Page 122 of Aching for His Discretion

Exiting the shower, I walked over to Levi to see him lying on the bed on his phone. He noticed my presence and sat up slowly, running his eyes up and down my figure hidden in the towel. Hebeckoned me over as he sat at the edge of the bed, and I tiptoed over to him and clutched the fabric in my hands a bit more.

He rested his hands on my waist and placed a small kiss on my neck as I bit my lip. Running my hand through his hair, my voice filled the silence.

“What would the old Levi have done to the waiter or Jacob?” I asked softly.

He paused for a moment as he laid his head on my chest.

“The old Levi… would have killed or tortured first and asked questions later.”

“And now?” I asked, and he sighed.

“Now, I do my best to control those impulses… Even though I may act on them eventually, I do my best to make sure it is as delayed as possible to give the person a chance to redeem themselves… but you know,” he began, and I gasped softly as he tightened his hands around my waist. “The old Levi wasn’t all that bad. He knew how to handle things and make people pay for their mistakes. Fear can be a powerful tool… but you, Tesoro, have taught me the power of forgiveness and patience. That’s why the waiter is home from the hospital still resting, and Jacob still has a pulse.”

“Do you think there are some people who aren’t worthy of redemption?” I asked him softly, and he sighed.

As he loosened his grip, he lifted his head from my chest and gazed lovingly into my eyes.

“I used to believe that…but you’ve shown me otherwise.”

Chapter fifty-two

Teegan

A Few Weeks Later

“Hello, boys!” Abbie yelled happily to Micah, Elliot, and Nico as she stepped out of the car with a smile. Looking over to Levi in the driver’s seat, I held back my smile as he rolled his eyes and took the key out of the ignition. Emma rolled her eyes as she opened the door in the backseat.

“Here we go. Let’s hope your parents have a rather wide selection of wine for me to get through this night…” she muttered, and I gave Levi’s hand a small squeeze before stepping out into the cold air of my hometown in Illinois for the second time after stepping out of the airport.

That’s right. My mother invited me, the boys and girls, to a small get-together before Christmas. Of course, Emma and Abbie were going to spend their actual holiday with their parents and family, but she wanted to get to know the girls who got methrough my last few years in Maryland. And as for the boys, they just had to come for obvious reasons.

I could vividly remember the day I called to tell her I had essentially made amends with Levi. She wasn’t upset or happy, but I knew she felt indifferent as I spent most of my nights at the beginning of our breakup crying to her over the phone. It took a bit of convincing to let her know that I was happy, and on Levi’s part, he had to do his due diligence and get a stern talking to for around two hours about how he should never have hurt her little girl.

He simply listened intently and didn’t accept my attempt at trying to cut the call short. He wanted to hear what she had to say. He wanted to know how badly he hurt me overall and how it affected her. It was like he wanted to be reminded of how much pain we both endured and how it should never happen again. And that’s why—

“Levi, it’s so good to see you!” my mother beamed, hugging him after she’d finished greeting me. Levi returned her hug happily, forgetting how irritated he was at Abigail’s constant antics and jokes on the plane.

—she’d invited him too. She insisted that we all come, much to my father’s dismay, and bought presents for us too. I could tell she missed spending time with her kids and missed those years from before when my brothers and I actually got along on occasion. She didn’t know if they would be coming this year, but I could only hope things would remain civil if they did.

I greeted my papa as I introduced the girls to him, and we slowly made our way inside as the guys helped with the suitcases. Deciding to give them a small tour, I left Levi downstairs and walked them up to my room, only for Emma to speak.

“Abbie, please,” she said, and Abbie rolled her eyes as I looked over to them in question and opened my old bedroom door.

“What’s going on?” I asked, and Emma took a seat on the edge of the bed as Abbie looked at my old books, candles, and teenage stuff, which I kept here for memories.

“Abbie’s planning on taking Elliot to the North Pole,” she groaned, and I furrowed my eyebrows. Emma rolled her eyes again and spoke again. “It’s Christmas, and she wants to be ahoe, hoe, hoeunder your parents’ roof.”

“Oh my gosh. Abbie!” I exclaimed, and she scoffed as she crossed her arms.

“Since when were we going to start using holiday references to talk about my sex life?”

“Since you decided you wanted to shake it like a red nose—” Emma started, and I held both my hands up in surrender as I could barely even take it anymore.

“Please. Please, guys. Could you spare me and my innocent ears?”

“Fine. But you definitely saw the way he was looking at me,” Abbie said pointedly, and Emma rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, with revulsion.”

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