Page 92 of Breaking the Habit

“Where’s Riley?” Lila asked. Lex had taken his spot behind her, arms wrapped around her waist. Yet another fated couple that made Levi’s chest hurt. He never used to care about happy couples and how he didn’t have anybody. Not until he met Riley, had had her, and lost her.

“Uh, she had to leave,” Levi mumbled.

“There was a little run-in with Titi,” Lex added.

“Uh-oh,” Lila said.

Levi frowned, coming to his feet. “All right. I need to change. Gage, you coming with me?”

Gage nodded, and everyone started their goodbyes. Before Travis and Amara left, Travis squeezed Levi’s shoulder.

“They’re gonna reschedule the final for next month,” he said in a low voice. “And you’re not gonna tie in that one. You’re going to dominate. We’ll start training on Monday.”

Levi swallowed hard and nodded. Travis and Amara said bye to Gage, and then it was the two of them.

Levi tossed on sweat pants and his HOLT jacket, trying not to let a foul mood take over. Not while Gage was with him.

But all he could think about was how the plan had been for Riley to join them on the way back to the apartment. After he won the title. And now he had neither of those. No Riley. No title.

“What’d you think of the girls?” Levi asked as he led the way to the back doors. His car was parked out back—Amara had used it to bring Gage and the girls to the match.

“Really incredibly hot,” Gage said, his eyes wide, “and so, so nice.”

“Yep. And you met Travis. That guy’s practically my older brother by now.” He paused. “So likeourolder brother.”

“I like everyone,” Gage said quietly, looking up at Levi once they got out into the parking lot. “Maybe I can start coming around to the gym to see them.”

There was a lot buried in his words. They tugged at Levi’s emotions, which were already all over the fucking place. But he had to keep his shit together. Long enough to get Gage home.

Then he could get started on setting the record straight with Riley.

No matter how much she didn’t want to hear it.

Chapter 31

Levi pulled up to Riley’s house close to ten p.m. Her car wasn’t in the driveway, which had him worried she was gone. She hadn’t answered any one of his thirty calls over the past hour and a half, but he wouldn’t let that get him down.

Except it wasn’t just him showing up to her house. As he parked, he noticed the car behind him had a tail as well. They parked down the street, and then the drivers became apparent.

Photogs.

“Levi! Tell us about your fight tonight!” one called out. Shutters clicked. He pinched his eyes shut and buried his hands in his pockets. This was fucking awful. And he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t show up at Riley’s door with these guys out here. That would be rubbing salt in the wound. First she thought he’d cheated on her like her ex, and then he shows up with the paps?

Boyfriend of the year award. Maybe this is why you never try for anything serious. Maybe you should have taken the hint and kept it no-strings-attached.

But that had never been possible with Riley. And fuck, he needed her now. Not having her in his life wasn’t an option. The depth of his feelings for her left him blindsided. He couldn’t have planned for that, much less controlled it. And now here he was. Desperate and heartbroken and willing to do literally anything to get her to hear him out.

Because once he’d dropped Gage off, he did a little tabloid search for his name. And surprise, surprise—his and Titi’s budding romance was the trending news item of the week. Too many outlets to count had picked up Riley’s entry into the love triangle, which blew his fucking mind. How had they sniffed her out?

The social metrics showed him and Titi as being more talked about than the surprise Ariana Grande single that had dropped yesterday, which meant everyone and their fucking stepdad knew.

“This is private property,” Levi called out to the paps. “You need to leave.”

“We’re on public land,” one of them shot back, dragging his toe through the gravel in front of him like an asshole. “Starts right here.” More shutters clicking. “Sorry, buddy.”

Levi balled his fists in his pockets. He’d had the worst fight of his life hours earlier and was about as exhausted as humanly possible, but he could take these photogs out. No problem. The only thing holding him back was the fact that he might actually get sent to jail.

Usually, that didn’t matter, but today? With this shitstorm swirling around him? Jail wouldn’t help anything.

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