Page 134 of They Break Beauty

Now, on to Lev.

That was going to be easier said than done.

My phone buzzed and I followed the sound to see it now on the nightstand on my side of the bed, not where I’d left it on the floor in my pants earlier.

I picked it up and found a text from one of my Hex members, one of three I’d tasked to keep tabs on Lev. Although we were working toward a truce, I couldn’t simply sit back and let him run wild. I still had to protect us. Hopefully, once we sat down and talked it out, the way in which I did that could alter. Less invasive, perhaps. And for my sanity, not a constant thing.

My guy’s message didn’t bode well right off the bat, however, because he’d just confirmed that Lev wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He’d either lied or, from a more benefit-of-the-doubt standpoint, he’d stretched the truth or omitted some details.

Steven: Knight spotted on outskirts of downtown. Abandoned apartment building. Been inside for five.

Mason: Good work. Send me the address and I’ll take it from here. Stand down.

Steven: Got it, Boss.

Sure enough, he sent along the intel in the very next moment.

Dammit, Lev.

I hurried out of bed and threw on my clothes from last night, then hurried out of Colt’s bedroom. I didn’t want him or Brianna seeing me as I was on my way out. It would invite questions, the answers to which would make me look bad either way.

As I made my way through the house, I heard music sounding, coming from the recording studio. It was soundproofed, so it meant that Colt hadn’t shut the door.

Colt’s voice reached me.

“I remember the nights I couldn’t sleep/ The nights I was screaming out your name/ The memories made me weep/ They had me twisting the sheets in fucking pain.”

He stopped singing and playing and I heard Brianna’s gasp of surprise. “This is about Levi and me?”

“Sure is, cutie.”

“Whiskey eyes pulled me through.”

“You like?”

“It’s a lot to absorb. Intense.”

I just needed you to remember too.”

“That’s when it gets more intense. We’ll leave it at that for now. Want to hear the finished duet, all polished and ready?”

“I’d love to, yeah.”

I heard the smacking of lips—kissing. And then Colt telling her, “Coming right up, Bree. Hey, you okay with me calling you that?”

“My close friends do.”

“We’re more than that now, yeah?”

“We’re getting there.”

“I’ll take it. Love spending time with you.”

I turned the corner and even as I shook my head to myself, I also couldn’t help smiling.

Colt certainly wore his heart on his sleeve. It often slammed up against the opposite in me—the closed-off stoicism I had going on.

But it also helped to chip away at that, to open me up a little more.

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