Page 14 of Sin in the Mountains

"You wh—" Drake starts, shocked into a softer tone, but I cut him off.

"I'm not happy, Drake. I'm miserable. I hate it. I hate it so much." I shake my head, even though he can't see me. I lick my lips. I can't chicken out now. "You didn't want Levi to derail my life, but I let you put me on a path that isn't for me. I can't live my life for you. I won't do it."

"Nugget..." Drake says helplessly as I begin to cry, and I know he's heard me.

"I've loved Levi since we were little kids. My heart belongs to him, and I'm not saying we are going to date or anything. This is not about him at all." I swallow before telling him what I've decided. "I'm moving back to Duhring Park, and you are not going to stop me."

"Fucking Levi. Scarlett, hold up a minute–" Drake's desperate plea doesn't affect me.

"Scarlett." Levi's deep voice wraps around me, and I turn.

How much did he hear?

Levi calmly holds out his hand, asking for my phone. I hand it over without a word. He watches me for a moment before lifting it to his ear.

"Drake, it's Levi. No. I'm not going to put her back on the phone. She's said everything she needs to say already." Levi looks at me, waiting for confirmation, and I nod. "Now, it's my turn."

Drake must continue talking or yelling at him, because Levi growls into the phone, "Stop talking now, or I'm hanging up and blocking you for forty-eight hours. I’ll make you drive all the way out here to rant at your sister."

I can practically hear Drake’s teeth grinding from here, but he must keep his mouth shut, because Levi continues. "Man, you came back after freshman year of college a different person. You'd broken up with Erin, and you never wanted to talk about it, but it changed you. You've always been controlling, but it was like you'd hardened your heart against anything related to love. It clouded your judgment, Drake. You had no right to keep my letter from Scarlett. I get it. We were young, but you fucked up. And I hope Scarlett forgives you some day."

Levi gives me a smile before he continues, and I hold my breath. "I'm going to do everything in my power to convince your sister to marry me. I love you like a brother, Drake. I have never stopped. But you are not getting in our way ever again." Levi hangs up the phone, cutting off whatever retort Drake had for him.

Levi turns toward me as I stare at him with tears running down my face.

"Hey, Wolf," I say, my voice watery with emotion.

"Hey, Little Red," Levi says softly.

And then we're like magnets, locked together in a tangle of limbs and lips. I'm desperate to get to him, tearing at his clothes in the middle of the hallway. He stops me from unbuttoning his pants and grabs my hand. He pulls me forward, placing his shoulder into my belly as he lifts me over his shoulder fireman style.

"Oh, god, Levi. Put me down!" I protest, but I burst into a fit of giggles when he smacks my ass.

"No," Levi growls. He heads into the lobby and straight for the elevators. "Your room or mine?"

"Yours," I pant, desperate to be alone with him.

When we cross near the door to the reception hall, Max and Jameson lean against the wall, deep in conversation. I look up from Levi's back, laughing as Max puts his fingers up to his ear in the universal sign forcall me. I shake my head no, as Levi hits the up button on the elevator.

When the doors open, he puts me on my feet, backing me against the far wall and kissing me like he might die if he doesn't touch me. I kiss him back, the doors opening and closing twice before he finally reaches over to push the button for his floor.

"Levi?" I ask, as he pulls me toward him, his mouth on my neck.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember what your letter said?"

He pulls back and smiles down at me like I'm his favorite person in the whole world and nods. "Yes. I asked you to marry me."

I laugh and smack his chest. "No, you didn't. I was eighteen!"

He grins with so much boyish charm, he could be twenty again. Shrugging, he looks sheepish. "Kind of. It's probably why Drake freaked out."

I stare at him, my heart swelling with love for the boy who cared so much about my happiness, he let me go, thinking it's what I wanted.

"Levi, you will never have to watch me walk away again," I vow, leaning forward to drop a kiss on his collarbone.

He smiles and then dips me back in the elevator. "If you think I could do that again, you're crazy."

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