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“No,” he sighed and turned to them, “this isn’t what you think. You guys get out of here. I’ll catch up another time.”
“Boo! Levi’s boring!” They jeered at him, hackling like a pack of wild hyenas on the hunt.
He pivoted around and the fading smile on his face dropped completely. His back hid whatever look he gave them. But it was enough to make them relent.
“Yeah, alright. See you later, Levi,” said the loudest one who I recognized as the drummer. He grabbed the shoulders of the two band members nearest and shoved them around. They departed with some minor grumbling.
Levi turned back to me with a mask of his usual charisma lifting his face. The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. It was strained and practiced. A guarded response to the daggers in my eyes.
“I’d say I’m glad that you made it, but you look like you want to hit me,” he remarked. Before waiting for my reply, he twisted open the dressing room door. He paused there, holding the door open for me, and patiently waiting despite the brittle tension.
I huffed and stomped into the boring dressing room, noting black walls, mirrors, bulbous lights, a red couch, and a table in the back with chairs. Nothing outstanding.
The door clicked shut behind me. A strained silence followed. It was as if the angry bees rattling through my skull all froze mid-air and fell away. In that cool, compact space, I realized I was alone with Levi once again.
And my blood was too hot to be alone with him right now.
“What did I do wrong now?” Levi leaned back on one of the vanity tables. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I admired the straining of his black shirt.
In this lighting, with a dissatisfied scowl on his skull face, a domineering energy rolled off him in waves. His barely contained mood brushed against my skin in brutal licks. The darkness of his presence sucked the air from my lungs.
“You pulled a woman from the crowd to kiss her. That makes me think you really are like all the others. I don’t want to work with you if that’s who you really are.”
By the end of my complaint, he tugged at his hair and belted a drawn-out groan. His eyes closed as he tipped his head back.
But I was on a steamroller, and nothing would stop the acidic words rolling off my tongue. “Rockstars just fuck groupies and do drugs. I’ve always known that. Have you ever fucked a woman who didn’t have to fake a coked-out orgasm with you?”
Levi jerked upright, eyes snapping down at me. The harsh edge in his expression made my stomach dip. The pulse at his throat quickened, and his chest rose in a heavy breath.
A fraction of my steam deflated.
“Diana, for fuck’s sake, I don’t do drugs and I don’t fuck every groupie who throws themselves at me. Those might have been the rockstars you grew up with, but that’s not me.”
“Well, you kissed the woman in the front row tonight.” I dug for that reply. Without it, I had nothing else to say.
Clarity cleaved through the upset in my mind, and suddenly I wasn’t sure why I’d come here to confront him. I had no reason to, and I’d get no victory from this interaction.
Levi tossed his arms out. “It wasn’t a real kiss!” he shouted.
“What?” I gaped at him. I froze as if he’d flung a bucket of cold water at my face.
His arms dropped to his sides as he sighed. “That was part of the show, Diana. Nothing more.”
Breathing steadily, he watched me like a hawk as the gears turned in my head. The air between us turned frigid as I realized what a fool I’d been. And not for the first time around him.
His eyes darkened when he stepped forward. The decreasing space between us crackled.
“If you wanted to be the one that I kissed, you should have just asked.” Levi’s voice grated against me in a way that made a hot coil go taut in my lower belly.
A gasp lurched from my throat. “Excuse you?”
“You heard me,” his voice dropped lower and so did something in my core. He took another intimidating step closer, yet I remained frozen in place.
My eyes dropped to his lips. They were painted to mimic skeletal teeth, yet they seemed so sensual and inviting. I imagined what they’d feel like pressed to mine before I realized it.
“What makes you think I want to kiss you?” My voice came out thin.
His lips curled into a wicked smirk. “Well, for starters, you haven’t stopped staring at my mouth.”
