did, then Levi was in real danger of falling in love with him. Hell, he was halfway there already. If Ben didn’t want to be with him after they left the cabin, Levi was going to have a bitch of a heartbreak on his hands. Not that he’d ever let anybody know.

Ben twisted to look out the window. “Snow’s not letting up. The next time our guys call in, I’m going to tell them to head home for the night.”

“Are you sure?”

“Nobody’s going to come for us in a storm,” Ben assured him.

Levi turned to follow his gaze. The snow came thick and fast against the window, so intense that it shot a sense of foreboding through Levi’s ribs. Then Ben pulled him closer against his chest, and Levi relaxed into him.

CHAPTER 15

“Bravo, can you hear me?”

Ben snapped back into focus. He was back in the cramped laundry room, leaning over the radio. “Sorry, what?”

“I said they’re getting desperate,” Dominic repeated.

Ben kneaded the bridge of his nose. Right. Dominic had said desperate, and Ben’s stupid brain had produced a memory of Levi gazing up at him while he sucked Ben’s cock. God, this kid was going to be the death of him.

“They’re fracturing,” Dominic continued. “We should have them disbanded by the end of the week. But the few who are still dedicated are throwing everything they have at the problem. You said you were sending your guys home?”

“Just one,” Ben replied. “The other one says he’ll bunk down for the night. I’d say we shouldn’t expect anything in this storm, but⁠—”

“Desperate times,” Dominic finished for him.

Ben’s knee twinged. He readjusted its position under the table. With Levi’s occasional massages and the hot bath he’d just gotten out of, his knee was feeling better than it had in weeks. Maybe he should swallow his pride and make his massage therapist visits more frequent when he got back to LA. Or…

Ben let himself entertain the fantasy of Levi in his bed back home, massaging his knee while providing bitchy commentary at some TV show they were watching. Levi would make fun of Ben’s sparse home, and Ben was surprised by how much he wanted to witness that. Levi could probably make the place look a little less like a sad, old man lived there. Ben’s face scrunched up at the thought. What the fuck was he doing? Levi didn’t want anything serious. They were a fling. Even if Levi did want something, he wouldn’t want it with Ben. He was a young, rich model, for fuck’s sake.

“Ben?”

Ben startled at Dominic’s voice. Dominic wasn’t even saying “Bravo” anymore, which meant Dominic was trying to have an actual conversation with him, not a status update.

“I’m here,” Ben said. He sat up straight, then regretted it as the vent blew hot air onto his neck. They’d just put the fire out, so the air vent wasn’t as hot as it was during most of the day, but it was still enough to make him sweat.

“How are things with Levi?”

“Fine,” Ben said, hackles going up. “He’s pissing me off, but we haven’t killed each other yet.”

“Ben,” Dominic said again. Ben ground his teeth, cursing that his old friend knew when he was avoiding the subject. He almost wished for the friends he had in his twenties, who would rather walk barefoot over glass than ask Ben about his fucking feelings.

“What, Dom?”

Dominic was silent for several tense seconds. Then he said, “Your voice changes when you talk about him.”

Ben groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Oh, fuck off.”

“It’s nice,” Dominic said, irritatingly soothing. “You must care about him.”

Ben thought seriously about telling Dominic to fuck off again. He touched his bandaged arm, rubbing the spot over the bullet wound Levi had stitched up. He’d updated Dominic about the whole ordeal. He thought he hadn’t let any traitorous emotions slip into his tone when he told Dominic about Levi stitching him up. Apparently not.

“Don’t turn it into a big deal,” Ben warned him. “This isn’t you and Austin. We’re not coming out of this holding hands and—and picking wallpaper patterns. We’re adults. Shit happens.”

“Right. So, you’re not going to keep in touch after you get back?”