Page 27 of Breaking the Habit

“Yeah. I’m in this big league.” He wanted to come off like he was downplaying it, but this was exactly the sort of thing that helped get the ball rolling—and stay rolling. “There’s another match next week. You should check it out.”

“I definitely will.” When she left with their order, Gage smirked.

“I thought I was the biggest flirt in the family,” Levi cracked, reaching across the table to swat the bill of Gage’s hat. “But you took the title.”

Gage laughed. “I learned it from you.”

Levi narrowed his eyes at him. “Better not be stepping on my turf, brother.”

But the mere mention of flirting with another girl made him think of Riley. His dark angel. Not that he’d call her that to her face—yet. Maybe someday, once he really got to know her. She fascinated him. And he couldn’t figure out what had caused the about-face in their texting. He’d thought they’d been getting somewhere. Thought she was finally seeing him as a person and not as Levi the Fighter, or Levi the Client.

But he’d been wrong. Riley clearly didn’t want things to move forward on a personal level, and Levi hated how much that grated on him.

She was the only woman he was desperate to know on a personal level. Part of him had thought about inviting her out on this sacred brunch occasion. That would have been new territory.

Levi kept a strict division between home life and the rest of the world. Even Travis didn’t know that his little brother had muscular dystrophy. He still needed some more time before he opened Gage up to the Holt Body crew. Had to make sure this situation would last longer than a year or two, because he didn’t want to break Gage’s heart.

Gage fell in love with new people too fast. He’d learned the hard way back in Chicago. Levi had let some fighter friends into their life, but when they flaked out on Gage one too many times, the lesson was learned. Whoever Gage met on his own turf, that was fine. Levi let him manage those friendships. But anybody else? It took drilling through several layers of brick fortress for anyone to achieve hanging-with-Gage level.

Furthermore, Levi didn’t bring any of his one-night stands to the house. That was a hard rule. Which meant that Gage had never met any of the women from his life. Because Levi didn’t have girlfriends. He had fuck buddies and passing fancies.

Nothing else.

Except…Riley promised to be something else. But he couldn’t figure out what. The hottest photographer he’d never touch? Or maybe the first woman to make him tumble chin-first into the gravel. While she just watched and laughed.

When their food came, Levi already knew this was going to bethe spot. His belly gave a warning rumble as the decadent omelet arrived, flanked by avocado toast on the seediest, brownest bread he’d ever seen. They dug in unceremoniously, their brunch punctuated only by appreciative groans.

“Oh, my GOD,” Gage said through a mouthful of egg, after half of his plate was cleared.

“Dude. I know.” Levi couldn’t slow down to say more.

No more words were exchanged until their plates were cleared. The waitress approached with arched brows.

“I was coming to see how you liked it so far but didn’t expect you to be done already.”

“Too good.” Levi stretched out, feeling the waitress’s gaze on him. “You’ll probably be seeing a lot of us.”

“I won’t mind that at all.” A barely-there huskiness lined her voice, one that made Levi snap his gaze over to her. Damn. He hadn’t been expecting that. She peeked under her lashes at him, a tiny smirk tugging the corner of her mouth up. “I’ll be right back with your check.”

Gage blinked over at Levi. “Um, pretty sure she wants to bang.”

“Gage.” Levi sent him a harsh look. He was right—didn’t mean Levi wanted to talk about that stuff around his brother. This was the weird dance of being part-brother, part-father figure.

Gage smirked. “Maybe you can fry your bacon in her hot grill.”

Levi tried hard—so hard—to keep a straight face. But the laughter cascaded out of him. “Damn. That was good.”

Gage looked entirely too pleased with himself. The waitress returned a moment later with the bill and a wink. He wasn’t surprised to find her phone number scrawled across the top of the check.

Levi quietly counted out the bills plus a hefty tip. He grabbed the receipt and stuffed it into the back pocket of his shorts.

“Let’s go.” Levi allowed Gage to lead the way out through the patio and back to the car. They went through the familiar routine: load Gage into the car, load the chair onto the back, wait for it to lift. He’d done this song and dance so many times that sometimes he tried to unload Gage’s chair even when he wasn’t with him.

“You gonna call her?” Gage asked as soon as Levi turned the car on.

“Who?”

“That waitress.”

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