Page 68 of Sidelined Love

He props himself up on one elbow, his eyes meeting mine and they don't waver. “Yeah, Hailey,” he says softly with a small smile. “I would.”

“I thought we were keeping things casual? No labels, right?”

He rolls his eyes at me, and I can read the annoyance loud and clear. “I can help you without being your boyfriend, Rook.”

He makes a good point. I’ve just never expected kindness from most people without strings attached.

“Fine. Thank you so much.”

Levi's grin returns to his face. “Now get your pretty ass in the shower so we can head out in a bit.”

I don't need to be told twice. I dash into the bathroom, and it takes me a moment to figure out how to turn on the hot water. I tie my hair into a messy bun and pray it stays where it is. Once again, being fully naked is a plus because it makes it that much easier to step into the shower.

As water cascades down my back, I take a moment to relax some of my achy muscles before I get to work on quickly washing up. Soon I'm scrubbing away sleep and any traces of what happened last night. While showering, I think about everythingthat has transpired over the last twenty-four hours and what might come next. But no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to find any answers.

I step out onto the bathroom mat and wrap the towel around my body. The mirror is fogged up, but I can still see the redness in my cheeks. I'm not sure if it’s because of the shower or because I've felt heated from the moment I stepped into Levi's home.

By the time I emerge from the bathroom, Levi is nowhere to be found, but there are a pair of black sweatpants, t-shirt, and a hoodie next to my clothes that were neatly folded on the bed. Assuming they are for me to wear, I quickly put the clothes on, making sure to roll the waist down so the pants will somewhat fit me. When I walk out into the kitchen area, Levi has breakfast laid out on the counter. As I'm staring at the fried egg and avocado toast with a cup of water, I'm impressed. My stomach growls as I walk over.

“You cook breakfast too?” I ask with raised eyebrows as I slide onto a barstool.

He gives me an exaggerated bow from where he's leaning against the counter. “I am a man of many talents,” he says with a smirk.

I roll my eyes and we both eat quickly because time is of the essence. Once we're finished, I quickly pack my backpack with most of the clothes I wore yesterday. Levi grabs his keys and together we walk out of his apartment and to his SUV. He disengages the locks and opens the passenger door for me.

As I settle into the leather seat, Levi starts the engine and pulls out onto the road.

“FYI, I probably should have said something earlier, but I sometimes get nauseous when I’m in a car and I’m not driving.”

“Okay, I’ll take it easy then and won’t pretend I’m driving a Formula 1 car.”

The joke pulls a laugh from me and the rest of the ride back to my place is quiet, but it’s a comfortable silence. As I glance down at the clock, I'm slightly worried I'll be late because it all depends on how quickly I can change my clothes and unpack and repack my bag.

When we pull up outside my apartment building, the sky is turning a soft shade of blue-pink as the sun is beginning to rise. Levi turns off the ignition and looks over at me.

“I’ll wait here,” he says as if reading my thoughts about asking him to come up. Having him come up will further complicate things in my mind given what he’s doing for me, so having this space is the right call. I could tell him that I can drive myself to work, but I don’t really want to because I have class about an hour after my shift and parking near the campus building I need to go to is a pain in the ass.

Instead, I nod before exiting the car. Once I'm inside my apartment, I move as fast as possible to finish the tasks I need to do while doing my best to not wake up Jade. I change my clothes, redo my bun, brush my teeth, and double-check that my name tag is in my bag.

As I head back downstairs and outside, the cool morning air finally feels wonderful against my face because I know that I should be able to get to work on time now. I don't realize how fast I'm walking back to Levi's SUV until I'm sitting in the passenger seat with my seat belt on and I'm kind of out of breath.

“Made it,” I say as Levi starts the SUV.

“Excellent. Let's head out,” he says as he pulls away from the curb.

“I’m not looking forward to today. Having to deal with Marc.”

“Marc…” Levi’s voice trails off as if she’s trying to piece together who I’m talking about. “Isn’t he the guy that interrupted us the day we met?”

I nod. “Yes, that’s him. He’s my manager and is a pain in the ass. He makes my life a living hell at the coffee shop.”

Levi doesn’t say a word for a moment, then he says, “Something should be done about him.”

“What do you mean?” I can’t help but question.

“Don’t worry about it, Rook.”

“Why do you call me that anyway?”

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