His Every Desire (Contemporary Romance Box Set)

by Alexis Winter

  She pulls me over to the table and sets me down. Her eyes never leave me for long as she fixes two cups of tea.

  As I sip my tea, an idea crosses my head. “I know what I’ll do.” I pull my phone from my back pocket. “I’ll try signing into the security cameras and see if I can see him. If we see something on there, I’m leaving and going to him. Deal?”

  She nods. “Deal.”

  17

  Levi

  When I get off the phone with Dani, I sit up and rub my eyes, needing to wake up. It was my intention to stay awake all night, being ready in case he showed up again. I’ve left both doors unlocked, pretty much inviting him inside.

  I hate that Dani feels like a prisoner. I’m only trying to keep her safe. Sometime over the past month, we’ve moved past friends, jumped over friends-with-benefits, and went straight to being in a committed relationship. She’s worked herself under my skin; she’s become a part of me—the best part. I love her with everything inside of me, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with her by my side.

  Visions of the future start playing out before my eyes: our wedding and honeymoon, buying a new house and starting a family, watching our children grow as we get older, being old and gray and still needing to hold her hand to sleep. I’ve never been one to dream of the perfect future, but since I’ve gotten closer with her, that’s all I can do: look to the future and trust that everything will work out in the end.

  I push myself to stand up and head to the bathroom for a shower. I quickly get Psycho flashbacks of being murdered in the shower, but I have to do something to stay awake. I climb beneath the hot flow of water and let it pour over my head. I wash my hair and body and then sit on the built-in bench to relax a while. I put my phone on the security feed and place it on the rack that hangs around the showerhead so I can still keep an eye on things.

  I sit in the shower until the hot water runs out, then I climb out to dry off and get dressed. I towel dry my hair and pull on a pair of basketball shorts. I don’t bother with a shirt or shoes. When I walk out of the bathroom, my eyes land on the clock beside the bed. Three in the morning. I shake my head as I push myself through the bedroom and down the hall. Maybe some coffee will help me stay awake.

  I’m walking down the hall when an alert on my phone goes off, telling me the balcony door has been opened. My heart starts pounding, echoing in my ears, but I push myself forward, knowing exactly what I’ll see. As I walk through the living room, I grab the baseball bat I’ve kept by my side all night. Walking into the kitchen, I pause when I come face to face with Nick.

  He freezes when he sees me, his eyes glancing down to the bat in my hands. He pulls his dark hood back, and he smiles. “What are you going to do with that?”

  “Whatever I need to,” I reply, not taking my eyes off him.

  He holds up his hand, showing me his palms. “I just want to talk, man.”

  I feel my brows raise. “Oh, really? Is that what you wanted to do earlier tonight when you followed us to our boss’ house?”

  The vein in his forehead begins to pulsate. “You mean when you were fucking my fiancée?”

  “She’s not your fiancée, and she hasn’t been for a long time.”

  He takes a step toward me, pointing his finger at me. “You were supposed to keep her safe, not fuck her.” Anger is drenching every word. He stands up tall, sucking in a big breath so his chest puffs out.

  “Neither of us ever meant for it to happen, Nick. Honest.”

  “Oh, you never meant to fuck me over? I feel much better now,” he laughs out.

  “We never meant for anything to happen. When I offered her a place to stay, it was just to help her out. But the more time we spent together, the more we realized we enjoyed each other’s company. I won’t apologize for it. If you hadn’t been doing the shit you were doing, none of this would’ve happened.”

  “So, this is my fault?” He points at his chest. “It’s my fault that the woman I love is fucking my best friend behind my back? It’s my fault that a guy I’ve known and called my best friend for years stole my fiancée right out from under me? I think you knew what you were doing the whole time.” He laughs as he begins to pace. “Here I was, playing an inning, and you were out there, plotting the whole damn game. You’ve been planning this since college, haven’t you?” He looks at me, but everything he’s saying sounds so crazy, I don’t know how to answer.

