3. Levi
CHAPTER 3
LEVI
The sun peeked out from behind the clouds as I stepped onto the front porch after making a quick trip into town. I wondered if Brooklyn was awake yet. I hadn’t seen much of her after I’d brought her back to my place yesterday. Once she’d returned my phone, she’d disappeared into the bedroom, and I’d left her a note saying I was going into town to meet up with a couple of friends at Ace’s bar. Truth was, I didn’t want things to be any more awkward than they already were, so I’d left Gus in charge of protecting the homesite and stayed out late to avoid her.
The smell of bacon greeted me as I opened the front door. Usually, I skipped breakfast and got by on a travel mug of coffee. My stomach rumbled, and I couldn’t shrug off my jacket fast enough.
Brooklyn turned as I entered the kitchen. Her long, blonde hair piled on top of her head, and she had on one of my old t-shirts and a pair of loose-fitting gray sweats. My mouth went dry. She was absolutely stunning. Heat coursed through my veins as a wave of pink swept over her cheeks.
“I hope you don’t mind. I found these in the dresser and didn’t have anything else to sleep in,” she said.
I swallowed the lump lodged in my throat. Seeing her standing in my kitchen, wearing my clothes that were way too big for her, gazing up at me with a pretty pink blush on her cheeks, did something to me. I cleared my throat, trying to chase the feeling away. “Sorry, I should have thought of that last night.”
“No worries. Do you want something to eat? I made plenty for both of us.” She held a spatula in one hand and turned back toward the stove. Gus sat next to her, his eyes following her every move. “It’s just bacon and eggs.”
A wisp of smoke coming out of the toaster caught my attention. I rushed over and yanked the plug from the outlet, but it was too late. The ear-piercing shriek of the smoke alarm on the ceiling sounded.
“Oh no!” Brooklyn flipped on the vent fan over the stove and waved her arms around to dissipate the smoke. “I should have been paying closer attention.”
“Hey,”—I reached for her arm— “It’s okay.”
As soon as my fingers touched her, she flinched. My stomach dropped at the flash of fear in her eyes, and the urge to hunt down my brother flooded through me.
She closed her eyes for a quick beat and when she opened them again, those baby blues reflected a steely resolve. “Think you can reset the alarm?”
I grabbed a broom from next to the refrigerator and used the handle to reach up and silence the alarm.
“Thank you.” Her lips spread into a hesitant smile. “Looks like I failed at toast, but the rest of it should still be edible.”
That pretty pink blush still stained her cheeks, and I wondered how it might feel to pull her into my arms. Even though she hadn’t told me what happened between her and Kyle, I could tell she’d been through hell. I’d make sure my brother paid for his sins if it was the last thing I did.
“Bacon and eggs sound awesome.” I pulled two plates from the cabinet and set them on the counter. Brooklyn dished up the eggs, then pulled a tray of bacon out of the oven. Though I’d never had a woman in my kitchen, she moved around with an ease and grace like she belonged there. I couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of inner strength she was pulling from. I’d always thought she was beautiful and smart, but I was starting to see how strong she was too.
“Here you go.” She walked over to the table with both plates in her hands.
“Thank you.” I set the box I’d picked up in town on the table in front of her. “I almost forgot. This is for you.
She cocked her head. “What is it?”
“Open it and find out.” I sat down across the table from her and waited while she pulled the lid off the box.
“You got me a phone?” Her forehead furrowed. “I can’t accept this, Levi.”
“You have to.” I shrugged and dug into my eggs. As far as I was concerned, she didn’t have a choice.
She pushed the box across the table. “You’re already doing enough by letting me stay here. You don’t need to buy me a phone too.”
I hadn’t counted on her having a stubborn streak, but I could work with that. “It’s for my peace of mind. You need to have a way to contact me if my asshole brother decides to come around. I won’t have you stuck out here all by yourself with no way to call for help.”
She held my gaze for a few long beats, then her shoulders slumped. “I’ll pay you back.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“I will pay you back.” The determination in her eyes made me let it go for now.
Turning the subject to something a little less touchy, I hoped we could reach some neutral ground. “These eggs are really good. Thanks for making breakfast.”
“Thanks for letting me crash here for a couple of days.” She raised her fork in my direction before she slid it into her mouth and closed her lips around it.
Fuck me. My cock stirred as I forced the image of her wrapping those lips around my dick out of my head. What the hell was wrong with me? The woman had just left a horrible situation, and all I could think about was having her. I shifted my gaze to my plate and focused on the disappearing pile of the best scrambled eggs I’d ever had.
“I need to head into town in a little bit. Do you want to come with me, or would you rather stay here?” I asked.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll come with you. I’d like to see if anyone is hiring. Kyle didn’t want me to work?—”
“He what?” I didn’t mean to interrupt, but the more I learned about my brother, the more I wanted to rip his fucking head off.
Brooklyn shrugged. “It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. We had so much to do on the house when we first moved in that I focused all my attention on that. Looking back, I should have seen what he was doing… shutting me off from everyone one baby step at a time.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t notice.” I still had no idea of the extent of what he’d done to her, but I was going to find out. And then I was going to take great pleasure in hurting him.
“There’s no way you could have. I didn’t even notice until it was too late.”
The need to protect her surged within me. I didn’t know what to do with the feeling. It was new and uncomfortable and opened up the door to the kind of shit I’d made a point to avoid. If I didn’t care too much about people, I wouldn’t get hurt. That was one of the basic tenets of survival. But Brooklyn had a way of making me rethink everything.
It should be pretty damn simple. She needed help, and I was in a position to provide it. I would have done the same for anyone else if Ruby had asked me.
That’s what I told myself, but deep down I knew it was a lie.