But when he asked her to stay, she couldn’t say no. The only thing she’d wanted to do that entire day was see him.
Not so he could look at her and give her tingles, not so he could touch and make her feel more like a woman than she ever had before, not so he could make her smile, which she found so easy to do with him. She needed to see him because a little part of her felt empty when she was without him. She had been carrying around that feeling since she was fifteen and he left. But now that he was here, when he wasn’t with her she felt that heavy emptiness even more. Things were going to be hard when he left again.
He said that it wouldn’t be like before. That they would visit, but she knew it would be very hard to get up in the morning and not have him to look forward to.
She picked up the phone to hear her father’s worried voice on the other end.
“Where were you? I’ve been calling you for hours.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. Levi is here. I wasn’t expecting to be gone for more than a few minutes last night.”
“Levi is in town?” The disbelief was clear in his voice. Her father had never thought he would come back. He knew how close they were and he used to kindly warn her that Levi had a new life now. That he met new people and ran in different circles. “And you were with him all night?”
“All the King boys are back,” she said, not answering his last question. “Lolly is in the hospital.”
“Is she okay?” There was genuine concern in his voice. “I saw her not too long ago before I left. She called me ‘preacher man’ and said if I was so pious, I would learn not to let my trash cans drift on her property. It’s not my fault the garbage man puts them back there after he empties them.”
“I know, Daddy. But she’s okay. She’s got kidney issues.”
“All the boys are back? Even Duke?”
“Even Duke.”
“Well, how are they? I keep up with them whenever there’s an article or something about them, but how are they in person? Having all that money can go a man’s head.”
“They are all good men.”
“And Levi?”
“Levi is still Levi, Daddy.”
“He’s treating you well?”
“No one, next to you, could treat me better than Levi does.”
“Did you tell him about what we discussed? About you dating?”
She was surprised that her father had asked, but she answered truthfully. “I did.”
“What does he think about it?”
She paused for a moment, curious as to why her father wanted to know. “He hasn’t really said much about it. He just listened. He didn’t seem for or against it.”
The only thing that really stuck out in her mind from their conversation last night was the question he’d asked. Did she want to start dating because she wanted to, or because her father thought she should?
Her father had suggested it, but it was Levi’s presence that made her realize she was missing out on love and sex and the type of relationships that most women her age had.
Levi made her realize that if she felt this good with him, it was possible to feel this way with another man.
But she knew realistically that she would never have anything near what she had with Levi.
“That’s interesting,” her father said.
“What did you think he was going to say?”
“I don’t know, pumpkin. I’m just glad you have your friend there.”
Her father’s words surprised her. She never thought he was all that fond of Levi, but he had never said a word against him even though there were plenty of times that he could’ve. “I am, too. I’ve missed him.”
“I know you have,” he said softly. “I just wanted to hear your voice. I love you, Michelle.”
“I love you, too, Daddy.”
She’d thought she would really enjoy her freedom this month, and she was, but she missed her father as well.
A lot actually.
*
Levi walked up to Grace’s house the next morning to see Duke ripping a piece of rotting wood from the porch with a crowbar. “You know, you could hire someone to do that for you,” he said to his brother. He had been hypervigilant since he got out of prison. The joke around the King’s Customs shop was that if you snuck up behind Duke you would end up in a body bag.
But Levi knew that it was close to the truth. He could only imagine what Duke had gone through in one of the most dangerous prisons in the country … and now he was living with the woman who was the cause of his long sentence.
“Hey.” Duke put down the crowbar and faced Levi, looking more tense than usual, if that was possible.
“I’m still pissed at you,” he said.
“Join the fucking club,” Duke said. But then he sighed heavily. “I’ve got a kid I don’t know and a woman who makes me want to bash my head in. Do you really think I have time to give a shit if you’re mad at me for not telling you something for two damn days?”
“But you can tell Colt and not me? This isn’t a little fucking thing, Duke. You have a kid.”
“Colt just happened to be there when I went to the old woman. You think I went to find Colt to tell him? He’s not my fucking therapist. And my business is my business till I make it your business. That shit is never going to change.”
“That’s why I love you, man.” Levi punched him in the arm, hard. Hard enough to let him know that even though he was the youngest, he was far from a kid. “How’s it going with Ryder?”
“He’s my boy.” Duke clearly didn’t know how to put into words the feeling he got when he looked at Ryder. “Sometimes I catch myself staring at him.”
“He looks just like you. Does he act just like you? You were a nasty son of a bitch when you were in school. Not that you’re pleasant now, but people were terrified of you.”
“He’s less angry than I was. He can still be a shit, but he’s not as mad at the world as I was.”
He had never thought of Duke as mad at the world. Just someone who always had a lot on his shoulders. It was as if he had been in survival mode his entire life; even after Lolly had come and saved him, he’d never let his guard down. But now he had everything a man could dream of.
“Who would have thought prison would make you softer?” Levi grinned at him.
