by Lee Piper
Levi didn’t seem at all affected by our sniggering audience or the beads of water still cascading down his front, creating a pool at his feet. Instead, he jerked his head in the direction of the bar before walking away. “C’mon.”
I trailed after him, dragging my feet like I was on my way to detention or something. How was I ever going to ignore my raging hormones and prioritize Riley’s friendship when I was forced into a situation where it was just him and me? Well him, me, and the remaining hundred or so patrons of The Hole, but you get my point. Once again, I took a deep breath—I’d be a freakin’ meditation expert by the time this night was through—and reminded myself of what I had to lose if I ever again acted on my rampaging impulses. Riley was my best friend. Levi was the guy she was interested in.
End of story.
“So, are you having a good night?” Levi asked, once I reached the bar.
“Really? That’s the best you can do?” I rolled my eyes. “All the ladies must flock to your bed with that one-liner.”
“I don’t need pickup lines to fuck women, kitten.”
“You really believe that, don’t you?” I retorted, before internally kicking myself. No insults, Grace, you promised.
Levi smiled down at me, no doubt amused at my internal struggle. Yep, there was no doubt about it. The man was gorgeous. Not that I cared, of course.
“You look like you need a drink.”
“Funnily enough, you’re not the first person to make that observation tonight.”
“So what’ll you have? Another whiskey?” He smiled again and even though my knees felt slightly shaky, I also managed to wince at the memory of my verbal diarrhea.
“Water.”
“Water?”
“Water. I am officially the designated driver.” I let out a deep sigh.
Levi nodded his head sympathetically. His eyes softened as he looked down at me and I could almost see myself in their reflection. This whole turning over a new leaf thing was fucking marvelous.
I blinked and looked away.
“Water it is then.” He grabbed another full pitcher from the smiling barman who tactfully chose to ignore the sopping wet t-shirt situation proudly on display in front of him, while I collected enough glasses for everyone at our table. A dark part of me desperately wished it was somehow full to the brim with vodka.
Straight vodka.
When we reached the booth again, Levi dumped the jug in the center of the table and sat down opposite his brother. He gracefully scooted along the leather seat, leaving space next to him free for me.
I must not jump his bones.
I must not jump his bones.
This became my new meditative mantra as I awkwardly settled in next to him, trying to keep as much space as possible between his muscular thigh and my somewhat trembling one.
“What happened to you?” Dom asked Levi, pointedly staring at the damp t-shirt that was slicked against his sculpted chest and rock hard stomach. I tore my eyes away and prayed fervently to the gods of chastity belts and all things celibate to get me through tonight without being arrested for indecent exposure.
In order to distract myself, I instead focused on Dom. Even with the slightly drunken slur, he was no doubt a very attractive man. His hair was the same sandy brown as Levi’s. His eyes were a similar shade of blue, though slightly out of focus. However, he was built more strongly, with rippled muscles growing in places I didn’t even know existed and bulging agreeably in places I did. Though when I looked at him, and I mean really looked at him, I didn’t get the same electric shocks, currents or any other power-driven experiences that I did when I was with Levi.
Interesting.
Levi caught my eye and smiled down at me. Once again, I felt the beginnings of another electrical phenomenon coming on. It was exhausting. If he kept this up for the rest of the night, I’d be able to power the entire west coast for a whole month. And then some.
He then looked back across to his brother. “Grace happened. That’s what.”
I shrank down in my seat, beyond embarrassed, as three pairs of eyes turned to me in collective astonishment. Okay, so two pairs were astonished. One pair was more resigned than anything else.
“Grace, you didn’t,” Riley began. She was swaying slightly.
“What?”
“You were going to be good, remember?” she continued, swaying even farther to one side. Dom would have to prop her up soon if she wasn’t careful.
“Oh, she was good,” Levi murmured. “She was very, very good. One might even say, thorough.”
“Did you guys fuck or something?”
