Chapter 18 #3
I nodded. “She’s good.”
Tristan brushed his hand up and down my arm, but didn’t say anything. It was one of my favorite things about Tristan. He was good at giving a person just what they needed.
“Memphis is in the office,” Tristan said as he led me to the living room where I saw Brennan sitting on the couch in front of a big screen TV, a white cat curled on his lap.
“Hi, Phoenix,” Brennan said with a wave.
“Hey.” To Tristan I said, “Thanks,” and started walking towards the back of the house.
I saw Tristan go sit down next to Brennan who immediately put his arm around his shoulders while Tristan laid his head on Brennan’s chest. I wondered if I’d ever have that.
That need to always be touching another…
like you’d become part of them and they you.
Even when you were doing something as simple as watching television.
I made my way to the office where Memphis was sitting behind a desk, his eyes on a piece of paper in front of him.
“Come on in,” he said. “Close the door.”
I did as he said, but when he motioned to the chair, I didn’t move. His dark eyes lifted to meet mine and then he leaned back in his chair.
“I was thinking Ronan might be mistaken, but now I’m guessing not,” he said.
“Ronan’s wrong about this,” I said, not bothering to dance around the subject. “We don’t have all the information yet.”
“Phoenix,” Memphis said with a sigh. “Sit…please.” He motioned again to the chair on the other side of the desk. I reluctantly sat down .
“Ronan has concerns that you may be compromised. That you feel pity for the mark.”
“His name is Levi,” I said, trying to keep my anger in check.
“Levi,” Memphis conceded. “Ronan’s shared his notes with me. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve discovered?”
“Does it matter?” I asked. “You’ve made your decision. Ronan’s made his.”
“Think about it for a moment, Phoenix. Ronan could have called any one of his guys tonight and given his order. He could have easily had a dozen guys detain you while one followed through on his termination order. But he called me.”
“Why?” I asked.
Memphis shook his head. “Because I think he’s scared shitless. I think he came close to losing Seth a year ago and that’s not something you can just come back from.”
I watched as Memphis dropped his eyes. I knew he was remembering the moment when he’d learned both his lovers had been abducted by his vengeful ex. Brennan, in particular, had suffered terrible things at the man’s hands.
“He gave that order and I believe he meant it, but I think there’s that part of him that isn’t so certain. That’s the part that called me and told me to find someone else to handle the job.”
Memphis leaned forward and folded his arms on the desk. “So let’s start with you telling me all you know about Levi Deming,” he said. “And then you can tell me why this job is no longer a job for you.”
It didn’t really surprise me that he’d figured out the truth about me.
I could deny it, but I found that I didn’t want to.
So I told him everything I knew, including the things Levi had told me in confidence about his brother’s sexual assaults as well as what had happened to him in prison.
When I was finished, Memphis was frowning.
He was quiet for a long time before he said, “So, you don’t know for sure that Levi isn’t colluding with this T guy to try to get to Seth again… besides the gut feeling anyway.”
“No,” I said. “I just need more time. I think Levi’s on the verge of telling me everything. If I can just get him to trust me, I can find out about him and T and their plans. Even if it’s true, T is forcing him into it. I know it. I just don’t know what he has on Levi.”
Memphis nodded. “I’ll buy you time with Ronan…but it will probably only be a day or two. If you can’t get Levi to open up, we’ll need to force the issue.”
As much as I hated the sound of that, I knew he was right.
Confronting Levi head on might be the only way to save his life.
But that was also assuming his answers were enough to prove to Ronan that if he was in fact targeting Seth, it was because he had no choice.
Hopefully, we’d be able to convince Ronan that if we removed T from the equation, Seth would once again be safe.
Fuck, that was a lot of ifs .
My phone rang before I could respond and I felt my insides tighten at the sight of Dante’s name on the caller ID.
“What happened?” I asked as soon as I answered it.
“Relax,” Dante said with a sigh. “I just wanted to let you know the mark is on the move.”
I ground my teeth together to keep from yelling through the phone that his fucking name was Levi. “That’s impossible,” I said. “He’s scheduled to work until five tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, fine, but his doppelganger just left the store and got into a cab. From the direction it’s headed, I’m guessing he’s on his way to your house.”
“Stay with him,” I said as I jumped to my feet.
For Levi to leave work to come see me, it had to be something big.
I hung up the phone. “I have to go,” I said.
“Keep me posted.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, only half-listening as I hurried to the door.
“And Phoenix?”
I turned to face Memphis.
“Make sure he doesn’t go near that house again. Even if you have to tell him who you are. It won’t take much to push Ronan over the edge to where he’ll deal with it himself.”
I nodded in understanding. I wasn’t as confident as Memphis that he could get me a little more time, but I really had no choice. I barely managed to say my goodbyes to Brennan and Tristan as I rushed from the house.
The drive home seemingly took forever, but in truth, traffic was light and with my foot heavy on the gas pedal, I made it in fifteen minutes. I saw Dante’s car sitting by the curb and as soon as I pulled into my driveway, his headlights turned on and he drove away.
Leaving me with Levi.
I didn’t bother to put my car in the garage since I could see Levi sitting on my front stoop. His arms were wrapped around his legs and his forehead was pressed to his knees.
“Levi,” I said softly as I hurried to him. I dropped down in front of him when he didn’t raise his eyes. “Baby, can you look at me, please?”
He shook his head and I heard him choke back a sob. But then he lifted his face. Tears were running down his cheeks.
“Did something happen at work?” I asked. I wondered if maybe T had called and threatened him or something.
Levi dashed at his tears. “No…I called Betty and told her I wasn’t feeling well and that I needed to go home.” More tears fell as he whispered, “I’m falling in love with you.”
The admission was the last thing I expected to hear. My heart leapt to life in my chest. “That’s good, because I’m already completely in love with you.”
He began sobbing as he pushed into my arms. I held him close as his body shuddered against mine and I knew, just knew, he hadn’t come here just to tell me he loved me.
Though I wished he had. As badly as I needed to get the truth out of him about Seth, I needed this moment more. This moment where it was just him and me and nothing else existed.
“I need to tell you something,” Levi murmured against my ear when he’d calmed down a little.
“Do you want to go inside?” I asked.
He nodded. I forced myself to release him, but took his hand in mine and then went to the door to unlock it.
Once inside, I led him to the living room and sat down on the couch.
But instead of sitting down next to me, he moved to the farthest end of the couch.
I didn’t like that he felt the need to put so much distance between us, but I was glad when he shifted his body so that he was facing me.
“I told myself I would wait to tell you the truth, but I can’t. I need to let you go now because I may not be strong enough to do what I need to do otherwise…”
Before I could respond to his comment about letting me go, he lifted his eyes to meet mine and said, “It happened seven years ago and it was the worst night of my life.”