Breakaway (11 page)

“That won’t happen until you make it happen. One way or the other you have to make adjustments in your life to fit both of them into it.” Sometimes Marley is the wisest person I know. She is right. I need to figure out this mess that I am in.

“Should Levi and my dad meet?” I really don’t want that to happen, but maybe I should. I like Levi and my parents will not leave me alone until they meet him

“Okay, did you not just say you want to make decisions on your own? Then you need to make up your own mind on this one.” She’s right. The question is: what am I going to do? The door opens and Levi, along with Jere and Andrew, come up to me. Levi’s eyes are drinking me in. It is the first time I can honestly say that he is not looking at anyone, but me.

“Levi,” I whisper, touching his face, pulling him back to reality.

“Sorry, Smarty, but I’ve never seen you with your hair up and such little make-up on,” he whispers back.

“Oh, I spent the day in bed and didn’t feel like getting all done up tonight. Do I look bad?” I touch my face, worried that I look hideous to him.

“Far from it. In fact,” he says as he grabs my hand, “see everyone later.”

“No way, man. You said you were going to hang out with us tonight and play Xbox,” Andrew says.

“I will later.”

“That’s a bunch of shit, Carr. Just because you have a stand-by-,”

“I said, later,” Levi cuts him off. “And watch what you’re saying about my girlfriend.” Levi sternly looks at Andrew. Levi just pulls me away to his vehicle.

“Um, Levi, my car is on the other side.” I can see on his face he’s still upset by the comments from Andrew. He nods as he does a u-turn to go get my car. “What was Andrew going to say about me?”

“He was going to call you a ‘stand-by bunny’. It’s what we call girls that are at our beck-and-call.”

“Oh.” I don’t think he realizes he is still calling them ‘our Bunnies’. It hurt my feelings a little bit. It wasn’t five minutes ago he was calling me his ‘girlfriend’.

He pulls up alongside my car. I lean across and give him a gentle kiss.

“Do you have a lot of stand-bys?” I know I shouldn’t push the issue, but I want to know. He looks at for me a second and it seems he’s almost thinking about what to say. I raise an eyebrow at him, waiting on his
answer.

He smirks as he says, “Not since you have become my girlfriend.” I know that he is just throwing me a line, but I believe him. “Now, I will see you back at your place.” He kisses me and all I can think about is ripping his clothes off right there.

I jump in my car, and Levi is following behind me as we get back to my place. We walk up my stairs, and I unlock my door, but it’s already unlocked. I walk in to see Trevor’s jacket on my couch and he’s sitting at the kitchen table drinking a beer. He looks pissed, and I think he’s about to explode.

“Hey, Trev. What’s going on?” He doesn’t look at me. He is picking at his beer bottle label. “Um, how was the game?” I take off my jacket, set it on the back of the chair, and sit next to him.

He scuffs. “The game? Yeah, well the game was fucking brilliant, actually. Of course, I didn’t play in it.” He looks at me.

“You...you didn’t play, how come?” I’m shocked that Trevor didn’t play in his game. He is the captain, of course he is going to play.

“Got ejected in the first period for fighting.” I’m speechless. He never fights. I look over at Levi and he has the biggest and brightest grin on his face.

“Hey, why don’t I go home and you hang with McCarthy? Looks like he needs a good cry,” Levi suggests, but I can hear the sarcasm in his voice.

“Fuck you, Carr,” Trevor says.

“Stop, both of you. Trevor stay there.” I point at him, as I grab Levi’s jacket sleeve and pull him to the front door. “Stop teasing him. Go home and I’ll call you later.” Levi’s just grinning at me when he nods. “Oh, wait. I need you to come to Trevor’s game with me on Friday.” Levi looks at me like I lost my mind. “Don’t say ‘no’, either. My father is going to be there and he wants to meet you.” I give him a kiss before he can say anything.

“Only if I get a prize afterwards.” He wags his eyebrow up and down and I laugh.

“Deal.”

After Levi leaves, I walk back into the kitchen and Trevor has gotten himself another beer. I sit there and just wait for him to start talking. Sometimes he just needs to stew for a moment before he can get his thoughts together.

