Page 15 of They Break Beauty

And I knew him well. The three of us had been the best of friends—brothers, really—since we were kids.

“You want me to resurrect Hex.”

“I want us to.”

“Lev—”

“I’ll be the public face. I’ll take the heat.”

“That’s not how it works, you know that. And how does Roman feel about what you’re suggesting?” I gestured around our surroundings. “I assume this was his doing? He wanted you back here, so he made this happen, bought it for you?”

“Dear Old Dad had no hand in this. I have access to my trust. I bought this place.”

“You… what? There were contingencies upon you receiving all that money. Well, barriers, so that he could keep delaying it and exert control to keep you in line.”

“And me taking that internship to put my network security skills into practice for the last year mowed down all those barriers.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He smirked and laid his hand on my shoulder. “Ah, Mason, I’ve missed your extreme paranoia and gift for smelling smoke when there isn’t a fire, nor even a spark.”

I grasped his hand on me and loomed over him, my mammoth form and six-foot-eight height completely eclipsing his five-eleven. “Lev, what are you doing back here? Really?”

The whole looming thing didn’t faze him in the least.

Of course not. This was Lev we were talking about.

“The internship came to an end, I missed this place, I still have my degree to finish.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “And I missed you. My boys.”

He pulled away and took another swig of vodka, then swept his arm around the room. “I mean, look at this place. Don’t you love it? It’s a fuck of a lot better than the frat accommodations and without all the bullshit commitments and things you had to adhere to, all that fakery shit. Did you see what I set up for you? Your bathroom has a top-of-the-line Jacuzzi bath, the kind you go weak in the knees for. There’s a library off your room with all your favorites stocking the shelves. Colt’s got that recording studio. I’ve got the workshop outside for my woodworking. We’re all set.”

It would seem so.

He’d gone all out.

He desperately wanted us here, the three of us back living together as it used to be before he’d had to leave at his father’s behest.

That desperation was what worried me.

I couldn’t determine where it was coming from, what it was truly rooted in.

While I didn’t doubt that he had actually missed us, it clearly also wasn’t the extent of it. Things were never that simple when it came to Levi Knight. They were always multifaceted and they came with a multitude of complications.

But having him right here in the same place as us, living together again, it would give me the opportunity to find out what was truly going on, what he was really focused on beyond the surface level, why he wanted Hex revived too.

And, yeah, I’d missed him, despite all the rest.

There’d been a hole without having him here with Colt and me.

“You’ve gone to a lot of effort. It hasn’t gone unnoticed,” I offered up.

A genuine smile spread over his face. “Yeah?”

“You heard me,” I said, smiling back at him.

“Sweet place. Real ace, Lev!” Colton cried, bursting into the room, then running at Lev and throwing his arms around him. “Can’t believe you’re here with us! It’s been way too long! Shit, we’ve missed you!” He lifted his head and looked out at me. “Right, Mason?”

“We have, yes.”

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