“It was Lisa, Levi. Apparently, she got bored and went hunting for someone to play with…” Zeke trails off.
There’s that name again. “Lisa? Who’s Lisa,” I ask. Levi grabs another water out of the fridge, hands one to me, and walks over to the armchair, sitting down facing Zeke.
“I told you, Sunshine. She’s my pet. My Shadow Horse,” he says proudly.
“Shadow Horse? She looks more like Mangle from a popular game back on Earth,” I say, shocked that the monster that was about to eat me is his PET. Now that he’s telling me,again, I know I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted by his blushing. At least not until I listened to what he was explaining. Annoyed with myself, I sit back against the sofa and cover my legs with the fuzzy blanket that’s lying on the floor.
“Ha. Yeah, I heard the creators had a Shadow Horse in their franchise. She’s truly harmless. Just likes to play with people and see how she can scare you.” He gets up to get his own water, shrugging like it’s normal to almost piss your pants in fear when being cornered by apetfor fun.Oh! And the rivers of blood! No big deal.
After taking another sip from his drink, Levi shoots a look at Zeke from across the room. “That doesn’t explain whyyou’renot in Specials, Ezekiel,” he says with a tone I can’t decipher.
“Well, that’s easy, Dad! I found Lisa playing with Rez and brought her back here to comfort her.” He throws him a salacious smile and leans over the counter to grab an apple, biting into it.
“Comfort? Is that what we’re calling it?” He asks, pointing at Zeke when he stands up to his full height, and I can’t help but giggle. Zeke has his shirt inside out and misbuttoned. How did he even get it buttoned? Let’s blame the missed detail on sexual fog, shall we?
He looks down at the atrocity and smirks at me, flashing a bit of fang, and I bite my lip, remembering how they felt along my tongue. Unembarrassed, he rips his shirt back off, and I momentarily lose my damn mind and drool a little. Mourning at the loss of those muscles once he covers them back up again, I bring myself back to the present.
I look back at Levi, and I find him staring at me with a slight frown.
“What about you, Leviathan? Why aren’t you in Specials?” Zeke asks.
Levi turns his intense look back at Zeke. “I came home for a few minutes before my appointment with Mother. We have a project to discuss. Rez might be free from electives, but I doubt you are, nor will Mr. Kats give you a freebie for your good deed.”
I watch as Zeke rolls his eyes when Levi mentions his mother and then throws his head back and groans. The look he throws me is full of pain, “I’m sorry, Rez. I would walk you back, but I’m going to be late as it is.” I wave off his concern, but he walks over and pulls me up, “I can grab your books after class and bring them by if you want.” He smirks at the end, and that look says everything. He just wants to finish what we started, and I’m all for it.
“That won’t be necessary, Ezekiel. I have an hour before my meeting. I can walk Nerezza to get her books and make sure she gets back to her dorm safely.” He stands and straightens his cuff links, and Zeke stares at Levi for a few moments before reluctantly nodding.
Pulling me into a hug, he whispers, “Desidero me cor meum. I’ll miss you. And I will see you later.” He gives me a brief kiss on the cheek and walks out the door, leaving me to Levi, who’s staring at me.
“So. Um. How was class?” I ask. Just a few hours ago, Levi was holding my hand and making me feel butterflies. Now the butterflies are digging their own graves with embarrassment. I honestly didn’t know that was a thing. He smiles at me, showing off a dimple, and those butterflies are jumping for joy and throwing their shovels in the air, not caring where they fall. Those hussies. They need to get with the program and remember he probably doesn’t like us like that.
He holds his hand out for me, and I gladly take it as he walks me back towards campus and back to my class. While he escorted me back to the class from hell, we chatted about our classes so far. It turns out he has a professor that only speaks Latin and is monotone. Fingers crossed I don’t get that teacher ever. And when I told him Lynx pissed on Chief Cloak, I got a chuckle from him.
A few minutes later, we arrive, and I shuffle in while Levi shoots off a text.God, I can’t wait until I get a phone.
Heading to my desk, my high spirits plummet at finding my books scattered out of my bag and some wholly torn to bits. My school map is useless, with the words ‘human trash bag’ scrawled over it. I sigh and quickly start cleaning up the mess. Hopefully, I can get this cleaned up before Levi sees and—
“What’s this?” Levi asks, walking up behind me. There goes my hope of him not seeing this shit.
I look over my shoulder and give him a tight smile, “It’s nothing. I just need to clean up my mess real quick.” Hurried now, I reach out and pick up a red piece of paper that I don’t recognize but isn’t in shreds, and shove it into my bag.
“Here, let me help,” Levi pulls me back so I’m standing and pushes in front of me. He lifts his hands, and the papers all follow suit before he wiggles his fingers and the trash lands in the trash can.
“Wow, that’s a nifty trick. I bet you’re a hit at all the parties. Can you fetch drinks too?” I ask, smirking at him. I’m trying so hard to hold in tears. Why am I so emotional lately? I swear, even when all my hair got cut off at school as a prank, I never cried as much as I have here.
Levi’s cheeks stain red, and he clears his throat. “Well, my dad can fetch drinks, so maybe I’ll see if he can teach me how,” he grins at me and my heart soars once again. I love seeing this side of him. “But I don’t go to many parties.”
Placing my hands on my hips, I lay on the sarcasm, “No way, Sherlock. I wouldn’t have guessed that.” I give him a cheeky grin and his lip twitches.
He picks up my bag and slides the strap over his head so it lays across his chest. Bag situated, he gives me a sly smile, “Now, why do you say that?”
He brings his arm out for me to take, and I slide into him. “Well, Mr. Armani. You look like you’re the type to enjoy control. A party is anything but controlled. Or maybe it’s just controlled chaos. Pandemonium at its finest,” I say, squeezing his biceps.
Damn, those are hard. My heart falls when we walk by the trash can where my books lie in a pile.
“Don’t worry about the books. I’ll make sure you have new ones before tomorrow morning.” Levi rubs his hand over mine that’s resting on his arm as he leads us back out of the room and towards my dorm. How did he know I was worried about them?
“I don’t have anything against parties, just never found a reason to go,” Levi states as an afterthought.