“I’m so angry at you. I’m so mad at Carr. I’m disgusted you two are together and all I want to do is beat him to death. Then that fucking incident today just pissed me off more.” He looks at me and he is on the verge of tears. “I went onto that ice ready to kill someone and I can’t believe I was ejected. NHL scouts will see that and it’s because of Carr.” I stare at my brother. He’s the one I run to whenever I need someone to talk to, cry on, or just be there for me. He is everything to me, he is my twin.

“Levi is meeting Daddy on Friday.” Trevor’s eyes widen. “If Daddy doesn’t like him, I won’t see him anymore.” Trevor grins at that. “But if Daddy does like him, you can’t say anything else. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Levi

Back at my place, I’m in my room doing schoolwork. I can’t concentrate because my mind can’t decide what to focus on first. Should I think about how McCarthy is being a dick to Presley? Something I never saw coming, but I don’t know much about their relationship anyway. Or how about I called Presley my girlfriend not once, but three times to officially damn myself in a relationship with her? After that first time though, I couldn’t help but say it again. It didn’t hurt watching McCarthy’s furious expression either.

Part of me wants to cut him some slack. I want to laugh at the thought, but the more I push him, the more he’s an ass to Presley. I rather he direct his anger at me than her. She doesn’t deserve his backlash from my actions. I can understand he doesn’t like her seeing me, but still. When he talked to her so hatefully and disrespectfully this morning, I was like a bull seeing red with such rage. I still can’t believe my reaction, especially since my plan doesn’t garner much respect for her either.

I’m getting pissed just thinking about what McCarthy might have said to her after I left. Maybe I should check on her. I groan and shut my textbook. I can’t think straight with all this shit going on in my head. Presley can handle herself, right? She doesn’t need me checking up on her from her jerk of a brother. Why am I feeling a little guilty over this? Especially when by the time this is over with, she’s going to need him from where I’m going to be a jerk. This is too much thinking. I need to relax.

I text Presley and tell her where to meet me. If she wants, of course. Why I want her to come when all I want to do is relax from this mess where she’s standing in the center, I don’t know. Gavin and Andrew pay me no attention as I grab my jacket and leave. When I arrive at the old building, I wait outside, leaning against the bricks with the chilled wind blowing by. Presley hasn’t answered me yet, so I don’t know if she’s coming or not. I’ll give her ten minutes before I head up.

“Okay, Levi,” I snap my head to the right where she’s walking towards me. “What the hell am I doing on this campus in front of a creepy building?” Presley stops in front of me with her hands on her hips. “Is it even used anymore?”

I chuckle and can’t resist pushing myself off the building, grabbing her hips, and pulling her to me. She quirks that eyebrow up as she tilts her head back to look at me. I give her a short kiss and smile, already feeling a little relaxed.

“Just follow me, Smarty,” I say taking her hand and leading her inside. Every other light was on as we walked down the hallway to a door leading to the stairs.

“Levi,” she begins in a whisper sounding a little scared, I think, as I push the door open.

“Don’t worry, Presley. You’re safe with me, I promise. You trust me, right?” I gaze into the brown eyes until I see that she trusts me. She nods to affirm what I see. “Then c’mon,” I say pulling her with me as we begin to go up the stairs. After the fourth floor, she speaks up.

“Where are we going?”

“To the roof.”

“It’s cold,” she starts to object.

“I’ll keep you warm, Smarty,” I smirk at her.

Presley rolls her eyes and a few minutes later, I’m opening the door to the roof. There’s a greenhouse covering half of the roof thanks to those students studying plants. On the other side, it’s empty with nothing but scattered leaves from the plants. There’s a door on each side of the greenhouse, and I decide to walk through it since I have Presley with me.

“These are pretty. I wonder what they are,” Presley says, stopping me to look at a pot of pink flowers. She runs a finger over a petal and my heart drops as I realize what they are.

“It’s a zinnia.”

She turns her head to look at me. “How’d you know that?” she asks curiously.