“Yeah, the only people I have the urge to kill now are you and Colt.” Duke shook his head, and there was a little amusement in his eyes. “My boy is smart, Levi. A goddamn math genius. He was skipping class because he was bored. I had to hire a college professor to work with him. He’s not like me. I couldn’t even make it through school and that boy already knows more about math at thirteen than the two of us ever will.”
“We’re not stupid,” Levi said, knowing his brother thought in absolutes. Good and bad. Black and white. Smart or stupid. “You could have done fine in school if Dad didn’t fuck everything up.”
“Maybe,” Duke said. “Ryder is smarter than me, but I think he needs me. He needs a father. I want to do right by him.”
“You don’t want him growing up here, do you?”
“No. I never wanted to come back here. I sure as hell don’t want my kid raised here, and especially not around the judge.”
The judge had used his influence to get Duke a long prison sentence for a crime that probably would’ve gotten him probation if he were anyone else.
“But that’s his grandfather,” he said knowing how important family was. “The only one he has.”
“Ryder hates him.” Duke shook his head. “And I’m sure the man hates Ryder because he’s part of me. It must be a slap in the face having to look at the boy you told your daughter to get rid of.”
“The judge told her to get rid of Ryder?”
Duke nodded. “So what are you going to do?”
“Grace and I made a bet. If I can prove that I can stay here and be a good father to Ryder, then she’ll let me move them to Vegas. If not …” He trailed off.
“You don�
�t want to fight Grace, do you?”
There was a flash of something in Duke’s eyes—regret, or sorrow, or anger. Maybe all three, “I don’t, but I might have to if she doesn’t think I’m good enough to raise my son.”
“How the hell can you be mad as hell as someone for something they did, and still agree with it?”
Grace’s car pulled up then, and Levi watched Duke’s physical reaction to seeing it. It must be a slap in the face for his brother to see her driving around in a rusted piece of crap. Especially since he had everything. He could have given her anything and everything she wanted or needed.
“Hello, Levi,” she said when she got out of the car. She looked exhausted and upset and Levi felt bad for her. He should hate her for keeping his nephew away from them, for denying Duke the chance to be a father. But there was something about Grace that he liked. He had always liked her.
“Hey, pretty girl.” Levi wrapped her in a hug. “I came over to see if I could take your boy out later. I want to know him.”
“Of course,” she said. “As long as it’s okay with Duke.”
“You okay?” Duke asked her as she walked away from Levi.
She nodded and slid her hands over his cheeks. “I’m just tired.” She kissed his lips, soft lingering closed-mouth kisses that told Levi a hell of a lot more about what was going on between Duke and Grace than any words could. “I’m going to rest for a while.” She let go of him but not before she gave Duke one long last look. “You should come for dinner soon, Levi.”
“I will,” he said to her just before she walked away. “Whoa. What is going on between you two?”
Duke looked at him, almost as if he were shell-shocked. “Honestly, I have no idea,” he said, looking back at the door she had disappeared through. “She comes to me at night.”
“Oh,” he said after a moment. Holy shit. “Does she want to get back together?”
“I don’t know what the hell she wants. She says she wrote to me when I was in prison. But I never got the letters. She thought I didn’t want anything to do with her. She thought I knew about my kid and didn’t want to be bothered with him. I thought she knew me better than that. But I don’t know a fucking thing.”
“That woman loved you. Probably more than anybody has ever loved you. She feels guilty. I can see it in how she looks at you. I can see it all over her face. Put yourself in her place. You got sent to prison for her. She probably thought you never wanted to see her again. And she didn’t blame you because you’d never have lost so much of your life if she hadn’t gone out with Patrick Andersen that night.”
“I know all that in my head. But my damn gut burns every time I look at my boy and realize how much I don’t know about him.”
“I don’t want to be you, Duke,” Levi said, meaning it. Things between him and Shelly were complicated enough. He couldn’t handle what Duke was going through. “I can’t say what Grace is feeling but I can tell by the way she looked at you that she doesn’t want you out of her life.”
Duke said, “I’m going to take the boy to see Lolly later today. Come with us.”
The request surprised him, but he nodded. “Call me.”
He headed back to his car. He had planned to come here and tell his brother to treat him like a man, like a brother instead of a dependent. But he didn’t have to do any of that, because the conversation he’d just had with Duke was their deepest ever.
*
Shelly was in the kitchen placing freshly made chocolate chip cookies in a container when she heard her front door open and Levi walk in. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was him. It wasn’t just that he was the only one who walked into her house uninvited; she knew the sounds of his steps, liked the way they sounded on the floor. She was going to miss hearing them when he left.
She had gotten used to spending her days with him.
“What smells so good in here?” He came up behind her and dropped a kiss on her shoulder. Immediately she knew there was something on his mind. There was a shift in his energy, almost a sad thoughtfulness surrounding him.
“My father and I cook for a couple of the elderly in our parish. We take turns with some of the other members. This week it’s baked ziti, chicken noodle soup, and chocolate chip cookies.”
“I didn’t know you did that.”
