“He’s down to two girls left.”
“Who are they?” I exclaim.
Raeann shakes her head, and I almost come out of my skin. The last thing I expected was Levi Soucy to be a contestant on a dating show, but when I think about it, it’s the perfect turn in the road of his life. I wouldn’t even call it a ninety-degree turn or a switch back, just a gentle curve in the path he had already made for himself. “He’s sworn to secrecy.”
“But it’s Micah.”
“Micah says he’s being so tight-lipped about it. He had to sign a bunch of different contracts, and of course, he didn’t want to do it after what happened with McNally since he has his hands so deep in this thing.”
“Does that jackass know everybody?”
“Apparently.” A grin takes over Raeann’s face, and she scoots closer. “But Micah did get one thing out of Levi. You know howThe Bachelorgives out roses to the women he wants to keep on the show? Levi gave out necklaces with his number on them.”
I roll my eyes so far in the back of my head I’m worried they’ll dislodge.
“Which Micah says is a no-no because it’s actually a big thing to put your number on a girl. Levi caught so much flak for that in the locker room.”
“These guys are like cavemen.Wear my number. Suck my dick. Vie for my attention.” I make grunting noises, and Athena peers up at me, cocking her head. I give her a quick pat. “Except for Micah, of course.”
“They are very territorial,” Raeann muses, but instead of being disgusted, a small smile spreads her lips, but then lets itdrop. “Micah thinks the dating show is basically Levi’s whole life but condensed into a shorter time period. Sewing his wild oats with all the girls, promising them everything, then picking up and running off with a different one.”
“I bet he looks good doing it, though.”
Raeann chuckles. “You and your infatuation.”
I wouldn’t call it that. Anymore.
After being rescued, it was Levi’s face I first saw, fractured through my tears. It was those piercing eyes I remember most. Gray with hints of blue. Stormy. He grabbed my hand and told me Raeann and Athena were safe. Then they put me on oxygen to help me breathe and whisked me away.
Away.
Away…
Raeann grabs my hand just like Levi did. “You’re going to find someone so much better.”
2
Levi
The slow, low hum of a violin is a lullaby to my nervous system, which is already on the fritz since the season is now in full swing. The blonde in front of me talks easily, sipping her wine and reaching over to place her hand on mine. Her touch featherlight.
Around us, other couples are dressed to the nines, reminding me that I’m also wearing the dreaded cousin of a penguin suit. I pull my hand out from under her grip and tug at the knot of my tie. It feels like a noose, slowly tightening. This restaurant is my tomb, and the melody is the sedation that’s going to put me to sleep before I die.
Not to be dramatic or anything.
This is my show, they should’ve let me choose the dates. There’s no way I would take a girl to a fancy restaurant on date three or four—or whatever this is. I’d take her to an escape room and then walk around downtown, ending the night with an ice cream or something not quite so stifling as having so many layers around my neck I feel like I’m choking.
I take a sip of my water—this place didn’t even have beer on the drink menu—and try to pay attention to the words coming out of Kris’s mouth. A necklace with the number nineteen glints at the hollow of her throat. When the show suggested giving out my number on necklaces as a way of choosing the girls to move forward to the next round, I thought it was a great idea. Really true to football players in general who can’t wait to get their numbers on their girl.
As soon as I started giving them out, though, that thought changed. The gesture was insincere. I didn’t even pick the necklaces out. Boxes with the Wildcats logo were shoved into my hands after I had the first dates with all of them, and I was instructed to hand them out.
This girl is wearing my number and I can’t muster up an ounce of attention to digest what she’s saying.
I close my eyes briefly, brain wandering. The scene unfolds like normal. It started with the orange glow of the sky as I neared their apartment. Then pushing past emergency personnel and spotting the angry flames leaping from second floor windows and eating their way up the side of the building. Quickly, my memory narrows on Tab and the thoughts that had taken over. Will she be found? Where is she? What if something awful happened to her?
Minute after agonizing minute passed until two firefighters carried a body through the doorway. That’s all it took. I’ve barely been able to think about much else since, especially not a fake as shit dating show.
My leg jumps up and down as I try talking myself out of sending the text I’ve been dying to. I want out of this. For good.
