20. Levi
Levi took a long breath and let it out slowly after Alexis left. He was glad Elias was somewhere other than the main living area because he needed a moment of peace. Having someone in his space twenty-four seven was sending him a little mental. He might even have to move after Elias left. His sanctuary was now forever tainted… not to mention the ghost of Alexis that followed him into every room… even his bedroom.
The thought was a little disappointing… why her ghost and not the living breathing woman herself?
‘Nope,’ he said out loud. ‘Not going there.’
Grabbing a glass from the cupboard, Levi opened a bottle of wine and filled it. Yeah, he knew you weren’t supposed to fill a wineglass, but it was more efficient this way. In fact, it would probably be better to just drink straight from the bottle.
Work was… shit. Jonah’s patients were the most high-maintenance people he had ever had the misfortune to meet… and that was the men. At least the women flirted with him. Not that he wanted them to flirt with him; it was just a whole lot better than the alpha-male bullshit he’d had to deal with. He’d been tempted to ask the last guy to just whip out his manhood so they could get the measuring over and done with.
‘You’re home,’ Elias said, coming into the kitchen.
‘I’m home,’ Levi replied with a sigh before lifting the glass to his lips and taking a very large gulp.
‘Bad day?’
‘Don’t ask.’
Elias shrugged and slipped onto a stool at the counter. ‘Pour me one?’
‘No,’ Levi replied. ‘You can’t have any alcohol until you finish your course of medications.’
‘Party pooper,’ Elias said with a pout. ‘So when are you going to spring me from this prison?’
Levi looked him over. His bruises were still ugly, but the swelling had reduced, and his nose looked to be setting straight. He might have a little kink in it, but when Levi had suggested he could fix it, Elias had refused. ‘It will give me some street cred,’ he’d said, and Levi had just rolled his eyes. More likely it was because Elias didn’t want to step a foot inside the clinic, and it wasn’t something Levi could do at home.
‘Show me your hand,’ Levi said.
Elias sighed and stretched his hand out. ‘Alexis said she was concerned about infection.’
Levi frowned as he removed the dressing. Why hadn’t she told him that?
With the wound revealed, Levi inspected it. It had been a nasty gash, and even though Elias hadn’t admitted it, Levi knew it was from a thrown punch. Most likely, he’d caught the other person in the mouth, and the gash was the result of teeth. People didn’t realise just how much bacteria lived in the mouth.
‘It’s still a bit red and swollen,’ Levi said. ‘How’s the pain?’
‘Eh,’ Elias replied with a shrug. ‘It’s not too bad as long as I don’t use it.’
‘Are you doing the exercises?’
‘Yes, Doctor,’ Elias said with an eye roll. ‘Seriously, between your nagging and Alexis’ hovering, I feel like a six-year-old.’
‘You’re behaving like a six-year-old,’ Levi muttered as he replaced the dressing. ‘You need to keep those joints moving. The last thing you need is for your hand to seize up.’
‘It’s not like it will affect my work,’ Elias said, pulling his hand away and spinning on the stool.
‘No, but it might affect your ability to ride your bike.’
That stopped him. Elias widened his eyes in horror at Levi. ‘You’re not serious, right? You’re just trying to scare me?’
Levi crossed his arms and smirked at his baby brother. ‘Fuck around and find out.’
Elias groaned and shook his head. ‘That’s not how you use that expression.’ He resumed his spinning. ‘You need to get out more. Even Alexis has a love life.’
‘What?’ Levi asked, probably a bit more forcefully than was warranted.
Elias stopped his spinning again and leaned eagerly toward Levi. ‘Alexis has a date.’
‘She does?’ he asked, despite not wanting to. He didn’t care if she went on a date. She meant nothing to him.
‘Yup,’ Elias said, popping the ‘p’. ‘Tomorrow night.’
He knew Elias was watching him for a reaction. Slowly, because he had to make sure he didn’t spill it, Levi lifted the glass to his lips and took another long drink. Taking care not to let his hand shake, he lowered the glass back to the counter. ‘I also have a date tomorrow night.’
Elias laughed. It wasn’t a chuckle or a scoff, or even a snigger. Elias laughed with his entire body, very nearly falling off the stool.
‘What’s so funny?’ Levi asked, offended.
It took a moment for Elias to collect himself. ‘Let me get this straight,’ he said. ‘You are going on a date.’
‘Yes.’
‘With a woman?’
‘Yes.’
‘A woman you know?’
Levi hesitated, and Elias pounced like a hungry lion.
‘You’re going on a blind date!’ He pointed his finger at Levi, his eyes lit with glee. ‘And I bet the remaining money in my trust fund that the blind date was set up by our very own ice queen, Catherine Beckingsale.’
Levi didn’t need to answer.
Elias crowed with laughter before heaving in a breath. ‘Oh my God! I can only imagine the type of woman our mother would set you up with. Probably a carbon copy of Ebony. Who, coincidentally, is a carbon copy of our mother.’
Ebony was Jonah’s wife and the mother of Chloe and Beau. And Elias was correct, Ebony was a little too much like their mother for his liking. Had Jonah noticed? Or maybe that’s why he married her. He was a mummy’s boy after all.