I wonder if I should tell her or just shrug it off. With a deep breath, I decide, why not? “They were my mom’s favorite flower, especially the pink ones.” Presley squeezes my hand, and I hold my breath waiting for her response, wondering how much she might want to know.

“I can see why she liked them,” is all she says with a glance back at the flower.

“C’mon,” I tell her, tugging her once more. We walk to the other side without incident and leave all those plants behind. I stop at the edge of the roof and let go of her hand.

When I hoist a leg over, Presley practically screams, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to have a seat. Calm down, Smarty. I wouldn’t have brought you up here so you can be a witness to my suicide.” When I’ve got both legs dangling over the wide ledge, I hold my hand to Presley who shakes her head. “Presley, it’s two feet wide. You’re not going to fall off. You can even sit Indian style so your legs won’t hang off. Now, c’mon.”

She takes a step backwards and I cock my head to the side. “Not a big fan of heights, Levi. I’m fine over here.”

“We all have to face our fears sometime, Presley.” My voice is low and gentle.

“You’re not the one who’s scared!” she snaps as she crosses her arms over her chest.

I hold out my hand again. “Sit with me. You tackle this fear and once you do, I’ll get over one of mine, okay?” What the hell am I doing? “Presley,” I say when I can tell she’s thinking it over. “After I share and you still don’t want to sit here, we’ll get off. This is just another place where I come to think and relax.”

Having provided her an out, she steps over to me and takes my hand, squeezing the life out of it before she even moves to sit on the ledge. Presley’s eyes move between me and her soon-to-be seat before she huffs.

“How am I even supposed to get up here?”

I chuckle and earn myself a glare. “Face the other way and sit.”

“I might go too far back, -”

“No, you won’t. Quit being such a baby,” I smirk.

She opens her mouth to say something, but stops. I guess her want to prove that she isn’t acting like a baby overtakes her fear momentarily. She gets on the ledge and then slowly turns herself around to sit with her legs folded in front of her.

“I could kill you right now if I wasn’t terrified for my life.”

I try and fail to hold back a laugh. I scoot closer to her and wrap an arm around her to keep my promise of keeping her warm. The air is a little bitter, but the wind has stopped for now.

“Spill whatever it is you want to share before I vomit,” she demands, relaxing just enough to lean into me. I was hoping she would forget about that somehow, but she hasn’t. I could just tell her about something else, right? But when those light brown eyes look up at me, I give in like a fool.

“I, um,” I clear my throat, already feeling it trying to shut off my air supply. “My mom. I don’t normally talk about her. Ever,” I add. I’m regretting this before I even start, especially with those sad eyes of Presley’s watching me.

“What was she like?” she asks, trying to help me get my thoughts out. I could have kissed her for that, but I don’t. Instead, I answer her question.

“Amazing.” I look out over the campus because it’s easier than looking at Presley. “She never yelled at me. She was always so calm and collected. She never let what she was feeling get the better of her.” I chuckle at the thought. “Well, actually, the only time her emotions got the best of her was when she was watching hockey. She’d yell and yell just like she was as invested as the players. It was hilarious to see such a little woman throwing her hands around, screaming at the TV, her face got so red when she yelled. Mom was just as passionate about hockey as she was about her family.

“Between her and Dad, there’s no way I could have grown up doing anything other than playing hockey. I remember nights where she and my old man would go at it for hours over which team was better. Hers or his. She was just as cool as me talking to you right now. They would smack talk each other, especially when their teams played one another. You’ll never hear anyone talk trash to someone with such love for the person and dislike for the team at the same time. Every time Mom would try and convert Dad into a Pittsburgh fan with their animated conversations, Dad would always end it by telling her the same thing.

“He told her, ‘Only an amazingly perfect woman who loves Pittsburgh like you do can love a man who loves the Flyers.’ I always thought it was cheesy and that she would roll her eyes at him, but she never did. Momma just smiled and kissed his cheek.”

I take a risk and look at Presley. She’s watching me so intently as if she’s waiting for me to break. It won’t happen just like it hasn’t happened since the day I found out she was sick.

