“Max? When did you become a difficult man to find?” I asked him, walking over to them. Audra looked between us not saying a word. Whatever she was looking at suddenly became extremely interesting. Her eyes dropped like she was scared.
“Pot calling the kettle black? What do you want Levi?”
“I need to talk to you.” Max shot a look at Audra who was doing a good job at pretending she wasn’t listening to us. “Ms. Francini is working. She won’t miss you if we step outside.”
Max was like our father. He hated making a scene. He was an improbable mix of the loud, entitled rich man who wanted everyone to do what he said, and the guy who wouldn’t send a salad back if it had wilted leaves because he wanted everything to go smoothly. The man who would cause a media frenzy leaving his wife for his son’s Argentinian au pair, but wouldn’t say anything when a waiter poured wine into his lap.
He was mad, though and a little worse than our father was at masking his emotions. I felt the outrage rolling off of him as we made our way out into the hallway.
“What the fuck do you want, Levi?” he spat.
“Max, Dad was right. He used to say you were the only one out of us he could see himself in, and I get it now. You look like him. You sound like him. You even chase young girls like him.”
“Young girls? She’s twenty-six.” I kept the next thing I wanted to say to myself. He did like her. I could see why—anyone could see why—but the why wasn’t the problem. He was. I liked competition, but not this kind. I also didn’t like to think of Audra with another man, especially not this one.
“Hm. Meaning your age was already in the double digits by the time she was born. I thought you were seeing someone?”
“Who I see and don’t is none of your business. The relationship between Audra and I is none of your business.”
“Oh, Audra? Sorry, I didn’t know you guys were on a first name basis.”
“Why do you care so much, Lee? What does she have to do with anything?”
“If you’re losing work hours coming down here to flirt with young women, it’s a problem. Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten the lion’s share of Dad’s business holdings.” Max’s face changed, morphing into a smile.
“Levi, if you like her that’s fine,” he said condescendingly. “I hate to be childish but, uh, I saw her first.”
“We’ve never competed for the same women, Max, and I am not about to start playing those games with you. Ms. Francini is working for the family. You’re just making her job harder than it needs to be.”
“Dad left you a number of responsibilities too, Levi. Why are you here instead of attending to them?” he asked.
“I was here discussing finance and expansion with the manager.”
His face darkened.
“I’m the owner; you discuss that with me.”
“Can you pencil me in? Is your schedule too full? It can’t be because you’re here harassing Ms. Francini.”
“Who’s harassing her, me or the guy who just interrupted her conversation?”
“Dad’s shit is mine till it goes to auction. You see why I have a good reason to be here?” I asked sarcastically. “Don’t throw yourself at her, Max. It’s embarrassing.”
“That’s not what she thought the other night,” he said. He saw it on my face before I could hide it. Shock. He had seen her? Socially? When? Why? He smiled triumphantly. “How’s later today sound for you? Come around three. I’ll pencil you in.”
I watched him leaving. When I had walked in, they were together. She had a smile on her face, and he was laughing. What the fuck was going on? I knew it wasn’t a relationship. No. That was off the table. They were friendly. Friendlier than I liked to imagine them. My chest felt tight. No, I wasn’t feeling jealous, I told myself. This was Max we were talking about. There’s no competition when it comes to the two of us. None.
Thinking about he and Audra together made my stomach turn. Beautiful women made bad decisions all the time, I mean, my mother had married Jackson Strickland. It happened. This, whatever this was was not going to happen. Max thought he saw her first? Too bad the decision between the two of us wasn’t his to make.
I walked back into the room. She looked up as I entered.
“Where is Max?” she asked.
“He had to leave,” I said vaguely.
“That happens a lot when you show up,” she said. What? Did she want to be there with him? I dismissed the thought.
“I want to see you again,” I said to her, cutting to the chase. She looked at me.
“Why?” she asked simply. This was the part when she asked me for the time and place, not the reason.
“Because I want to fuck you,” I said, coming towards her. She didn’t retreat when I did. Her hair was all tied back, twisted and tucked at the back of her head. She had glasses on which I thought made her look younger.
“You already did,” she said. She turned her back to me. I leaned into her, pressing my body into hers. I wrapped an arm around her to hold her still. I kissed the back of her neck. “Stop it,” she said weakly.
“No.” I spun her around, so she faced me. “Why do you keep doing that? Saying no to me is just saying no to yourself.”
“Why do you think I want anything to do with you?” she demanded.
“I don’t think you do; I know you do. You know it too. You’re saying no because you don’t want to feel what you’re feeling. You want me to fuck you. You want me to dominate you, make you scream.” She was shaking her head. “Remember what I told you when we were at your house?”
“I don’t want you,” she said. She lied. Her face was down as she said it.
“You’re lying.”
“I don’t want you,” she said again.
