by A. K. Evans
“Why?”
“Because he refuses to let me pay for his services as it is. Going on tour with me would be ridiculous.”
“He’s not charging you?” my father asked, clearly shocked.
“No. And I’ve tried talking to him about it. He won’t listen.”
My dad chuckled. “My guess? He’s going to go with you. If he’s not, I want to know. I’m not real keen on you traveling all over the place with a crazy person after you.”
“Ok, Dad. I’ll keep you posted. I’m heading over to Leah’s now, so I’ve got to get going. Tell Mom I’ll call her before I head out on tour.”
“I love you, Elle.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
I disconnected the call and left.
The minute I entered the Price residence, Leah was giving orders for me to get my swimsuit on.
“I can’t stand to sit in this house listening to the banging on the roof any longer!” she shouted.
As quickly as possible, I put on my suit and we made our way out to the pool. We lathered on the sunscreen and settled in two of the loungers. I, of course, had to also apply a generous coat of lip balm. Today’s flavor was candy apple. I secretly wondered if Levi would enjoy this flavor.
“I’m not sure I understand your hardship,” I admitted to Leah as I looked through my shades back at the house where several tanned, half-naked men were working on the roof. “There might be some noise, but you’ve got all that to look at in exchange. Doesn’t seem like a bad trade-off to me.”
“Yeah, that’d be great if I could do more than just look at them. I stayed here last night because my parents left so early this morning. When I answered the door, the guy asked me if my parents were home. When I told him they left two hours earlier, he asked who was home with me.”
“Oh my God. I would have died.”
“Well that would never happen to you because…well, look at you. He was gorgeous, I wanted to lick his entire body, and he thought I was a tween!”
I burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry,” I got out through fits of laughter. “It’s not funny.”
“It’s so infuriating and frustrating,” she sighed. “Anyway, so what do you still have left to figure out for the tour?”
“Everything is squared away for Denver. I’ve been in touch with the venue and the hotel is booked. I’ve not confirmed anything beyond that.”
“I’ll take care of it for you between today and tomorrow,” she offered.
“It’s ok, Leah. I’ve got the time on my hands now anyway; I can do it.”
“Listen, I’m stuck here until my parents get back tomorrow, so I might as well give myself something to do. Besides, I have other ways for you to spend your time now.”
“I’m not tweeting,” I huffed.
“Elle, you’ve got to get with the times. Social media is the key to expanding your career here. If you are trying out this mini-tour to see if you want to take it to the big stage, it’ll be good to already have a loyal fan-base.”
“I like the fan-base I have now, though. I don’t have high expectations for this tour to lead me to a place where I suddenly decide that I don’t like the feel of a small town. I’m trying this mini-tour out, but I really love my life as it is now.”
“Ok, but you never know what could happen. You might feel differently after the tour. All I’m saying is that you should try it out.”
She leaned toward my lounger and snagged my phone from beside me.
“Here,” she started. “Let me at least put the apps on your phone and show you how they work. Give it two weeks and if you decide it’s too much or you really don’t want to do it, I’ll take over the role again.”
I let out a frustrated sigh.
Leah was not going to let up on this.
Two weeks. I guess I could manage that. I’d put in the time, make a valiant effort to use the apps, and then I’d tell her that it wasn’t my thing.
Perfect.
“Ok, fine. Two weeks. But if I hate it, I’m done.”
She smiled big at me and agreed, “Deal.”
Half an hour later, I had learned all about tweeting, stories, and statuses. Leah made me post my first story on Instagram before I had to send out a tweet on Twitter with a link to the details of my upcoming tour. Finally, she had me go live on Facebook. It seemed as though she had already done an amazing job of building up my followers because I had no less than forty thousand people following me on each platform, but much more on some. When I went live on Facebook, I was bombarded with questions from fans. I had to admit that it was a bit fun being able to interact with my fans that way. I hadn’t realized I had these options available to me.
“See?” Leah pressed. “Wasn’t that worth it?”
“Alright, I’ll give it to you. I had fun.”
“So, you’re going to keep it up for the next two weeks, right?”
“I promise I’m going to do my best,” I answered honestly.
And I would. It wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be, so I figured it was worth a shot.
“Now, considering my love life is non-existent, I’m going to need you to share some details on what’s happening with you and Levi.”
I didn’t get a chance to answer before I was suddenly no longer being warmed by the sun. I looked up to see one of the roofers was standing off to the side of my lounger, staring down at me. He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was checking me out.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, I shifted in the seat.
“Um,” I started. “Is something wrong?”
The roofer’s eyes drifted from my body up to my face. He broke out into a beautiful grin, which I had to admit was breathtaking. It only slightly detracted from the fact that he felt like a total creep standing there gawking at me.
“Nothing at all,” he replied.
He answered in such a way that I knew there was far more meaning behind his words.
“Ok…” I trailed off.
