Chapter 18

THEA

“You shouldn’t be calling me,” I said, as I placed a bowl of water down for Shadow.

She got one lick in, before jumping at the thunder outside.

“What if it’s work related?” he asked.

His voice over the phone gave me shivers. I’m not sure what it was, but having him speak directly into my ear was… sexy.

“Is it work related?” I asked him, already suspecting that it wasn’t.

“It depends on your definition of work.”

I wanted to laugh. “Levi, you have to be in court again in the morning.”

“Come over.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I said, sitting on my couch.

“Then I’ll come over to your place.”

“Don’t you dare,” I warned him.

He sighed, “You’re making this so much more complicated than it needs to be.”

“That’s my line!”

“Ouch. That was my ear.”

Crap.

“Sorry, you just bug me sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?”

So annoying.

He went silent for a moment and so did I.

“You’re going to kill it tomorrow,” I whispered.

“I know.”

“Why must you be so cocky?”

“I’m from Boston,” he replied. “It’s part of our swag.”

I couldn't help but laugh. “Oh my god you are—”

“I’m what?”

I sighed, as I grabbed my pillow and hugged it to my chest. “You really don’t know when to give up.”

“Why in the hell would I give up? I’m enjoying it, and so are you.”

“I am not.”

“Liar.”

I could feel his smirk over the phone.

“Come over. We can have dinner, watch a movie, and talk like grown-ups.”

I pinched my cheeks to keep from smiling.

“Like grown-ups?”

“Whenever we’re alone, I only have a few minutes, sometimes seconds. We never really have the chance to just talk, so instead, I end up jumping you like some horny teenager. As fun as that is, I still would love to get to know you more.”

“If there’s anyone who knows me outside of my family, it’s you Levi. You need to stop digging, because you’re only going to find more things you hate about me than you like.”

Shit. It just spilled out of my mouth.

“I have to go,” I said, panicked that I had said too much.

Hanging up, I threw the phone to the other end of the couch, before placing my pillow over my face.

What’s wrong with me?

I could hear the phone ringing, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer it. Rolling onto my side, I watched the rain beat against the windows. I could feel my phone at my feet and I wanted to call him. Everything felt better when I was talking to him. I was just a chicken. Why couldn’t I be… more woman-like?

When my phone vibrated again I snatched it quickly.

“Hello?”

“Jeez, what’s the point of having a phone if you never answer it?” Selene hollered into my ear.

Pulling the phone away I understood what Levi meant. Ouch.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone else. Is everything okay? Is Grams ok—”

“Everyone’s fine. I just missed you. And I was wondering, can you come home for Christmas?”

“Selene I would—”

“It’s okay if you can’t. Seriously though, I just met someone—”

“Wait, what?” I squealed.

I jumped up suddenly, scaring Shadow off the chair.

“Selene? My baby sister? She met someone?”

“Hey, don’t make me sound like I’m emotionally stunted or something!” she chided.

“No. No.” I slowly sat back down. “I’m surprised, good surprised, and happy for you… as long as you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” she said. “He’s good guy, Grams likes him. But she told him he has to get the stamp of approval from you, so that’s why I was calling. He’s been asking to meet you for weeks now.”

She’d left two months ago.

“Weeks? So long have you been seeing him?”

And why was I just hearing about it now?

“We started talking before I left for Boston, but then we lost contact when I got there. And when I came back, we kind of hit it off when again.”

Again? Why was I just hearing about it now?

“What’s his name?”

“No way I’m telling you that! You’re gonna go Facebook stalk him or something, and I want you to meet him in person, before you judge him.”

“I won’t judge him,” I said, and even I didn’t sound convinced by that. “Much,” I added to avoid completely lying to my sister.

“Is that her?” I heard a deep voice ask in the background.

“Selene, it’s eleven o’clock.”

“Grams is here, and he’s leaving.”

“Wait, can I at least talk to her?” the guy asked.

“We’ll see you whenever you’re free and can come down to visit. Good luck with everything. Love you. Bye.”

She didn’t even let me get a word in before she hung up. Looking through my phone I noticed that all my missed calls were from her. Levi had never even called me back after I hung up on him.

