by Rina Kent
Easier said than done.
His presence always fills the space like a hurricane brewing in the distance.
I pause opening my pad, recalling that my last sketch is from the game. I might have been working on it during the entire weekend.
“Hey,” I meet his assessing eyes. “Did you steal my sketch the other day?”
“What sketch?”
I narrow my eyes. “Just some rubbish.”
“Just some rubbish, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
There’s no way in hell I’m telling him that it was the first thing I’ve been able to sketch after months.
“Now I see it.”
I follow Levi’s eager field of vision. He’s staring at the end of my Sun-Moon-Star tattoo.
“See what?”
“That’s the reason why you have all these stars on your phone case, your bag, and even your drawings.” He tilts his head. “Do you make wishes upon the stars, princess?”
“I stopped doing that since Mum died.” I narrow my eyes. “You did steal my sketch.”
“What’s your evidence?”
“Tough luck, Levi. You just admitted to it.”
“And how, do tell, did I admit to it?”
I puff my chest, feeling smug. “You said I have stars on my drawings when you’ve supposed to have never seen one.”
He points in my sketchpad’s direction. “I meant that.”
Right. Lie to someone else.
“Let’s run,” he repeats.
“The answer is still no.”
He slides beside me, crowding my space. His eyes gleam with menace and the air shifts.
The park and its runners hush in the background. All I can hear is the thumping of my heart and all I can smell is Levi’s clean, intoxicating scent.
“We can sit here and catch up about what happened on Saturday. You know, the whole part about eating you up,” he whispers so low, it’s sinful. “Do you want to know if I jacked off to your orgasm face?”
I jerk up and start running to hide the heat creeping up my cheeks.
Did he really jack off to me?
Wrong thought, Astrid. Super wrong thought.
Levi catches up to me, chuckling softly. He must be finding all of this too amusing.
Bastard.
While I put every ounce of energy I have to run, Levi seems like he’s strolling in the park.
His legs don’t flex as much as mine — stupid tall people. While I’m already sweating like a pig, there’s not an ounce of sweat on his forehead.
When I glance at him, his hard stare is on me. He’s not even putting up an effort to run and is only keeping up with my pace. It’d be suicide to ask him for a race.
His muscles expand and move with ease. Even his breathing comes in and out with ease, unlike my choppy one.
After a few laps around the park, sweat coats my temples and my hands. My legs scream to be put out of their misery as if I just finished a marathon.
I fall against the bench, panting so hard my heart almost leaps out of my throat.
“I’m done. So done.”
Dark laughter fills my ears as a bottle of water is thrust into my face. I don’t know where he got that from, but I don’t care as I gulp half of it down in one go.
Levi slides beside me, his chest rising and falling steadily while mine nearly breaks down from the erratic breathing.
When I glance at him, he’s taking a sip from the same bottle I did, that familiar spark taking over his eyes.
I lick my lips. He’s drinking from it on purpose, isn’t he?
“How do you aliens do this all the time?” I stare ahead to distract myself from his glistening lips.
Damn his lips.
“It’s all about stamina. Besides, you’re doing it all wrong.”
I wipe the sweat off my eyebrows and my temple. “I’m doing it all wrong because I’m not supposed to be doing it at all.”
He smiles. “No, I meant that you shouldn’t waste all your energy at the beginning. You have to divide your strength and pick up slowly.”
“Like at the games?”
“Sort of.”
I peek at him, not sure if I want to poke the bull by his horns. “Then what happened last game?”
His face closes until there are only unreadable lines. It’s like he had his guard down and now he’s closing the fort.
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t play like yourself in the second half.”
“You came to one game and now you’re an expert on how I usually play?”
“How do you know I didn’t come to the previous games?”
“I would’ve noticed you.”
“No, you wouldn’t have, Levi. I was invisible to you until that stupid party.”
He says nothing. The silence stretches long enough that it becomes uncomfortable. I fidget with my backpack’s straps.
“Do you believe in fate?” he asks.
I’m taken aback by his super out of character question.
“Not really.”
“Me neither, but now I’m starting to.”
My pulse quickens at the irresistible drop in his tone. “Why is that?”
He fists my hair in his grip so my head is angled up. “I would’ve found you no matter what, princess. It was a matter of when not if.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Levi
Fight all you want, but you’ll never win.
* * *
There are two things I learn when I drop Astrid off at school.
A- She doesn’t want to be seen with me.
B- I fucking hate it.
As soon as I park the car, she flies out towards the entrance, watching her surroundings as if her arse is on fire. Although it’s a shame to have that tight little arse on fire.
Daniel comes out of his car as soon as Astrid crosses the threshold. He must’ve called her name because she turns around and meets him halfway for a hug.
My grip tightens around the steering wheel.
One more thing I fucking hate.
I watch for a change in Daniel’s expression. An excuse to erase him completely out of her existence.
Lucky for him, he only gives her a brief side hug with his arm at her back.