“Look me in the eye and say it,” I challenged. She looked up and leveled her gaze with mine. Christ almighty, what did I just ask her to do? Was she about to say it? I didn’t want her to. Jesus Christ, was she about to say she loved my brother? I watched her eyes, her breathing was steady, but she was biting her lip. I don’t think she realized she was doing it. It was distracting. She looked towards the ground again and sighed.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you,” she said. “I shouldn’t have touched you. I’m… I can’t give you what you want. I don’t think we should see each other again.” She let me tilt her head up, so she was looking at me. “Please don’t,” she said. It was like the same halfhearted request she had made before, but her voice was tearful. Her eyes were glassy like the tears were coming any second. She cursed under her breath and pulled her glasses off.
“Why are you upset?”
“I don’t want you to…” she paused and looked down, sniffing. “If all you want to do is fuck me, I can’t let it happen again. There are plenty of girls who’ll let you pump and dump them. I’m not one of them,” she said. She was whispering. I saw her wipe her face. The dam had broken. Pump and dump. I know those words hadn’t just come out of her mouth. She felt used. She thought I had used her like a human Fleshlight and was done.
“Look at me,” I told her. She sniffed and looked up. Her face was coloring. Her tears made trails down her cheeks. I leaned in, gauging her response. She didn’t move. I kissed her. I let her open her mouth before I tried to get inside. I wanted it to be gentle, but having her that close to me with no one else around made it hard, and me hard. I pulled away from her. Her lips were still parted.
“Never talk about yourself like that again,” I said to her. I looked in her eyes, and I can’t say how much time passed before she finally looked down and wiped her face again.
“I have to get back to work,” she whispered.
“Let me see you again,” I said. I saw it in her eyes again; it was back. Hesitation. Was I going to have to beg her? Fuck that; I didn’t beg. I wanted her to say yes. I needed her to let me. To submit to me. She nodded.
“Yes or no, sweetheart? I need to hear it.”
“Yes,” she said softly. I kissed her ag
ain before leaving—that time on the forehead.
I walked back to the parking garage. It could have gone worse. At least she didn’t try to claw my eyes out if she was mad at me. Nope, she did something worse; she cried. I didn’t want to answer the question of what I would do to never see her in tears again because I was afraid the answer would be anything.
I climbed into the driver’s seat of one of Dad’s cars. He didn’t collect cars; he just had a couple. It was the Aston Martin 077. I chose it because it was what I liked to drive back in New York. Maybe Vanessa would like it when I finally went back. I took my phone out and dialed Max’s number. I waited for him to pick up.
“What?” he asked. I resisted the urge to say something slick about Audra.
“Where are you, I want to talk?”
“Work. What do you want?”
I put the car in reverse and stopped it, shifting back into drive.
“I want the auction house.”
12
Audra
Really, Audra? Tears? I don’t want to be the girl you hit and quit? I’m sorry for not following instructions like a good girl? What had gotten into me? What the fuck was going on? Levi had come into the warehouse space and told me what I wanted to hear from him, that he wanted to see me again, fuck me again, but see me again.
There were so many ways I could have responded; tears were not one of the appropriate ones.
Part of getting better was recognizing you had a pattern, and I had a pattern. Wasn’t this the same shit I used to do with Brandon? How many times had he asked me to give him another chance, and that he would be better that time? How many times had I given in and let him just waste my time again, like Zahira had said?
Maybe this was apples and oranges. I would turn Brandon away because he had done something wrong. Because we were in a relationship and he had violated that agreement somehow. Levi and I were not anything. He was just the man pursuing me because he wanted to be with me. He wanted to fuck me. That was what he wanted. He wanted to fuck me. I couldn’t make this into something else in my mind.
Cut and dry. That was how it had to be if it was going to be anything. He didn’t ask me out. He didn’t want a relationship, and that was fine, as long as I didn’t either. And I didn’t. If I repeated it enough times, it would be true.
I didn’t have siblings. I didn’t know what was going on between Max and Levi, but I sort of didn’t want to know. I got a call from Celeste asking me to see her that weekend—that lunch she had wanted to get with me. We started by choosing a restaurant, then changing it, then finally settling on lunch at her house because she was heading out to LA for a short trip. She lived in Pacific Heights.
Celeste opened the door for me. Was she a model? If not, why not? She was stunning. She was luminous like she had her own studio lighting that focused just on her. I hoped she was wearing makeup because her skin looked like it had never been blemished in her whole life. On top of that, she was well read and was nice too? How? One or two of those traits, but all of them at once? It just wasn’t fair. She hugged me again when she saw me, inviting me in.
“I hope this is alright. We could go out, but I thought this would be nicer. Less formal?”
“This is fine, your home’s beautiful,” I said to her.
“Hear that Lee? At least someone appreciates my talents,” she said. The house had an open floor plan. There were plenty of white and neutral tones that made the dark accents stand out.
“I’ve told you I like it a thousand times,” Levi said from the kitchen. He walked out. His sleeves were rolled up, and he smiled seeing me. I smiled back because that might have been the first genuine, warm smile I had seen on his face. It made him look like a different person. The same person, but young and non-threatening. Handsome and friendly. Instead of feeling anxious seeing him, I felt calm.
“Alright, Lee, now that she’s here, you have to leave if she doesn’t want you to be here,” Celeste said to her brother. She passed him entering the kitchen and coming back with a white serving dish in each hand. Oh God, did she cook too?