Four pairs of eyes simultaneously turned to Brea. She simply threw back another shot and slammed the empty glass back down onto the table as though discussing the weather.
I choked back a laugh. I was aiming for cool and dismissive but it came off as manic and hysterical instead. Though I had to give it to Brea, the girl was forward and mighty perceptive too if my intentions at the time were anything to go by.
“Not exactly.”
What?
I turned and glared at Levi but his smile just grew wider. Right, so I was on my own with this one then. “For Christ’s sake, of course we didn’t fuck, Brea. Jesus,” I spat out, way more incoherently than I had originally intended.
“Pity, looks like you could both use a decent lay. I’m getting another round. Be back in a bit.” She shrugged her shoulders and bounded out of the booth.
We were all silent for a minute.
Awkward.
“So, it was an accident then? I mean, with the water and everything,” Riley continued.
“Of course it was an accident, Riley. What do you take me for? Some kind of psycho who loiters around full pitchers of water ready to drench unsuspecting passersby?”
Levi chuckled at my ill-timed wit and I had to sit on my hands. Suddenly, the temptation to throttle him proved all-consuming. Maybe I wouldn’t get hauled in for indecent exposure tonight, maybe it would be first-degree murder instead.
Riley slowly nodded, though it came off a bit wishy-washy and she ended up tilting to an alarming degree until she landed, cushioned against Dom’s monstrous shoulder. I could have sworn a small sigh escaped her.
I quickly peeked at Levi, interested to see what his reaction would be. After all, my best friend was virtually comatose against his brother and she’d been as subtle as a mallet to the face with her intentions towards Levi before the set. But his expression remained serene as he poured everyone a glass of water. Dom looked dubiously down at his cup, as though it were going to sprout legs and walk straight off the table, taking his drunken night along with it. But Riley simply smiled and took a sip. Good, just four more glasses like it and we might actually manage to get the hell out of here—away from the man seated next to me who was doing my head in. My heart suddenly lurched at the thought of no longer seeing Levi. Traitor. Who needed a heart anyway? I mean, all they did was expose themselves and get trampled on in the process.
Levi suddenly turned and caught me looking at him. I flushed, wanting to shift my gaze away but something in his penetrating eyes held me in place. Whoa. And he just kept staring.
And staring.
And staring.
The room around me and all of the people in it slowly receded into nothingness. We were the only two people left in existence. My breath caught as his eyes then leisurely traveled over my face, my hair, and slid down to my emerald green silk top. They took in my small breasts and then unhurriedly moved back up again before finally resting on my exposed shoulder. I suppressed a shudder. Just.
If he didn’t say something soon, and preferably about something as inane as the tax laws in Berlin, my new meditative mantra of I must not jump his bones would fly right out the window. Who was I kidding? I’d hurl the fucker out and then gleefully bolt the window shut so he could never get back in again. There might even be a happy dance thrown in for good measure.
I cleared my throat, and with th
e intelligence of a highly observant toddler, said the first thing that came into my head. “So what’s with the bird?”
Levi kept staring at my shoulder. His pupils had dilated slightly and I was reigning in every ounce of my self-control so as not to react to that mouthwatering fact.
“The bird on your neck. The tattoo.”
His eyes flicked back to my face but he said nothing and I so didn’t notice that his breathing was heavier than it was five minutes ago.
“Well?” So help me God, if the man didn’t say something in the next five seconds, I’d take him right here in this booth.
He smiled dangerously, plainly sensing my desperation for a distraction and drawled, “It’s a raven, kitten.”
Right. Some material to work with. Thank fuck. “So you’re an Edgar Allen Poe fan then?”
Levi raised his eyebrows in surprise and I gritted my teeth. Did he really think I was that stupid? I grew up on the classics. Of course, I’d read The Raven, it was one of Poe’s most famous poems.
“You know of him?”