  “This was your plan all along. Get close with Danielle, become her friend, and then swoop in and steal her the moment I fuck up.”

  “That’s bullshit, and you know it. I told you many times to stop fucking around on her. I told you that she’d find out eventually. But you didn’t care about her then, so why do you care so much now?”

  “Because she’s mine!” he yells, taking another step toward me.

  “I’m the one who took care of her. I made sure she had a place to live, food to eat, and I spoiled her, buying her clothes, shoes, jewelry. I made her the woman she is. Now I’ve lost everything. I won’t lose her too.” His jaw is cocked, and his biceps are flexed.

  “What have you lost?” I ask, holding my arms out at my sides.

  “Everything. I lost my job. I lost my apartment. And all because of her. Well, there’s one thing I can take back. I won’t let you stand in my way. Where is she?”

  “You lost your job?” I’m hoping to distract him. For what, I have no idea. But the longer I keep him talking, the longer it holds him off.

  “Yeah, I lost my fucking job, and it’s all her fault. I couldn’t go to work, not while she was over here riding your fucking dick.” He takes another step.

  “What do you want with her? You really think you can just go back to how things were? You think you’ll be able to drag her out, kicking and screaming, and she’ll just stay with you, love you, marry you?”

  He pauses. It looks like this is the first time he’s thought this far into it. If he gets her, what’s going to make her stay?

  “She doesn’t love you, Nick. How could she? You did nothing but leave her alone. You cheated on her. You traded dinners with her for parties with drugs. And then when she tried to leave, you held her against the wall by her throat. You not only caused her mental pain but physical pain too. How could she ever look at you the same?”

  “This is all your fault. You wouldn’t let her come back to me. You were only thinking of yourself. You took her for yourself. You can’t tell me it didn’t cross your mind the first time you touched her, kissed her. You had one taste, and you decided right then that she was yours. Well, Levi, nobody takes from me.” Without another word, he rushes toward me, tackling me, and taking me to the ground.

  In my fall backward, the bat flies from my hand. It clatters to the floor several feet from me, but I don’t have time to get it. All I can do is block the hits coming at my face as he sits on top of me, throwing punch after punch.

  I thrash against him, trying to knock him off of me. There’s nothing I can do from beneath him. Nothing but block his hits and hope he wears down soon. Somehow, he lands a hit to my jaw, and it cracks loud. My ears ring, and my eyes get a little fuzzy, but I fight harder to knock him to the ground.

  I use every bit of strength I have and roll us over. Taking a swing, I land a punch to his nose. It starts bleeding on impact, and he cups his hands around his nose to catch the blood. I pull my fist back again, but before I can swing, he bucks upward, throwing me off of him. I scramble to get to my feet, and so does he.

  The front door swings open, and Dani runs in with Mia behind her.

  “Stop!” Dani yells, eyes flashing back and forth between us.

  Everyone freezes as she rushes up to me. She cups my face, and I flinch when she touches the bruise forming on my jaw.

  “Are you okay?” she softly asks.

  “I’m fine. What are you doing here?” I ask, spinning her around so Nick can’t even see her.

  “You didn’t answer
your phone. I got worried and looked at the security footage. I saw Nick walk in the balcony door, and I rushed over here. I was so worried he’d hurt you.” She pulls herself to my chest.

  I cup her cheek and kiss her deeply, savoring the taste of her on my tongue. “You shouldn’t have come here,” I say against her lips.

  “Yes, she should have,” Nick speaks up from behind me.

  I turn around to face him, shielding her behind me. “You need to leave. She’s not going anywhere with you. I know we were friends at one point in time, but that time is over. I won’t hesitate to call the police. I shouldn’t have to remind you that you are breaking the order of protection.”

  “Call the police if you want to.” He takes a step to the side, trying to get Dani to look at him. “Danielle,” he says her name loud and strong. “Look at me,” he demands.

  She jumps from his harsh tone, but she steps out from behind me.

