by Leigh, Ember
Once Levi pulled into their apartment complex, the home health nurse was already waiting in the lobby. He had a few minutes to get Gage into the apartment before he had to leave for his next order of business on this sunny Saturday: go meet with the new sponsor, Marcus.
“When will you be back?” Gage demanded as Levi headed for the door. Tammy was already clanking dishes in the kitchen, getting things cleaned up.
“In the evening,” Levi said.
“Where are you going?”
“I told you—I’ve got a meeting.”
Gage tutted. “Bring me back some orange soda.”
“Dude—you know we don’t keep soda in the house.”
“Leviii…” Gage’s whine was more annoying than anything else.
“I’m out. See you guys.” Levi hurried out of the apartment before his frustration could balloon. He loved his brother more than life itself and would gladly take a bullet for him. But when he got on his orange soda kicks, Levi had to exit stage left, and fast.
Levi was pulling out of the apartment parking lot when Gage’s text came through.
GAGE: orange soda.
Levi shook his head and stowed the phone. He cranked the volume on the stereo to play his favorite song: Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble.”
Levi rolled the windows down as the music thrummed through the car. When he pulled onto the freeway, he was rapping the lyrics so hard, he practically shouted. He didn’t care who saw. In fact, it was kind of the point that people saw.
And slowly, heads turned. He kept it up, not missing a single word or rhyme in the entire song. Some cars he passed, kids laughed and pointed. In other cars, dudes sent out whoops of support.
And in one car, he heard the question that made his heart flutter: “Is that the guy from the meme?”
Levi rapped his way through half an album before he pulled up to the non-descript office building in West Hollywood. With black shades and a black flatbill tugged low, he already felt like an incognito celebrity.
With any luck, that would be his reality someday.
Only as he approached the front door did he realize that the entire building was subtly mirrored. What looked like a totally normal building was in fact state of the art. Stepping inside, he found a smartly decorated reception area with sleek, low black chairs, and expensive-looking gray rugs covering the hickory wood flooring.
This place screamed money.
Marcus stepped out of the hallway before Levi could ask the receptionist where to go. As he led him through a bright white maze of hallways, he said, “I saw you come in on the monitor.”
“Are you sure this building isn’t also part-FBI?” Levi cracked.
“Our security is probably better than that,” Marcus said with a small laugh, gesturing toward a door that said “M. Greer.” The office behind the door was something out of a movie set. Square, brown leather couches faced each other around a coffee table. In the corner, a foosball table. Some exotic plant grew in a huge ceramic pot, its wide, waxy leaves glinting in the sunlight filtering in though the wood slats over the window.
“Foosball?” was all Levi could ask.
“Helps me take the edge off,” Marcus said, inviting Levi to take a seat in front of the huge wooden desk.
“You should come to the gym sometime.” Levi sank into the leather arm chair, a sigh involuntarily escaping him. “How much did this chair cost?”
Marcus laughed a little, something like embarrassment flashing across him. “Why?”
“I’ll need to know how much to negotiate so I can buy one of these myself.”
A toothy grin appeared. “Well, we’re definitely open to negotiations. But before we go any further…” Marcus opened a drawer at his desk and pulled out some papers. “Non-disclosure agreement. You’ll need to sign before we discuss anything else.”
Levi scanned the documents. It looked like pretty standard “keep your damn mouth shut” stuff, so he scribbled his name at the bottom and pushed it back toward Marcus.
“Great. So, how did you like the meme?”
This time, Levi’s grin matched Marcus’s. “Holy shit. That blew up fast.”
“Now you see the type of work we do.” Marcus leaned back in his chair, looking pleased with himself. “That’s low-level stuff. That’s why I offered it to you. A freebie. But a potent one.”
“I’m pretty sure someone recognized me out on Santa Monica Boulevard today.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Marcus clicked the top of a pen as he assessed Levi, as if he could already see his future. “And that’s just the beginning.”
“What do you guys want me to do, anyway?”
Marcus pulled some folders out of a neatly organized stack on his desk as Levi’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out.
GAGE: Orange soda!!!
LEVI: Stop.
GAGE: Come on!!!!!!
Marcus opened the folder, and Levi caught a picture of his face paper clipped to the inside.
“What is this, my rap sheet?” he asked.
“Something like that.” On the other half of the folder, Marcus had paperclipped the picture of some pretty girl. Illegible notes were posted on either side of the folder. “Though I did see your actual rap sheet. It’s pretty impressive. You got a lot of drunk and disorderly charges in Chicago.”
Levi shrugged, fiddling with the black hair tie around his wrist. “Yeah.”
“It’s okay—that actually helps your cause here, I promise.” Marcus steepled his fingers, running the tips of his index fingers back and forth across his bottom lip. “See, we’ve been looking for a bad boy. We have a client who is very…pure, let’s say. At least, that’s her brand. She’s a model trying to break into acting. She’s huge in Europe, where she’s from. But we need to position her in a very certain way so that the movie studios see her potential as the innocent girl next door. It’s pretty straightforward stuff.”
“So…what would I do?”
