Page 86 of Whips and Chains
I didn’t want to lose him.
I didn’t want to lose any of them.
But I didn’t know how to keep them either.
21
LEVI
Ithrew my booted foot into the back of X’s bedroom door and let out a scream of pure fucking fury and frustration when the damn thing didn’t budge.
X hadn’t been lying when he’d said it was reinforced.
I stalked to the window and stared down at the street at least ten floors below. This room was too small. Too hot. My skin crawled, and my chest was tight.
There was no air, and it was fucking suffocating.
“Don’t bother,” Whip said, lounging against the headboard. “Already checked it. Window doesn’t open. And if he has a reinforced door, I’m willing to bet that window isn’t going to be easily broken either. You could try it, of course, but even if you get it open, what are you going to do? You aren’t fucking Spider-Man.” His mouth turned up at the corner. “I mean, you’d look good in Lycra, but I don’t think you have the athletic ability.”
I glared at him, fingers clenched. “This isn’t funny!”
His gaze strayed to my fists. “Didn’t say it was. But if you’re gonna lose your shit, maybe don’t aim it at me. Just sit. X will be back at some point.”
God, he was a condescending prick. He had no idea what it felt like to spend six years of your life locked up in a box. He had no idea what it felt like to be caged in, feeling like the walls were shrinking with every moment, sucking up all the air until you choked. “Don’t fucking tell me how to handle my shit. You didn’t spend six years staring at concrete walls with a toilet two feet from your bed.”
Whip’s jaw clenched. “No. I spent it fucking strangers. We all have our prisons.”
It wasn’t the same thing. “That was a choice. Mine wasn’t.”
The pitying expression on his stupidly attractive face just pissed me off all the more.
“When are you going to take responsibility for your own actions?” he asked.
I stopped pacing. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He pointed a finger at me. “It means you like to blame everyone but yourself, don’t you? The club threw you under the bus, so it’s their fault you did six years in a cell. But from where I’m standing, Levi, you chose to be in that club. You chose that life. What did you think was going to happen? You were hardly an innocent in that situation.”
I ground my teeth, irritation rippling up my spine because I knew he was right. I’d spent a long time holding a grudge against Army and the club, but I’d known what I was signing up for when I’d put on the jacket.
Whip’s onslaught of honesty didn’t let up. “And now you’re blaming me for what happened at the club the other night, aren’t you?”
I just stared at him.
He stared back, never dropping his gaze from mine. “Admit it, Levi. You’re blaming me instead of just admitting you fucking wanted me as much as I wanted you.”
I scoffed. “You think I want you?”
Whip got off the bed so fast I barely saw him move. And then he was in front of me, the two of us eye to eye, my chest heaving from the panic attack I was verging on.
It had nothing to do with how close he was.
He leaned into my space, his warm breath brushing over my lips. “Iknowyou do. You kissed me. I had my hand on your cock, and you didn’t stop me. You fucking moaned.”
I glared at him. “That was a mistake.”
“Then make another one.”
I blinked. Froze. The electricity between us so freaking sharp I could practically hear it crackling.