“I saw you when you arrived earlier. I’ve been trying to focus on my work on the roof and finally decided I needed to just come over and talk to you.”
“Me?” I asked. “About what?”
“I’d like to take you out if you’re free anytime soon.”
“Of course,” Leah scoffed. “How does this always happen?”
I hoped this wasn’t the same guy she had met at the front door this morning. If so, then I was really going to feel horrible for her.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m currently seeing someone.”
“Lucky guy,” he mumbled as he pulled a card out of his back pocket and handed it to me. “If that ever changes or if you ever need roofing work done, call me.”
I nodded as I took the card from him.
He turned on his boot and walked back toward the house.
I looked to Leah. Tears were in her eyes.
“He’s the guy from the front door this morning, isn’t he?”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, E. It’s not like you wished all my faults on me.”
“What are you talking about, Leah? What faults?”
“The fact that I look like I still belong in grade school, the fact that I hate what I’m doing for a living, or the fact that I have no knight in shining armor coming after me.
My heart hurt for her.
“LP, those aren’t faults. At least, not all of them. You might look young now, but imagine how that’ll be when you’re sixty and you only look like you’re thirty-five. There is a knight in shining armor out there for you. He just hasn’t found you yet.”
“Yeah, I’m beginning to believe that my knight fell off his horse and broke his neck.”
I laughed before I continued, “What you’re doing for a living is another story. If you want that to change, love, only you can do that. I’ve told you this how many times now?”
“I know, but I can’t d
o that. I’m worried about what people will think of me if I followed my heart and did something that I was truly passionate about. It’s my family. Being anything other than a vet is something they’ll frown upon. It’s expected for me to have this career. According to them, anything else is beneath me. I miss our days at college. Hanging at The Grind was the most fun.”
Now I was feeling nostalgic. The Grind was the coffee house on campus at college. They did karaoke nights and allowed students who were in bands to perform. Leah and I always got up on stage for karaoke nights. I performed solo a few times throughout my years at school, but didn’t get serious. I knew I wanted to be a singer, but I didn’t want to overshadow my college experience by spending it focused on my career.
“You’re right, Leah. We should do a karaoke night performance together at Lou’s after the tour.”
“What?” she asked astonished.
“It was a blast when we did them at The Grind. It would be fun to relive old times.”
“No way. I couldn’t, Elle. You are a superstar and I’m just me.”
“You could be a superstar if you allowed yourself to follow your heart instead of worrying about impressing other people.”
“Let’s get off the subject of me and get back to the question you never answered. What’s the deal with you and Levi?”
I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses at her. She knew. We had had this conversation many times before and it always ended with her not answering my question or finding a way to skirt around the issue. I wasn’t going to force her to talk about it, so I usually just moved along.
That’s precisely what I did now.
I spent the next few hours with my best friend telling her all about my morning with Levi and where I hoped to see things go between us. As she always did, Leah sat there and listened before she offered me her thoughts. Through it all, I hoped that I’d one day be able to give her the same support she had always given me.
Chapter 7
Elle
It was approaching dinner time when I pulled into the driveway at Levi’s place. I was happy to see that he had arrived back home because I didn’t have a key and, quite frankly, I wasn’t keen on waiting in the car until he returned. This was something about which I was going to need to have a chat with him.
I turned off my car and walked through the open garage door to the man door that led into the house. I twisted the door knob and walked in to find Levi at the kitchen island, leaning against the back of the barstool with his arms crossed over his chest. He did not look happy.
“Hey,” I greeted him, caution resonating from my voice with just that one word.
“Hey?” he repeated.
Yep.
He was not happy.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
He tilted his head to the side and assessed me. Other than the head tilt, he hadn’t moved from his position on the stool.
“I don’t know, Elle. Can you think of anything that might be wrong?”
I looked around the kitchen. I didn’t believe I’d find the answer there, but his angry gaze was beginning to make me uncomfortable. I came up with nothing.
“I can see you are upset about something,” I started as my gaze drifted back to him. “I’m not sure what it is, though. Considering that it’s nearly time for dinner and I’m feeling particularly famished, it’d really be nice if you’d tell me what’s going on so we can discuss it because I would like to go up, strip out of this bikini, take a shower, and eat.”
His expression changed as his eyes traveled the length of my body and his face softened. The warmth lasted not even a minute before he went on to explain his mood.
“I got back here about thirty minutes ago,” he began. “Imagine my surprise or, more accurately, worry when someone who has a psychopath actively stalking her, isn’t here. It didn’t make me feel very good to get home expecting to see someone I’m beginning to care a great deal about and then have no clue if something bad happened to her because she was nowhere to be found.”
Someone he was beginning to care a great deal about.
“Levi…” I started, but then trailed off when I saw the look in his face.
