Page 68 of Veil of Death and Shadow

He took another sip of his beer, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from tracing the liquid down the smooth column of his throat.

“You remember me?” He bent towards my ear, his words somehow undercutting the music where mine had failed.

“Yeah, of course,” I yelled back, my voice way less smooth than his as it tried to compete with the noise. “I wasn’t quite as drunk as Sora that night.”

Truthfully, Sora had beenwaymore intoxicated than I’d initially realized, which I felt kind of bad about. Usually, I wasbetter at gauging her pacing, but that night had been a strange one. We’d made it home without any particular issues. In fact, she hadn’t stumbled once or even slurred her words. But when I mentioned Levi the next day, she had absolutely no recollection of him.

Blacking out was rare for her, and her hangover hadn’t been particularly terrible, but apparently the tequila had done its job of helping her drown out her post-breakup angst.

“Hm.” The sound was like a low growl, and my stomach twisted as he studied me. It took everything in me not to squirm under his steady perusal. “Interesting.”

I wasn’t sure what was so interesting about that. Levi wasn’t the sort of guy someone could easily forget.

“So, you’re still in town then?” I hated myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

Obviously, he was still fucking in town, Mars.

He nodded, the expression on his face unreadable.

“Right.” My smile faltered slightly.

Levi’s posture stiffened, his nostrils flaring ever so slightly as he watched something behind me. He honestly seemed completely disinterested in continuing this conversation, but I had no idea how to bow out of it gracefully.

“You come here a lot?” I asked, kind of thankful when the drummer started a solo, effectively canceling out my voice.

Levi didn’t seem to hear me. That, or he did and just didn’t bother answering. Either way, he clearly didn’t feel like talking. Not like this was exactly the right venue for a stimulating conversation.

And it wasn’t like I wanted to pick up on our fate-versus-curse chat either.

“Thanks, by the way,” I yelled.

“For what?”

“Whatever you said to Chase that night—at Mac’s Tavern? He’s been way less of an asshole since the night you came in.”

It was true. Shifts with him had become downright pleasant. I wasn’t sure what kind of magic Levi wielded with his conversation, but we were all incredibly grateful for it.

He shrugged, his expression flattening. “Wasn’t me. I didn’t say anything.”

He fell back into silence, his focus lingering behind me—not even towards the stage. Part of me regretted walking over to say hi, now that I was just adjacent to his whole dark and broody vibe. It was somehow even more uncomfortable than if he’d just ignored my wave hello altogether.

I stood there for a moment, debated finding Ace, or just calling it a night, the trance of the music now long lost on me.

“Right,” I gave him a tight grin, “well, see you around I guess.” When I turned around to leave, I nearly ran into Ace.

Surprisingly, I found myself oddly excited to see him, if only so that his presence could act as a buffer for Levi’s stiffness.

“Hey man,” Ace shouted, the music picking up again and swallowing his voice. He handed me a beer, then placed a hand on my lower back. He nodded at Levi with a tight smile. “I’m Ace. You a friend of Mareena’s?”

I took a step to the side until his hand dropped away. I may have been glad that he saved me from rambling endlessly and embarrassing myself further, but that didn’t mean I wanted the tool to touch me.

Suddenly all I really wanted was to dip out of this place and curl up in my bed with a good movie or book. Salvage whatever was left of my night off.

Levi’s dark stare slid from me to my date, his eyes narrowing. “What did you put in that drink, Ace?”

Ace’s grin faltered for a moment, then doubled in size until it made my fake grin earlier look downright deserving of anAcademy Award in comparison. “Not sure what you’re talking about, man.”

Levi grabbed the beer from me, and I jumped when his fingers brushed against mine.

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