  “Come with me, Danielle. Let’s put all of this behind us. Let’s go home.”

  “I am home, Nick,” she says, strong and sure. “I love Levi. I want to be with him. I want you to leave us alone.”

  “You don’t mean that, Danielle. I know you don’t. He’s tricked you. He turned you against me.”

  She shakes her head. “That isn’t true. Levi loves me.”

  “No, I love you. I loved you first.” He reaches out and places his hands on her biceps. “All he did was weasel his way in when he saw that you were hurting. That’s when this started, didn’t it? After you came running to him, he used your pain against you. He manipulated you. He’s always been jealous of me. Can’t you see that? Taking you, it wasn’t because he wanted you. He just wanted to hurt me, wanted to take my life.”

  “That’s bullshit, and everyone knows it,” I say, stepping up to her side.

  “Really, Levi? You think it’s bullshit?” Nick says, releasing her and turning toward me.

  “Yeah, that’s what I think. I didn’t manipulate her. I didn’t trick her into being with me.”

  A wicked gleam fills his eyes. “If this was about her, why didn’t you tell her that I was cheating on her before, huh? You had plenty of chances to. You’ve watched for years while I got drunk and took woman after woman. All this time, you’ve lied to her face about it all. You just sat back and watched me fuck up while lying to her about it.”

  “What’s he talking about, Levi?” Dani asks, turning to me.

  “Yeah, Levi. What am I talking about?” he repeats.

  I turn to face her. “It’s true. I knew he had been cheating on you, and I didn’t tell you. I wanted to stay out of it. We hadn’t gotten to be very close yet, and my friendship loyalty was with Nick. But as time passed, we got closer and became friends. I told Nick he was being a dumbass. I told him to stop fucking around on you. That you were too good, deserved better.”

  “You knew? That’s why you were so angry when I told you about the engagement, isn’t it? You knew he wouldn’t change.”

  “Dani, I love you. Does it really matter that I knew about all of this? It’s all over now, anyway.” I reach for her hand, but she pulls it away.

  “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you knew he was cheating on me, and you didn’t have the common courtesy to tell me. You just lied to my face day after day, probably laughing and joking with Nick about how stupid I am.”

  I shake my head. “No, Dani. That’s not true. I tried to get him to stop. I didn’t like seeing you treated that way. I knew you deserved better. That’s another reason why I stopped hanging out with Nick. I saw that he was turning into someone I no longer considered a friend. I mean, if he had you, the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, someone smart and kind and funny, and he could treat you that way, I knew it was only a matter of time before he fucked me over too. I wanted to be there to protect you. I didn’t want to be the reason you hurt, and if I told you the truth, you probably wouldn’t have believed me anyway.” My words are coming out so fast that I don’t even know if they make sense. All I can think about is the way Nick is manipulating her. He’s turning this all around on me. She knows he’s the bad guy, but now he’s making me look the same way.

  “I can’t do this right now,” Dani mumbles, turning and heading for the door.

  “Dani, wait,” I yell, chasing her out into the hallway. I catch her wrist and spin her around. Her chest presses to mine, and I pull her in for a kiss. Maybe if she feels me, feels my love for her, she’ll realize I never meant to hurt her; maybe she’ll listen.

  But she shoves me away as tears fill her eyes. “If you can lie to my face about what he’s doing behind my back, how will I ever be able to trust that you won't do the same?” Without another word, she turns and steps into the elevator.

  I stand there, stunned.

  “I’ll talk to her,” Mia says.

  I nod, unable to talk.

  “Is it true, though? Did you know what he was doing behind her back?”

  Again, I nod.

  “And you didn’t tell her?”

  I shake my head.

  She swallows down whatever she wanted to say next and carries on, stepping into the second elevator. She pushes a button and crosses her arms over her chest. Her eyes meet mine just as the doors close.

  Feeling broken, I turn and walk back into the apartment. Nick is sitting on the couch, feet kicked up on the table, a strong drink in his hand.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I ask, freezing in front of him.

