Chapter 2 Levi
Levi
I couldn’t stop thinking about Tess Hayes.
For two days, my mind has been stuck on her and the way she fell apart in my office. Her story wasn’t the worst I’d heard, not by a long shot. But for some reason, it had stuck with me.
Maybe it was the way she cried like she’d finally let herself feel something for the first time in years. Or the fact that she apologized for it afterwards, like she was a burden.
I wasn’t sure she even knew how to be a burden.
Or maybe it had stayed with me because I semi-knew her.
My cousins, Beau, Anna, and Colt, grew up with the Hayes siblings in one big, chaotic tribe.
And in the rare moments my mother let me spend time with her sister’s children, she was always there.
Tess was the youngest of us all, always struggling to catch up, always trying to play with us, and always toting some random bug with her.
But now she was struggling to rebuild. To simply live.
And helping her felt personal. Too personal.
I couldn’t let this case become clouded with my emotions, though.
Tess and Luke couldn’t afford it. Their literal safety was on the line.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about how her voice cracked when she told me that her family hadn’t even known about Luke until three weeks ago.
How she’d been “stuck” for eight years of her life because some lowlife controlled every inch of her existence.
Tossing the folder onto my desk, I sighed. “Get it together,” I muttered to myself, raising my glasses to pinch the corners of my eyes.
I needed to get out of the house and away from work. From this case specifically. I grabbed my running shoes, determined to run until those terrified blue eyes were out of my mind.
The late summer air was thick with humidity as I stepped outside. Suffocating, just like my thoughts of Tess. I pushed her out of my mind, thinking about the date I went on last week with Mrs. Peterson’s granddaughter. God, what was her name? I couldn’t remember, but I remembered her being nervous.
Tess was so nervous Thursday, I could’ve sworn she was shaking.
Damnit. There goes not thinking about her.
Two miles in, and the running didn’t seem to be helping. With each quick footfall, I only thought of her and her case more.
The texts and voicemails she forwarded to my email last night not only sent me into a blind rage, but were excellent proof that Jeremy was a threat to her safety.
The Domestic Violence Restraining Order would be granted easily with that alone, but I was thinking ahead to Luke’s custody case. That wouldn’t be as straightforward.
I needed to be prepared for Jeremy to try and paint Tess as the villain and not the victim. The deadbeats and narcissists always did, but it wasn’t something we couldn’t overcome together. She just needed someone to fight with her.
And I was ready to go to battle for her.
My pace slowed as I turned onto Main Street, dragging my shirt up to wipe the sweat off my face.
That’s when I saw them. As if I manifested them out of thin air.
Tess and a little boy walking hand in hand.
Luke had red hair that was curly like Claire’s and Emmett’s. He was looking around, his eyes wide and apprehensive. He clung to Tess like a shadow, but she didn’t seem to mind. She just looked down at him and smiled. Something soft and loving that made me want to smile.
She hadn’t noticed me yet, and I wasn’t sure I wanted her to.
The more distance between us, the better.
But in a split-second decision, I crossed the street to their side because I was an idiot who couldn’t help himself.
If I had to guess, by the way Luke started bouncing with excitement the closer they got, they were walking to the ice cream shop.
Tess scanned the area around them, doing a double-take when her gaze landed on me. She looked surprised, maybe even a little glad to see me. I forced the hope that she was out of my mind. “Levi?”
That was the first time I’d heard her say my name. I liked it way too much.
“Hey,” I said with a small wave, stopping outside the shop. “Didn’t know today was an ice cream day, or I would’ve cleared my schedule.”
She chuckled, brushing her hair behind her ear.
Her gaze ran over me once, taking inventory.
I wanted to know what she thought about what she saw.
“Every day is an ice cream day when you’re four,” she said, waving her hand that held Luke’s.
He was peeking at me from behind her leg, brown eyes wide and unblinking.
I squatted down to his level. “You must be Luke.” He nodded, still staring at me like I was a science experiment gone wrong. “I’m Levi. It’s nice to meet you.”
He didn’t respond, just buried his face into Tess’s leg more.
