Levi’s entire body twitches. I’d have missed it if I wasn’t aware of every move he makes, I just wish I wouldn’t spiral about it until the day that I die. “Knew you were a deviant little thing.”
Thank God I don’t have much to work with, because it’s easy to shift my body to hide the boner that gave me behind Leo. I’m not as fine as I tried to convince Bash. My high is already startingto fade and I’m in that stupid sweet spot where suddenly, having both of them inside me sounds like a great idea.
If only it wouldn’t make me hate myself.
“Let me guess, there’s a joke about the quiet ones always being freaks in there?” I ask.
“Nope. No jokes here.” Levi grabs the whiskey from the table and walks away, leaving Leo staring after him with confusion on his face. “I thought you said he didn’t want you?”
“He only looks like that because Bash wouldn’t let him bring anyone to fuck. Normally he just tortures me, but now he can’t, and he’s upset about it,” I mutter, staring after him as my boner rapidly disappears. “He doesn’t actually want me.”
Leo takes his drink from my hand and then tugs me after him. “I think you’re wrong,” he whispers before we enter the room again. “He just doesn’t deserve you.”
He doesn’t let me respond to that, which is good, because right now I’m tempted to argue with him. Levi deserves everything good, he’s only a trainwreck because he doesn’t think he deserves love or loyalty or anything nice. I’ve long believed that if he could just find someone like me who would do anything to show him what love really is, he’d settle down.
He just needs to want it bad enough to chase it, and that’s not me.
I avoid Levi’s gaze as we sit down at the dinner table and wait for whatever Bash called us here for, but it’s hard. Every part of me is drawn to him.
Bash’s amber eyes are flicking between us like he wants to ask what happened. Levi seems to be chugging that bottle of alcohol and I probably look like I forgot to breathe, but Alaina reaches over to squeeze his hand and snaps him out of it.
“Alright, so I’m sure you’re wondering why I wanted to have everyone over, so I’m just going to say it. With the tour coming up, I don’t want to go another day without this woman being mywife, so we decided to get married in two months.” He smiles down at her, and leans in to kiss her nose. “Time for a shotgun wedding.”
The table goes from dead silent to erupting in cheers, me among them.
“Is she pregnant?” Jonah asks, checking out her stomach which is just the same as it’s always been. “I’m kidding!”
“Pregnant? No! I mean, I wish — no. No babies yet, but not for a lack of trying on my part. I keep her pumped full—”
Alaina clamps her hand over his mouth, and I find myself thanking a God I don’t believe in for it. None of us need the visual.
“Congratulations,” I laugh. “Is there anything I can do to help prepare? Or are you eloping?”
“You can help with everything, actually. Thank you for offering,” Bash replies swiftly, but one look from his bride-to-be has him switching up. “I mean... no.” She rolls her eyes. “Yes? Maybe. We’ll talk more about that later. For now just keep complimenting us and telling me how lucky I am for bagging my stalker.”
I can’t say for sure, but I’m 95% positive she grabs his balls under the table, because his eyes widen in terror and Yasmin stands up to get the attention off of them. “That calls for some shots. Everyone go grab your liquor of choice.”
Oh, goodie. Shots.
I’m such a lightweight I hardly ever drink at all, and it’s part of what makes me a good handler. It’s also something every single person in this room is aware of except for Leo.
Following hesitantly, I keep to the back and stay silent, hoping they don’t notice I’m missing.
I don’t usually get what I hope.
“Here you go.” Leo hands me a shot of vodka. “Your best friend is getting married. Let’s have a fun night.”
“I second that,” Levi chimes in, a shot in one hand as he tosses the other arm over my shoulders. “But he already smoked today, so l think one is enough. We don’t want our pretty boy feeling sick before 10pm, do we?”
Pretty boy is already feeling sick, though he doubts it’s because of the drugs.“No, we don’t,” I agree, using all the chaos inside of me to give me the balls to take the shot. It feels a little like swallowing a knife, but I hand my empty shot glass to Leo as everyone around me laughs.
“Looks like he’ll be taking two after all,” Leo says. “I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure you were supposed to wait for the rest of us. It’s a toast.”
I’mtoast.
Playing it off, I shrug, somehow ending up even closer to Levi. I can feel the heat of his body pressed to mine, smell the cologne that drives me crazy. One shot was a bad idea. Two is worse.
He takes one for himself in solidarity, then grabs the shot glass from Leo to go refill them both for us, when he returns, he hands me mine without meeting my eyes and leads the way back to the dining area.
