4. Aimee
Aimee
Nothing about Las Vegas felt particularly calm and quiet growing up. Not even living on the outskirts of the city. Dad’s house was in one of the wealthier neighborhoods, but just like on the Strip, people were always coming and going. Our street was a never-ending parade of parties and events.
Where people weren’t friends, they were props.
And money wasn’t comfort; it was a bar to be measured against.
I learned at a young age how to play the trophy daughter.
After Mom left, it was up to me to keep it together for us.
So while Dad clawed and climbed his way up the corporate ladder, I did the same in school.
If I wasn’t the smartest or the prettiest, I was nothing.
And while most might resent their parents for that kind of pressure, I understood my responsibility .
Dad sacrificed to give me everything I could ever need, and I did the same to make him proud.
I was the good daughter. Never reckless. Every step was carefully planned.
Except one: Levi Colson.
Levi was the definition of temptation in the city of sin. I should have known I was doomed the moment I laid eyes on him. No amount of armor can protect a heart from a biker, and I fell hard even if I pretended I didn’t.
And now he’s back in my life wanting answers I can’t give him. If I’m not careful, he’s going to break me all over again.
Leaning back in the lounger, I lose myself in the sunset. It’s a quiet neighborhood, which should make me feel at peace, but it doesn’t. At least when there’s noise and movement, I don’t have to think. I don’t have to consider that I’m no closer to rescuing my father than I was three weeks ago.
I just hope Titan hasn’t made him suffer for me escaping a second time.
The gate creaks at the side of the house, pulling me from my thoughts. I slip off the lounger and peek around the corner, but there’s no one there.
Shadows slowly eat up what remains of the day, so I pull my sweater closed and head into the house. Nothing scared me growing up because I still saw the best in the world. I was isolated and protected.
Untouchable.
Little did I know what lurked on the other side of my glass castle .
I step into the house and lock the slider, but nothing eases the tension pooling at the base of my skull. Seeing Levi today set me on edge. Part of me wants to avoid him for the rest of the time I’m here, and part of me wonders if I told him the truth whether he’d hear me out.
Arming the house, I turn off the lights downstairs and head up to my bedroom.
This house is too big with no one else here, and I hate it. The floors creak. The walls groan as they settle in the night. The gate rocks with the wind. A symphony of barely audible sounds rattles my nerves.
As I slip into my bedroom and lock the door, I glance at my dresser sitting to the left of it. Deep grooves cut through the carpet where the weight has been dragged back and forth every night.
For a second, I consider trying to go to sleep without a barricade in front of my door. But the thought alone has my hair standing tall on the back of my neck, so I reluctantly shove my body against it, pushing the dresser to block the door.
Levi would have something to say about this. At a bare minimum, the dresser is a fire hazard. But beyond that, it paints a picture of my mental state.
Luckily, when the guys from the club come to the house to check on things, they stay out of my bedroom, so no one has seen the grooves in the carpet by my door.
They don’t know that I block it every night with my dresser, and they don’t know I moved my bed three inches away from the wall to hide my things and protect them.
They don’t know about the drywall I carried up from the garage to create a secret, person-sized compartment in the closet.
They wouldn’t understand.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and lift off the dresser, nudging it a final time to make sure it’s secure before changing my clothes.
While some people sleep in nothing, I prefer sweatpants and a T-shirt.
A full outfit with shoes at the side of my bed in case I need to make a run for it in the middle of the night.
Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever stop feeling the need to do that.
If I’ll ever sleep soundly.
Once the sun sets, I slip into bed and stare up at the darkness. My curtains are sealed tight, so even the moonlight can’t break through, but my eyes adjust eventually, revealing the dark shapes of furniture around the room.
Instead of sleeping, I stare into the abyss of the ceiling and let my mind drift to simple times. Back when I still thought I knew Levi.
When I thought I knew myself.
“Aimee Landry.” Levi grins at me from where he’s leaning against his bike.
School empties around us, and I don’t miss the number of girls who have their eyes on him as he watches me from where his bike sits in the school parking lot.
“You’re stalking me now?” I stop in front of him, tightening my grip on my textbooks .
