by Eva Ashwood
“Let’s just go,” I say and start walking off, leaving the two of them no choice but to follow me.
We head the rest of the way across campus, and Scarlett seems content to ignore Levi, acting like he’s not even there as she chatters about campus gossip and a new hairstyle she wants to try. It’s purposefully boring and over-the-top girly, not the usual kind of shit we talk about at all. She’s probably doing it to annoy Levi, even though he doesn’t say anything about it or seem bothered by it at all.
When I glance at him, he’s looking around the campus, hands shoved into his pockets. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t stand out as much as I would have thought he would.
He’s tall and quiet, but there are plenty of tall and quiet guys around. Someone whizzes by on a skateboard, a bright pink hat barely containing blonde curls, and it’s perfectly normal. Maybe he would have been able to blend in if he’d gone to college. Maybe it’s just my perception of him that makes that whole concept seem weird as hell.
“Okay, I should go,” Scarlett says, breaking into my thoughts and jerking her head in the direction of the science building. “I have to go pretend like I understood the chem homework.”
I bite back a grin, because I know she probably does understand it a lot better than she thinks. She holds herself to a super high standard and is never satisfied with anything but perfection, which is why her grades were a lot better than mine in high school.
“Have a good day, Scar.”
“You too,” she says, pulling me in for a quick hug before giving Levi a look that clearly says I’ve got my eye on you.
I watch as she walks off, then turn to head toward the humanities building in front of us. “I have two classes in there,” I tell Levi.
“Okay,” he replies. “I’ll be out here.” It sounds more like a threat than a promise when he says it.
“Super,” I mutter under my breath and then head in.
Nothing in my course schedule for this semester is that rigorous that it requires my constant focus. I’m mostly doing my Gen Ed requirements, sitting through basic English Lit classes and a math class that I’m pretty sure I already took in high school. It’s a good stepping stone toward getting my degree one day, once I’ve figured out what I want to do with my life.
Thinking about that makes me think about Dad, and how he’s always said I could do anything I put my mind to. He wanted more for me than just fighting and living at home with him, but it’s hard to think of a future when you’re not sure what you want from it. It’s even harder now, when I can’t think about the future without thinking about what could happen to him.
I already lost my mom. I can’t lose my dad too.
Professor Kennings drones on up at the head of the class, talking about symbolism in Pride and Prejudice, and I barely hear what he’s talking about, doodling in the margins of my notebook and staring out the window.
When we’re finally released, I throw everything back in my bag and peek outside to see that Levi is still there, posted up outside the building with a look on his face that keeps anyone from getting too close.
Jesus. Apparently the Black Roses are serious about keeping an eye on me. Levi’s positioned so if I even thought about leaving the building to run off somewhere, I’d have to go right past him. Unless I climbed out of a window or something. Most people don’t have the kind of time on their hands necessary to stand there while someone else is in class, but I guess this counts as Levi’s job now. Babysitting me full-time.
I roll my eyes and head to my next class.
That one drags on with just as much boredom as the first, and I pay even less attention. The three guys I’m now living with are going to be bad for my grades if this keeps up, but it’s hard to focus with everything going on.
Finally, I’m freed for lunch, and I follow the stream of students out of the building and into the sunshine. Levi is in the same spot, looking at something on his phone, but he glances up and meets my gaze as I get close.
“What’s next?” he asks.
“Lunch. I’m starving.”
“Good. Someone didn’t let me get breakfast this morning.”
I roll my eyes and start walking again, trusting him to follow. Sure enough, he falls into step with me just a second later. “I’m sorry, but it’s not my fault you didn’t get up with enough time to eat before stalking me across my campus. That’s on you.”
He doesn’t argue, and I just keep walking.
After a bit, I glance at him again. “You know, this is a lot of fucking effort to go to, just for one man and his daughter. We’re nobodies, and you’re making it seem like we’re important or something.”
He glances at me but doesn’t answer. There’s a flicker of something in his eyes that makes me pause though.
It makes me feel like maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s something else going on, and I’m more important to the Black Roses than I know.
Or, more likely, my dad is.
It’s clear Levi isn’t going to say anything else about it, and I don’t bring it up again, instead keeping the thought tucked away in the back of my mind to explore later when I have more information.
The Fairview Heights Community College campus is in a busy enough neighborhood that there are plenty of restaurants and food trucks within walking distance. Most students head for the popular chains, ready to grab burgers and fries or overpriced salads before they have to go back to sitting in the hard chairs and listening to professors who want to be there about as much as we do.
But I figured out a while ago that those fast food joints are only worth going to if you’re desperate and in a huge hurry. I’m neither of those things today, so instead of heading toward any of those places, I lead Levi over to one of the food trucks that’s parked just about a quarter mile away from campus.
It’s one of those that looks kind of shitty from the outside, dingy and mud-splattered from driving in the rain. There’s a grinning pig painted on one side, and the paint is peeling a bit in spots and faded in other places.
