Chapter 11 #3
“I hear you two are old friends,” I inform him, also taking a small step closer. “How’d you two meet?”
Levi chuckles, resting his elbows on the table. “Grade school, if you believe that. His grandfather owned the ranch next to ours, so I met him when he came to stay one summer. I don’t know how much he’s told you about his family, but he ended up staying with his grandpa after that.”
“He told me about how his mom left and that his dad had… issues.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” he mumbles, shaking his head.
“Anyway, we were thick as thieves until my father uprooted our family to move here. We wrote letters to each other until we both got phones, and I’d go visit him as much as my father would allow.
Then when Cole turned eighteen, he moved here to get away and lived with me for a while. ”
I smile, thinking back to ten years ago when Blue and I had first gone off to college and were on our own. How that entire experience only brought us closer even though we had been friends for over ten years at that time.
“Cole doesn’t strike me as a country boy,” I say, glancing over my shoulder to see him dancing at his booth, his hand in the air.
“He hated it,” Levi tells me, following my line of sight to Cole for a moment before setting his blue eyes back on me.
I raise a brow. “What about you? Did you hate it?”
“Oh, I loved it,” he replies instantly, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Riding horses, taking care of the animals, the labor. There was something about it that always spoke to me. Whenever I’d go back to Montana, that was all I’d do was help around the ranch.
My mother’s sister and her husband ended up taking it over when we left, and now her oldest son is running things over there. ”
“Do you ever think about leaving all this behind and going back?”
Levi’s gaze leaves my eyes and scans the skyscrapers and buildings around us, the sound of cars honking down below reaching our ears along with the loud chatter from the overly crowded streets. He shrugs as he turns back to me.
“Sometimes,” he answers. “I miss being able to see the stars and bask in the quiet of nature. Nothing compares to a Montana sunrise or sunset within the mountains.”
“It sounds amazing,” I tell him with a wistful sigh. “You know, I’ve never actually been out of the city. I mean, I’ve traveled, obviously, but it’s always been to other cities.”
He smiles, resting an elbow on the table and leaning against it as he studies me. “We’re going to have to change that, aren’t we?”
“Well,” I start, resting my own elbows back on the table and putting my chin in my hands as I glance up at him through my lashes. “My thirtieth will be in October.”
“No way,” he says, straightening as he stares at me with wide eyes. “When?”
“October eleventh,” I tell him with a raised brow. “Don’t tell me your birthday is in October, too.”
His grin is all the confirmation I need. “Yup. October twenty-fourth. I’ll be thirty-five, though.”
“Hmm.” I rest a hand on his forearm and give him a sly smile. “Good thing I’ve always liked older men.”
Levi’s laugh escapes him, louder than the music and briefly drawing everyone’s eyes over to us. I glance around and notice Cole leaning against the wall, watching us with a gentle smile on his face. Turning back to Levi as his laughter dies down, he gestures to the dance floor.
“Want to dance?”
I nod and Levi extends his arm out in front of his body, signaling me to lead the way. Wandering over to the dance floor, I turn around and walk backwards through the crowd, my eyes never leaving his.
Mr. Brightside plays over the speakers, and I watch as Levi looks over to the corner where Cole must be standing before shaking his head with a light laugh.
“I’m not much for dancing, at least in front of people,” Levi informs me as I stop in the center of the dancing bodies. “But Cole knows this is the one song that’ll get me there.”
“I’ll file away that piece of information for later.”
We dance together, bouncing in beat with the music as we act out the lyrics, laughing as those around us do the same.
Together, we stay out there for what seems like hours.
Swaying together in one another’s arms to the slow songs, getting up close and personal for the sultrier ones, and laughing as we spun around to the upbeat songs.
Once people leave for the night, Kirstin goes over to Cole and lets him know he can start packing up. Levi stands slightly behind me as she approaches, a smile on her face.
“It’s nice to see you having fun at one of these things,” she says before pulling me into a brief hug. “Normally you’re too busy making sure everything is going okay instead of getting involved.”
Levi’s right hand falls on my right shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. “What can I say? I had good company.”
“Why don’t you head home,” she tells me before she gestures over to the bar where Nico is cleaning. “I’ll get everything cleaned up here.”
