Chapter 16
LEVI
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Text thread with Mabel, Harper, and Levi:
5:57 p.m.
Mabel:
Don’t eat the cookies! I REPEAT: DO NOT EAT THE COOKIES!!! I mixed up my containers and gave you the ones that were supposed to be for book club!
Mabel:
Hello?
Mabel:
HELLO??
Text thread with Mabel, Harper, Levi:
8:18 a.m.
Levi:
Do you always make pot-laced replicas of my junk for your book club?
Mabel:
Oh no! You ate them?? How bad was it?
Harper:
It wasn’t great, Mabel.
Mabel:
Oh dear. You, too?? This was an honest to God accident. I swear!
Harper:
You better hope I don’t have to take a drug test for my job.
Mabel:
What is it the kids say? My bad? At least you two are agreeing on something!
I hadn’t seen Mabel’s warning texts until this morning, but I wasn’t sure they would’ve mattered. Even knowing how dangerous it was, I hadn’t been able to stay away from Harper last night. Not after inhaling two of those cookies and stumbling upon her in the kitchen wearing a tiny tank top and even tinier shorts, her ass and those thick hips and thighs making my mouth water.
Like, literally made my mouth water.
She’d always had that pull on me, though. Not just her body, but her. From day fucking one, and that hadn’t changed. Not with time and not with distance. Not even with a whole pile of lies between us.
But that was exactly why I’d forced myself to retreat last night before more damage could be done. I’d made an excuse and bailed in the middle of episode four. She might’ve only opened up to me like that because she’d been high, but I damn well knew she was telling the truth.
The walls I’d erected years ago were crumbling after only a few short days, and we still had five weeks together. I needed to get my head on straight, and I needed to do it immediately so I didn’t revert to the idiot I’d been back then.
Thank God I had my workshop to escape to because I wasn’t in any position to be around other people right now. This space was my sanctuary and always had been since Chase and I had started coming here as teens, apprenticing for my mentor before he’d hung up his hat for good. No matter what bullshit was going on in my life, I knew I’d be able to escape here.
I ran my sander along the hull of the thirty-foot Bayliner, smoothing out the rough edges left from shaping the wood. The rhythmic back-and-forth motion allowed my mind to blank as I lost myself in this work I loved so much. The one steady thing I’d had over the past decade-plus.
The warehouse door opened, and someone came strolling in like they owned the fucking place. From where I was working, I couldn’t see them, but I didn’t have to to know it was my best friend. No one else besides his wife dared to enter my workshop unannounced or without an appointment. And Addison’s toddler-sized legs had no hope of sounding like the long, casual strides Chase was currently taking.
My back was to him as I continued sanding the hull of the boat, and I didn’t bother turning around or greeting him. I knew he was here for something, so I just waited for him to speak.
Though, when he did, I wished I’d steered the conversation in a different direction entirely, cutting this off at the pass before it could even begin.
“So.” He dragged out the word, a note of amusement in his tone. “I hear you ate some uniquely shaped cookies last night that may or may not but definitely were laced with some good old Mary Jane.”
Hanging my head, I blew out a long, weary sigh and closed my eyes. Was it too fucking much to ask for some goddamn privacy in this town? “Who else knows?”
“If I had to guess?” Chase pulled over a chair and flipped it around, sitting in it backward. “The entirety of Starlight Cove and probably those in a twenty-five-mile radius. Thankfully, Mabel didn’t do a Live about it because she knew she’d have Brady up her ass if she did.”
“Silver linings,” I said dryly. “That why you’re here?”
“I’m here for two reasons, actually.”
“And I bet I’m not going to like either of them.”
Chase continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “First of all, two piercings? Jesus, man. You lost a bet to Ford and still decided not to quit at just one? You had to go and be extra and pierce a fucking cross into the head of your dick?”
I slid him a look out of the corner of my eye. “You really came over here to talk about my dick?”
Chase barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Just curious, is all. Maybe I should get one. Wonder if Addi?—”
“Nope.” I stabbed a finger in his direction and shot him a glare. “We’re not doing that. As long as it doesn’t have to do with you getting dick jewelry to satisfy my sister, tell me why you’re here.”
His grin widened before he cleared his throat, the tiny furrow between his brows belying his concern. “I came to find out how you and Harper fared spending a night in the same place while stoned out of your minds.”
“It was fine,” I answered too quickly.
He studied me long enough that I had no doubt he knew I was lying. That was what three decades of friendship did for a person. “So nothing happened, then?” he asked, unconvinced.
Not exactly. But between the cuddle fest last night and the make-out session on the Ferris wheel over the weekend, absolutely nothing good happened. It was all trouble with a capital T.
The smile slowly melted off Chase’s face as he stared at me. “Oh shit. That bad?”
“It wasn’t good.”
“What happened?”
“Which time?”
“Which time?” he asked incredulously. “What the fuck do you mean, which time?”
“There was an…incident. At the carnival.” I cleared my throat. “On the Ferris wheel.”
Chase snapped his gaze to mine, his brows raised in a silent question.
With a sigh, I admitted, “We just made out a little.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“And last night…” Well, last night was far, far worse. It was one thing to still be attracted to each other. To have chemistry that arced between us, fueled by hate on her end and a never-ending gravitation on mine. It was another thing altogether to fall right back into that comfort and familiarity we used to have. That was downright dangerous. “Look, it doesn’t matter. But both instances are enough to know I can’t have her in my home for five more weeks.” I sighed and scrubbed a hand over my face. “I need to figure out how to get her the fuck out. And I need your help to do it.”
“Whoa.” He held up his hands and leaned back. “Don’t pull me into this. I love you both. You know that. But the shit between you two is between you two.”
I glared at him. “You’re my best fucking friend. Now, quit bullshitting me and help. I need her gone, Chase. Or all we’re going to do is hurt each other, over and over.”
He must have noticed the desperation I tried valiantly to hide because he stared at me for long moments before blowing out a sigh. “Fine. You want to make her leave? Just do something that makes her uncomfortable. So much so that staying is no longer an option.”
That made sense, but it seemed too tame for what I needed to happen immediately. Especially when it felt like she and I were one bad decision away from implosion. I didn’t have time to dance around this. To wait for her to come to her senses and get the hell out. I needed her gone. Immediately. Fucking yesterday.
Which meant I was going to have to play to win.