Summer
SIX
“L-Levi?”
He’s recommending himself?
For a moment, both our lies nearly come crashing down. I don’t know how to respond to this—how to continue faking my obliviousness. Levi is recommending I have no-holds-barred rough sex with him…but since I’m talking about this to Hunter, it means facing the real him.
It means going through with it.
My mouth is dry while I try to come up with every reason Hunter would recommend this. Does it mean he as Levi is interested in me, or is this coming from a friendly place? No-strings-attached sex between two best friends that will never get mentioned again?
What would the consequences on my body be, fucking someone I’m around all the time? Using his hands to cover my father’s touch.
“Summer?” he prompts, reminding me to answer. Either to blow up the entire game or keep pretending to be unaware of his real identity, which means responding how he’d expect.
“No, I couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t—our friendship doesn’t go that far. He’d see how messed up I am, all my imperfections. I need to find someone random. Someone who won’t judge me.”
I wince, envisioning his expression.
But a tighter wince has me envisioning Levi as I stumble through asking this of him, despite it being his recommendation. How does one even ask something like this?
“You need someone you trust. This won’t work with a stranger. It’ll feel too real, too much like your father, which would make it pointless.”
He’s not wrong.
What he’s offering…what if it messes everything up?
“Maybe I will,” I tell him, since it seems to be the only way out of this conversation that has me ready to look up nearby therapists. Clearly, replacing one experience with another isn’t happening…
A moment passes before Hunter exhales. “Why do I feel you won’t?”
“Because you know me well.”
In every aspect of my life.
So well, an idea fills the corners of my mind.
I trust him both as Levi and Hunter, but it’s Hunter I have a deeper connection with.
It’s that anonymity factor. It’s Hunter I called, not Levi.
It’s Hunter who’d do this without fear of hurting me.
It’s Hunter I admitted my fantasies to a few months ago.
Not Levi. It’s never been Levi—even though it is. I’m only comfortable with having that kind of connection and conversation with Hunter because he is Levi.
“Hunter…would you?”
Silence rings—the world ending, absolute pin-drop kind.
“Do you know what you’re asking?” His voice takes on an edge, the same as when he learned why I ran to his house the night of my father’s attack.
“We’ve never met, so you have no idea what I look like.
Are you willing to unlock your doors and let an online stranger into your life, then your bed? Do you realize the safety concerns?”
You’re not a stranger. “You don’t think we’re equally in danger? You have no idea who I really am or what I look like. Are you willing to come to a stranger’s place?”
It’s almost a dare—a test to see how Levi will respond. A fear he’ll end his time as Hunter right when I need him.
“I know what you look like.”
Is this when he admits his true identity? “What?”
“I know who you are, Summer. We attend the same university. A few months ago, you were in the library, and I noticed my gaming tag on your phone. So, to answer your question, I know exactly how gorgeous you are, and yeah, I’d do this with you.
But knowing what you look like doesn’t make you in any less danger. ”
“Would you hurt me?” I ask, since it seems like the right thing to, even though Levi would never.
“Fuck no.”
“Do we share classes?”
“No, we’re in different degrees.” I’m in computer science, and he’s in business.
“Have we ever spoken before?”
“No.”
All lies.
“You’re trusting my word?” His voice sharpens again. “Your survival instincts suck.”
My head thumps with this confusion. Hunter recommending I ask him as Levi, but then hesitant to agree because he’s a ‘stranger’ is extremely strange.
“What about not coming to my house? A third-party location could work, so there’s no fear of letting a stranger into my place.” My eyes roll, disbelieving I’m going this far. “I’m going away with Levi in a week.” With you. “To the coast, where his family owns a resort. Meet me there?”
Logistically, it works. Levi can continue his facade of being two separate people on the same trip.
“I’ll have a private cabana,” I continue, though he’s aware of my living situation.
On the other side of the phone, he shifts, sighs, and replies in a heavy voice, like he’s wary. “I’ll do it. If you’re absolutely sure you can trust a near-stranger over your best friend with this.”
“I am.” I’m the poster child for what parents train their teenagers not to do.
“Text me the details. I’ll see if I can make it work.”
“And if you can?” I ask, a bit breathless, curious how he’ll respond.
“Then you’ll be mine for however long I can keep you, and I won’t share. With anyone. That goes for your friend. So, Summer, last chance. If you want to do this with me and not Levi, this is your opportunity to back out.”
It’s like a switch has been flicked on his personality, and I’m seeing yet another side of him—the possessive side.
He’s always been protective of me, but not like this.
The thudding that makes my heart fly, the crush it has always had growing.
His ability to light up my past and prove the monsters I believe are under the bed aren’t real.
Could I seriously do this with Levi while he pretends to be the version I can call my own?
“I want you.”
“Good,” he growls. “Your body, mind, and soul are mine. You’ll reclaim your agency, and I’ll replace your father’s touch with my own. My body, my scent; pain you ask for and pleasure you beg for.”
My stomach is in so many knots, it’ll become the rope I secretly hope he uses on me. “That’s… Yes. Thank you, Hunter.”
He chuckles darkly. “Don’t thank me yet. In the meantime, consider your limits. We’ll talk when you arrive.”
“Like a safe word?”
“Safe words. Acts you won’t consent to. Your pain tolerance. You want it to seem real, but it’s not real—and that’s the point. The second it seems too real, it stops. I care for you too much, Sunshine. Now, go to bed and get some rest. I’ll see you soon.”
The call dies, and I lower my cell. For the first time since the judge’s gavel hit the rostrum, something other than disgust and hatred fills me.
The promise of freedom.