I give her a knowing smile and nod, watching as she slinks off to the bar and strikes up a conversation with Nico. Walking over to Cole, I grin as I see him wearing my purse over his shoulder as he strikes a pose as if he’s modeling with it.
“I think this style really suits me, no?”
I snort and shake my head. “I think you’re more of a clutch kind of guy. You know, one with sparkles and a large buckle.”
“I’ll come raid your closet sometime, then,” he teases back before handing it to me. “Do you need a ride? I can drop you off on my way home.”
“I got it,” Levi says from behind me, entering our conversation.
“How do you know where she lives?” Cole asks, his eyes narrowing slightly as if he were an overprotective brother.
I roll my eyes, but a faint blush forms on the apples of my cheeks. It’s Levi who replies, “It’s a long story.”
Cole glances between the two of us and shrugs before opening his arms to me. I smile and step into them, giving him a brief hug before he pulls me back. His brows are furrowed slightly before he glances up at Levi for a moment. To my surprise, he pulls me back in for another hug.
“Does Blue have Claire tonight?” He whispers in my ear, and I stiffen. “I take it he doesn’t know yet?”
“I haven’t said anything yet, no,” I tell him. “Did you say anything when you were talking about me?”
Cole continues to hold on to me, silent for a moment before he replies, “I honestly can’t remember if I did or not. But if you’re worried about how he might react, he loves kids. I don’t think it’d bother him or scare him off one bit.”
“All right, I think that’s enough,” Levi suddenly says from behind me, causing Cole to chuckle as he finally releases me. “Let me take the poor girl home.”
“You two behave, now,” Cole says with a wink in my direction as Levi drops his hands to my shoulders from his spot behind me. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Levi snorts. “That’s an extremely short list, brother.”
“I’m aware.”
I allow Levi to spin me around and step out from his grasp to walk towards the door. He reaches around me to pull it open, allowing me to walk in front of him down the stairs. As we exit the restaurant and step onto the sidewalk, I turn around to face him.
“Are you parked in the ramp?” I ask, waving down the street where a parking ramp is located.
Levi shakes his head and gestures to his left. “I was lucky enough to get a spot right out front.”
“Well, aren’t you special?” I tease as I spin and eye up the cars lining the street. “Let me guess, that one?”
I point at an all-black sports car, which causes him to laugh. Glancing up at him, he reaches down and grabs my hand, rotating me till I’m pointing at a motorcycle.
“That one.”
My eyes widen as he drops my arm and walks up to his bike, grabbing a helmet off the back. It’s then that I notice he has two helmets, as if he was expecting—or hoping—to bring me home.
“Have you ever ridden one of these before?” He asks as I close the gap between us.
“Can’t say that I have,” I answer, folding my arms over my chest. “You know, we haven’t truly spent that much time together. How can I know you’re a safe driver?”
He looks at me with a raised brow. “As if I’d ever put you in harms way.”
I stare at him for a moment, fighting the blush from creeping onto my cheeks before I sigh and drop my arms. Levi smiles at me and reaches for my hand, pulling me against his chest as he holds the helmet in his other hand.
“You might have to lower your bun, actually,” he states, staring down at me.
I reach back and pull the hair tie out, letting my hair fall around my shoulders. As I pull my hair back to the nape of my neck, Levi turns and sets the helmet down before he holds his finger up and moves it in a circle, telling me to turn around.
I do as I’m told, confused about what he’s about to do.
To my surprise, he grabs my hair, and I feel him tugging gently before I realize that this man is braiding my hair.
He reaches over my shoulder with his free hand and slaps his fingers against his palm and I drop my hair tie into it.
Once he secures the braid, I spin around and run a hand down it as I stare up at him.
“How in the world do you know how to braid?”
“I used to volunteer at this shelter and there was a single mom with a little girl. She took a liking to me and asked me to braid her hair for her once, but I didn’t know how.
” My entire face softens as I listen. “So, I went home and watched videos. The next time I saw her, I offered to do it and next thing I knew, I was ‘the hair guy’ for all the girls.”
He shrugs as if it’s no big deal, picking the helmet off his bike as he turns back towards me. He looks like he’s about to slip the helmet on my head, so I hold out a hand, stopping him.
“You can’t just breeze past that story as if you didn’t just make me melt into a puddle,” I tell him, but he just stares at me. “That’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard, Levi.”