Page 53 of They Will Fall

“Doesn’t it, though? If I react, am I the same man I was when they were drugging me? Will I lose all credibility because I lost control yet again?”

I push myself off the swing and walk over to him. The pain in his eyes slices my heart in two. As angry as I am, I don’t want Lev to hurt. I take his hand from the tree and hold it in mine. “You’re human. You’re allowed to react.”

His eyes skate up to mine and butterflies swarm through my belly. “You’re human, too, Trouble. You should be angry; you’re the one who deserves to be fucking furious. Go ahead and tell me what a horrible person I am for coming into your room and taking advantage of you when you were drunk. And let's not forget, I pushed a man out your bedroom window for my own benefit. Because I wanted it to look like Cade did it. I fucking hated him.” His shoulders square as he takes a step back and brings his hands to his chest. “Let me hear it. Give me all you’ve got.”

I slowly shake my head no. “That wasn’t you.”

“But it was me,” he screams, body shaking with anger, only it's not directed at me. It's directed at himself. “I did those fucking things.”

“Stop it, Lev!” I grab both of his arms to hold him still. “You weren’t in your right mind. You’re not the horrible person you want to believe you are.”

Lev closes his eyes and I let go of him as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “Everything’s just such a fucking mess.”

“No kidding.” My voice is almost a whisper as I replay the conversations I had with Maddox and Ridge. “I don’t even know where to begin cleaning up any of it.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” he says, eyes now open. “This is our problem—mine, Ridge’s, and Maddox’s. You shouldn’t be worrying about any of it, and it kills me that you are.”

“Well, you framed me. So, there’s that.” A smile plays on my lips and I’m hoping he sees the humor in it.

When he grins back, I’m certain he does. “I take it you know I’m not the one who killed those guys? Or Cade?”

“I know you didn’t do it, but I know you did frame me.”

“That was my next apology. I didn’t know you then, Trouble. Didn’t care about anyone or anything. I saw you as a threat because I knew you killed Governor Saint and I knew Ridge’s assignment was to investigate his death. Then I saw Ridge going around murdering these men as he was obsessing over you, and my first instinct was to cover his tracks while protecting him from…”

His words trail off, but I know what he was going to say. “From me?”

He draws in a deep breath. “I guess so.”

“Do you still feel that way? Like you need to protect your friends from me?”

His response is an immediate, “No.” There’s a slight pause before he continues, “The only person I want to keep safe is you.”

A warm feeling of contentment flows through me, and I find myself grinning from ear to ear. “But what if the only way I feel safe iswithall of you?”

“Then I guess it’s time we bring some fuckers down.” His smile matches mine and I feel like things are finally about to change.

“Together?” I stretch out my arm and he responds by enveloping my hand in his calloused grip.

“Together.” Just as the word slips through his lips, his eyes shoot over my shoulder.

I follow his gaze to see Ridge sitting on the bottom step of the porch, watching us.

“He’s always there,” I tell Lev.

“Yep,” he pops the P. “And he always will be. How do you feel about that?”

My eyes roll as my annoyance with Ridge returns. “Right now, I’m pretty pissed at him. Maddox, too.”

“Maddox?” He inhales audibly through his mouth. “Didn’t know Maddox was capable of doing anything to piss anyone off.”

“Ohhhh, you have no idea, do you?”

“Guess not,” he quips.

“Well, allow me to fill you in.” I gesture toward a small bistro set that's situated between two flowerpots on a gray cement patio.

Lev pulls out a chair for me and the metal legs scrape against the cement. I take a seat, and he settles into the chair across from me.

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