Page 92 of Levee

To that, Cato smiled, but leaned down to grab the bag with his pinkie finger before carrying the very much awake Rynn out the door.

“Where’s Teddy?” I asked, not wanting to leave without thanking him for everything.

“Right here,” Teddy said as I sat up, making me search to find him standing in the kitchen holding a small plastic cooler. “I was just packing up your ice pops.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said, even if the pain in my throat had a different tale to tell. I gave him a grateful smile, though, knowing he would insist I take them. “Thank you so much for every—“

“Sweetheart,” Teddy cut her off, holding up a hand. “Save your voice. I can hear how much it’s hurting to talk.”

I did manage to give him a quiet thank-you before following Levee into the elevator.

“Scale of one-to-ten, how disappointed are you not to spend the night in one of Teddy’s luxe-ass guest rooms?”

“Okay. Maybe a five,” I admitted, reaching to open the lid of the cooler Levee was holding, suddenly needing another ice pop to numb my throat. It was right then that I finally noticed Levee’s hands. “Your knuckles.”

Levee waited for my gaze to lift to his.

“You’re not gonna have to worry about getting hurt again,” he said.

I wanted to say I felt torn about that. Because, as a whole, I’d been a pacifist my whole life. In my mind, there was always a solution to a problem that didn’t involve violence.

That said, my throat felt like I was gargling glass each time I swallowed. And I knew down to my bones that, if not for William coming to my rescue, I wouldn’t be able to standing there with Levee again.

“Does that bother you?” Levee asked, reading my mind.

“It should,” I said.

“But?”

“But… I don’t know. I think maybe in this case, it’s karmic.”

“There you go,” he said, giving me that boyish smile I was starting to love so much. “Now, do you want cherry-limeade, or blackberry lemonade? Just so you know, there is a right answer.”

“Cherry-limeade. Obviously,” I said, holding out a hand until he dropped the wrapped pop in my palm.

“You passed the test.”

“Without even studying,” I agreed, taking a bite of the ice pop and enjoying the way the cold immediately soothed my sore throat. “So, what now?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“What you want.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re safe now. If you want, you can go back to your place. Alone. Or with me.” Even just the thought of that made my stomach clench. “Or you can come back to the clubhouse with me.”

“Is that even a question?” I asked. “But I do need to feed the fish before we go. And get some things.”

“Think you’re gonna need to set up a tank at the clubhouse for those fish,” he said, wrapping an arm casually around me as we walked through the lobby of Teddy’s building before making our way out onto the street.

“Or I need to move closer,” I said, letting myself lean into him as we walked.

We could work on that,” Levee said, turning to press a kiss to the side of my head.

And something about the way he said it made me hope he was thinking the same thing I was.

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