Page 23 of Whips and Chains
I let out a long breath. Of course he was.
But Levi’s gaze didn’t let up. It burned through me. “Can you? Can you just walk away from her like that and pretend none of this…last night…can you pretend all of that didn’t happen?”
I felt my shields going up. The ones I kept tall around my heart to protect what was left of it.
I’d let them drop when I’d met Violet. And that had left room for my attraction to Levi.
Both of which were dangerous.
He was in love with her. And there was zero doubt in my mind she was in love with him too. I’d seen it time and time again in the way she looked at him. She might have been mad at him, but there was a connection there I couldn’t compete with, nor did I want to try.
She deserved a man who would love her as wholeheartedly as Levi did.
I couldn’t give her that. My heart was too fucking broken to give her anything more than sex.
And it always would be.
7
X
My truck was about as depleted of sweet treats as one would expect, given I’d allowed an entire underprivileged neighborhood free rein in it. There were candy bar wrappers and sticky puddles of melted ice cream from one end of the truck to the other.
But the thing still started, and I thanked whichever gods watched over Saint View that the little hoodlums hadn’t stripped the entire thing for parts.
I needed to get my baby cleaned and restocked but instead found myself parked out in front of Scythe’s house in Providence. He opened the door before I was even halfway down the path. His gaze skated over me, and without even asking why I was barefoot and shirtless, he just ducked back inside, emerging with a pair of sneakers and a hoodie.
He tossed them at me, closing the door behind me. “Come on. I’ve got to do school pickup. It’s the girls’ early release day, and I’m the only one here to do it. You can talk on the way.”
I trailed along after him, hoisting myself up into the passenger seat of his SUV that had two baby seats in the back.I pulled on the hoodie before drawing the seat belt across my chest and clicking it into place.
Scythe put the car in reverse and then with his hand on the back of my seat, he twisted so he could look over his shoulder.
He winked at me. “Don’t go falling in love with me.”
I frowned at him. “Why would I?”
He shrugged. “Bliss always gets giggly when I put my hand here to reverse. Apparently, it’s a thing.”
I frowned at him. “But your hand is just on the back of my seat. And reversing a car isn’t a big deal. I don’t get it.”
“Me neither. But it has resulted in head while I drive before, so I just wanted to be sure you weren’t getting any ideas.”
I raised an eyebrow. “No shit? She likes it that much?” I tucked that little tidbit away for future reference. Then sighed when I remembered Violet wouldn’t be giggling at me, let alone anything else anytime soon. And being alone in a car with her was now completely off-limits, after what I’d done.
I sighed again, making it as dramatic as possible.
Scythe rolled his eyes. “Talk, X. And make it quick, because in about five minutes, we’re going to be surrounded by minivans playing Taylor Swift and teachers trying to herd swarms of kids into them.”
I grinned. “That sounds like a vibe. Do you have an entrance song? You know, like one you always play as you slide on in through the school gates, with it blaring out the window?”
“This isn’t a wrestling match.”
I shrugged, fiddling with the music switches on his dashboard, flipping through the playlist to find some Tay Tay I could crank up loud.
Scythe glanced over at me, a frown crinkling between his eyebrows. “It’s bad, huh?”
“Taylor’s stuff is never bad! Wash your mouth out.”
