22. Levi
Chapter 22
Levi
I should’ve known something was up when I heard an unfamiliar bike approaching before midnight. I got up from the kitchen table where I was working and went out to the porch opening the door.
I was planning on saying something snarky and off-putting but when he swung into the parking space in front of our house, with a woman as a backpack, I reconsidered.
Wouldn’t want to embarrass him.
He kicked the kickstand, and took his helmet off and hooked it under one arm, hoodie sleeves shoved to his elbows, and that cocky smile on his face.
“Hey, Dad.”
He spotted me, tried to act casual, but his eyes flicked back to his bike and I followed his line of sight.
Watching her take off her helmet punched me right in the gut. She told me she was hanging out with her cousin… not with my son.
She wore ripped black jeans, a fitted thermal, and that leather jacket I haven’t stopped thinking about since I saw her wearing it at the bar earlier.
Her gaze darted between us. Me, silent and simmering, and Theo, smiling a little too wide.
“Hey,” she said, breezy on the surface, but her eyes flicked to mine. Searching.
“I asked Theo to take me out to the lighthouse,” she said, explaining herself. “I heard it’s island tradition.”
“It is,” Theo chimed in, bounding up the steps and brushing past me to go inside. “We just need to grab a few flashlights.”
My jaw tightened.
“It’s dangerous up there. The outer stairs are rotted. You fall through the wrong plank, you’re screwed.”
Theo rolled his eyes.
“We’re not stupid, Dad. We’ll be careful.”
“I’m serious.” My tone was sharper than it should’ve been. I knew it. And they both noticed.
Sienna’s brows pulled together. “We’ll be fine, Levi.”
There was a beat of silence. Tension so thick it might as well be fog rolling in from the ocean.
Then Theo popped back out, quicker than I’ve ever seen him move.
“Where’d you get that bike?” I asked him, as he mounted it.
“One of the guys at the studio,” he answered back, turning the ignition. “Don’t wait up,” he called back to me.
Sienna slipped her helmet back on and hesitated a moment before her hands slid around his waist. It felt like a knife twisting in my gut as she did.
Because that should be me.
And I have no right to say it.
Theo took off and I turned around and locked the front door, my hands shaking.
It’s just a stupid tradition. It doesn’t mean anything.
I told myself that over and over as I snatched my laptop from the table and killed the lights, marching up the stairs to my bedroom.
But it didn’t help. Because I saw the way she looked at me before she left.
And I saw the way she held onto him.
I should’ve gone to sleep and called it a night. Let kids be kids.
Instead, I’m now pacing my room nearly two hours later. Still no sign of Theo and Sienna coming back. Not that they would, the dare is an all-nighter.
I should know, I did it myself with Brody when we were even younger than them.
I try to shower, hoping it’ll calm me down. But I just end up staring at the tile wall, steam rising like the heat under my skin.
Every version of what could be happening up there plays in my mind on a vicious loop. Her laughing. Him trying to impress her. Her slipping, falling. Him catching her.
His hands on her.
My stomach knots so tight I double over the sink.
It should’ve been me.
I feel like we had a little bit of a breakthrough chatting at the bar last night. But now? It feels like that moment’s already slipping through my fingers.
I can’t take it.
I shut the shower off, get dressed in something warm and rush down the stairs.
I grab my keys. Slam the door.
I shouldn’t go. I know I shouldn’t go.
But I do.
The drive to the cliffs is silent except for the roar of the engine of my truck and my pulse pounding in my ears.
The lighthouse sits at the edge of the world like a ghost waiting to be disturbed. The night is cold, the moon full, and the only sound when I kill the engine is the wind and distant waves crashing below.
I see the bike near the base.
My heart stutters.
I follow the sound of muffled voices. Laughter. Flashlights bobbing in the dark.
I don’t know what I’m going to say. I don’t even know why I’m here.
The moment I step inside the lighthouse, I know something’s off.
The wind howls louder in here than it did outside. I can barely hear their voices echoing down from the upper levels. My boots crunch over dirt and broken glass. Everything smells like salt and rot.
I call out once—just a low, warning “Hey.” But it gets swallowed by the tower’s bones.
Then I hear it.
A snap. A yelp.
And then, “Sienna!” Theo’s voice, panicked and desperate.
I take the stairs three at a time, heart hammering like it’s trying to beat its way out of my chest. Every creak underfoot feels like a threat. The light from my phone stutters, shadows slicing across the walls as I climb.
Then I see them.
She’s hanging by both arms from a half-rotted section of floor that’s given out, feet dangling into open space three stories up. Theo’s crouched, trying to reach her, but he’s shaking—terrified and nearly frozen in place.
I don’t think.
I move.
“Don’t let go!” I shout, already skidding to the floor behind Theo.
Sienna’s eyes snap to mine.
“Levi—” her voice cracks, “don’t—”
But I’m already there.
I drop low, get in front of Theo, and wrap one arm around the rusted pipe bolted into the wall, leaning out over the edge.
“Grab my arm. Now!”
She grunts as she lets go with one hand, and reaches up. I catch her wrist.
The weight of her jerks my whole body forward, but I anchor myself and hold tight.
“Come on, Angel. You’ve got more fight in you than this,” I grit out.
Her fingers grip tighter. Her other hand finds my arm.
And slowly—inch by inch—I pull her up until she’s in my lap, both of us shaking, breathing like we just outran death itself.
She collapses into me, forehead pressed to my shoulder, and I wrap my arms around her like I’m never letting go again.
Theo sits back on his heels, shaking too. Pale.
“I–I didn’t know what to do,” he stammers. “It happened so fast.”
“I know,” I say, still holding her. “It’s okay.”
But it’s not okay.
None of this is okay.
Because I almost lost her.
And I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life.