Page 24 of Immersed
The stranger’s grip loosened. “Levi,” he repeated, rolling the name around his mouth like he was tasting something exquisite. “I like that. It suits you.”
“What do you want from me?” Levi whispered.
“To know you. Really know you.” The stranger’s voice dropped to an intimate murmur. “Do you have siblings, Levi? Family who will miss you when you don’t come home?”
The question sent ice through Levi’s veins. The mention of family, of people who cared about him, felt like a violation. “That’s none of your business.
“I disagree.” The stranger’s fingers briefly closed around Levi’s throat. “Everything about you is my business now.”
His touch began to wander—fingers tracing the line of Levi’s jaw, sliding down to his collarbone, mapping the territory of his fear with methodical precision. Each contact felt like a brand, marking Levi as something owned.
“Stop it,” Levi’s voice wavered, his skin crawling from the unwanted intimacy.
The stranger’s hand moved to cup Levi’s cheek, thumb brushing across his lower lip. “Such beautiful fear in those eyes,” he whispered. “I want to preserve it.”
Something inside Levi snapped. All strategic thinking evaporated, replaced by primal terror and revulsion. He thrashed, head whipping side to side, teeth snapping at the fingers near his mouth.
“Don’t touch me!” he shouted. His knee jerked upward, connecting with the stranger’s thigh as his fingernails clawed at the man’s face, leaving thin red lines across those flawless features.
The stranger’s expression transformed from fascination to cold rage. He stepped back, retrieving something from the shadows—Jasper’s revolver, glinting in the moonlight.
“You’re being very rude, Levi,” he said, his voice ice-cold. “And after I was being so gentle with you. I thought we were making a real connection.”
“Please,” Levi sobbed, scrambling backward against the ore cart. “I just want to go home.”
The stranger’s expression darkened with disappointment. “You don’t appreciate what I’m offering you.” He raised the gun, examining it with the same interest he showed Levi’s face. “Jasper never did get the safety off, did he? Careless of him.”
The gunshot echoed through the mine shaft. White-hot agony exploded in Levi’s kneecap as he collapsed, a scream tearing from his throat. The pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced—bone fragments grinding against each other, cartilage shredded, blood pooling beneath him.
“Now you can’t run away from me anymore,” the stranger said with satisfaction.
The stranger looked down at the revolver, his elegant fingers working the cylinder open.
“Five left,” he mumbled. “I should be more conservative. We have so much more to explore together.”
Levi’s existed only in the agony radiating from his shattered kneecap. Each heartbeat sent fresh waves of anguish surging through his leg. Blood soaked his jeans, spreading in a dark stain across the rocky ground beneath him.
The stranger crouched beside him and prodded the ragged hole in Levi’s knee, sending lightning bolts of pain up his spine.
“Stop!”
“You were getting quite cozy with Elliot back at camp,” he said, pressing deeper into the wound. The way he looked at you during the meteor shower...” He twisted his finger, digging into torn flesh and exposed bone. “So protective. So tender.”
Levi screamed, back arching off the ground. His fingernails scraped against stone as he clawed for purchase, anything to escape the intrusion.
“What’s between you two?” The stranger’s voice remained light, curious, as if he were discussing the weather rather than torturing someone. “He seemed quite taken with you. Special friends, perhaps?”
“N-nothing,” Levi gasped, struggling to form words through the waves of pain. “We j-just met today.”
The stranger gave him a skeptical expression. “Really? The way he leaned into you, shared his jacket, guided your hands with that axe...” His finger withdrew from the wound. “I watched it all, you know. From the trees. Every intimate moment.”
Levi’s stomach churned with revulsion as the stranger wiped the blood on Levi’s hoodie, leaving crimson streaks across the fabric. The stranger’s hands moved to the hem, lifting it to expose a strip of pale skin.
“You’re hiding something beautiful under these baggy clothes,” he whispered. “I can tell. Your friend Elliot certainly seemed interested in finding out what.”
Terror eclipsed even the pain in his knee as the stranger’s cold fingers brushed against Levi’s exposed skin. He tried to squirm away, but any movement sent fresh agony through his shattered leg.
“Please don’t,” Levi whimpered, tears streaming down his face.
