Chapter 8
Levi
Fuck Freeman and this penthouse and this damn fire escape.
All of those early morning gym sessions were for nothing because these stairs suck. I peer over the side. Daylight is dimming, but I can still see the ground, even if it is in shadows. Above me, there’s a canvas of stars, waiting to shine against the backdrop of the darkening sky.
At the top, I crouch by the window. Tab is lying on a bed in a sea of plush sheets. I’m surprised she didn’t hear my steps, but at the same time, not surprised at all. This place cost a pretty penny, so it’s probably well insulated and soundproofed.
She eats one of the chocolate-covered strawberries from her gift basket, her luscious lips gliding over the chocolate.
Fuck me.
All day, the thrum in my veins has been nothing but Tabitha Riley. Beautiful, strong Tab.
Micah laughed at me when I asked about her after the accident.
I can’t blame him. I have a reputation, but it wasn’t like that.
The night of the fire, I saw the scared girl inside.
The evidence that she would never be the same again was right in front of me.
Marred skin, covered in black and gray soot.
It turned my stomach. I felt for her in a way that wasn’t just surface level.
Our connection went deeper, etching a brand into my soul.
That image of her lying in the middle of the road that had been barricaded by ambulances and fire trucks will forever be a memory, a moment when something in my life shifted.
Here that same girl is, eating the chocolate-covered strawberries I got her, wrapped up in a soft-pink fuzzy bathrobe. Peering around as best I can, I check to see if there’s anyone else in the room, but I don’t see anyone.
I tested the waters with a text to the Gods group chat earlier, and it turns out, Raeann and Micah are hanging out here, probably in the living room.
Even if they weren’t, I’d still use the fire escape.
Knowing Micah, I’m sure he’s on really good terms with the doorman and knows exactly what goes on throughout the day here.
I’m staring at the window itself, inspecting how it’s latched, when I hear a scream. A startled one at first, then a full-blown one that has my heart pounding.
Shit. I peer up and find all the color has disappeared from Tab’s face, and she’s…staring at me.
I wave my hands. “No, no, no. It’s me,” I say pointing at myself. I try to squish my face as close to the window as I can when the door bursts open.
Fuuuck.
I shoot up, moving to the side of the window, barely glimpsing Micah’s profile as he runs into the room.
Their voices are muffled, but I catch bits and pieces.
To my utter relief, Tab says she was watching what sounds like “fairy movie,” but was most likely “scary movie.” She laughs.
Then I hear another female laughter, and then it’s quiet again until the window is suddenly thrust open.
“What the fuck are you doing, Soucy?” Tab whisper-yells.
I crouch to her eye level and grin. “Surprise.”
“You gave me a heart attack,” she chastises. “And I dropped one of my strawberries. You owe me another one.”
God, she looks beautiful. A slight blush pinkens her cheeks as she pulls her robe tight, retying it, her brown hair disheveled. Almost like sex hair, but I’m sure it’s not. She’d have to go out to meet someone to have sex hair…or have some creepy guy show up on her fire escape.
She peers outside. “Did you climb that whole thing?”
“I did,” I tell her, moving toward the window.
She doesn’t budge. “You want to come in?”
“Why would I scale the fire escape if I didn’t want to come in?”
“Why wouldn’t you just use the front door?”
“Your wardens,” I remind her.
Her look says, Oh, right. “But if you’re here to see Micah…”
“I’m not here to see Micah, you weirdo.”
She doesn’t budge, but I let myself in through the window anyway until we’re standing chest-to-chest. I peek at the door to see if it has a lock. If we’re going to be sneaking around, we might as well not get caught.
“You look like you’ve done this before,” she says as I walk toward the door and lock it slowly until the mechanism softly clicks into place.
“In my younger years.”
“Did they call you Big Dick Bandit or something?”
She laughs at her own joke, which makes me chuckle. I use the opportunity to take her in fully now. She stirs under my gaze, pulling her robe tight together again. Even though the robe is fluffy, I can tell she’s not wearing a bra.
“I would’ve liked that moniker. Big Dick Bandit, slipping into your daughter’s bedroom at night. Nefarious. Sexy.”
“…and weird.” She rolls her eyes, but a smile tugs at her lips. “How did you know this was my room?”
“Lucky guess. Plus, that’s why I was looking through the window at you.”
“Wow. Stalker much?”
“You like it.”
She shrugs that off, then walks past me to pick up the half-eaten strawberry she dropped on the floor. She places it on a tissue on the nightstand.
