Page 96 of Breaking the Habit

“I said I don’t want to marry you and have your kids,” she shouted, wriggling free of him again. Cameras were snapping left and right. He had no chance of hiding this.

And that was probably what she wanted. Drunk out of her mind, trying to exact revenge somehow.

But he wasn’t going to lose his shit. He wasn’t even going to react. He was going to get her into the car and drive away. Even if she thought acting out was going to injure him, he didn’t want her behavior to make her vulnerable again.

“Yeah, Levi, where’s Titi?” a pap shouted out. “You two are getting real cozy these days. Moved on already?”

Levi clenched his fist as he guided Riley to the valet station.

“He’s such a man whore,” Riley called out. “Can’t get enough pussy.”

A ripple of laughter crested the paps. Then, “That busted face really brings in the ladies, don’t it, champ? Sorry, should say Mr. Unanimous Draw.”

Levi rubbed at his face, counting to ten. Riley sneered at him, staggering forward suddenly. Levi jumped to catch her.

“She seems a little too drunk.” More cameras clicking. “Or is that your style, too?”

Heat thrummed through his veins, and his fingers itched to get in a punch again. But he wouldn’t react. This was part of the new Levi. The one who was dedicated to Riley. The Levi who had something to prove.

“Come on, Levi,” Riley taunted, poking at his arm. “This is the shit you live for. Don’t you want it all?” She gestured behind them, at the line of photographers snapping their picture. “Eat it up!”

“Get in the car,” Levi said in a low voice, guiding her toward the SUV. “I’m not going to make a scene. And I don’t understand why you’re putting yourself in the spotlight right now.”

“Just trying to help,” she spat as he folded her into the SUV. “Isn’t that how people play in your world? Sell themselves out?”

“No, Riley. And even if it was, you’re putting yourself out there too, Ms. I Hate The Spotlight.”

She laughed so bitterly it practically burnt him. “I don’t care anymore. You were right. It’s all fickle bullshit.”

He shut the door and handed off a hundred-dollar bill to the attendant before sliding into the driver’s seat. Photographers crowded around the car, eager faces, cameras flashing.

Levi didn’t relax until they were all in the rearview mirror.

Less than a half mile later, Riley snored in the passenger’s seat.

Chapter 32

Riley’s tongue had soldered itself to the roof of her mouth.

It was the only fact she knew about life as consciousness came to her the next morning. She tried to move her tongue and failed. Everything was parched. Sandpaper. Horrible, dry, cracking bark.

She groaned and launched an arm toward the night stand. Finding nothing. Definitely not the glass of water she was dying for.

She cracked open an eye. There it was. Just out of reach. Her whole body protested as she pushed up onto an elbow to reach further. Fingertips brushing the glass.

As she snagged it, she looked down.

And there was Levi. Asleep on the floor.

She gasped so hard, the glass tipped out of her grip and tumbled off the nightstand. Water spilled everywhere—including on Levi’s head. The glass landed right beside his ear. He jolted awake, swearing loudly.

“I’m sorry,” she rasped, one eye pinched shut. Levi rubbed at his face—delicately—and ran a hand over his cornrows to swipe out the water.

“Damn,” he said, his voice groggy. “Good morning.”

“I didn’t mean to do that.” She flopped back onto the bed. She had no idea why he was inside her house, much less sleepingbesideher bed. She didn’t remember much beyond showing up at Lounge 83 and ordering two whiskeys to drown her sorrows in. “Why are you on the floor?”

“Uh, because you refused to let me sleep in the bed,” Levi said, rubbing at an eye. “Or don’t you remember?”

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