Page 50 of Breaking the Habit

He wanted a day like this. With Riley.

Riley wilted a little. “She’s paying me. It’s a definite thing. I can’t miss it.”

“And what about later?”

She nibbled on her lip, the bad news already written across her face.

“Okay. I get it.” He pushed his palms down, cresting the curve of her ass. “But I don’t like it.”

“I’ll text you later,” she promised, tracing her fingertips along his collarbone. And in that instant, it felt like he’d had her in his arms for weeks. For months. For years. Riley just felt good. He couldn’t explain it. She was hot, and she was sweet, and she was bristly, and she was a mystery. The perfect cocktail of woman.

And damn, he wanted to get drunk on this one.

Chapter 15

Levi stalked through his apartment that day like a cooped-up lion. The marathon of sex the night before had released a lot of energy, but notthiskind of energy.

Because what he had brewing inside him utilized only one type of valve.

Getting into trouble.

Gage didn’t want to do much that day, so Levi entertained himself with a jog around the neighborhood and light exercises in the apartment building’s weight room before dinner. After steak and broccoli that evening, Levi was counting the minutes until he could excuse himself from the apartment and go get lost in Hollywood.

He’d had a lot of time to think about the strange new world created that morning. The moment when he’d crossed that invisible barrier erected after his parents passed away. Once he became Gage’s sole guardian, it had made sense to him that he needed to play the father part to a certain degree. Which meant no girls mingling with home life. No partying at the house.

It had become Levi’s responsibility to raise a child. Even though he wasn’t ready. Even though that was the last thing he’d wanted to do in his early twenties. Gage had been ten when their parents passed. Not even a teenager. And Levi went from a reckless, drifting twenty-year-old to a surrogate father.

The whole thing still haunted him. He couldn’t deny that. His life had changed in the blink of an eye, in too many ways to count. And now, six years later and with a degree of success finally reaching him, he couldn’t relax or release that parental role forced upon him.

Part of him hated that Gage had woken up early and tipped off Riley. He really had wanted her to fly under the radar. Unnoticed. Undiscovered. A one-off.

Meshing his two worlds—his real-world life with his sanitized home life—was a serious head trip.

Made worse by the fact that he’d never seen Gage so fucking animated before.

He’d lapped Riley up like water on the hottest summer day. It made him wonder if maybe he’d been wrong to be so militant about keeping Gage protected. Ever since that shitty ex-friend from his Chicago training camp had made Gage think he was responsible for his disability, Levi had gone into hawk mode about who he let into Gage’s sphere.

Gage had enough to deal with, with being a teen and navigating the school system. Levi didn’t need to complicate things by bringing in new friends or flavors of the week.

But Riley? Gagereallyliked Riley. Levi didn’t have the heart to correct him when he’d called her Levi’s girlfriend. He’d talked about her again over dinner that night. Asked when she’d be coming back. Wondered if they could all go to a movie together.

She made Gage want to do things and step out of the routine.

But despite all the excitement of Riley, the question remained: how would Gage react if Riley stopped coming around?

If he could latch on to her so quickly after one shared breakfast, then Levi was risking a lot by having her become a regular fixture. If Gage liked her this much already, then surely he’d fall in love with her as a new part of his life. Someone to count on. Maybe like a big sister.

And as far as Levi saw it, he wasn’t in the market for that right now. It had to be all or nothing with him. With the way his life was. He couldn’t toy with Gage’s heart like that.

Riley either needed to become a permanent, no-doubt-about-it addition, or Levi needed to fabricate some sad story about how it ended, and Riley would never show her face at the apartment again. For Gage’s sake.

But honestly? Contemplating either of those options made Levi’s chest fill with tension. Which was why he was counting down the minutes until he could go get lost in West Hollywood.

Levi waited until Gage was settled for the night before getting himself into decompress mode. He wore a light gray button down, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the top few buttons undone. His muscles bulged and strained against the fabric of the shirt. Combined with pressed black slacks and expensive dress shoes, he looked and felt as fancy as any other Hollywood A-lister out on the town.

Maybe he’d run into a few, and they could compare notes.

Or maybe he’d take home a set of bloody knuckles.

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