“Levi, what’s wrong?”
He extends an arm out, and I tuck myself into his side as he loops his arm around me, running his hand through my hair. “Nothing, baby. Nothing.”
I fall asleep against his warm body with only one thought:I don’t believe him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
EARLY THAT MORNING
Istartle awake at the sound of what appears to be the fridge door closing. Abruptly sitting up in bed, I clutch my hand to my chest, staring around the room wide eyed to see the spot beside me empty. I blow out the breath I had been holding before tossing off the covers and walking over to the door, but I stop before I open it completely, hearing Levi’s voice.
“It was one thing when I thought no one actually got hurt,” I hear him whisper, frustration seeping into his tone. “You lied to me, man.”
My brows furrow as I pull the door open a bit more and see him pacing in the kitchen. “I don’t care. You used me, and I let you. I have no one to blame but myself for that. But now that I know the truth? I’m done. I can’t protect you anymore. I’m sorry, Cole.”
He hangs up the phone and tosses it on the island before bracing his hands on the countertop. I grab my robe off the back of the door and tie it around myself before I exit the bedroom and make my way down the hallway, stopping a few feet away from him with my arms folded over my chest.
“What are you doing up?” I ask, some unspoken gut feeling telling me to see if he’ll tell me the truth right away.
“I’m sorry, Lowe,” he tells me, pushing himself upright and walking up to me, cupping my cheek. “I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Reaching up, I gently remove his hand from my face and my heart involuntarily clenches at the look of hurt that flashes in his eyes. Shaking my head, I say, “You really aren’t that great at whispering.”
His eyes close as he takes a step away from me, turning to walk back into the kitchen. I stay where I am, watching him as he runs his hands through his hair and tugs at the roots in what I can only assume is frustration. Levi tilts his head back to look at the ceiling before finally turning around to face me.
“What all did you hear?”
I narrow my eyes. “I won’t stand here and allow you to decide what you hide from me based on what I already heard. Tell me the truth, Levi. The whole truth.”
“I just,” he pauses, releasing a heavy sigh as he looks at me with sadness and desperation. “I just don’t want you looking at me differently.”
Rather than respond, I stay quiet and spin on my heel, heading into the living room. I sit down on the couch and look up at him, gesturing with my hand to the seat beside me, but he shakes his head, leaning against the wall instead.
“Earlier this year, Cole found himself in a bit of a pinch and he called me to help him,” he tells me, wringing his hands together as he speaks. “I didn’t want him getting in trouble for such a minor accident, so I helped him act like it had never happened.”
I tilt my head at him slightly. “Levi, quit talking in vague terms to try to protect yourself. I want to know what happened.”
Even though I already feared the worst, already had a feeling where this was going after the turn of events over the last few hours, I needed to hear him say it.
“Okay,” he whispers, sliding down the wall so he’s sitting on the floor with his elbows resting on his knees. “Earlier this year, Cole had relapsed. He was almost a year sober at the time, but unforeseen circumstances caused him to start drinking again. One night, I was caught up at work and couldn’t make it to his place for dinner like I had planned, so he had gone out to the bar by himself instead. I got a call from the hospital around three in the morning informing me he had been in a car accident.”
A knot instantly forms in my stomach as my heart seems to bottom out. Tears immediately well in my eyes and I squeeze them shut, willing them not to fall. I place a hand on my chest in an attempt to slow my breathing as he continues his story.
“I rushed to the hospital and went straight to his room, wanting to make sure he was okay. He had some severe bruising, but nothing was broken. Once he woke up, he told me what happened. He had too much to drink but thought he could make it home, and while he was driving, his phone had gone off. I guess he thought it was me, so he looked down to answer it and ran a red light. He said he ended up hitting someone and was terrified of what might happen.”
He runs his hands through his hair again. “One of my old buddies from college works at the police station, so I had gone down there after Cole went back to sleep and asked about the person he hit. He couldn’t tell me much, but I had this… this pull, this desperation, to protect him.”
Levi finally looks at me as he says, “So, I paid off the chief to do everything in his power to protect Cole.”
The first tear falls, slipping down my cheek, soon followed by another. A mixture of a scoff and a laugh of disbelief escapes me as I look everywhere but at him. I bite my lip and close my eyes, trying to be as calm as I possibly can, for my own sake.
“Please tell me I’m not hearing you correctly,” I whisper, slowly peeling my eyes open to look at him. He’s crying, too, struggling to keep his eyes on mine.
“I messed up, I know that,” he tells me, a note of desperation now entering his voice. “I took Cole at his word and never bothered to look into it. I didn’t even know until tonight that someone had died, and the second I found out, I went and talked to the chief to reopen the investigation. I had no idea, Marlowe, I swear.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I inform him, “Three people.”
“What?”
