Chapter 10
Levi
“Finley?” I blurt, shocked to see her in Anders truck as they pull away. Lead sits heavy in my feet and my stomach rolls. Not to mention the pounding in my ears that’s not going away any time soon. “No, what the hell!”
I’m fucking married?
“Shit,” Kat mumbles, shaking her head and throwing her hands to her hips. “I didn’t want her to see us here. You think she knows?”
I glare at Kat, unable to find words that fit how I’m feeling right about now.
This afternoon’s gone to hell in a hand basket fast. I didn’t want to leave Finley there alone but King was about to take Alexa prisoner if I didn’t get him out of there. He was drunk before we got on the boat but by the end I saw the look in his eyes and he had them set on her. Then Kat followed me here, said she needed to use the bathroom so she walked in and I didn’t stop her.
I didn’t stop her when she went into my room.
I didn’t stop her when she started talking.
I just sat down, unable to do anything else.
“We’ve been legally married for two years now,” she said. “When we took that trip to Vegas for my birthday we got so drunk and I remember waking up next to you. No rings, but the paperwork was all there.” She had shoved the papers at me and I sank to the floor. My legs failed me. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. She said that she was scared to tell me that morning because she’s loved me her whole life. She didn’t want to ruin anything. She felt like she could make me fall in love then it’d all be okay.
I spent an hour listening to excuse after excuse and started putting the puzzle pieces together. I pushed date after date on her, trying to find her someone and she’d always laugh them off. Never serious about anyone. And the last few times we hung out were getting…weird.
Fuck me.
“Kat, we need this taken care of. Immediately.”
“Like a divorce?” Her eyebrows pull together and I growl.
“More like a ‘You fucking lied to me for two years about something this huge and I need you out of my life.’” With my fists tight at my side, I storm towards my car.
“Wait, where are you going?” She runs after me with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Levi, I love you!”
Fuck!
“No you don’t! You love the idea of being comfortable, Kat!” My hands run through my hair in pure exhaustion. “You don’t know the first thing about being in love, Kat. Not if you do something like this to the guy you ‘love.’”
She throws her hands in the air and lets out a scream.
“Come on! Like you do? You’re the last person on the planet who’s going to get married, Levi!”
“Marriage doesn’t mean love, Kat,” I growl, glaring her down. “Obviously you of all people should know this.” The burn registers on her face and she shakes her head.
“You know nothing about love, Levi Walsh. You’re a pig who married a girl in Vegas and didn’t even remember.”
I huff, letting out an annoyed laugh. She’s right about that, but it’s not like I married her then didn’t tell her and let her go on with her life trying to trap her into a relationship.
Fuck me. I was worried that falling in love with her sister would ruin this relationship. But Kat’s done that all on her own.
“Let me tell you what I know about love, Kat. I know when you’re in love you don’t hide something this big from someone. I know that…that when you’re in love you can’t stop thinking about that person. Obsessing over them. Wanting nothing more in the world than for them to be happy and healthy and you’d do anything in your power to make that happen. When they’re happy, you’re happy. Full. And when they’re hurting?” I curse and shake my head. “It hurts so badly. There are no lies. There are no secrets. There’s truth and honesty and beauty. You…you want that person in your hands every minute of the day. You don’t want them out of your sight.” I curse and Kat looks at me. “You can’t stand to be away from them.” My eyes travel down the street where I saw Anders pull away and my heart’s beating in my throat. “Love is insane, but it’s not this.” I wave between us. “It’s raw. You can’t force it and you can’t stop it. I can’t. I couldn’t if I tried.” I sigh, shoving my hands into my pockets and kicking the pebbles in the driveway.
Something changes in Kat’s features. Like she’s realized something…finally.
“You love her?” her pained whisper comes out and I wince, rubbing my hands over my eyes. I need out of here. I need to call Finley. I need her to know right now that we’re okay. “I thought I saw something between you two.”
“Yeah,” I grumble.
“You promised me you’d never touch her, Levi.” Tears well in her eyes but there isn’t an ounce of guilt in me. Not after what she just pulled.
I glare at her, rage and fury burning in my gut.
“We were kids, Kat. I didn’t know the first thing about falling in love back then.” I sigh and shrug. “I do now. And it’s not fair to deny what either of us are feeling.” I hate that it came out like this. I hate that I’m the one that had to tell her when I promised Finley I wouldn’t. Two promises to two Reeves sisters and I’ve broken them both. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner. But I’m not sorry it happened.”
“Why her and not me?”
I look at her and wonder where my best friend went. All I see right now is a pitiful excuse for a woman and it makes me sad that this is who she turned into. A woman so starved for attention that she’d hide something this big just to feel that ounce of attachment to someone.
Jesus.
