Page 69 of Breaking the Habit

But her heart? Oh, her heart was reawakened. Rejuvenated. Completely enthralled by the opportunities toexistandfeelagain.

Going on a sabbatical had been like going into relationship hibernation. And all the animals in the world who hibernated knew what happened once you staggered out of the winter cave.

Everything came to life again. You dove right back in.

You greeted spring with an open heart.

She swallowed a knot in her throat, watching Levi through the viewfinder as she waited for the shot.

And nobody in their right mind said no to spring.

Chapter 22

Levi squinted against the mid-day sunlight as he hurried toward his lunch meeting. Beverly Hills was a different beast than his little life in Los Feliz. Swanky cars were everywhere in LA, but here, the concentration seemed statistically higher. Money leaked from the cracks in the cement. If he thought the money he’d been making recently was a lot, Beverly Hills begged to differ.

He was meeting Marcus here to talk about the action plan for their agreement. Levi had a knot in his gut the size of a grapefruit, but he counseled himself he needed to hear it out. He’d figure out how to move forward.

The extra $200,000 in his bank account made it hard not to.

Marcus waved at him from a little table on the front patio. They’d chosen a cute café for lunch, and from the looks of it, Marcus already had water and cocktails waiting for them.

“Hey, buddy,” Marcus said, offering his hand before Levi slid into his seat. “I took the liberty of buying you a celebratory drink.”

“Ah, shit. What kind?” The amber liquid suggested alcohol.

“Some froofy thing. Champagne and liqueur. It’s pretty great.”

“Thanks. I can’t though. My trainer would flip. I’ve got my match next week.”

Marcus frowned. “Right. Forgot about that.” He moved the martini glass closer to him. “Maybe Titi will want it.”

“Titi?” Levi asked, smiling as a waitress dropped off a board menu.

“Yes. Titi LaCreux, your future ex-girlfriend.” Marcus grinned devilishly as he sipped at his own martini glass.

Marcus’s words sparked the grapefruit knot again. Levi rubbed at the space between his eyebrows. All he could think of was the deposit in his bank account. The NDA he’d signed. He was on the hook for all this shit.

“She’ll be here soon. I wanted to meet with you first though, so we can hammer out the timeline.” Marcus cleared his throat, opening up a folder on the table. “Your campaign officially begins today.” Marcus flashed another award-winning smile. “Aren’t you excited?”

Levi hefted with a laugh, trying to conjure some amount of enthusiasm. Aside from all the zeroes in his bank account, the other thing on his mind was Riley.

She was going to flip.

Everyone in his life was going to flip.

“I definitely wanna talk logistics,” Levi began, unable to fake the excitement Marcus was looking for.

“Of course, of course.” Marcus thumbed through some papers stapled together. “As far as I see it, we have a few different arcs we can take. I thought I’d offer you the choice first. But as I’m sure you remember in our contract, we have the final say on what gets projected into the media and how.”

Those words made Levi’s skin crawl, but he couldn’t figure out why. He should be elated that the media cared at all. This was what he’d been waiting for. Dreaming of. So why was he so uneasy?

“Titi LaCreux has officially landed,” Marcus went on. “She’s staying here in Beverly Hills for the next few months. We’ll be handing over your schedule so she can see where you’re going to be and what might make the most sense for public appearances. There will, of course, be paps following her every move. I assume the gym you train at will love the free publicity. It’s a win-win for them, really.”

“Mm-hmm.” Levi tapped his thumbs against the edge of the table. Marcus either didn’t notice or didn’t care that Levi was less than effervescent about the upcoming shenanigans. He laid out a few different storylines for Levi to choose from—whirlwind romance turned sour, whirlwind romance with a cheating angle, or multiple girls at the same time with a focus on the spurning of Titi.

All Levi could think of was Riley’s story about the paparazzi that had followed her after her break-up. To his ears, the options Marcus presented were make Riley upset, make Riley upset, or make Riley furious.

“So, here’s the thing, Marcus.” Levi ran a thumb over his knuckles, searching for the right words. “My situation has sort of changed since we did the contract.”

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