Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
LEVI
NOPE
The hell it was a goodbye.
Not happening.
I wasn’t leaving Colorado without her.
“Am I a puss if knowing Rachel and Lexi are on the way is making me a little jumpy?”
She patted my hand. “No. They can be some scary bitches for sure.” She grabbed the magic eight ball from the coffee table. “Will Levi be okay upon the arrival of the girls?”
She shook it and held it out to me.
“Fuck yes.” I threw my arms in the air.
“See, it’ll be fine.”
A short time later a horn blew from outside as Allie shot to the window. “They’re here.” She turned back to me and bit her lip, which made me want to bite her lip. “Maybe you should step away somewhere, and I’ll announce you. Just so my girls don’t drop dead.”
I climbed the stairs so I could take in whatever the hell was about to happen. I wasn’t sure if I should be saying prayers or stretching out my legs so I wouldn’t have any cramping when I had to run into the forest to not be killed by Allie’s crew.
The door opened and there they were. The friends who were scared shitless I’d ruin the brilliant Allie from the first time I spoke to her. They tried to reel her in and did anything to keep me away, but failed time and time again.
I always told them I’d never hurt her, until I did.
The pain I caused and witnessed in the hospital while she barely clung to life still eats away at me. I married her, promised to protect her forever, and she nearly died the next day.
All because of me.
Rachel and Lexi were with me by her side with every beep of the heart monitor machine and each sigh of the ventilator as air was forced into her lungs.
She looked so small in the hospital bed, and her swollen, bruised face was branded in my mind forever.
We’d sit for hours without a word being spoken, the quiet hum of the florescent lights overhead growing louder minute by minute.
When they didn’t know if she would make it her parents let me stay, maybe trying to respect what they thought was the dying wish of their daughter.
They knew all she wanted was us and I’d always loved that, but it was a sword through my heart to know they’d been right about me all along.
Once they were able to take her off life support, my welcome was extinguished. Her parents, Lexi, and Rachel had me physically removed from her room and a security officer was placed outside her door.
My father showed up with the annulment papers and once he got me out of the hospital, he drove me to Evan’s in Wisconsin where he actually stayed sober for over a month. Who says hell can’t freeze over?
Once my dad went home, I’d call, and he’d fill me in on what he could find out about her from the few people in town who still spoke to him after what I did.
He was known for drinking, throwing punches, and sleeping with women, so adding father of the bastard who nearly killed the town sweetheart was the final blow to his tattered reputation.
Phrases like learning to walk again, significant weight loss, and won’t leave her room gutted me.
A reminder that I hurt the most perfect person in the world all because she loved me.
“Hey!” Rachel hugged Allie as her eyes scanned the room. “Look at this place!”
Rachel was a die-hard friend to all she had.
There was a quiet confidence about her that’d always left me to believe she could kill, bury a body, and arrive at a restaurant for lunch without anybody knowing better.
Yeah, be afraid of the quiet ones. They sit back, observe, and plan while the rest of the world is normally bat shit crazy.
Lexi popped through the door pulling a suitcase behind her wearing a crocodile smile. “Allie!” Now Lexi was a one-of-a-kind person who had Beth Dutton flair to her and a long memory; don’t mess with Lexi.
“So happy everyone is finally here!” Allie’s smile lit up the room.
Lexi leaned in. “Oh my gosh, Allie! What happened to your face?”
“Uh, my car hit some ice.”
Rachel took her by the shoulders and gawked. “Ice did this? Stitches?”
“Actually, the tree I ran into did this, but it’s okay. The doctor said you won’t be able to see the scar.”
“Holy shit, Allison. You’re sure you’re okay? Does it hurt?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
My cousin Evan entered with two suitcases in hand. We were the same height, and he had brown hair and sported his typical jeans and Nebraska Cornhusker hoodie. He dropped the bags on the floor while Rachel took everybody’s coats and started hanging them in the closet next to the door.
Lexi did a little jump. “This place is awesome!”
Allie’s baby blues shot up to me, and I could feel her nerves all the way upstairs.
Evan pulled Allie in for a hug. “Are you okay?” He examined her stitches. “Looks sore.”
“Now Evan, you know I’m a bad bitch and stitches will not get me down.”
His nose wrinkled. “I kinda don’t know that for sure.” He laughed. “When I texted my cousin, he said the pool was killer.”
“It is.” Allie ran her hands through her hair. “Just beautiful.”
“Where is he?” Evan walked to the Christmas tree and looked up. “This is awesome.”
