Page 28 of The Stranger's Code

“That’s not what he told me?” I held up my phone for emphasis. “Teddy told me that his bike crapped out on him, and he just needed a ride back to the ranch. And he told me that he couldn’t contact you?—”

“Teddy couldn’t contact me?” Levi scoffed. “But he always carries his satellite phone. Even if I wasn’t at the office, he has a direct line to me?—”

Levi sighed with a sudden realization. “Teddy.”

“What? What is it?”

“I bet Shane put him up to this.” Levi groaned. “That asshole really thinks he knows what’s best for me. I’ll need to talk to him about that when I get back.”

“I don’t understand. Are you saying Teddy faked an emergency call? And Shane put him up to it?” Puzzled, I went on. “Why would they even do something like that?”

“Because… I haven’t been myself lately.”

“You haven’t?”

Levi stared over at me. “No. I haven’t.”

There was a silence between us, our eyes locked on each other. Levi didn’t move an inch, didn’t say another word. I felt like I was breaking inside as he looked at me, everything in me falling to pieces all over again. “Levi?”

“Yeah?”

“I…” I took a cautious step towards him. “I’m sorry. I know you probably don’t care, and you don’t want to hear it. But I am sorry. From the bottom of my?—”

“I’m sorry, too.”

“What?”

“You weren’t honest with me, but I wasn’t honest with you, either,” he continued. “But maybe that’s because I wasn’t honest with myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you scared me, Cam. I don’t know. I’ve never felt the way I felt around you. Not about anyone. I’ve never… missed anyone the way I’ve missed you. I’ve never… wanted to be kept. Or to keep. It’s different with you.”

“It’s different with you, too, Levi,” I admitted. “Or at least I thought it was. Sometimes, I can jump the gun about how I feel about people. But I… I thought we were on the same wavelength. It was pretty special.”

“Does it have to be all past tense?” Levi asked, his tone quiet. “Is that what you want, Cam? To leave us in the past?”

“I want what you want, Levi. Whatever that is.” My voice trembled as I spoke. “Whatever you want to make of us.”

“I just want—” Levi started but just then, his phone rang out from his pocket. He hastily answered it, bringing it up to his ear without checking the screen. “This is Levi—Wait. Teddy? Where are you?”

I watched Levi, trying to gauge his emotions as he spoke. His expression went from concerned, to aggravated, to relieved, to wholly annoyed. A few minutes later he hung up the phone without saying anything on his end.

“What’s going on? Where’s Teddy?”

“We need to head back to the ranch.”

* * *

“Don’t bemad at me. No one gets to be mad at me.”

Teddy motioned for us to step inside his cabin, as he spoke. “Seriously. We’re all going to have a laugh about this later, anyway.”

“You called in a fake emergency, Teddy,” Levi replied. “That’s not exactly a laughing matter.”

“But I called it in for a good reason! Which has to count for something.”

“A good reason?”

---