Astrid’s smile widens at another man who comes out of the passenger seat of Daniel’s car. He’s a taller, a bit buffer version of Daniel with a mohawk hairstyle — who does those anymore?
He opens his arms and Astrid goes right into them. I grind my teeth at how his arm dips to the small of her back. The sorry fuck grins at her with that unmistakable hunger.
Huh. Looks like someone’s going down.
Soon.
No one touches what belongs to me.
Astrid Clifford is already mine. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Today’s practice goes smoothly now that I don’t have to worry about the little princess in the crowd, cheering for someone else.
“Good to have our captain back.” Cole winks at me on our way out of the locker room.
“Did I ever leave, fuckers?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Uh, yeah?” Xander raises both eyebrows. “You were the living dead on Saturday.”
“Shut it, Knight.”
“Yeah, shut it, Knight. My party cheered up, Captain.” Ronan flings his arm around my shoulder and waggles his eyebrow. “Were Mum’s paintings that inspiring?”
I smirk. “Very.”
“Oh, bordel.” His face falls. “Come on, Captain. In the office? Mum will fucking kill me.”
“Rest in peace, little shit,” Cole says.
“Don’t fuck the corpses when you’re dead,” Xander laughs and we all laugh with him.
Ronan head-locks both Xander and Cole making them butt heads. I let them walk ahead as Aiden stalks to my side like the creep he is.
He’s focused on his phone, on someone’s social media. That’s rare. Usually, Aiden doesn’t give two shits about these things.
Unlike me, he
does have an Instagram account, but he only uses it to paint a fake image.
I angle my head to the side to see who’s the pitiful fuck who has my cousin’s attention. I only catch a glimpse of a girl’s Instagram before he hits home.
“Are you recruiting someone for a satanic sacrifice?” I ask.
“Maybe.” His poker face’s game is too strong. It’s as if he’s actually entertaining the idea.
Wait. Is he?
“What gives, Lev?”
“About?”
“No fight with Jonathan for the entire weekend. That’s a record.”
“He’s not worth it.”
“And you’re not speedy.” He raises an eyebrow. “Keep doing what you’re doing.”
My feet falter for a second as Aiden’s words sink in.
I’m not speedy — not that I like the term.
Fuck.
I was never able to pull a break on it before but now, the wheel is slowing down on its own.
“You coming to the Meet Up?” Aiden asks over his shoulder.
“No, and Ro!”
“Quoi?” Ronan pants barely escaping Xander’s punches.
“Take Daniel with you.” I pause. “From now on, always take him with you.”
I find Astrid in the car park, frowning at her cell phone.
She needs to stop staying in fucking isolated places like these. If someone has half of my power over here, they’ll easily manage to pull some shit like the other time.
“Trouble getting a ride?”
She jerks, wide eyes straying my way before she releases a breath. “You scared me.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t stand in isolated places like a prey begging to be eaten.”
She lifts her chin. “What you did won’t dictate my life.”
I snatch her wrist and pull her into me. “Stop putting yourself in danger.”
“You’re the worst danger that can happen to me.”
“Worst danger, huh?”
“Duh. Have you seen yourself?”
“Why don’t you tell me, princess?”
She purses her lips for a second too long and I’m tempted to eat her mouth all over again.
Kissing Astrid isn’t a pleasure, it’s slowly becoming a need like air and food.
“You’re like the night,” she finally says.
“The night,” I repeat.
“Uh-huh. And not just any night. You’re like those dark, silent nights where no one knows what will happens.”
“Would you like to know what will happen now?”
Her breath hitches. “Now?”
My hand wraps around her throat, and her pulse quickens under my thumb. “When you’re being this bloody stubborn, I’m tempted to do…”
“To do what?” her voice drops, but her gleaming eyes never leave mine.
I run my tongue over the shell of her ear, loving the shiver that takes over her. “Wicked things, princess.”
“You’re…” She trails off, clearing her throat. “Whatever. Not that it matters. How did you know I had trouble getting a ride?”
“You’re standing on your own at eight in the evening.”
“Dan has a meet out with the team.” She narrows her eyes. “Is it normal that the captain doesn’t attend?”
“They can fend for themselves.”
“That’s not very captain-ey of you.”
“That’s not a word.” I smile. “Besides, I don’t feel like being a captain tonight.”
“What do you feel like being?”
“Just me.”
My lips find hers.
Usually, I’d tear past her defences. This time, I don’t. I let her have her little rebellion. I let her fight.
Fight me.
Fight us.
If fighting will give her the illusion that she has a chance at winning, then by all means, let her fight.
She seals her lips shut, but her body leans closer into me. Then, slowly, too slowly, her mouth parts open. It’s only the slightest bit, but it’s more than enough.
She gave up that inch on her own.
But she should know by now that an inch isn’t enough. I take the whole damn pitch.
My tongue finds hers and I devour her until there’s nothing left of her. Until she’s entirely sagging against me.