It’s not much to look at, and I can see Levi’s skepticism as we walk up. Of course. Someone like him who lives in that big ass house and probably eats whatever expensive take-out he wants wouldn’t know anything about the joy of a greasy sandwich from a shitty food truck in the middle of the day.
It’s one of the city’s best kept secrets, and I guess if he’s going to be tailing me for the whole damn day and into the future, then he’s going to learn about it, because I’m not letting these assholes deprive me of good food along with everything else.
I grin at the man in the window, who’s used to seeing me by now, I’m sure. “Two steak sandwiches and fries, please,” I tell him.
Before I can fish my wallet out of my bag, Levi is passing over a credit card, and I roll my eyes but don’t argue.
“A gentleman!” the owner says, grinning and swiping the card before handing it back to Levi. “Ten minutes.”
I nearly strain my eyes trying not to roll them. If this guy only fucking knew what Levi’s real deal is, I doubt gentleman would be anywhere in the top ten descriptors he might use for my companion.
Oblivious to my thoughts, the food truck owner turns back to the griddle behind him and gets to work. A second later, the air is filled with the sounds and smells of sizzling meat and peppers.
My stomach growls, and Levi snorts under his breath, but I ignore him until we’re presented with two large sandwiches wrapped in foil, nestled in plastic baskets next to a pile of fries.
There are a few picnic style tables just down the hill in a little park area, so we go to sit there, each taking a side. I unwrap my sandwich and bite into it, making a happy noise as I chew the spicy steak and peppers and then attack the fries.
When I look up, Levi is watching me instead of eating, and I make a face at him. “What? It’s getting cold.”
He just shakes his head, but I can see a smile pulling at his lips.
Whatever. Girls eat. And not
It’s… more comfortable than I would have expected it to be, sitting here eating with him. We chew our food in silence for the first several minutes, but it’s not tense or awkward.
It gives me the push I need to speak up and do some digging. Despite what Rory said last night about me maybe living with them for a while, I have no idea how quickly my dad might manage to accomplish the task they gave him. And as much as I hope it’s soon, I need to take advantage of every minute I have with these guys to learn more about them and their organization.
“The Black Roses are a pretty established gang, huh?” I ask through a mouthful of fries.
Levi nods. “Well enough, I guess. They’ve been around since I was little. Been running the city for years, fending off the Jackals for almost as long.”
“How long have you been a member?”
He glances away for a second and then down at his sandwich, and I half expect him not to answer me. But after a second, he does.
“Years. At first, I was just on the fringes, I guess. Doing random jobs if they wanted me to, mostly on the outside looking in. My brother was a member, so that was kind of my in.”
“He was?” I speak around a mouthful of steak and peppers. “Like, past tense? Did he quit? I didn’t think that was allowed.”
“It’s not,” he replies. “He died. Six years ago. I became a full member after that.”
I stop chewing, my jaw freezing in mid-bite.
Oh. Huh.
Somehow I haven’t thought about the three men as people who have close family connections. I mean, the leader of the Black Roses is Sloan’s father, but I’m willing to bet they don’t have the close relationship that I have with my dad.
But when Levi speaks, his voice is the careful kind of neutral that means there’s pain there when he talks about his brother.
It makes me feel bad for him, and I want to kick myself for even thinking that. I don’t want to see the human side of these guys at all.
They’re the villains.
The bad guys.
The ones who swooped in and took me away from my Dad and are now holding me hostage.
If I start thinking of them as real people with emotions and thoughts and feelings about things other than being shitty, it’s going to get weird fast.
“I’m sorry,” I say anyway, mostly because I have to say something. You can’t just hear that someone’s brother died and say nothing. I want to ask how it happened. If it was an accident, or if there was some kind of fight or gang-related attack or something. But I don’t.
Still, Levi must see the sympathy in my expression before I can totally shove it down. He reaches out and touches my arm, his dark brown eyes softening as he looks at me.
“It’s okay. It was a long time ago,” he says quietly.
It’s an innocent enough gesture, but the touch of his fingers on my arm is electric, sending sparks flying and racing up my spine. I barely bite back a sharp inhale, pressing my lips closed and trying to keep my posture casual and relaxed.
Jesus. I don’t know what it is about this guy that makes me react this way whenever he touches me. I can’t help but remember the time we hooked up. It was a year ago, but Levi’s even more built and sexier than he was then. I couldn’t resist him back then, and it’s even harder to keep myself from being drawn in by him now.
The air between us seems thicker, somehow. Our eye contact is charged, and I know he’s thinking similar thoughts. There’s no way it’s just me that’s feeling this, and if I wanted to, I could reach across the table and—
And nothing. No. Bad.
I give myself a mental slap and pull my arm away from Levi, taking a deep breath. He’s not just some random hot guy who I can drag into the nearest empty room on campus and fuck. He’s a member of the Black Roses, a high ranking one apparently, and he and his friends fucked my Dad over and nearly beat the shit out of him.
He’s not someone to lust over. He’s someone to hate and try to take down so I can keep my family safe.