“Uh, yeah. I teach a gothic poetry unit to my Year Tens every year.” Okay, so I may have only been out of university for one year and the term ‘teaching’ could be loosely interpreted as showing my students an episode from The Simpsons which featured a nifty version of the poem. But he didn’t need to know that.
He looked even more surprised at my last statement and if he wasn’t careful, those sexy eyebrows of his would disappear right off his heavenly face. “So you’re a teacher then.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“Yep.”
“Huh.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? Contrary to popular belief, I was actually really good at my job. I knew the content well, didn’t baby my students, and I pushed them beyond their capabilities. Granted, I might have momentarily ‘broken’ a few in the process, but they were the spoon fed asswipes who needed to stand up on their own for once. So I decided, and not unexpectedly, that the best form of defense to his monosyllabic inference was offense. “So what do you do then, Raven Boy?”
Smooth.
“I play music. And study.”
“Study what?”
“Education. Secondary education.”
“Huh.”
I had nothing. Not for that unforeseen development anyway.
“Shots,” Brea shouted before ceremoniously plonking five small glasses down in the middle of the table.
The spell was broken. Right. Of course. Other people existed too. Once again I leaned back in my chair. I’d like to say that it was with relief, but I’d be lying. I didn’t even realize until then that my body had instinctively gravitated towards Levi’s while we were talking. And while he was virtually eye-fucking me. I quickly pushed back the memory with a barely repressed moan.
“Shhh,” Dom stage whispered. We all glanced over at him and there was Riley, passed out on his shoulder. She had one mighty contented smile plastered all over her face.
Maybe she got so drunk that she mistook one brother for the other? Alcohol did strange things to people. Hell, with the amount she’d ingested, in the right light and from a certain angle, even Brea could be mistaken for one of them. But more importantly, how the hell had I managed to get so engrossed in a conversation with Levi that I didn’t even realize my best friend had lost consciousness right in front of me? I really needed to work on my acceptance speech for the Worst Best Friend of All Time award, I had so much damn material.
“I think that’s our cue to leave,” I said. “Somehow…” My voice trailed away as I was suddenly perplexed by how I was going to get her from the booth to the car without inflicting grievous bodily harm on either one of us. Not that I didn’t deserve it of course. Maybe a bit of self-mortification, Benedictine monk style, was exactly what I needed to get my head out of my own ass. I scooted out of the booth as gracefully as my skinny black jeans would allow and Levi followed, standing up next to me.
“I’ve got it.” In one fluid motion, he slid Riley out the booth and scooped her up into his arms. Fucking hell, it felt like I’d walked in on him carrying her over the threshold or something. Bile suddenly rose in my throat.
“But the shots…” Brea shrugged her shoulders and turned to Dom. “Fuck it. More for us then.”
Dom’s face brightened considerably at that. He mumbled a distracted, “Later,” before downing a shot.
I rolled my eyes. Honestly, the guy could be bought easier than a whore with a crack addiction.
“Let’s get this girl home,” Levi said, turning and heading towards the exit with Riley nestled comfortably in his arms. I’m totally okay with this, I told myself, following their retreating forms.
Really I am.
Once standing in front of Riley’s car, with the cool sea breeze from the Indian Ocean washing over my heated skin, I encountered my first problem. “Um, the keys,” I mumbled. It was now Levi’s turn to roll his eyes as I fished around in my clutch for what felt like an eternity. Riley had driven her brand new cobalt something or other to The Hole, which meant that I carried her keys. It was a ritual we had started years ago. If she provided transportation, I was the handbag. Literally. Finally, I fished them out, dangling the ring triumphantly on my index finger.
But when I looked up, Levi had already opened the passenger door and was in the process of gently placing Riley on the seat.
“Wha—How?” I stammered, before narrowing my eyes at him. I was about to unleash Teacher Grace on his fine ass with a serious lecture about breaking and entering.
Levi clicked the seatbelt in place and straightened up, laughing at me over the hood. “Grace, this car was built after 2014, it has keyless entry.”