“I thought I’d see how the other side lives.” He glances at the campus behind me. “Fancy school.”
“As opposed to?”
“Mine.” His gaze lands on me again, and my stomach does a pathetic little somersault.
“You expect me to believe you’re actually here to check out my school.”
Levi rakes his teeth over his lower lip and looks me up and down. “Among other things.”
“Oh my god.” I roll my eyes, walking away.
But Levi just follows. “I’m joking.”
“You’re not.”
“Fine.” He locks gazes with me, but I don’t slow my pace. “I’m not. But how else was I supposed to see you again?”
“How did you find me, anyway?”
“My friend’s good at gathering information.”
I narrow my eyes. “Do I want to know how many laws he broke doing that?”
He shrugs, not answering. “Get some food with me.”
“I’m busy.”
“You were busy last time I saw you.”
“And I’m busy now.” I stop at my car, but when I try to open my door, Levi plants his hand on it, holding it closed.
He’s so close that my neck hurts from looking up at him. My body vibrates with his nearness.
“Fine, if you’re busy, then we can get coffee. You can’t tell me you never take a break to feed yourself or get a drink.”
“Not with bikers.” I force my chin up.
Levi leans in closer. “I’m more than just a biker. ”
“Is that so?” I glance at his bike, which is still drawing attention across the parking lot. “Then tell me, what else are you, Levi Colson?”
His smile knocks me in the chest. “Let me take you on a date, and you’ll find out.”
“I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
Between midterms and college prep, I barely have time to eat and sleep. The last thing I need is a boyfriend demanding my time.
“Then I won’t be your boyfriend.”
“I’m not going to have sex with you.” I huff.
“Then don’t have sex with me.”
My glare turns into confusion. “What then? You want to be my friend?”
“If that’s what you want.” He shrugs, and I try to spot his ulterior motives in his gaze.
But he seems genuine, which makes even less sense than if he were only here to try and get in my pants.
“You’re serious?” My eyebrows knit. “You’re a biker… I think. Or you ride a bike at least. We have nothing in common.”
“You won’t actually know that until you agree to coffee. Or lunch? Dinner?”
“Coffee.”
He grins, standing up tall. “Why yes, I’d love to grab coffee with you, Aimee Landry.”
“You’re ridiculous.” I shake my head.
He ignores my insult, circling my car and inviting himself into the passenger seat. I hate that I can’t take my eyes off him. I hate how his smile makes my insides liquid. Worse, I hate how easy our conversation is when it would be simpler if I were right and we had nothing in common.
A biker doesn’t belong anywhere near the carefully crafted plans I have for my life. Especially one who looks like him.
My throat burns as I close my eyes. As I fight the knot in the center of my chest, thinking about the girl I used to be. A girl who still had dreams.
I wonder what she would think of what I’ve become. A girl who can’t sleep without a barricade locking her in her bedroom.
The sheet bunches in my fingers, and I wish I could forget the teenage version of myself because it makes me feel like such a disappointment.
But more than that, I wish I could forget that version of Levi.
The one who smiled at me like I was the center of the universe before he knew anything about me.
The one who took me for coffee, and then lunch, and then so many more lunches after that.
The one who started showing up at my school multiple times a week just so we could spend time together.
The one who was my friend because I stayed true to my words and wouldn’t date him or kiss him or sleep with him.
And even if we didn’t make sense, we also did. The rich girl and the biker. With Levi, there were no expectations, and he was my escape as much as I was his.
That was another lifetime.
Another version of Levi and Aimee .
If alternate realities do exist, I wonder if they ended up together in one of them.
The house groans, and my eyes fly open as I listen for the answering moan of the roof. The sounds are the same every night. A whisper of the breeze whistles through the crack in the window.
Except a third creak follows the familiar sounds, and I push to sitting.
It’s so quiet, I might not think anything of it until a car door slams out front. It could be the neighbors, but then the gate creaks again, dragging for a few seconds too long this time. It’s followed by a thump at the back of the house, and I’m out of my bed in an instant.
I hurry to the window in time to catch a shadow stretching across the backyard. It slips closer, followed by two others.
And then the alarm rings out through the house.