“Sorry, he’s shy,” Tess said with a hint of embarrassment. I wish she’d stop apologizing for everything. She said sorry about ten times at our meeting, and I was ready to ban her from using it. But that wouldn’t make me much better than Jeremy.
“Shy like your mama,” I said to Luke. “I knew her when she was barely older than you.” I had the urge to poke him on his cute little button nose that he got from Tess, but kept my hands to myself. I was barely on even ground with the kid, and I just knew that would’ve sent him screaming.
And for whatever reason, I wanted him to like me. More so than any other kid whose case I worked on.
His eyes widened. “You knew Mommy?”
“I don’t remember that,” Tess said at the same time.
She was frowning when I peeked up at her. Boundaries be damned, it was adorable. “Didn’t expect you to. It was a long time ago.”
I looked back at Luke and noticed he had revealed more of himself. “I like your shirt,” I said, gesturing to the red t-shirt with a brachiosaurus on it. “I love dinosaurs.”
He gasped. “You do?”
I scoffed dramatically. “Of course, I do. What’s not to love? Do you like big ones, like T. rexes? Or smart ones, like velociraptors?”
“The troodon is actuawy the smartest dinosaur.” That little speech impediment hit me right in the heart.
My head tilted up towards Tess, smirking. “Guess what they say is true, that you learn something new every day.” Her eyes softened with something that looked a lot like gratitude.
Man, my heart was taking a beating today.
I stood, needing to get far away from them before I forgot myself completely. And my knees were killing me from squatting for so long. “Well, I won’t keep you two from your ice cream.”
“Can he get ice cream with us, Mommy?” Luke whispered, but in that way that wasn’t a whisper at all.
Tess’s brows shot up. “I’m sure Mr. Hollis is busy, baby.”
Mr. Hollis. It had the professional distance that I was fighting tooth and nail to hold on to. So why did it feel so terrible? “I’m not busy at all,” I found myself saying before I could stop it.
She blinked at me, clearly caught off guard. “You don’t have—”
“I want to.”
“Yes!” Luke cheered and dragged Tess towards the door.
I got mint chocolate chip, Tess got plain vanilla, and Luke ordered a concoction of chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, caramel sauce, gummy bears, and Oreo crumbles. Just looking at it made my teeth ache.
When we got to the cash register, I whipped some cash out and paid before Tess could even reach for her wallet. “I got it.”
“Oh,” she said softly, semi-frozen. And when she looked up at me, she was blushing. “Thank you, Levi.” Her eyes searched mine. Wide and trusting and the kind of light blue that made me think of a wintery morning.
Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries.
Her mouth twitched, her brows quirking with amusement.
Right. Words. I was supposed to speak now. I cleared my throat. “You’re welcome.”
We sat down at a table that had ice cream residue older than me on it, but that was part of the charm. Luke was on a tangent about dinosaurs, while I did everything I could to stop myself from watching Tess lick her ice cream.
I’d be lying if I said I was shocked she ordered vanilla. I obviously didn’t know her, but she was clearly the type to fly under the radar. Simple clothing, simple makeup, simple ice cream.
But there was nothing simple about how beautiful I was beginning to think she was.
Tess was the soft, understated, breathtaking kind of beautiful. The kind you couldn’t prepare for, so it hit that much harder.
I was completely screwed.
And watching her with Luke…that was a whole different story. She was doting and fun and warm with him. She talked about dinosaurs with genuine interest and knowledge because it mattered to him, so it mattered to her. She stared at him in awe, even though he was practically covered in ice cream.
She was a good mom. Better than good. Certainly better than mine ever was.
I never wanted for anything growing up, and my parents thought that was all it took to raise a child, but they missed the one component Tess had in spades: love.
Real, true, unconditional love a parent was supposed to have for their child.
I’d wager that my parents probably cared about my well-being, but even that was probably a stretch.
And lucky for me, I had to have dinner with them tonight.
Family dinner at the Hollis house was like treading through a minefield.
One wrong step, and you’d get blown to bits.
The table was set with the finest china, silver, and crystal.
The napkins were folded into some indiscernible shape.
And my tie was so tight, it felt like a noose.
But I was expected to wear one at the table as one of the members of the wealthiest families in Texas.