“I brought wine. I hope you don’t think I’m trying to intrude. I wanted to see you again, thank you for all your hard work.” I blinked a couple of times. Which one of his alters was this? The person he was when his family was around, or at least his mother and sister? He was ruthless when his brother was around. “So? Do I get to stay?” he asked, how was that, playfully? I shrugged, a little thrown off. Did I like this Levi? He was nice. So nice it put me on edge. When would he turn?
“Fine by me. I can’t really kick you out; it’s not my house.”
“It’s not really my home either. Levi owns it. I just stay here when I have to be in the Bay,” Celeste admitted.
“Where do you live, LA?”
“Close. London,” she said smiling. “Levi, you’re such a bad host, why haven’t you offered Audra anything to drink?” she called into the kitchen. I smiled. She was teasing him. How was he so antagonistic with Max but so playful and friendly with her? She had invited me to sit at the dining table where she had sat by me. Levi was still in the kitchen. Please tell me he was cooking. Was there anything sexier than a guy who could cook?
“London? So just your brothers live in the Bay?” I asked. Levi walked out of the kitchen with two glasses of wine for the two of us. There were white dishes of food along the center of the table. He sat on the other side of it.
“Just Max. I live in New York,” he said. “We’re just here to mourn our father’s passing.”
I felt that little jolt I felt whenever I spotted a fellow New Yorker on this coast.
“Can I guess? Do you have an unobstructed Central Park view from your bathroom?” I asked. He smiled.
“Hudson River Park. Tribeca, actually. You never told me where you’re from.”
“Brooklyn,” I told him. He furrowed his brow a little and tilted his head to the side.
“Hm. That’s okay. A lot of good people are.”
I giggled. Okay, could I have Levi on this setting all the time? Celeste was watching us like she knew we had had sex but was going to let us think she didn’t.
“Let’s eat,” she said, thankfully not saying anything else. She had cooked some of the stuff, but she’d bought the rest. It was all Latin American food. Argentinian. That was where their mother was from, I learned. Their mother. They, Levi and Celeste didn’t have the same mother as Max did. I mean, since they mentioned it, I could see it. They looked the same—related. Max did too, but he didn’t have that tan skin and dark features thing. That was all from their mom.
I didn’t have siblings. Mom had started fostering kids when I was already in high school. I loved watching the banter between Levi and Celeste. I was having trouble reconciling his contradictions. We eased into an easy conversation discussing whatever came up—their family, the auction, east coast versus west. The food was delicious. Celeste mentioned she was getting married to her longtime girlfriend who she was expecting a child with and I had jumped at the chance to talk about her ring. I had seen it before; I just hadn’t thought it was polite to talk about since we were still strangers.
Levi was pleasant the entire time. I was lulled by his apparent mood. He offered to give me a ride home since I’d decided to take the train. That was when it started. It was like it was a full moon and he was turning. He walked me all the way to the door. By the time we were there, the lust radiated off him. I could feel it. The sexual tension was thick.
“Can I come in?” he asked, looking at me.
Was there a good reason to say no? There wasn’t. I wanted him to come in. I wanted to do it right this time. I held the door open, and he walked in. After locking it, I walked directly towards the kitchen.
“Lunch was great, thank you,” I said, simply wanting to fill the dead air. I reached into the fridge for a bottle of water. The transformation was final. He had been light and easy with Celeste, but he was dark and intense now. He walked up and leaned against the kitch
en counter. His arms crossed over his chest.
“Come here,” he said. I didn’t hesitate. I walked up to him. He put his hands on my shoulders and slid my jacket off, dropping it on the counter. His hands ran up the bare skin of my arms. “Do you know what I like, sweetheart?” he asked me. His hands left my arms and instead traveled under my top, pulling it up. I raised them silently so he could pull it off. He dropped it on the floor.
“N-no,” I said, shakily.
“I like to be in control. That’s what I want,” he said. He hooked two fingers into the waistband of my jeans and pulled me towards him so he could unbutton them and drop the zipper. “That is what I want from you. Turn around.” I turned silently. He unhooked my bra, and I let it fall to the ground. I felt his hand run through my hair. “I know that’s what you want too. Take your shoes off.” I took them off, losing three and a half inches of height. His finger ran down my spine making me shiver. He pulled my jeans off. I stepped out of them.
“Turn around,” he said again. He looked at me. I was down to my panties, and he was still fully dressed. “I’m going to send you to your room. You’re going to wait for me on the bed, on your back and I am going to fuck you. If you don’t want that, when I come into the room you will be fully dressed. Understand?”
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, sir.” I saw his eyes flash when I said it.
“Go. I’m giving you five minutes.”
I closed the door to my bedroom and let out a ragged exhale. I went to the bed and laid out on my back. I had every intention of letting him ravish me. My heart thumped audibly in my chest. My panties were soaked. He hadn’t even touched me yet. This was how he wanted me. I propped my knees up, so they were in the air. Did he want me completely flat? I let my legs rest flat and jumped when I heard the door open and close. He strode briskly to the bed. He looked at me like he was going to eat me. He leaned over my body and fingered the lace of my panties.
Levi (Heartbreakers & Troublemakers Book 4) Page 9