Page 2 of Assassin's Game
Shit shit shit. I’d hoped she hadn’t noticed the nightly exits. I didn’t know what was up with my brother, but I knew it was something. And the only way Levi knew how to deal with worry riding his ass was to run from it. Literally. He’d stalk the night until he couldn’t go a step farther, then come home and collapse. Usually after Abby was asleep, or so I’d thought.
Guess that plan went down the toilet.
“Abby—”
“Don’t!” She put up a fragile hand, ignoring me as I plucked it from the air to warm between mine. “Don’t make excuses for the bastard.”
When Abby cussed, things were bad. Apparently things were bad.
“He’s my brother; making excuses for each other is what we do.” I ducked my head until I could meet her eyes under the curtain of her hair. Cocked the corner of my mouth up in that way I hoped would draw a smile. Apparently I’d lost my touch, because Abby closed her eyes and released more tears.
There was only one thing left to do when words didn’t work and tears wouldn’t stop: avoid all possibility of putting your foot in your mouth.
“Come here.” I clamped my mouth shut and, with a tug on her hand, led Abby to the couch, then sat beside her as she curled into the arm. She didn’t need words, and I didn’t give any, just held her hand and let her cry it out.
“I don’t get it,” she finally sniffled. “He has everything.Wehave everything.” Fisting the sleeve of her pajama top, she swiped it across her nose. I’d have offered her a tissue if I had a clue where one was. “Why does it feel like, with all of this”—she gestured around—“we’re going right back to where we started?”
How the hell did I know? Levi did what he did; for too many years it could’ve cost me my life to question his commands. He’d kept me safe, trained me, loved me, even if it meant knocking me around a bit to get my head on straight. We’d been on the streets, grown up hard, and that sometimes came out in Levi in ways I didn’t understand. In ways I was surehedidn’t always understand.
“He’s just trying to clear his head.”
Abby sighed hard, letting her head fall back onto the couch arm. “Of what? Of me?”
“No, of course not!”
Her head jerked up, the glare in her eyes shouting that there was noof courseabout it. If she could see how much things had changed since Levi had committed to her, she wouldn’t question it any more than I did.
“Tell me the truth,” she finally said. “Is it me? Really, Eli, is he doing this because of me?”
“Abby.” I laced our fingers together, tugging her until she turned in her corner to face me. “This is not about you. This is the same dumbass shit he pulled before you came into our lives. Just Levi being Levi, trying to handle some problem the way he always handles things.” I grinned. “He’s got a harder head than most. He hasn’t gotten the message that the way he always handles things doesn’t work anymore.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” she muttered under her breath.
That tight feeling in my chest eased the slightest bit. I squeezed her hand. “You’re our glue; don’t you know that? When are you going to trust it? There’s no ‘one foot out the door’ here. He’s not trying to get away from you. This probably has nothing to do with you, whateverthisis.”
“Yeah”—she sucked in a deep breath—“whatever this is.”
Whatever...Well shit. My eyes went wide as I realized what she might be crying over. “You know he’s not with another woman, right?” I mean, Levi committing to Abby had been a miracle. One thing about my brother, he was loyal to a fault. He was with Abby for the long haul. Whatever was bothering him, it wasn’t another woman.
“No.” She shook her head, and suddenly fatigue swamped her face, slumped her shoulders. “No, I know he’d never do that. I just...” A small, sad smile tugged at her lips. “I guess we all grow up with patterns, don’t we? I grew up thinking every little thing was my fault.”
And assumed this was too. “Levi grew up solving his problems on his own,” I pointed out. “On the streets, where every decision could kill you. I don’t know what’s on his mind, but he’s trying to protect you from it.”
Abby nodded, but I couldn’t tell in the dim light if she believed me.
“Want me to kick his ass?”
That got the laugh I’d been trying to get for fifteen minutes. With the sound, the muscles in my chest fully relaxed. Things might not be fine, but I’d lifted her burden a little. That was my job.
She stood, and her glance back at me was soft as she turned to leave. “I’m going to bed, but hold that thought. I might take you up on it.”
I shot her a wink. “Anytime.”
It wasn’t till Abby had left me at the stairs and headed toward her and Levi’s bedroom that I remembered my whole purpose in coming upstairs. Someone needed to know about the bastard threatening to out us. I glanced up the staircase toward Remi’s rooms, but the image of Leah this morning, dark circles under her eyes after throwing up her breakfast—of course Remi’s baby would make things difficult—decided me against going up. Save it for Levi...after he fixed his fuckup with Abby.
Instead of making my way up to my wing of the house—third floor left—I turned toward the elevator and headed back to the basement. Maybe I could dig up some dirt on this X before Levi got home. Better to present him with facts than speculations.
Looked like I had a long night carved out for me.
