Levi
Fifty
“Please, baby… It’s over.”
Her voice is like tinkling windchimes cutting through the storm of my murderous rage; her touch is a warming comfort dragging me out of the shadows.
My arm stills, chest heaving, as I lift my eyes to her, afraid of what I’ll see looking back at me, but not able to resist another moment of not knowing if she’s really there or if she’s a figment of my imagination.
The lines of reality and memory have blurred so spectacularly that I wouldn’t be surprised if I wake up any minute to the sound of Bandit’s footfalls on the stairs and the smell of coffee wafting up from the kitchen below.
And yet, the feel of her trembling palm against my face anchors me and pulls me back.
With that one touch, the beast recedes, overcome entirely by her presence and the need to have her in my arms.
Her eyes hold no judgment or fear like I expect, and I relax further under her touch.
I know I’m crying, but I don’t care, and neither does she.
She’s not afraid of my tears. There is nothing but love and recognition in her eyes as she pulls me back from the edge of darkness that she’s so desperate to save me from.
“There you are,” she says, a small, sad smile gracing those perfect lips, and then I’m clambering off of the man beneath me and wrapping her in my arms.
She links her arms around my neck as best she can with her injured wrist and buries her face in my shoulder, inhaling deeply and shuddering as she lets her tears fall.
I walk on shaky legs to the couch and sit down, exhaustion rippling through me as I arrange her on my lap.
Her grip doesn’t loosen, not even for a second, and I breathe in the scent of her, savoring the feel of her small frame in my arms, my mind and body finally at peace after thinking I was going to lose her forever.
“Shhh, it’s okay,” I soothe, resting my chin on the top of her head, careful not to touch the wound on the side as quiet sobs rack her body. “I’m here, baby. It’s okay. You’re okay. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
Justin stands from the couch beside me and moves to the window, peeking through the curtains as an array of red and blue flashing lights fill the space around us.
I should be worried, especially with the unconscious—dead?
—man lying on the floor below us, but all I can do is cling to Oakley like the lifeline she is.
A part of me wants to reach out and kick the fucker once more for good measure, but the woman in my arms takes priority over any lingering feral need of the beast inside me.
She is the only one that can pull me from the darkness, so I banish the beast back to the carefully constructed cage I’ve built for it within myself.
I don’t know what’s going to happen now, if I’m about to be hauled away to prison in the back of the sheriff’s car, so I hold on to Oakley for as long as possible, knowing that this might very well be the end of the road for us.
The thought chips off another piece of my heart, and I plant a kiss on the top of her head and let the faint scent of my shampoo in her hair calm my racing heart.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I whisper into her hair, my voice breaking.
Nothing I say right now is going to change the fact that I wasn’t there when she needed me the most. I might be holding her in my arms right now, but I have no way of knowing exactly what happened and the effect it could have on her.
I’m not going to ask though, despite my desperation to know every last detail so I can determine for myself whether or not she’s okay.
The questions claw at my throat, but I swallow them down, murmuring apologies over and over again into her hair.
Justin gives me an indecipherable look as he strides towards the front door and out into the night, probably to meet his father and give him the rundown.
Justin’s dad has seen me like this before and picked up the pieces, but I was a kid then, and this is different. Worse. I wouldn’t blame him if he slapped a set of cuffs on me and dragged me out the front door. I wouldn’t even fight him on it.
My gaze lands on the man lying on the floor, beaten to within an inch of his life.
I’m not even sure he’s breathing. I hope he’s not.
Maybe it makes me a terrible person, but I don’t care.
At least then Oakley would be able to sleep better at night knowing that her monster is gone for good and never going to hurt her again.
I’m not sure how long we sit there wrapped up in each other, but eventually, Oakley pulls away just enough to look up at me with tired eyes. I must look like a mess, a monster, covered in her ex’s blood and my own tears, but if the sight scares her, she doesn’t let on.
“I was terrified when I woke up and you weren’t home. And then realizing what must have happened, I—” I take a long breath “—I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”
“I’m okay. Thanks to you.” Her soft whisper is disheveled and broken, low and rough around the edges.
“I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
She gives a short laugh but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and I smooth my hand over her hair, stilling the movement when I graze the wound on her head and she winces.
My eyes darken when I examine the cut and the dried blood crusted around the edges of it. “I’ll kill him,” I grumble.
“You might have already.”
“Then I’ll bring him back and do it again.”
She lets out another laugh at that, a real one this time, and I can’t help but smile back at her, despite the insanity of what we’re laughing at.
We’re both going to need some extensive therapy after today.
But for now, I bask in the feeling of having her clutched safely to my chest, and the shake of her body as she laughs.
“Hey, man, Dad wants to talk to you guys outside,” Justin calls from the doorway, shattering our small moment of levity and bringing the weight of the situation crashing down around us once again.
I give a resigned sigh and nod my head. “Be right there.”
Oakley climbs out of my lap, and I stand, grabbing her hand as we bypass the man on the floor and make our way out the front door and into the chilly night air.
“I guess it’s a good sign that they aren’t coming in to get you?”
Two paramedics carrying a stretcher and a first aid bag rush into the apartment, and I pull her closer to me to avoid her getting smacked with the bag.
“We’ll see,” is all I say as we make our way over to where Sheriff Hadley stands with his son, his hands on his hips as he surveys the scene with a severe expression.
“Sheriff.” I greet him stiffly, but keep my arm around my girl as apprehension licks its way up my spine.
“You’ve gotten yourself into quite the situation here, haven’t you, son?” He studies me with a quizzical expression, one I’ve witnessed on Justin’s face many times when he’s trying to solve a problem. It gives me a sense of unease, and the way he calls me son does little to assuage the feeling.
“Please, Sheriff, I can explain. It wasn’t Levi or Justin’s fault.”