“No? I never told you? Maybe I just didn’t think about it. It’s something we have been doing for decades now.”
“But your father isn’t here and you’ve taken on the task by yourself.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t even think about it.”
“You could have called me to help.”
“I saw you leave this morning. I figured you were busy. Besides, I don’t need no stinking help.”
Levi spun her around and kissed her. It definitely wasn’t a kiss you would give a friend. It was slow and long and deep. It was as if he had been saving up all day to give her that kiss, and if she was never kissed again she would die happy with that one being her last.
“What did you do that for?” she asked him, her heart thumping so hard she was sure he could hear it.
“I don’t know. I wanted to. I couldn’t stop myself from kissing you.”
“Levi …” She stopped herself. She wanted to ask him what was going on between them—surely he knew that they were different, that this wasn’t normal. That every time he kissed or touched or looked at her the way he did, her heart was at risk.
Her father had wanted to know about Levi when he last called, about what he thought about her dating, and she knew that was his way of reminding her that she shouldn’t get her emotions all tangled up in Levi.
He was reminding her that he would be temporary. He might love her forever, but he wouldn’t be with her forever.
They needed to stop whatever this was because she was going to be the one who ended up hurt.
“What is it, Shelly?” He stroked his thumb down her cheek, and she sighed internally. Today wasn’t the day to approach it. For the time being she was just going to let it happen.
“I-I saw in the paper that Duke now owns the factory.”
“What do you mean, Duke owns the factory?” There was edge in his voice. “I told Colt I wanted to turn it into a karting track.”
“Well, when your brothers were buying up the whole town, I thought you figured that this would be included.”
“But I didn’t want them to buy it for me. I didn’t want it to be just another part of King’s Customs. I wanted to make this a success on my own. Damn it.” He paced away from her and hit the counter. “I thought I had made some ground with him today.”
“You spoke to Duke today?” She grabbed his hand. “And don’t hit the counter. You know better.”
He flashed her a quick smile. “You sounded just like a teacher then.”
“It’s better than a sexless nun. Sit down.” She pointed him to a chair. “Tell me what happened.”
He sat, but he pulled her close to him, resting his head on her stomach and his hands on her hips. “We talked. He told me what was going on with him and Grace and Ryder. He’s pissed and he’s hurt and he’s scared.”
“Duke admitted he was scared?”
“No. But I think he’s scared of screwing up being a father. It’s hard to walk in and try to raise someone who’s a teenager and a stranger.”
“Why did Grace keep Ryder away from him? I’m forgiving, but I don’t think I could forgive her for that.”
“She said she wrote to him when he was in jail before the trial, but he never got the letters. She thought that he didn’t want anything to do with them.”
“I can believe that they kept the letters away from Duke. Chief Andersen was so angry at Duke for beating up his son. He stayed mad for years.”
“Yeah, the Andersens were supposed to be untouchable here. It was why I couldn’t stay. I didn’t want to be in a town where good men got sent to prison for trying to stop the actions of bad ones.”
“It’s not
like that here anymore,” she told him, resting her hand on his cheek.
“I know.” He looked tortured for a moment.
“Just tell Duke you want to buy the factory from him.”
“I will.”
“What else is bothering you? I know it’s something. I can feel it.”
He exhaled slowly. “It’s just got me thinking about my father. Colt was thirteen when he left. I was eight. Duke may have acted like a man but he was still a kid. If Duke barely knows his kid and he can love him already, how could our father—any father—just walk away from his children like that?”
She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “You know what I’m going to say.”
“That I need to read his letter?”
“Yes. And I’ll be right there with you if you want me to be.”
“Will you come to the hospital with me? You can meet Ryder.”
“Of course.”
“I want to take you out tonight. Dancing. Maybe you’ll have one and a half drinks tonight.”
“Sounds good.”
He looked at her, silent for a long moment. “I’m glad we came home. I think I needed to be with you this summer.”
“I think I needed to be with you, too.”
*
Levi waited in the car for Shelly as she dropped off the food she had prepared for her church’s elderly.
He thought it was sweet that she spent the majority of her day cooking for others and not even giving it a second thought. She was just naturally good, and he wondered what he did in his life to deserve somebody like her in it. Time was ticking away. He didn’t have much of it left here with her. He was always looking ahead, looking toward the future, but for once he didn’t want to think about what was ahead at all. He was living in the moment.
His cell phone rang and he looked to see that it was Fitz calling. He thought about letting it go to voice mail, but he knew Fitz would only call back and there was no reason to put this conversation off.
“Hey, Fitz.”
“Levi, baby! Good news. I got a call from a major motion picture studio. They want to put you in a racing movie.”
“What? A girl told me she heard that, but I thought it was just a rumor.”
“I put it out there that you might be open to such an opportunity. I’ve been sending out tapes of your show along with the ratings. We’re talking big money. And if we couple that with your racing comeback and the documentary, we are talking about superstardom, baby. You’ll be a household name.”
Heart of a Bad Boy (Bad Boys of Destiny #3) Page 16