My father sat at the head of the table like a king on his throne, and my mother, with her Botox frozen face, was his queen. My brother, Preston, was beside me, while my sisters, Rachel and Greer, were across from us. The three of them were from my father’s first marriage. All older. All colder.
Sometimes it felt like I was the only person with a pulse in this family.
Rachel and Greer were housewives despite their Ivy League educations.
Their husbands were…somewhere. They were always traveling for work and likely had mistresses, but we didn’t talk about that; it was uncouth.
Preston, the eldest, was a land developer.
He was currently working with our grandfather to stop the merging of Golden Bridle and Circle M because they wanted to make more money.
And they seemed to have no issue with the fact that the McLeods, my family, ran Circle M.
Oh, and the cherry on top was that Tess’s family ran Golden Bridle.
Safe to say, I was in-between a rock and a hard place. Made even harder by my sudden, inconvenient, and wildly overwhelming attraction to Tess.
Preston leaned back in his chair, taking a healthy sip of scotch. “So, how’s our favorite couple?” he asked.
“Ryle and me?” Greer tilted her head in confusion. I think all the bleach for her hair might’ve soaked into her brain.
I picked at my salmon. “Think he’s talking to me,” I murmured.
“You always were the smartest of us,” Preston beamed, clapping my shoulder condescendingly. “Yes. How are Claire and Beaumont?” The way he said their names as if they were somehow beneath him had me clenching my jaw. “They still think they can keep that land?”
“Don’t see why they wouldn’t.” My voice was low, barely calm. But Preston wanted me to react, and after thirty years of practice needling me under his belt, he knew exactly how to do it.
He scoffed. “You should convince them to sell it. We all know it’d be in their best interest to.”
“And what? Replace it with a strip mall?” I snapped, glaring at him. His hazel eyes flared with victory.
“Don’t tell me you think they should merge,” Dad said from my other side, sounding horrified.
“I don’t see the issue with it. It’d bring more tourism traffic and revenue to the city. More than a strip mall would. And Circle M supports local businesses with their beef production.”
“I heard they want to bring crazies here,” Rachel added, grimacing. “Some kind of rehab.” She did a full-body shiver.
My grip tightened around my glass. “It’s a rehabilitation program for veterans suffering from PTSD. You know, the people who risk their lives to serve our country.” I briefly thought about Emmett Hayes and wondered if he’d be participating in it.
“Speaking of PTSD,” Preston started. He had that gleam in his eyes that told me whatever he was about to say would piss me off, and it was purely intentional.
“I heard the youngest Hayes was back in town. Apparently, she ran out of the grocery store last week when some guy tried to reach past her for the apples.” He shook his head with a huff of amusement.
Every muscle in my body tightened. “Don’t comment on things you don’t understand, Preston,” I warned.
“Do you know why?” Greer said, ignoring me and leaning forward. Her eyes wide with intrigue.
Preston shrugged, slung back in his chair like he was above it all.
“Does it matter? Girl’s nuts.” My hand spasmed with the need to slam into Preston’s nose.
I was usually the calm one. Even-keeled.
The one who let everything roll off my back.
But hearing my siblings gossiping about Tess pushed just about every button I had.
“You’re representing her, aren’t you, Levi? In some custody case?”
My head whipped over to my father. “How’d you find out about that?”
He gave me a look. “I know everything that happens in this town, son.” I didn’t miss the implication: he knew about ice cream earlier. And he knew just as well as I did that lawyers did not get ice cream with their clients and their children.
At least not ones whose professionalism wasn’t hanging by an unraveling thread.
My mother smirked into her well-used martini glass. “Last I heard, she ran off after Ben Hayes died and disappeared. She must’ve found some loser to knock her up, since she showed back up with a child no one knew about.”
“That loser is threatening her life,” I growled, my chair scraping against the floor harshly as I stood.
Everyone froze. Rachel and Preston looked amused, while Greer and my parents looked disgusted that I’d somehow found a way to care about her. Someone they deemed unworthy.
I tossed my napkin on my plate and left before I said something I couldn’t take back.
Not for their sakes. For hers.