“Break her heart, of course.” Marcus laughed. “It’ll be a scandal, when all is said and done. You won’t be required to actually be with her. But you will need to create the illusion. Of course, if something does develop between you two, I wouldn’t be surprised. She’s a gorgeous girl. Little too young for my taste, but…”
Levi frowned, thinking immediately of Riley. Which was absurd. Because she was nothing to him, and she made sure that he knew it. He had no reason to be thinking of her, when she probably thought even less of him.
“How long would I need to be doing this?”
“Maximum? Three months. Enough time to get appearances in.”
“Okay. And for how much?”
Marcus’ grin tightened. “Three hundred thousand.”
Levi was ready to agree then and there, but he needed to push it farther. “Five.”
“I can do four.”
Levi wet his bottom lip, counting to five before he said anything else. “Will there be opportunities for future work?”
“Perhaps. It’s hard to guarantee. Our needs are dependent upon the specific goals of our clients. But I can assure you—you won’t have trouble finding promotional work after we’re done with you. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got some modeling contracts along the way. Your hair alone—” Marcus gestured toward him, shaking his head. “You’re going to find plenty of work out here away from the cage. I can promise you.”
Levi studied the thick knobs of his knuckles, turning everything over. His gut was screaming “YES!”, right alongside his head. When the two were in agreement, it meant he should dive headfirst. Four hundred thousand dollars, combined with his hauls from winning fights, would let him breathe easy for the next couple years at least. And that alone was worth a couple months’ work fooling the tabloids.
“I’ll do it.”
Marcus offered his hand across the desk, and the two shook hands. “Excellent decision. This is going to be a fun one, I promise. Let me get the paperwork ready.”
As Marcus rummaged t
hrough a drawer, another text message came in.
GAGE: I neeeeed it.
LEVI: omg what is wrong w u?
GAGE: soo very thirsty
LEVI: drink some damn water
GAGE: I need the sticky orange nectar
LEVI: that stuff’ll kill u, u know that???
GAGE: don’t care, need it. I’m telling Tammy to get it or else I’ll fire her.
LEVI: u fkn try that and I’ll beat ur ass myself
GAGE: bring the orange soda
“Everything okay?” Marcus asked. Levi jerked his head up. Marcus had the contract ready, pen in hand. Levi blinked, trying to refocus on the task at hand. It was ridiculous that the biggest battle in his life involved convincing his brother to not drink sugary sodas, but here he was.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Levi snatched up the contract and read it as fast as he could. Tons of legalese and a lot of Roman numerals. He couldn’t understand half of it, but the parts he did understand seemed to reflect what they’d talked about. Marcus explained some of the more obtuse sections, but once Levi saw the figure at the bottom—$400,00 USD—that’s all he needed.
He signed the last page with a flourish.
“Great,” Marcus said. “We’ll deposit the first half of your payment next week.”
Levi’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t wait to check out his bank statement and see all those zeroes.
He didn’t have to circulate his own nudes. This was the definition of winning.
And he’d buy Gage a damn orange soda to celebrate.
Chapter 10
Riley had done an extremely good job at keeping things professional.
So well in fact that she deserved—no, NEEDED—an award. Because this facade was hard work. It wasn’t for the faint-hearted. No, actively resisting the sexiest man alive’s attempts to engage sexually, while still somehow not objectifying her, took a special type of prowess…and idiocy, she supposed.
Two weeks after Levi admitted she had sexy thighs, the words still echoed through her head damn near daily. She’d shut down their interpersonal communications as a last-ditch attempt to honor the fact that she was not going to get dragged into another up-and-coming star’s orbit. Not like last time. Which meant that the picture-taking for practices the last couple weeks had been the most professional she’d ever been. Hardly a word spoken to Levi. It was pure creative work and then studio.
And the worst part of all? Levi had stopped trying, which drove her nuts.
Maybe that’s why she was racing around her house on the afternoon of the next match like she was late for her own wedding. Both Nikki and Fiona were in similar states of panic, which they claimed was entirely Riley’s doing.
Tonight, she wanted Levi to notice her again.
“Have you seen my mascara?” Riley screamed up the stairs to Nikki.
“You just had it!” Nikki shouted down.
Riley huffed, stomping down the hall, and then she spotted it. Sitting on an end table by the door. She didn’t understand why she was being like this. Her heart raced, and her palms sweat, and if she didn’t see Levi soon, she was going to entirely melt away. It didn’t make sense.
Fiona came out of the downstairs bathroom a moment later, mouth thin. “Okay, girl. What can I do to help?”
Riley covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know! I feel like I’m going crazy!”
Fiona cocked a knowing grin. “You’re not late. We’re going to arrive on time. You have the media pass. You look…sexy as hell.” Fiona’s gaze swept up and down Riley’s body, which was tightly outlined by a turquoise dress. Combined with her combat boots and a short leather jacket, Riley felt every inch funky and sexy.
“I’m nervous. And I don’t know why. And I hate it.”
Fiona took a deep breath, grabbing Riley’s arms. “Is it related to taking pictures?”
“No. I feel confident about that.”
“Is it related to your career in general?”
Riley tilted her head. “No. I’m financially okay for a while.”