“I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer your phone. Thankfully, I’ve got cameras in this house. Slightly panicked that something could have happened to you, I immediately went to check the video feed. I saw that it was not long after I left when you took a call, had what seemed like a pleasant conversation, and then you left the house on your own. To say I no longer felt sick to my stomach is an understatement. The longer I’ve sat here, I’ve been trying to figure out why you wouldn’t simply give me a call before you left to let me know.”
“I didn’t think I needed to ask permission to leave the house.”
“Elle, I’m not some asshole who demands that a woman asks me for permission to go somewhere, but considering the nature of your situation right now, I thought you’d at least give me the courtesy of a phone call and a heads up.”
He was right. There was still too much that was unknown with this whole stalker situation. I should have let him know I was stepping out of the house for a bit just so he didn’t worry unnecessarily. My eyes welled with tears.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t think, Levi, and I certainly didn’t mean to worry you. Leah called to check in on me after what happened last night. She found out that I was here alone and asked me to come over to her parents’ house since she is staying there while her parents are away. The roofers are there and she was bored to tears. And I didn’t intentionally ignore your call. The battery on my phone died.”
I looked down at the ground, trying to regain my composure. I hated feeling like Levi was disappointed with me and I was surprised at how much it bothered me that he wasn’t happy with me.
I managed to take in roughly two and half settling breaths before I saw Levi’s feet in front of mine and felt his finger under my chin and his thumb in front of it. He lifted my head and looked in my eyes. If I wasn’t mistaken I could have sworn I saw a bit of remorse in his.
“Sunshine,” he said, the single word instantly comforting me.
“I’m sorry, Levi,” I rasped.
His face warmed and he pulled me into a hug.
“I don’t need you to apologize, Elle. I was worried and might have had a slight overreaction just now. I know it wasn’t your intention to take off without telling me simply to make me worry, but I am going to ask that until we have this situation dealt with that you check in with me. Can you do that for me?”
“Yeah.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
“Didn’t like it,” he stated after a few minutes of silence.
“What?” I asked as I pulled my face back from his chest.
“The way I felt when I didn’t know if you were safe or if someone had taken you.”
I gave him a small smile before putting my cheek back to his chest and wrapping my arms tight around him.
“I’ll reach out to you next time, but rest assured that I was only with Leah today and nobody took me. Other than one of the roofers who approached us when we were out by the pool and wanted to take me out on a date sometime, I was only with Leah.”
Levi’s body went solid.
“May I ask what you said to this roofer that wanted to take you out on a date?”
I tilted my head back while Levi dropped his eyes to me.
“After he expressed his interest in me vocally, which I was grateful for, I told him I was seeing someone.”
“You were grateful he expressed interest in you?”
“No. I was grateful that he spoke to express it instead of continuing to stand there and stare at me like a creep. It was uncomfortable.”
“Let me guess -- you were in the bikini you mentioned a few minutes ago?”
“You would be correct.”
Levi’s jaw clenched.
“He gave me his card and told me that if things ever changed
I should call him. Then, he walked back to the house and started working again.”
“Where’s the card?”
“What?”
“His card. Where is it?”
A grin spread across my face when I answered, “I threw it in the trash when Leah and I got back inside the house.”
Now it was Levi’s turn to grin.
“You said you wanted to take the suit off and take a shower before dinner. How do you feel about a little company?”
“In the shower?” I asked quietly.
Levi nodded.
“That could be fun,” I admitted, my voice hoarse. “That is, as long as you are no longer angry with me.”
“I wasn’t angry, Elle. Worried? Yes. Concerned? Sure. Angry? Not a chance. I’m sorry if I came across that way.”
“Considering you explained that I’m someone you’re beginning to care a great deal about, I’ll let it slide.”
His face moved closer to mine and he smiled at me.
With his lips inches from mine, I whispered, “Just so you know, I like that you are beginning to care a great deal about me.”
Levi dropped his head and gently brushed his lips against mine. I was certain he could smell the scent of my candy apple lip balm I reapplied before leaving Leah’s because he wasted no time in moving from gentle brushes of his lips against mine to full-fledged, open-mouthed, lip-nibbling, tongue-exploring kissing. His arm around my waist pulled me tighter to his body. He groaned into my mouth and I swallowed his sounds.
My hands went to the hem of his shirt, where I pushed it up his body. He separated his mouth from mine and helped me remove the shirt. My hands instantly went to his body, but couldn’t explore for long because Levi bunched my sundress up on my sides before he lifted it over my head, forcing my arms in the air. He tossed the dress to the floor with his shirt and took in my bikini.
“Shower and dinner are on the agenda tonight, sunshine, but you’ll be occupying my pool with me very soon.”
Wanting to tease him a bit, I turned around, looked back at him over my shoulder, and asked, “So, you don’t think this suit makes my butt look big?”
His eyes traveled to my ass and I watched as his jaw clenched. He brought one hand up to squeeze the cheek of it, and praised, “I think it makes it look fucking phenomenal.”