Allie’s hand went out as she looked at Rachel and Lexi. “Now I want everybody to stay calm, okay?”
Lexi’s brow shot up. “Why do you say that? You know ya can’t say stay calm and actually expect people to stay calm. It’s like saying I have a drinking problem because you get on my freakin’ nerves.”
“It’s just a really small world because we know Evan’s cousin. It’s like an unexpected coincidence.”
Rachel’s head shook. “I heard a quote once that said not to believe in meaningless coincidences. That we should believe that every coincidence is a message, like a clue that needs attention or action.”
Allie looked up. The second Rachel’s eyes landed on me I learned “white as a ghost” was a thing.
Lexi groaned. “What the fuck? The attention this one needs is death.”
Allie put her arms out again. “Guys, it’s okay.”
Lexi looked at her as if she was speaking Bulgarian. “This is anything but okay.” Her narrowed eyes walked back to me as I made my way down the stairs. “He needs to go.”
Evan walked to me. “What’s happening?”
Rachel grabbed Evan’s arm. “This is your cousin?”
“Yeah. This is Levi. He’s been in Brazil since we’ve been together.”
Lexi slapped Rachel’s shoulder. “Rach, how can you not know Evan is related to this son of a bitch?”
Yeah, this was going about as well as I’d anticipated. On a positive note, nobody had hurled knives or Christmas tree ornaments at in my direction so kind of a point for me.
Rachel’s arm shot up. “We don’t live in the same city as his family and there are Levi’s everywhere. I guess you’d prefer I go to his parent’s house and go through all the photo albums to ensure he’s not related to a horrible person?”
Lexi’s face was flushed. “Yes!” She looked at the group. “From now on anytime we meet new people we have to get the whole fucking family tree, do you hear me?” She shook her head. “Evan, we’ve always liked you, but this man this is unacceptable.”
Rachel spoke in a whisper as if nobody else was in the room. “It appears your cousin Levi was formally Allie’s Levi.”
Evan’s mouth dropped open as he looked back at me. The whole blood is thicker than water thing may have flown the coop as his eyes read he might be taking a place in the line of people wanting to murder me. “Wait, Allie was your Allie?”
Lexi’s eyes killed me. “She is not his Allie. Oh hell no.”
Evan was computing the situation in his mind. If anyone knew what me being in the same space as Allie meant, he did.
Lexi looked at Rachel. “How would Evan not know about Levi and Allie? Is he stupid?” She looked at Evan. “Are you fucking stupid, Evan?”
Rachel groaned. “We all agreed long ago to never talk about Levi or the accident. Remember? It was a pact we took to not talk about it or even speak his name, so I didn’t mention any of it to Evan because what are the effing odds of this?”
Lexi spoke through gritted teeth. “Fuck! I don’t think I can do this. Can I handle this?”
Allie flashed a tense smile, reached for the magic eight ball, held out her hand, and Lexi snatched it. She shook it hard with gritted teeth and looked into the window. “Fuck yeah.”
Allie nodded to the room. “See?”
Lexi tossed it on the couch. “I don’t see. I don’t see how all this shit in one house is going to be a thing.”
Allie took her by the arm. “Don’t you have those essential oils for calming down?”
Her head whipped back to me. “Yes, I’ll find essential oils. Rachel, which one calms other people down? Chloroform? It’s chloroform, right?”
Through the door came Royce who was all smiles. He’s two years older than me and started dating Lexi their senior year. He’s also Allie’s brother Will’s good friend which meant he was a full-fledged member of the Levi should burn in hell organization.
He looked up at me and his smiled faded fast. It was nice to see resting dick face was still on point. I couldn’t resist giving him a little wave, and I swore smoke was coming from his ears.
Allie held her hand out. “Everybody take a breath.” She pointed to her Rachel. “You, take a drink. I know you have alcohol somewhere on you.”
With that she yanked a silver flask from her purse and chugged. Clearly liquor was the word of the day.
“All eyes on me.” Allie ordered. “Yes, Levi is here. Nobody knew he was Evan’s cousin. Everything happened years ago, and Levi and I can be civil. The past is the past and we are all going to be grown-ups.”
Rachel huffed “Well, I’m a firm believer in burying the past.”
“I mean it. This is not a big deal. Nothing is like it used to be, this is fine.”
Lexi’s voice was sharp. “But Allie—”
“No buts, we’re going to live by your golden rule. If we can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Her head shook. “That’s never been my rule. I’d not be able to speak for days at a time if I followed that freaking rule.”
