Page 58 of On the Rocks

“Please, Cora,” he said, begging in a way that pissed me off. What right did he have to beg me for anything after the way he treated me? I could still remember watching him pack his suitcases, all while I pleaded with him to talk things through, to try to find a way to work things out. He’d had no time for me then. Well, I had no time for him now.

“Save it.”

“I can’t. Don’t you understand? I have to tell you?—”

“God, Levi!” I snapped. “What? What could you possibly have to tell me after all this time?” He blinked down at me, maybe taken aback by my outburst, but I didn’t care. I was on the verge of tears again, and I wasn’t going to let this man see me cry. I’d shed enough tears over him. “Say whatever it is you came to say and get it over with.”

“I…I wanted to say,” he frowned, shaking his head. “No, I wanted you to know that leaving you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. The biggest mistake of my life.”

I scoffed, crossing my arms to keep them from shaking. “That’s rich.”

“Really,” he insisted. “I was an idiot. I let myself get blinded by infatuation. I believed I loved Sally, but it wasn’t real love. Not the kind we always had. It took me some time to realize that. And I do now. I see how wrong I was, and I want to try again.”

“Try again?” I said, my voice climbing an octave. Was he out of his mind? Where was this even coming from? I could only imagine Sally must have gotten bored of him, and now he was crawling back home, expecting to be able to pick right back up with the life he ditched when he left—including me. Well, screw that! And screw you, Levi!

“Yes,” he said earnestly, reaching for my hand. I squirmed away. “I want you back. No, I wantusback.”

“There is no us, Levi.”

“But there could be. I moved back to the city to show you how serious I am. I want you in my life, Cora. Don’t throw away fifteen years?—”

“I’m not the one who threw away anything!” I shouted. “You shouldn’t have come back tonight.”

He looked a little sheepish. “I’ve been in New York for a few weeks, actually, but I didn’t try to track you down because I knew I’d be seeing you here. I thought it would be romantic to have our reunion here—to begin again in the same place where it all started.”

I couldn’t believe he thought it would be that easy or that I would be desperate enough to jump back into his arms. On second thought, Icouldbelieve it. After the relationship ended, after I’d removed those rose-colored glasses, Jennifer had helped me realize that Levi never spent much time considering other people’s feelings or what they might want.

“What do you think?” he said, smiling at me hopefully.

“I think that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Cora—”

“No, really. After the way you treated me, there’s no way in hell I’m giving you a second chance.”

Levi grimaced. “I can’t accept that answer.”

“I don’t think it matters what you can and can’t accept.”

“We belong together.”

“Go back to California.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna be right here, until you see that we belong together.”

“I think she told you it’s never gonna happen, buddy.”

I glanced up. Aiden had come around the corner, glaring like he was a bull and Levi was the red flag waving in his face. I surged to his side, taking his hand. Levi glanced down at our entwined fingers, and that finally seemed to snap some sense into him.

“Wait,” he said. “Are the two of you together again?”

Sort of? We’re starting to be?It really did feel like we were moving that way, even if everything was still up in the air. But I was totally willing to lie and say we were already married and about to adopt triplets if it would get Levi to back the hell off. Before I could say anything, Aiden spoke up.

“Yes. And I’m not going to let you keep harassing Cora.” He rose up, taller and broader, like a mountain eclipsing a hill.

Levi shrank in his shadow.

“We’re going outside to get some air.” Aiden’s hand tightened around mine reassuringly even as he bore down on Levi. “If you’re still here when we come back in, you better leave us the hell alone. Got it?”

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