That thought douses the fire that’s trying to build inside of me like a splash of ice water. My jaw tightens, all the heat draining from my limbs.
We finish the rest of our lunch in silence, and it’s probably for the best.
8
On Tuesday morning, Levi drives me to school again. I notice as we’re sliding into his car that my bike is parked off to one side of the garage, and my eyebrows rise a little. He said something about having someone stop by to get it from Dad’s house, but I didn’t really think he’d follow through on that.
I also don’t quite get why he bothered to have it brought over when it seems like the guys don’t plan on letting me go anywhere unattended.
Either way, I’m grateful to see it here, although there’s no way I’d go so far as to thank him or either of his two friends. Having my bike delivered is a nice gesture, but one nice gesture doesn’t negate the fact that these men are holding me as a glorified hostage.
When we reach the community college, Levi escorts me around campus just like he did yesterday. Part of me hopes he’ll get busted for loitering if he seriously plans on doing this every day, but I doubt there’s much chance of that. He blends in too well with the other students. Even though I know he doesn’t belong here, there’s nothing about the way he looks that would make an outside observer suspicious of him.
We eat lunch together again, and we end up talking because sitting in silence is too damn awkward. He’s surprisingly easy to talk to. He doesn’t have the same easygoing flirtatiousness of Rory, but he’s not as stoic and closed off as Sloan either. He’s somewhere in between the two, friendly when he wants to be and quiet the rest of the time.
Honestly, it’s his moments of quiet that draw me in more than they should—that feeling that there’s more to him than meets the eye, parts of himself he doesn’t share with most people. Even his brother’s death is something I don’t think he talks about much, and I get the feeling it means something that he told me.
After we get back in the late afternoon, I spend some time up in my room, half-heartedly poring over homework. It’s not really like me to get ahead on studying. I tend to be more the type who’s motivated by last-minute panic, so I do a lot of cramming and writing papers at zero hour. But right now, I’ll do anything to keep my mind occupied and help pass the time.
Around eight o’clock, my stomach starts growling aggressively, and I flip my textbook closed and climb off the bed.
When we got back to the house yesterday, there were grocery bags on the breakfast bar, filled with the random assortment of things that I asked Rory to get. On the counter in front of them was a note that read: Enjoy, princess.
I rolled my eyes so hard I swear I strained something. He had to know I was just fucking with him by asking for all that random crap, but of course he bought it anyway, fucking with me right back.
He came into the kitchen later that evening while I was poking around for something to make and grinned when he saw me with my head in the fridge.
“What culinary delights are you going to whip up tonight?” he asked, amusement lacing his tone. “I have to admit, I’m interested to see what you’re planning to make with all those things you had me buy. I didn’t take you for having such an eclectic palate.”
I gritted my teeth and fought back the urge to tell him to go fuck himself. He was toying with me, clearly, his bright grin never slipping. But there was something like a challenge in his eyes too. If I admitted I wasn’t going to eat any of it, it would’ve given him the upper hand to call me ungrateful or call my bluff, and there was no way I was going to give him the fucking satisfaction.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I replied airily, pulling the gochujang from the fridge and debating before grabbing some chicken to go with it. “I’ll work it out.”
His smile didn’t waver even a little. “Oh good. I’d hate for it all to go to waste.”
His grin was so irritating, just like him, as he stood there watching me stumble through making something that resembled a stir fry with some of the ingredients he’d picked up.
In the end, it didn’t actually turn out too bad. It was edible, anyway, which was all I was going for. There was a satisfied look on Rory’s face as he watched me load up my plate. When I offered him some, he just laughed and headed out of the kitchen.
Fucker.
Tonight, there’s no way I’m going to attempt to use any of the other random ingredients he bought for me, but I do need to eat something. I peek out the bedroom door to make sure the coast is clear and then pad downstairs to the kitchen. It’s empty, thank fuck, and I pull open the fridge and then the freezer, searching for something quick and easy.
This whole situation is so fucking weird. It’s like living with roommates, except knowing that your roommates could kill you if you steal their food or don’t do your dishes.
I huff a quiet laugh at that thought. It’s not really funny—none of this is funny—but if I don’t laugh at it, I’ll cry. And I’ve never been a big crier.
As I’m digging out a frozen pizza from the top shelf, I hear the front door open and close. A second later, Rory and Levi’s voices filter through the house. I hesitate with the freezer door open, listening intently.
“…those fuckers down a peg,” Levi is saying.
“Yeah, but that was easier when we knew what rules they were playing by.”
Levi grunts in a response to Rory’s words. They pass by the kitchen on their way to the stairs, and I realize they both must’ve been out taking care of some Black Rose business or other. They’re dressed in dark clothing, and they both look more serious than usual. When they catch sight of me standing in front of the open freezer door, Levi lifts his chin in greeting.
He turns and heads toward the stairs, but Rory lingers, walking into the kitchen instead of following his friend. His green eyes dance with amusement as he settles onto a stool at the bar, cocking his head at me.
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