“I knew that.” Even mumbling, I was a terrible liar.
Levi leisurely made his way around the boot of the car and stood not even a foot away from me.
My breath hitched. Despite the mild night, goose bumps appeared and I subconsciously rubbed my arms with my hands to warm them.
“I’ll follow you home.”
Like hell you will, my inner voice retorted. But I remained mute. I blamed the whole warm/cold phenomenon my body was currently trying to rectify. The aftereffects seemed to have turned my vocal responses to mush.
Levi continued, “Since you didn’t know how to get into the car, I’m guessing it’s Riley’s. In which case you’ve probably never driven it either and that could be dangerous.”
“I know how to drive.”
He just raised an eyebrow. The bastard. Levi slowly stepped towards me with that mocking look in his eyes. Seriously, I didn’t know whether to punch the guy or kiss him. At this point, punching him would be way more satisfying.
When our toes were almost touching, he leaned down and murmured in my ear, before pulling back slightly. “Really?”
I tilted my chin up at him in defiance—Christ he was tall—and glared into his absurdly attractive face. “I know how to drive,” I repeated, ignoring the warmth gradually spreading through my body from the heat generated from his eyes.
He leaned infinitely closer, his lips hovering just above mine. I could smell his minty breath, the remnants of his spicy cologne, and a stronger, muskier scent which must have been pure Levi. I needed to bottle and sell that shit—people would go nuts for it.
My mouth was suddenly parched, where was a pitcher of water when I needed one? Maybe I could suck on his t-shirt for a while to rehydrate. God knows I had to do something other than stare nonsensically up at the guy. C’mon Grace, think. Do something. Anything. I swallowed with some effort—okay, it was a start at least—before licking my lips. Levi’s gaze dropped to my mouth and I had to do everything in my power not to reach out, pull his face to mine, and kiss him until he forgot his own name.
He moved his left hand towards me and it skimmed across my hip before reaching around behind my ass. “Prove it,” he murmured.
I gasped out loud because in one fluid movement he flicked open the door han
dle and I shot forward into his chest. Levi wrapped his right arm around my waist, taking me with him when he stepped back. He pulled me to his side and held me against his body, opening the car door with his left hand.
“What the fuck?”
I could hear Levi chuckling softly at my startled expletive.
It took me a moment or two, or ten, to get my head together. And then I got angry. What the hell am I doing? Time and time again this guy had played me for a fool tonight and I was making it so goddamn easy for him. What the hell happened to the impenetrable exterior I carefully built around myself after Dylan left? The one that held me together, defended my hollow insides and barricaded me from these egotistical jerks. Especially the ones who loved watching women fall to pieces in front of them, just so they could laugh at the disintegrated parts which were then draped at their feet. There was no way I was going to let any man effect me like that. Not Levi—not ever again.
No. Fucking. Way.
So I stomped to the car, threw my purse down by Riley’s feet and dumped myself onto the plush leather seat. Granted, it wasn’t my most graceful of moments but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. I had to get away from him, now. Which was when I encountered problem number two.
How to start the flippin’ car.
I groaned inwardly. In front of me were countless lights, switches, knobs and screens. Surely you’d need a pilot’s license for this thing? I searched endlessly for somewhere to insert the key but couldn’t find a spot that even vaguely resembled the ignition. So, I resorted to imagining Levi’s face was the steering wheel and repeatedly pummeled my fist into it instead.
Next to me, Riley shifted in her seat and then began to snore. I glanced over at her and was pretty sure I could see drool dribbling out the corner of her mouth, so there was no chance of any help from that quarter.
Fuck my life.
“Need a hand, kitten?” Levi crouched next to me and I internally bitch slapped myself for not slamming the door shut once I sat down. And for not locking it too, if I only knew where the damned locks were in this thing.
“I don’t need anything from you, Levi,” I spat.