Astrid’s fate is sealed.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Astrid
Is this the dance of the predator or the prey?
* * *
Weeks pass and my life doesn’t feel like mine anymore.
Not that it did since the summer.
Levi wouldn’t leave me alone no matter how much I refuse him. If anything, the harder I push him away, the more he’s prone to kidnapping me into a dark corner and kissing me until there’s no breath in my lungs.
The harder I resist the kiss, the longer he makes it.
It’s a game to him.
A push and pull.
Levi is a conquerer. He spends his time plotting his battles and studying his opponent’s every move so when he strikes, it’s direct and straight to the point.
He’s not interested in half-victories. When Levi wins, he eradicates his conquest.
He barely lets me hide this twisted thing we have from the rest of the school.
And by letting me, I mean I kind of threatened him that I’ll paint the windshield of his car and stuff.
It’s not real, okay? This whole thing with Levi will blow over sometime soon, and I don’t want to be labelled as his majesty’s latest conquest.
Nope. I’m totally not going to be that girl.
Well, I might have been paying the price for forcing Levi’s hand. On behalf of keeping contact at school to a minimum, he came up with his own conditions.
Double emphasis on the plural.
He’s there in the mornings for the stupid morning runs — that started to somehow grow in on me. And I have to kiss him good morning — a kiss that he always deepens and leaves me breathless in the aftermath.
In the evening, he drives me home. It’s a miracle I convince him to drop me around the corner so Dad doesn’t see him.
Dan — the traitor — isn’t even putting up a fight to take back his position as my driver.
You’ll thank me for it later. his words, not mine.
And you guessed it, I have to kiss the manipulator Levi good night, too. That’s the most troublesome one because it usually leaves me hot and bothered all night — that’s if he doesn’t yank my legs apart and goes down on me in his damn car.
Despite all the time I spend with Levi, I’m still clueless as shit about him.
Some days, he’s the devil, all complete with that black look in his eyes. Other days, he’s laughing and teasing and making my life hell.
While the first version scares me, a part of me wants to exploit it and figure out why he acts the way he does.
And more importantly, I need to know for how long he plans to keep me on a leash.
Even with all the burst of excitement and pleasure he brings to my life, I’m not stupid to trust him. Not after he made it blatantly clear that he’ll destroy my life if I don’t bow to his authority.
Unlike what Levi ordered, my case is still very much alive with the police. True, he didn’t bring it up lately, but that’s the reason why he approached me in the first place.
Back then, it was so simple. I hated Levi and everything he stood for. But now, I see different sides to him every day.
I see how he holds my hand when we run to pull me along.
I see his nostalgic smile when it rains before he pulls me out into it with him.
I see him at practice, with his teammates, and in class, and it’s like he’s not the same Levi. While all the other teenagers are high on spontaneity and living the moment, Levi is the responsible one.
He’s usually in deep thought with him and himself — even when he's surrounded by his closest friends. It’s like he has his own world all complete with forts and brid
ges where no one else is allowed.
A part of me wants to barge into his secret world, but the other part is scared of what I’ll find in there.
What if his world is a one-way ticket and I’ll be trapped?
I take my coffee and thank Sarah on my way out of the kitchen. Phone in hand, I text Dan that I’m going out. It’s Friday afternoon and we agreed to meet at Ally’s. Usually, we meet on Saturdays, but since Dan became a permanent starter, that plan is out.
I make a beeline towards the back entrance through the pool house. Dad and Victoria are at some charity dinner, but old habits die hard. It’s become natural to sneak my way out of the house.
Near the pool house’s door, strange sounds make me halt in my tracks. I inch closer, expecting to find an animal or something.
The sounds raise in volume. There’s a moan then a growl and the unmistakable slap of flesh against flesh.
I should’ve continued on my way, but hearing such sounds at home is as rare as England’s sun. Even Dad never touches Victoria, except for the platonic hand grab here or there. Thank God for that. I totally don’t need the image.
Making sure to keep my body out of view, I peek inside and freeze. The first thing that greets me is a man’s naked arse. He pounds into my step-sister like a crazed animal.
Nicole’s face twists, whether in pleasure or pain, I don’t know. Her eyes meet mine, and I jerk back, but not before recognising the guy she’s with.
I run out of the house, my head a complete chaos.
Christopher Vans.
Levi’s closest friend.
“Earth to bugger!”
I snap my head up from my chocolate smoothie.
“Did you come here for a one-on-one meeting with your straw?” Dan asks with a dramatic tone. “Do you want me to step outside so you can have a moment?”
“I’m just trying to purge a very disturbing image I’ve just seen on my way here.”
“Disturbing?” He slides closer, pushing his iced coffee aside and waggling his eyebrows. “Do tell.”
“I just saw Nicole having sex with Christopher Vans in our pool house.”
His grin disappears. It’s only for a split second, but I notice it. I also notice how his face scrunches and his shoulders tense.