“Sorry about that. I was going to tap like a gentleman, but I was looking to see how to get in.”
“Most people would ask to be invited first.”
“I knew I was invited,” I tell her, giving her a smirk.
“There’s that cockiness again.”
“I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t.” She doesn’t say anything in return, just lies back on the bed and picks another strawberry to eat.
The bed is something out of an old money movie. Spacious, ornate. The dresser and wardrobe match. Admittedly, Micah did a good job of making sure Raeann was outfitted like a queen.
“Nice digs.”
“They’re something,” Tab says, peering around the huge room with her brows raised.
“You don’t like it?”
“It almost feels like a museum. It’s hard to get comfortable.
But if Micah asks, it’s the best fucking place I’ve ever lived.
Which it is, actually,” she says, chuckling.
“I’m grateful. He didn’t have to put me up here or pay for the nurse that was here nearly 24/7 when I was first discharged, or any of the number of other things he’s done. ”
Her shoulders deflate. I kick my shoes off and crawl onto the bed. She eyes me warily as I lie on the other side of the chocolate-covered strawberry box before plucking one from it and helping myself.
“Now you owe me two…”
I swallow the delicious concoction, the two flavors colliding. “I wouldn’t worry about Micah,” I say, wanting to ease her discomfort. “He has a big heart. He’d probably do those things even if he wasn’t with Raeann.”
“All you football players have enough money, I suppose.”
“I hear you don’t do so bad yourself, money bags.”
One corner of her mouth tips up. “Yeah, when I remember to bring a wallet.”
She looked so distraught standing there by the counter, coffee-less. “Call it fate, then.”
“I’m sure you’ve tried to convince many girls that your chance encounter was fate.”
I laugh, hard. Then I try to cover it up because the last thing I need is to draw the attention of Micah and Raeann during mine and Tab’s secret encounter. “I admit I have, but that was the first time I meant it.”
“Oh, be for real.”
“Okay. Sometimes things come out of my mouth and they sound so good.”
She chuckles. “Not going to lie, it did. Maybe if I wasn’t burned on one whole side of my body I would have fallen for it. But it’s kind of hard to believe any pickup lines right now. Especially since I’m lying here in my robe, and I definitely dropped chocolate on me somewhere.”
“You look beautiful,” I tell her, not even acknowledging anything she just said, admiring the fact that her skin is porcelain and clean. The fact that she can breathe right now without it being labored.
“When’s your next eye exam? He might want to check them twice.”
I finish the strawberry and place the head and stem back in the box next to Tab’s others. “Don’t redirect. I want to know how you got caught in a fire but are still sexy as hell.”
She glares at me, and my smile nearly wipes off my face, but then her lips turn up at the corners. “You haven’t seen my scars. And you never will.” Her smile grows wider, but it’s forced now. On purpose. Like she’s mocking me. Or hiding some deep feelings underneath.
I peer around the room for any sign that she’s still healing but can’t find anything. No unused bandages. No pill bottles. “Bet,” I reply.
She narrows her gaze. “I can safely take that bet.”
She holds out her hand, and I shake it.
I laugh because I already know she’s going down. No way am I losing. I never do. Not in the things that matter.
“You never really said why you were here,” Tab says. “Except to eat one of the strawberries you gifted me.”
“I thought it was obvious. To spend time with you.” Tab opens her mouth, no doubt to dispute, but I cut her off.
“Let’s just move past the part where you don’t believe me and get on board with the idea we’ll be spending time together from now on.
Your texts today weren’t enough to satisfy me. I need face-to-face contact.”
“Do you want your muffins from yesterday back or something? If you do, you’re wasting your time. I ate them all.”
“Funny,” I tell her.
“You know, I thought pro football players would be busier than you appear to be. You seem to have a lot of free time to text and visit.”
“I make time for what’s important to me.”
“Fine. So say you’re sincere—”
“I am.”
“Say you’re sincere,” she repeats. “Theoretically, what would we be doing when we spend time together?”
I pick out another strawberry. “For starters, eating these. Maybe watching TV, going for coffee… Though you’d have to agree to meet to do that.” There are so many more things I want to offer but I’m not actually sure how much of me she can handle right now.
My mind has already gone years ahead. Tab and I dating, madly in love with each other, married.
“And?” Tab prompts like she’s trying to get me to say the real reason I’m here.
“We’ll see where that takes us,” I answer, raising my brows.