Allie nodded. “And that would be okay, too.”
Rachel’s head shook. “I tell ya what, this blows ass.”
Lexi mouthed I wish you were dead to me. It felt good.
It was then a woman I didn’t know strolled through the door looking, well, either drunk or depressed.
The gal was in her late twenties and sported Cookie Monster blue sweatpants and a white sweatshirt that either had spaghetti sauce or blood drops down the front of it.
Her hair was tucked under a “Shit Happened to Me” baseball cap, and what I believed were mascara streaks ran down her face.
I took a few steps to Evan who shook his head at me.
Allie sprinted over and pulled her in for a hug.
“Kristina, how are you?”
Her head shook in sorrow. “Well, Allie, I’m just waiting to die now.”
Rachel cleared her throat. “Her divorce was final yesterday.”
Allie kissed her cheek. “You’re going to be okay. Better than okay. Your future is a bright, sparkly explosion of fucking awesomeness wrapped in glitter.”
Before I could take a breath Lexi pushed me out of the way. That may not sound like a big deal, but she wasn’t near me. Yeah, she actually took two big steps in my direction just to shove me. “You’ll be better than ever after you adjust, Kristina, I can tell you that right now.”
Kristina’s eyes danced around the room. “I don’t think so.”
Rachel jumped closer to Kristina. “We will personally help you through this horrific time in your life.” Her arm went over Kristina’s shoulder.
I scooted closer to Evan. “What happened to her?”
He whispered, “Her hubby left her for the woman who lived in the apartment next door.”
Rachel threw her fist in the air. “That’s it, Kristina, we’re taking you for a girl’s night tonight. We’ll all get settled and go for an early dinner before hitting the town. Yes, sireee, Bob. Women and whiskey are the answer.”
Kristina’s concerned voice filled the room. “I don’t know if that’s the answer.”
Lexi pointed at her. “Of course it is. You’re wearing something out of my suitcase, and I’ll do your makeup. You currently look like something I drew with my left hand. We’ll get your mojo back.”
Kristina shrugged. “I don’t know if I have any mojo.”
Allie smiled. “This is a reminder that even Winnie the Pooh had mojo. He wore a crop top with no panties, ate his favorite food, and loved himself. You can too, Kristina.”
I let out a laugh and all eyes shot to me. Some of the eyes looked like they wanted to shoot me. My bad.
Rachel pointed to the Christmas tree. “Kristina, it’s the magical season. All things are possible.”
My mind was whipping up a plan. “I’ll be the designated driver for girls’ night.”
Lexi wrinkled her nose. “That’s a hard no.”
Royce pointed to the stairs. “I’m picking a room. And ladies, I can be the driver tonight. Last time Lexi drank she paid sixty dollars for the Uber home but somehow ended up tipping two hundred bucks.”
Lexi slapped his shoulder. “I just get so damn generous when I drink.” She battered her eyes. “You know all about that don’t you, big fella?”
Groans around the room as Rachel picked up her suitcase. “Tonight, we’re pretending it’s Cinco de Drinko, bitchachos.”
They all passed by me, but Rachel stopped. “Your being here is all wrong.”
I just needed to stay quiet. “Rachel, I’m not going to do anything.”
She dramatically gasped and whispered. “This is a Deja poo; the feeling I’ve heard this shit before.”
I took a controlled breath. “I don’t want to cause any problems—”
“Oh, here’s the problem…you’re a dickhead.” She turned toward the stairs. “I hope you fall down with your hands in your pockets.” She walked away.
That actually went better than I’d anticipated. Royce paused when he passed me. “You shouldn’t be here.”
I held his stare until he went up the stairs and Evan approached. “Dude, you knew she’d be here—”
“Not when you first invited me. I had my plane ticket and everything before I realized.”
“You should’ve told me. Rachel’s pissed and now I’m on her shit list.”
“If I had you would’ve never let me come.”
He nodded as his eyes shot open. “Correct. You shouldn’t be here. This is all about the girls and the wedding. Not the heavy shit that went down between you and her.” He let out a sigh.
“Come on, you can’t stay mad at me.” I leaned in. “I’ll be good, I promise.” I shoved him. “I can totally be the reason you smile today.”
“More likely the reason I drink today.”
“So you’re not mad?”
“No, but I do look at you and wonder how nobody’s hit you with a shovel yet. You seriously might die this weekend.”