Why did that bug me? Why am I like this!

Getting up, I grabbed my rain boots and my jacket as I headed out.

“Pray for me Shadow.”

LEVI “I’m coming!” I hollered, as I dried my hair off with my towel. Opening the door, I found that my late night caller was the very last person I expected to see.

“Thea?”

I moved aside, letting her in. She took her boots off at the door, before stepping further inside.

“And of course, you’re not wearing a shirt,” she sighed, heading into my kitchen.

“Be happy I have clothes on at all.”

She took two glasses out from the top of the cabinet, and grabbed a bottle of wine from the chiller. Pulling a few drawers open, she searched for what I could only assume was the bottle opener.

“You moved it,” she frowned, turning to me.

“Yes, in the four months since you been here, I’ve moved my bottle opener,” I said as I reached into one of the cabinets to get it for her.

“You sound annoyed.”

“You hung up on me, remember?”

“You never called back,” she said, pouring the wine into her glass.

Sighing, I tried not to get pissed off with her. “I don’t want to play these games with you Thea. You can’t keep protecting your heart by acting like you don't have one. Why. Are. You. Here?”

“My little sister has a boyfriend,” she smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I was rolling around on my couch with my pillow to my chest, like a little kid, beating myself up over how much I enjoyed talking to you. Meanwhile, my younger sister is in a stable and mature relationship. Her boyfriend wants to meet me, but I have no idea why, because I am not the mature one in that relationship, either.

“I like you, but I’m a mess Levi. I really am. Some days, I don’t even know how I get out of bed. You should walk away because I will likely fuck your life up. Trust me, it’s what I do, and I don’t want to do it to you.”

She finished off the rest of her wine.

“I don’t answer to you,” I said to her. “You can’t make choices for me. If I want to be with you, then I’ll try to be with you. The only other person who has control over this is you. So are you in or out?”

She shook her head and reached for the wine bottle when I stopped her. If we were going to have this conversation, we were going to have it sober.

“Look at me.” Of course she didn’t. “Thea.”

She sighed, looking up, and I cupped her cheek.

“You are not a black rainbow. I see every one of your colors. You may have been one once, but you sure as hell aren’t one now.”

She gaped at me in shock. “How did you—”

“The day after you rejected me— the first time— your sister called me up and asked to meet with me. She was worried about you being here alone, and I think she just wanted to see me in person.”

She sighed, leaning on my counter. “She really is the mature one.”

“I think she takes after you.”

They had been each other’s support systems growing up, and so they always tried their best to remain strong for each other.

“Are you staying the night?” I asked her.

She swallowed, gripping on to her glass.

“We’re on winter break right now, and at the moment, I’m not your professor. So, are you staying the night?”

“I am. And I’m going to act like a grown-up.”

I smiled, pulling out my cell phone. “Then we’re going to need dinner.”

THEA

I sat on his lap on the living room floor, changed out of my wet clothes and into one of his cotton shirts. We were both eating Chinese and listening to the thunderstorm outside. After being apart for so long, I was expecting it to be awkward, but it was as if we had picked up right where we had left off.

He stroked my thigh with one hand, while flipping through the emails on his phone with the other.

“A penny for your thoughts?” he asked as he caught me staring.

“Only a penny? What type of girl do you think I am?”

He snickered, kissing my shoulder. “Don’t overthink it.”

“I’m not.”

He gave me a look.

“Okay, I am,” I admitted. “But I can’t help it. It’s like nothing’s happened and we’re back to week one again.”

“I don’t mind week one.”

“Neither do I, but you know so much about me, and I feel like I know nothing about you.”

“Ask me something then.”

I thought for a moment.

“Why did you become a lawyer?”

I tried in vain to pick up my rice with my chopsticks as I awaited his answer. After about three tries, I gave up, and took the spoon out of the bag on his coffee table.

He grinned at me, using his with ease to pick up a dumpling.

“No one likes a show off,” I told him with a grin.

“I’ll teach you.” He reached for my spoon, but I backed away.

“You’re avoiding the question, Mr. Black.”