  He nods toward the table where there is another drink. “I figured we could both use a drink.”

  I shake my head as I pick it up and tip it back. It goes down in one smooth gulp.

  “Why’d you do that? Why do you gotta fuck everything up?” I ask, throwing my glass against the wall. It shatters on impact.

  “If I can’t have her, you can’t either.” He smirks.

  18

  Danielle

  “Come on, Danielle. Just come back to my place and crash. Where else are you going to go?” Mia says from behind me.

  With her words, I freeze. She’s right. Where else am I going to go? I mean, I could go to a hotel, but all that will do is drain my bank account before I can even find a place of my own.

  “Fine,” I breathe out, turning to face her.

  We walk back inside the building and get on the elevator to go down to the garage. I slide into the passenger seat of her car, and she twists the key.

  On the ride back, neither of us talk. I’m numb. My mind is an endless list of questions. Why didn’t Levi tell me the truth about Nick long ago? Why did he offer me a place to stay if he didn’t care about me? Was it really just to get back at Nick? And what did Nick mean by Levi always being jealous of Nick? Up until this past year, they seemed like really good friends. I never would’ve thought that Levi would be jealous.

  I tell myself that most of the questions I have are just shit Nick put into my head to make me confused. Nick wanted to make sure I left with him, not Levi. Hell, Nick would’ve said anything to make sure I don’t end up with Levi. I guess the question that really holds any importance at all is: why didn’t Levi tell me what Nick had been doing? Even if he didn’t want to be the reason for our breakup, why didn’t he tell me after I’d left him? Why keep it to himself all this time?

  “I know you’re mad, Danielle,” Mia says as she pulls the car back into her garage. “And you have a right to be, but—”

  “Please, just don’t,” I say, rubbing my eyes. I have a painful headache that’s causing ringing in my ears. All I need is sleep. A deep, dreamless sleep where I don’t have to feel or think.

  “All I’m trying to say is—”

  “No offense, Mia, but I don’t care what you’re trying to say. I don’t want to hear you stick up for him, because I know that’s what you’re trying to do. Right now, I want to be mad. Is that okay?”

  “Of course,” she replies, turning off the engine and climbing out.

  On our walk back up to her apa
rtment, she doesn’t talk, and I refuse to think. I don’t want to have these questions. I don’t want to think about Nick or Levi. I don’t want to question their friendship or loyalties to one another. I don’t want to do anything but go to sleep and escape my problems for a little while.

  I crash back onto the guest bed, and Mandela is still lying curled up in a ball. I run my hands over her shiny, black coat, and she purrs loudly.

  “Must be nice to be a cat,” I mumble. “Your biggest problem is that your food bowl isn’t completely full.” She nuzzles his head against my hand.

  I take a deep breath and let it out as I snuggle into the heavy blanket and thick, fluffy pillows. Closing my eyes, I see Levi. I see his icy blue eyes and silky hair. His squared jaw and deep dimples when he smiles widely. I can smell him like he’s lying behind me. I can taste him like his lips are pressed against mine.

  In all the years I was with Nick, I never felt this way. Right now, there’s a pain in my stomach, and I don’t know where it’s coming from. There’s an ache in my heart like it’s been ripped in two. Is Levi my soulmate? Is that why this hurts so much? I loved Nick, but even when I found him cheating on me, it didn’t hurt this much. Levi did nothing but hold back some secrets, and I feel like I’m dying.

  Before I can get too lost in my thoughts, exhaustion takes me under.

  I sleep long and hard. I don’t think I moved at all in my sleep. When I wake, I look at the clock to see that it’s nearing four p.m. I sit up, and my body is stiff from being still so long. I pop my neck, and my back cracks when I stand.

  I open my bag and pull out some fresh clothes, then hit the bathroom. I walk out nearly an hour later to find Mia on her computer.

  Her eyes find mine. “Good morning. There’s coffee in the kitchen.”

  “Thanks.” I walk past her into the kitchen and pour myself a cup.