I’m proud of the way Oakley holds her head high and speaks with a type of authority I’m not sure I’ve heard from her yet.
A gruff “please do” is all it takes for Oakley to launch into the story of what happened tonight.
Justin and I listen as she recounts the night’s events, and I have to try on more than one occasion to tamp down my anger when she fills in some of the blanks.
When she mentions how Travis called her his wife, I let out an audible growl that has Sheriff Hadley shooting a look my way and Oakley rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand.
When she’s finally done speaking, a heavy silence falls over the four of us, punctuated only by the chatter of the paramedics and the squeak of the stretcher wheels as they bring her ex out of the apartment.
She drops her gaze to her feet and snuggles closer into my side, clearly not wanting to see what’s left of her ex.
I don’t blame her. Looking at him from here, it’s hard to believe that I was the one to do that to him.
Once he’s been loaded into the back of the ambulance and it’s taken off down the road, another paramedic approaches us.
“Miss, your husband—”
“He is not my husband.” Oakley practically snarls at the paramedic who takes a surprised step back and raises his hands in front of him in apology.
“Er, right. Well, we’re taking him to the nearest hospital.
His injuries are severe, but he regained consciousness while we were working on him, so that’s a good sign.
” Oakley’s eyes darken at his assessment, and he clears his throat nervously before continuing. “Can I look at that gash on your head?”
Oakley looks up at me in question, like she’s waiting for my permission to let her know it’s safe, and, of course, I nod my agreement.
“I’ll be right over here,” I tell her, dropping a kiss to the top of her head before she lets the paramedic lead her to the open back of another ambulance.
After a moment, I turn back to face Sheriff Hadley.
He looks weary, tired in a way I know has more to do with his many years on the job than with his age.
Fine lines crinkle at the corners of his eyes as he regards me.
I expect to see disappointment in his eyes, but no trace of it lingers in his steel gaze.
“Where do we go from here?” I ask, unable to play this game any longer, desperate to know whether I’ll be taking my girl home tonight or spending the foreseeable future in a concrete jail cell.
Sheriff Hadley lets out a long breath and glances at Justin, who gives a curt nod, words passing silently between them. I make a mental note to ask him later what he said before Oakley and I left the apartment.
Maybe. I’m not so sure I want to know.
“No charges pressed against you. Between you and me, I’m proud of you, son. You did what your father never did. You protected what’s yours. Let me worry about the rest.”
Shock ripples through me at his words. He can’t be serious. I nearly beat a man to death. No matter my reasoning, there’s no way that this can go unnoticed or unpunished. Not that I particularly want to be punished for this, but still.
“Are you serious?” I ask, bewildered.
“Yup. Justin told me a little bit about the situation before you got out here. Despite my duty to uphold the law, given your history, I really don’t want to see you get dragged through the mud on the witness stand.
Though something tells me, in a town this size, the jury would be in your favor anyway. ”
“Thank you, sir.” It feels like a pathetic response, given the gift he’s giving me by not pursuing it any further, but I’m at a loss for words.
The effects of the adrenaline I’ve been running on for the past few hours drain from my body, replaced by a quick-setting exhaustion that permeates down to my bones.
My limbs feel heavy, and all I want to do now is head home with Oakley, take a long shower, and crawl into bed with her tucked in my arms.
“Just promise me one thing,” Sheriff Hadley says, drawing my attention back to him.
“Anything.”
“Keep taking care of her. She’s yours to cherish, to protect, and you did just that. But maybe next time, don’t go as apeshit as you did tonight. Better yet, don’t let there be a next time. I have a lot of pull in this town, but there comes a point where even I can only do so much.”
I nod my agreement and mumble another “thank you” under my breath before returning my gaze to Oakley. The paramedic has cleaned up her head and placed a butterfly bandage over the wound and is now examining the abrasions on her wrists.
“Thanks, Dad,” Justin says, clapping him on the back as he walks back towards his squad car, muttering something under his breath about a mountain of paperwork.
I look at my friend standing in front of me and realize he’s not just my friend. He’s my brother. A man who would walk through fire for me without question, just because I asked him to. I’m lucky to have him, and I don’t deserve it.
“I don’t know if tonight would have ended up the way it did if you hadn’t been there.”
“Anytime, Levi. You’re family. If she’s important to you, then she’s important to me too.
” I give him a small smile as he pulls his phone out of his pocket.
“Shit,” he curses under his breath, and I noticed the litany of missed calls and texts from Jessie on his screen.
Just then, the phone rings again, the screen lighting up with a picture of a smiling Jessie.
“I better take this. She’s probably worried sick. ”
I give him a pat on the shoulder as he lifts the phone to his ear and walks away towards his truck. I’m not sure where he found the time to tell Jessie what was going on, but it’s the furthest thing from my mind as I make my way over to my girl. The paramedic is just finishing up.
“She’s all clear,” he tells me, and I nod my thanks.
“She was hit in the head pretty hard, but I’m not seeing any signs of a concussion, so that’s good.
Keep an eye on her though. If she experiences any symptoms at all, get her checked out.
I set her wrist, but she’ll need to follow up with a doctor so they can do a more thorough check.
She should be okay for tonight, though. Other than that, the abrasions on her wrists and ankles, and general soreness, she’ll be back to normal in a few days or so. ”
“Thanks, man.”
“Anytime.”
With that, he gathers his bag and throws it in the back of the ambulance as Oakley hops down from her perch and makes her way into my open arms. She wraps her arms around my waist and looks up at me with those gorgeous eyes that hold nothing but adoration in them as she rests her chin on my chest.
“Now what?” she asks, a bit of her playfulness seeping into her question amid the fatigue.
My answer is simple.
“Now, we go home.”