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I felt Levi shift and I released him when he sat up. I sat up as well and then leaned back against the headboard when Levi made no effort to get out of bed. “I…I want to tell you something because I don’t want you to hear it from someone else,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could.
It took Levi an inordinate amount of time to finally say, “I was in prison too.” I could tell he had to force himself to look up at me. “For drugs.” He chewed on his lip for a moment and then said, “I know you have no reason to believe me, but I don’t do drugs…never have. Ricky would make me go pick his drugs up for him sometimes. When the cops arrested his dealer, I’d just bought drugs for Ricky so I was arrested too. I…I was sentenced to five years but got out a year ago after serving just over three.”
If I hadn’t spent the past ten days interacting with the young man, I wouldn’t have believed him. But I had no doubt he was telling me the truth. No, it didn’t make him completely innocent, because as much as I wished it wasn’t true, he had participated in the murders of Fred and Corinne Nichols. But his motives for going after Seth again all these years later were rapidly diminishing. I wanted to believe he wasn’t a threat to Seth, but the reality was, he was struggling financially. Not just struggling, but desperate. He was killing himself trying to make enough money to pay his expenses as well as Henry’s and the child’s mother’s, but there were only so many hours in the day. And there was still the question of his connection to T. Yeah, the brother in prison was the link, but it didn’t explain what T and Levi were doing together. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Levi and T could be planning something together with Seth being the likely target.
“The police didn’t believe you about the drugs being for Ricky?” I asked.
“I didn’t tell them.”
When he didn’t expand on the statement, I leaned forward and put my hand on his back. “Why not?”
He sucked in a deep breath and I automatically placed my hand against his neck. Luckily, his skin was still warm. But his pulse was beating rapidly.
Levi shook his head and then looked at me. “Let’s just say prison was the safer bet.”
Despair coiled deep in my belly, because between that one statement and Levi’s reactions whenever he talked about his brother, I knew that Levi’s father had been the lesser of two evils in his life.
“My dad’s left for work by now. Would you mind taking me and Henry home?”
I could tell Levi was on the edge and I didn’t want to risk another episode, so I reached up to stroke his cheek. “Why don’t you spend the day here?” I asked. “We can get some sleep and then maybe take Henry down to the beach this afternoon.”
Levi dropped his eyes to the bedding and began picking at the edge of the duvet cover. “You don’t know how badly I want to say yes to that,” he admitted.
“What’s stopping you?”
“You.”
I pulled back from him a bit as his father’s ugly words rang in my ear. I was surprised to see Levi cast me a sad look.
“I really wish I was your Samantha,” he whispered.
If his voice hadn’t been so heavy with despair, I would have laughed at the odd statement. I leaned forward again and settled my hand on his cheek once more. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but trust me when I say that I’m liking you as Levi just fine.”
I’d meant the comment to lighten the mood and hopefully wipe the sadness from his pretty green eyes, but the more I held his gaze, the more things quickly changed. I told myself to release my hold on him, but the second I relaxed my hand, Levi’s fingers closed around my wrist and he pressed his cheek into my hand.
“Did you mean what you said?” he asked hoarsely.
“About what?” I managed to get out, even though it felt like I’d swallowed a beach ball. My heart was pounding painfully in my chest as my dick pressed against the confines of my pants.
Levi hesitated before saying, “About sex…kissing. That it should be freely given, not taken.”
I nodded even as my breath hitched because I knew there was only one reason he would be asking me that. I didn’t move even an inch as Levi leaned in until our mouths were just inches apart.
“Please,” I heard him whisper beneath his breath. But I knew he wasn’t pleading with me to kiss him…no, he was begging me for something so much more important.