“I hate that question because I never have an answer for it. I don’t know why I became a lawyer. My father was one, and I was good at it, so I just stuck with it.” He shrugged.

“That’s weird, I was expecting something a little more… inspiring,” I said, once again not using a filter.

“It’s fine.”

“Surely you wouldn’t have stuck with it for so long if you didn’t like it?”

“Oh no, I love it now. But back then, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I kind of just followed the path that had been laid out for me. Luckily, it all worked out and I found my calling.

“Court is like a giant chess game to me. Skill and strategy, confined by a set of laws. It’s one of the reasons why I could never be a district attorney, they’re shackled to the law. On the outside, there are loopholes and tricks. The harder the case, the better the game.”

He grew more and more animated the longer he talked about it. His entire face lit up, and he seemed… really happy.

“And helping people is nice too,” he added quickly, and I laughed.

“No judgment.”

“No judgment,” he whispered again. His eyes went to my lips for a split second before he looked away. “Next question, Ms. Cunning.”

“What are your parents like?”

He already knew all about mine… if you could call those people parents. I hated one, and I hadn’t seen the other in years.

“Thea?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking. What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything, you just looked like you were getting carried away by whatever thoughts were in your head.”

How did he know me so well?

“Your parents?” I asked him again.

“My mother was a ballerina, until she got hurt during her last run of Swan Lake. She now has her own studio, and teaches girls from six and up. And like I said, my father was a lawyer until he retired. They’re both Boston socialites now, and they’re still madly in love too. On New Year’s day, my dad always moves all the furniture around the house and allows my mom to basically put on her own show for him,” he said with a laugh, shaking his head at the thought of them.

“They sound great.”

“They are. My mom’s a little pushy, but now that my sister’s had her baby, she’s distracted with being a grandmother.”

“Your sister, Bethan?” I asked, hoping that I had gotten her name right. “Tristan’s wife?”

“Yeah, she had a little girl last month.”

“You all are like the All American family. It’s cute,” I said, with a dreamy smile.

I could even picture them on their holiday time Hallmark cards. Shifting in his lap, I noticed the clock.

“Levi! It’s two a.m., you need to rest, you have court in a few hours!”

“Okay,” he said as he lifted me up into his arms, and began walking towards the stairs.

“What are you doing?”

“The only way I’m going to rest is if you’re in my arms tonight,” he said.

He was able to turn off the lights before taking me up.

“The food…”

“We’ll deal with it in the morning,” he said as he dropped me on the center of his bed.

“No sex. If you’re off your game tomorrow, I won’t forgive myself.”

He sighed, and I could tell he was tired.

Sitting up, I ran my hands over his jaw. “I’m not going anywhere, and think of it this way; you get a prize after kicking ass tomorrow.”

He turned and kissed my palm. “If I can’t have you tonight, at least take off your shirt so I can feel you against me.”

With the look in his eyes, how could I say no?

Pulling off the shirt, I turned so he could unclasp my bra. When he did, his hands travelled down my spine as he kissed parts of back.

“Levi,” I gasped, when he grabbed my breast.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, as he kissed my spine one last time.

Getting up, he went into the bathroom, and a few seconds later I heard the shower turn on.

“Oh God,” I moaned, letting out the breath I was holding back into his pillows. Turning on my side, I breathed in the scent of them. It smelt like him.

What the—?

On his bedside table, there was a copy of The Great Gatsby. Sitting up, I reached for it. He had underlined my favorite quote, as if he already knew what it was.

Hearing the shower turn off, I put book back down, crawled under the sheets, and pretended to be asleep. I could hearing him walking around the room for a moment, before I heard the click of the light switch and felt the mattress shift. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer to him. He was naked, and he was cold, but I didn’t say anything. I simply pressed my body against him, allowing my breasts and hands to rest against his bare chest, as my legs entwined with his.

I had never felt more comfortable in all my life.

In the back of my mind, I kept thinking of that Gatsby quote; “You see, I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.”

But I wasn’t drifting anymore. Because of Levi, I had found a place to rest.

“I’ve missed you too,” I whispered into the darkness.