“Why is that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been doing it for most of my life.”
He looked at her. Not moving. Like a predator poised to pounce. Those blue eyes were far too insightful for her liking. “Does it ever feel like prison?”
She frowned. “Does what ever feel like prison?”
“The success you have. You couldn’t have imagined that you would be experiencing this kind of demand at your age.”
“I really don’t know how to answer that. Nobody sentenced me to anything, Levi, and I can walk away from it at any time.”
“Is your family rich, Faith?”
She laughed. “No. We didn’t grow up with anything. I only went to private school because I got a scholarship. Joshua didn’t even get to go to college. He didn’t have the grades to earn a scholarship or anything. My parents couldn’t afford it—”
“All the money in your family—this entire company—it centers around you.”
“Yes,” she said softly.
He made a scoffing sound. “No wonder you were a virgin.”
“What does my virginity have to do with anything?”
“Have you done something for yourself? Ever?”
“I mean, in fairness, Levi, it’s my...gift. My talent. My dream, I guess, that made us successful. It centers around me. Isaiah and Joshua fill in the holes with what they do well, but they could do what they do well at any kind of company. The architectural aspect... That’s me. They’re enabling me to do what I love.”
“And you’re enabling everyone to benefit from your talents. That they’re supporting your talent doesn’t make them sacrificial. It makes them smart. I’m not putting your brothers down. In their position I would do the same. But what bears pointing out is that whether you realize it or not, you’ve gotten yourself stuck in the center of a spider’s web, honey. No wonder you feel trapped sometimes.”
They didn’t speak about anything serious while she got ready. She dodged a whole lot of groping on his end while she tried to pull on her clothes, and ended up almost collapsing in a fit of giggles as she fought to get her skirt back on and cover her ass while he attempted to keep his hand on her body.
But she thought about what he said the entire time, and all the way over to her parents’ house. His observation made it seem... Well, like she really should fight harder for the things she wanted. Should worry less about what Joshua and Isaiah felt about her association with Levi. Personally or professionally.
Though, she wasn’t going to bring up any of the personal stuff.
Levi was right. The business, her career—all of this had turned into a monster she hadn’t seen coming. It was a great monster. One that funded a lifestyle she had never imagined could be hers. Though, it was a lifestyle she was almost too busy to enjoy. And if that was going to be the case...
Why shouldn’t she take on projects that interested her?
That was the thing. Levi had interested her from the beginning, and the only reason she had hesitated was because Joshua and Isaiah were going to be dicks about her interest and she knew it.
She pulled up to her parents’ small, yellow farmhouse and sat in the driveway for a moment.
She wished Levi was with her. Although she had no reason to bring him. And the very idea of that large, hard man in this place seemed...impossible. Like a god coming down from Mount Olympus to hang out at the mall.
She got out of the car and walked up to the front porch, opened the door and walked straight inside. A rush of familiarity hit her, that familiar scent of her mother’s pot roast. That deep sense of home that could only ever be attached to this place. Where she had grown up. Where she’d longed to be while at boarding school, where she had ached to return for Christmases, spring breaks and summers.
Everyone was already there. Devlin and his wife, Mia. Joshua, Danielle and their son Riley. Isaiah and Poppy.
Faith was the only one who stood alone. And suddenly, it didn’t feel so familiar anymore.
Maybe because she was different.
Because she had left part of herself in that bed with Levi.
Or maybe because everyone else was a couple.
All she knew was that she felt like a half standing there and it was an entirely unpleasant feeling.