“What happened to her?” she asks quietly with hesitation.

I sigh. “She got sick.” That’s all I’m willing to share and I hope Presley gets the point.

“I’m sorry, Levi. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you. Thanks for sharing that with me.”

I kiss her forehead because I don’t know what to say. Me, who always has something to say, can’t think of a damn word. The realization of everything I just told this girl, who I’m supposed to be only playing with her feelings, hits me and I don’t like that I gave in.

“C’mon. We should go.” Without waiting for her to say something, I turn and hop off the ledge before helping her down. I stuff my hands in my jacket pockets as we cross the roof and head down the stairs. My one job in this is to mess with McCarthy’s head and all it has done is mess with mine.

“Levi, wait up.”

I stop to see that I’m about ten steps lower than Presley.

“I can’t keep up with your long legs,” she adds.

“Sorry,” I murmur. We start walking once she’s beside me, and I stay next to her.

“You really didn’t want to tell me that, did you?” she questions quietly.

Well, shit. “No, it wasn’t that, Smarty.” I take her hand in mine as reassurance. “It’s just been a while since I’ve talked about my mom.”

“Then why talk about her now? To me?”

I don’t know! Who knows why all this mess keeps spewing from my mouth. I can’t tell her that, though. “I told you I would get over a fear if you did.”

“Well, why are you scared to talk about her? It can’t just be that it’s too sad, right? I mean, I get that, but -” Presley sneaks a look at me and stops. “Sorry, I’m rambling.”

“That’s a story for another day, Presley,” I say firmly as we step outside. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

Nothing is said during this time and I appreciate the silence. She pulls her keys from her pocket and presses the button to unlock her door as we approach her car. I open the door for her, but she doesn’t get in yet. Instead, she reaches up to clasp her cold hands behind my neck and pulls me down. Her kiss is tentative at first as if she’s unsure. Because I don’t want her to hesitate about kissing me, I press her against me and part her lips with a sweep of my tongue.

I wonder for half a second where her hands are going when I feel them leave my neck, but I can’t focus on that for long when Presley kisses me like this. It’s a kiss filled with such desire that it lets me know she wants me just as bad as I want her. A freezing sensation chills each side of my lower back and I realize her hands slipped underneath my shirt. I leave her lips to kiss along her jaw with one last caress before I pull away.

“I’ll catch ya later, alright?”

“Don’t you want to come back to my place?” she questions with a sexy grin causing me to laugh.

“Maybe next time.” Presley’s lips form a slight pout and I wonder if she even knows she’s doing that. It’s barely a movement, but I notice. “Drive safely,” I order, stepping back so she can get into her car.

As she slips into her seat, she shakes her head and says, “Who would have thought that out of the two of us, you would be the debbie downer? See ya, Levi.” Presley closes her door and I start the walk to my SUV when she pulls away.

~ ~ ~

When Presley called me earlier to remind me about tonight, she seemed more worried than I am right now. Walking into the arena, instantly I spot my favorite redhead sitting behind the glass and I walk over to her, passing people until I reach the empty seat beside her. The game has just started and Presley looks relieved to see me.

“Hey,” she gives me a quick peck on my cheek. Next to her is an older man, I’m assuming this is her father. “Daddy,” she turns to the man. “Daddy,” she tugs on his sleeve. The man finally turns to look at his daughter. He is older with hard features. His dark brown hair has a few gray streaks at the temple. His thick mustache is perfectly groomed and his brown eyes are a mirror image of Presley’s. “Daddy, this is Levi Carr. Levi,” she turns to me. “This is my father, Benjamin McCarthy.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. McCarthy.” I stick my hand out for him to shake. His grip is strong, but he only nods and says nothing. He turns his attention back to the ice. Maybe this is who McCarthy gets his personality from, I think. Presley looks over to me and just rolls her eyes. I have a feeling this is going to be a long night.

We all watch the first period intently, but once it’s time for the intermission, Mr. McCarthy decides to talk.

“You played in high school with Trevor, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“My boy tells me you play college as well?” He’s looking at me as if he’s daring me to say yes.