Page 50 of Power Play

He thinks about it for a moment, then nods slowly.

“I get it,” he says. “I just… It just makes my blood boil.”

I nod.

“I know. I think about it every now and then. But then I see her, and…it changes it. I’m not glad that it happened the way it did, but I’m so lucky to be that girl’s mom.”

He forces a flash of a smile and sniffs.

“I get all of that, Lo. I do. I understand that you were thinking about what was best for

everyone. You always do. But Lo, have you ever thought about…if there are, or will be, others? If Levi is saying he has some sort of proof, do you think we should hear him out?”

I freeze up for a moment.

As selfish as it sounds, no, actually. I’d never thought about that. I guess I just assumed that it was a one-and-done scenario for both myself and Thad. And maybe it is. But my brother has a point. What if it isn’t? He’s on the brink of way more money and way more fucking power. Then how hard would it be to stop him?

I nod my head.

“Okay,” I say.

He pats my knee and looks up at me.

“Okay,” he says. “And from now on, no more doing all this on your own. This is an ‘us’ thing now. We got your back.”

The next day, Tyson comes over as soon as he knows that my dad left to take Harper to the park. I’m moping around the kitchen in an oversized sweatshirt, pajama pants, and slippers, pouring myself a second cup of coffee. Sleep wasn’t even in the cards after last night.

He walks in slowly, offering me the saddest of smiles and a nod.

“How we doin'?” he asks. I shrug, holding my mug out.

“This is the second one, and I’ve only been up for a half-hour,” I tell him. He raises his eyebrows and nods slowly.

“Well, you might need a third cup,” he says, and just as I look up at him, I see Levi following him into the kitchen, and my body goes rigid. I swallow the sip I already took and set the mug down on the island.

Not only am I so not mentally prepared for this, but physically, I’m a fucking mess. And even though Levi Buck has single-handedly made me feel more beautiful in the last few weeks that I’ve been with him than I’ve ever felt in my entire life, I was not ready forthis.First-thing-in-the-morning Lo. Haven’t-brushed-my-teeth-yet Lo. Not-a-drop-of-makeup-and-puffy-eyed Lo.

If they weren’t both staring at me, I’d slam my head onto the damn counter.

“Hi,” Levi says, soft and gentle.

“I asked him to come,” Tyson says, “and I apologized. And thanked him for being there when the rest of us couldn’t be.”

I look back and forth between the two of them a few times before I look back to my brother. I’m glad they seem to be best buds again, but I’m not quite there yet. Levi still did something I begged him not to do. And now, we’re here.

But as angry as I want to be, there’s something about it that feels so freeing.

“I also thanked him for being there for you now,” Tyson says, putting a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “You don’t completely suck, Buck.”

They smile at each other, and Tyson pats his shoulder again. Then he looks at me.

“I’m gonna go make a quick call,” he says. “You two should talk.” Then he leaves—like the deserter he is—out the back door and practically skips across the patio.

I clear my throat and tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear, crossing my arms over my chest in case a breeze blows through. Because underneath Tate’s old high school football sweatshirt, I amdefinitelynot wearing a bra.

Levi clears his throat, too, then takes a few steps closer to me.

“The first thing I want to say is that I’m so sorry, Lo. I didn’t mean for anything that’s happened in the last twelve hours to happen. I didn’t mean to tell your secret. I didn’t mean to turn your world upside down. And I just hope you know that in your heart,” he says.

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