“Is it related to the hot guy?”
The hot guy. The way they’d started referring to Levi, after Riley needed to stop hearing his name so often.
Her stomach jolted, which was a dead giveaway. “No.”
Fiona narrowed her eyes. “Well, here’s your prescription: Just have sex with him. It’ll solve all your problems.”
Riley stomped away from her friend’s intolerable rightness. Up the stairs, she called, “You almost ready? We should head out soon.”
“One sec!” Nikki called back.
Riley checked her phone, and then looked over her camera bags one last time. She was more than ready. Not just for the match. She was ready to initiate…something.
Because she still wanted Levi to be into her.
Because she missed his attention and their banter.
Even though she was the one who put a stop to it…she wanted to open up the floodgates again.
Fiona was right. They needed to have sex and be done with it.
Nikki came rushing downstairs a moment later. Riley had gotten them pretty good tickets, thanks to Travis. Despite not being MMA fans in general, they were more than curious to see Levi work his magic after Riley’s rave reviews about watching him fight. Besides, Levi really was hitting the news more and more. It wasn’t just that meme. He’d shown up in a tiny slice of Access Hollywood the other night, which had made Riley nearly choke on her pita sandwich. It was the briefest of mentions, but still. It was there.
Levi was teetering on the edge of being recognized.
Which meant if Riley really did want to give in to the sexual chemistry between them, then it needed to stay that and nothing else.
The ladies packed up their things and piled into Nikki’s sedan. As they pulled out of the driveway, Nikki said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. My mom and sister should be getting in while we’re at the fight. I told them to let themselves in.”
“Yay, family!” Riley smiled as she rummaged through her purse, looking for her phone. “They haven’t been out to visit in a while.”
“I hope my mom can sleep this time around,” Nikki muttered. “I swear that woman is secretly an owl waiting for the rustle of its approaching prey.”
Fiona snickered from the back seat. “So, does that make you half-owl?”
“I guess.”
“What was it that kept her up last time?” Riley asked.
“The clicking of the ice maker,” Nikki said glumly.
“We need to get her some ear plugs.”
“I think a mouse breathing would be too much for her.” Nikki sighed.
The girls chatted overtop the acoustic rock music pulsing through the car as they wound through traffic toward the arena. The closer they got, the higher Riley’s heart climbed in her throat. She had all the signs and symptoms of a chronic crush, middle-school style. Sitting on pins and needles to be reunited with the hot guy. By the time they reached the parking lot, she’d made up her mind.
She was going to fuck Levi Swain.
Even if she ended up regretting it. At this point, she needed to do it strictly for self-preservation. So she could think again. So she could go about her days without seeing the words sexiest thighs emblazoned in her mind’s eye or thinking about the fact that he’d asked her out on a proper date and all she’d done was go radio silent.
Nikki dropped her off at the media entrance in the back of the arena. Riley skittered through the back halls like a pro, even though this was only the second fight of the league. And if Levi really did ascend to the top like expected, then that meant there would only be two more matches after this. The second Saturday of each month was this league’s fight day, and already a good chunk of the competition had been eliminated based on last month’s results.
Riley was seriously invested in this league, way more than she’d expected when Levi first broached the idea to her. She was getting to know the other fighters, following them on social m
edia, brushing up on their weaknesses and listening when Travis and Levi discussed their approach for certain fights. It was a whole new world. One which completely captivated her.
Riley knocked softly on the dressing room door that said “LEVI” and then poked her head in. Levi sat in a chair facing the mirror on the wall, palms resting on his thighs. Travis twisted around to wave her in.
Riley sidled inside, quietly setting her stuff down as she acclimated to the energy of the room. Intense, as usual. Travis had his hands on Levi’s shoulders, speaking softly into his ear. She couldn’t hear what he was saying.
Without a word, Riley snuck her camera out and started snapping pictures. She was able to catch Levi’s intense gaze through the reflection of the mirror. But one of the clicks of her shutter made him snap his eyes toward her.
A ripple of warmth coursed through her. Levi’s gaze sizzled on her.
“Damn, girl.” His smooth tenor made her pussy clench. She lowered her camera, fighting a grin.
“What?”
Levi didn’t say anything, just tutted, staring at her through the mirror. His tawny gaze cut through her, demanding a response. Every inch of her went warm under his attention.
“Come on. Focus,” Travis said, but there was humor in his voice. He slapped Levi’s cheeks.
Levi hefted with a sigh and leaned forward in his chair. A white T-shirt stretched across his chest with big block letters that said “LEVI,” with the standard-issue black shorts that clung too well to his sculpted ass. He stood, swinging his elbows from side to side.
As he came nearer, butterflies erupted in her belly. So many that she nearly crumpled under the weight of them.
“Time for the joke,” Levi said, tapping his knuckles together.
Travis heaved a sigh, a smile playing at his lips. “Let’s hear it.”
“What do you call an elephant who doesn’t matter?” Levi asked.
Travis crossed his arms, shaking his head. “I can’t even guess.”
“Irrelephant.”
Riley snickered.
“I’m gonna go check the board,” Travis said, heading for the door. “Lex will be here in a second.”
