Page 157 of The Kiss Of Death
“Really?” I shot back at him, struggling to be heard above the din.
“Yes, he probably needs a challenge, so here I come,” Levi replied with a snarl as one of our teammates raced with the ball.
Cheers echoed in the crowd, and eventually, Tara took possession of the ball, swiftly passing it to Levi. He darted across the field but was stopped by three brutes tackling him to the ground. I winced. While he was as tall as them, he was leaner and not built for this sport.
“The ball! Give it to red!” Tara bellowed, singling out Rodrigue, the burliest player.
Yet Levi’s gaze fixed on mine, and I nodded.
It was the final point, and he tossed the ball my way.
“Twenty seconds!” Kay shouted.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake!” I sprinted, attempting to catch it midair in a silent prayer.
Evading Sylas by using a fencing-like lunge, I zigzagged across the field, letting out a few unsafe screams—which probably made me look like a pink version of Jack Sparrow on a run.
I leaped into the air, throwing myself forward onto the ground just as Kay’s final call echoed, “End of the game!”
I scrambled to my feet and noticed the ball was behind the line. I jumped in place. “I did it!”
“In your face, we won!” Tara taunted, her victory cry directed at Sylas, who responded with an eye roll.
Levi emerged from underneath the pile of players, cracking his neck to the side. He stalked in my direction with his usual feline grace, navigating through the collapsed students sprawled on the grass, their celebrations blending with the sound of Tara, Kay, and Sylas showing no signs of exhaustion and engaging in another battle.
Levi arrived by my side, and a knot formed in my stomach, unsure of what he’d do next. Before I could utter a word, he beat me to it.
“If a part of you still loves me, maybe there’s still hope,” he said, icy and unyielding, while his gaze, like smoldering ashes, held me captive without a trace of a smile.
“What you feel for me isn’t love,” I whispered. “It’s challenge, obsession, possession.”
“I have to disagree.” He took a step forward. “But you’re right, it’s more than the vast concept of love—”
“Don’t do this.” I cut him off, raising my hand in front of my chest as if to ward him off, as if my heart were already betraying me by being drawn to him like a magnet. “I told you I can’t do this right now.”
“I have to,” he rasped, a nerve clenching his jaw. “What I feel is consuming me, Dalia. You’re always in my head. I’ll do anything for you. If you want me dead, I’ll be dead.” He closed the few remaining centimeters between us. “Begging, I’ll beg on my knees for you.” His forehead grazed mine, our hot breaths mingling. “I don’t control anything about how you make me feel, and I loathe that. While you’re the first person who ever truly loved me, I intend to be your last.” His hand hovered, then curled into a fist as if restrained from touching me by an invisible force. “If you don’t want me, I’ll be your shadow, your protector, whatever you need me to be. You can hurt me, take everything that I am or what I am. I don’t care as long as I have you.”
This time, he cupped my jaw, his thumb poised to trace a path to my lips.
“Levi, stop this,” I pleaded, crumbling under the weight of his touch and words.
“Do you know why I called you a thief?”
“Because I stole everything from you—your mother, your life, or I don’t know, I—”
“Because from the first glance we shared, I belonged to you. My damn soul. My heart. My revenge. My future. My feelings.”He took my hand, pressing it firmly against his chest. “It all belonged to you, and the little boy that I was hated you because you made him feel something. He saw feelings as weakness. You were the sole proof that the world wasn’t ugly. My only hope. I’ve always been yours, Dalia.”
His heart thudded beneath my palm, erratic and turbulent, like all his pain had awakened, thrashing against its confines.He was always mine.My knees were about to give in, but I clenched my fists and tore myself away from him.
“I need to go. I—”
“One last thing,” he said. “Please.”
I nodded and faced him again at a safe distance.
“I know what kind of man you deserve.”
I shook my head, folding my arms. “Let me guess, you?”