‘You, good sir, are a glutton for punishment,’ Elias said.
‘It’s not like I have to marry her,’ Levi replied defensively.
‘Accepting a blind date organised by our mother is tantamount to a proposal,’ Elias said. ‘It is a very slippery slope, brother dear, and it seems you’ve stumbled off the edge.’
Levi frowned. ‘I think I might need to adjust your meds. Your metaphors are getting a little convoluted.’
‘And you need to get your head read. Seriously, what were you thinking?’
Levi took another drink and asked himself that very same question. What exactly had he been thinking? It was a means to an end, and if he kept his mother happy now, then maybe he would get a bit more freedom at work. But just how far was he willing to go for that freedom? Would he actually marry someone if it meant he could get more autonomy at work?
Elias was right. It was a very slippery slope indeed.
‘Is that what you’re wearing?’Elias asked, leaning against the doorframe of Levi’s bedroom.
Levi looked down at himself. ‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘You’re wearing a suit,’ Elias said, as if it was obvious.
‘And?’
Elias shook his head. ‘You are hopeless.’
The doorbell interrupted them, and Elias raised his eyebrows. ‘Expecting someone?’
‘The baby-sitter,’ Levi replied with a smirk.
‘But Alexis has a date.’
Levi didn’t reply as he brushed past his brother to let the visitor into the building. Elias slouched on the couch and glared at Levi while they waited for the knock on the door.
‘That’s what you’re wearing?’ Theo asked when Levi let him into the apartment.
‘That’s what I said,’ Elias said before he realised who had arrived. ‘You,’ he said with a sneer.
‘Me,’ Theo said, brushing non-existent lint off his shoulder.
‘I am old enough to look after myself, you know. I don’t need a baby-sitter.’
‘I haven’t heard you complaining about having Alexis look after you.’
‘Yeah, well there is a bit of a difference between having a beautiful woman at your beck and call and this dude.’
‘I’m beautiful,’ Theo said.
Levi shook his head. ‘I don’t have time for this. Theo, make sure Elias doesn’t drink or leave the house. Elias, be good and don’t punch Theo. You can’t afford what you’d have to pay for damaging his face, and if I have to stitch that wound on your hand again, I will do it without anaesthetic.’
‘Yes, Dad,’ the two grown men replied in unison.
Levi shook his head and walked out of the apartment. He fidgeted while he waited for the lift. He wasn’t nervous, it was just that he would rather be doing anything else than going on a date with a woman his mother picked out. That it had been a while since he’d been on a first date didn’t figure into it. Okay, maybe it figured into it a little bit. Levi hated first dates. He never knew what to talk about.
The doors opened, and Levi froze. Alexis was standing in the lift and… and she looked amazing. His chest was so tight he couldn’t take a full breath. Was he having a heart attack? She had definitely not been dressed like that when she left his apartment an hour or so ago. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever seeing her dressed up. Whenever they’d seen each other, she’d been in work clothes, or what he’d come to think of as her work clothes.
Her eyes widened when they met his, and did she give him a subtle once over?
‘Are you getting in?’ she asked.
‘Right,’ he said, mentally shaking himself and stepping into the elevator. They were both going to the ground floor, so he didn’t need to press a button.
‘You’re going out?’ he asked, unnecessarily.
‘Yep,’ she replied.
‘What about your curfew?’
‘Evelyn and Tofu have had their nightly visit, and unless my employer has nanny-cams set up in the apartment, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.’
‘You don’t think that’s a little… dishonest?’
‘I’m not lying to her,’ Alexis replied.
‘No, but… well… the terms of your agreement?—’
‘Nowhere in my contract is it stated that I have to be at home all night. It was just a verbal request. One night out is far from breaking the contract.’
What was he doing right now? He couldn’t help himself. He was irritated for absolutely no reason that he could fathom except… except he knew. If he was honest with himself, he knew the reason he was upset. She looked good. She always looked good, but tonight, there was something else about her, and he was mad that she was going out on a date with someone else. Someone that wasn’t him.
‘I just think you should have at least told Evelyn that you wouldn’t be there. What if there’s a fire alarm and the building needs to evacuate?’
‘I told Theo,’ Alexis snapped. ‘And I know he is at your place right now, and I know that if the building needs to be evacuated, he will go up to Evelyn’s place and get Tofu. I also asked him to look in on her later, in case that was going to be the next thing you have a problem with. Tofu is a cat that barely moves from her spot in the laundry. She doesn’t care if I’m there or not, and a few hours out for dinner and some nice company is not going to hurt anyone.’
Levi opened his mouth to reply, but the doors opened, and Alexis stalked past him, not looking back.
Shit. He really hadn’t meant to do that, but he just could not seem to control his impulses when he was around Alexis. What he’d really wanted to do was push her up against the elevator wall and kiss her until neither of them could speak—but instead he’d gotten mad at her. He’d accused Elias of behaving like a six-year-old, but maybe he needed to take a look at his own behaviour before pointing fingers.