Page 7 of Levi

If it was what she wanted, she wouldn’t have sent Ally to break my heart all those years ago. She wouldn’t have made me watch her constantly making out with her new boyfriend.

Which is when I started putting distance between us. That and the fact that Ally was always around. At first, I hung out with Ally because, well, she was cute, and she was being nice. But I was also hoping to make Quinn jealous. Thinking back to it now, I have no fucking idea how things got so far with Ally. It was always her idea to take the next step, but she always talked about it in a way that was so fucking convincing that you ended up confused and thinking it was your idea in the first place.

“Are you listening to me?” Quinn snaps, and I shake my head, bringing myself back to reality.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m not taking it seriously because I’m not concerned. I’ll talk to Coach Dawson on Monday, and I’m sure it’ll all be fine.”

“You’re really not going to help me, help you?”

“Nah, that’s too messy,” I tell her with a shrug, trying to ignore the disappointment that flashes across her face, though it’s only for a brief moment, before being replaced by the stiff smile most of the world gets.

“Alright then,” she says, standing up and grabbing her jacket. She finishes her drink before setting the glass down and walking away with a nod. “Have a good night, Levi.”

“We aren’t going to fuck?”

She stills, slowly turning around.

“Nah, that’s too messy,” she says, giving me a quick glance before leaving. “I’ll be seeing you soon.”

I watch her, my heart racing as her ass sways while she moves across the room, her words bouncing around in my mind as she leaves. Only she doesn’t go toward the exit. No, she walks straight over to the bar, between a group of men, and orders a shot. She holds it up toward me in a silent cheers, winks, then slams it back before turning to talk to the guys who are already eyeing her.

Fucking hell.

CHAPTER3

QUINN

Ally: What’s your address?

Me: None of your business.

Ally: Seriously? What if there’s an emergency?

Me: Then I’ll call 911.

Ally: You’re so annoying.

Me: I’m not the one asking the same question over and over.

Me: Do you know the definition of insanity?

These last fewdays have been a whirlwind, but after multiple flights and lots of packing, I’m finally all moved back to my hometown of Nashville.

I thought I would be more upset to be back. I mean, when I first heard the news, I immediately felt stressed. It’s not even because I don’t like Nashville—hell, I love it here. It’s just that this place holds a lot of rough memories, and I normally like to avoid those. Whenever I visited, I never stayed long enough to really deal with the feelings. Maybe because I always knew it was temporary. But moving here? That’s a different story. Which is probably why I lied to my sister and my uncle, telling them I had somewhere to stay. The thought of living with my sister made my skin crawl. They interrogated the shit out of me, but I held strong and didn’t give them any information.

Truthfully, it’s none of their damn business.

In all seriousness, I didn’t feel the need to explain that staying at a hotel was the better option for me, even if it meant turning down a free place in order to avoid being in the house my sister shared with Levi. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it when she told me it would be too hard for her to stay in the room they once shared, so she was going to give it to me.

No. Thanks.

I’m not going to even get into why my sister is still thinking about her ex when she has a new boyfriend she loves to remind me she’s madly in love with. Even if I think it’s a lie and she just hates being single, but that’s a whole different can of worms I’m not willing to open.

I just wish Ally didn’t have this obnoxious need to constantly bring up the fact that she had the man I wanted. The way she keeps reminding me they were engaged and that she left him—yeah, it’s enough to make me have zero desire for a relationship outside of the one we have at work.

It sucks because she used to be my best friend; growing up only eighteen months apart, we did everything together. But that started to change as we became teenagers and she started making everything a competition, constantly needing to prove she was better than me, getting everything I wanted and making sure I knew I wasn’t good enough.

Yeah, that wasn’t the energy I needed in my life. Still isn’t.

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