“Don’t do this, Kat. I have to go find Finley.” I curse and shake my head. “I fully expect you to get the paperwork for the divorce drawn up. It shouldn’t be that hard all things considered.” I glare at her for a moment before sliding into my car. I slam the door and don’t even bother looking back at Kat as I speed off. God knows what’s going to happen with this relationship. In my eyes it’s over. But I need her to get rid of the marriage. I need this whole thing over with.
Dialing Finley, it goes straight to voicemail. I try eight more times, driving all over town trying to find them but they’re nowhere.
When I make it back to her work, after calling both of them a dozen times, I see her car and decide at some point she has to come back to it. At some point she’s at least either got to come into work or come back to get her car.
So I wait.
I sit. And I wait. And I think, trying to recall what happened in Vegas that got us in this situation.
***
“It’s my birthday!” Kat yells over the crowd and everyone screams and cheers while she dances on the table of this bar. I grab her legs when she goes to topple over and she falls onto me, taking me down in a fit of laughter.
“You’re crazy,” I laugh, trying to stand but we’re both pretty far gone right now so it takes a little extra effort.
“Yeah, but you love me.” She smiles wide and plants a wet kiss on my cheek and I hug her.
“Truth.” I groan, trying to keep myself vertical.
“Shots!” someone yells at us and passes each of us two shots.
I shrug at Kat.
“What happens in Vegas, right?” I say, then down them both back to back.
***
Ha. What happens in Vegas apparently doesn’t stay in Vegas, though. Not when it’s a legal marriage. I sit there for hours trying to figure out what happened that night. I remember the shots. I remember waking up the next morning…but everything after that’s a blur. It doesn’t seem real that we’re…married.
My phone buzzes and I yank it up to my dad’s number calling.
“Hey,” I mumble, staring at Finley’s car and shifting in my seat.
“Where are you?” he blurts.
“Out. Why?”
“The projection of the storm changed, Levi. We have about a day to get out of here before it gets too insane for us to leave. I need you here to pack up.”
“What?” No! “Dad, can’t we do it tomorrow?”
I’m met with silence and groan. I can practically see the look of disappointment on his face.
“I need your help, son.” He huffs and sighs. “Look, I know you don’t want to leave her. But she’s gotta get out too. This isn’t something to mess around with. Once it passes we’ll be back down here I’m sure so it’s not like this is goodbye forever. It’ just goodbye for now.”
As he keeps rambling on and on about the storm I see a truck pull down the street. Anders’ truck. My dad goes on about the list of shit we have to do but my vision blurs as the truck slows and passes the parking lot. Finley’s in there, but she’s not looking at me. She’s staring at the dash, and I see very vividly his eyes hit mine as he rolls by…and keeps going.
“Dad, I have to go.” I end the call, cutting him off and probably asking for an ass reaming when I get back but honestly I deserve it. I deserve a lot right now, but I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve her ignoring me like this so blatantly. I deserve to be able to talk to her about what she probably heard. I gun it out of the parking lot and follow the truck for a half hour until finally it pulls over. The whole time I’m calling them. Begging them to answer…but they don’t.
The beach Anders pulls over on is a deserted area this time of night and when Finley steps out and her eyes hit mine my heart flops in my chest, trying to get to her. Even my damn heart wants nothing to do with me right now.
“Baby,” I whisper, noticing her red-rimmed eyes. Anders pops his door open and stands, glaring at me from across the truck.
“You alright, Fin?”
Fin? Who the fuck is he to give my girl a nickname?
“I’m fine,” she whispers. “I’ll be right back.”
No the fuck you won’t.
“You can leave, Anders,” I say. “I’ll get her home.”
His eyebrows shoot up and he laughs.
“I’m good. After what we heard today she needs a friend that won’t fuck her over.”
“Goddammit,” I growl, glaring at him. “I’m not fucking her over.” My hands are shaking and I feel like I could punch something right now. Like his face.
“You’re mar—”
“Stop!” Finley shrieks then looks back at him. “Wait in the truck, Anders.” She pins me with those eyes and I feel like I’ve shrunk to an inch tall. “You.” She walks over to me. “I trusted you.”
“Can you please let me explain?”
She crosses her arms in front of her and lifts an eyebrow at me.
“You have five minutes.”
“Can we take a walk at least?”
“I think we’re done with our beach walks, Levi. I’m not a home wrecker.”
I growl and walk over to her, needing to touch her. My hands push to the sides of her face but she pulls back, stepping towards the truck.
“No. No touching. You’re going to tell me what made you think you didn’t have to fill me in on this very important piece of information. Do you know how stupid I look? How dumb I feel?”
“Finley, I swear to you I didn’t know.” I run my hands through my hair, itching to touch her and not being able to is killing me. She lets out a laugh and shakes her head.
“I don’t believe that for an instant. Try again, Levi.”
“I swear to God, Finley.” I yank out the papers from my back pocket that Kat gave me back in my room. “It was Vegas two years ago, for your sister’s birthday.” She takes the papers and looks over the signatures then shakes her head and throws them back at me. I growl, crumbling them and stepping closer to her. “I love you, Finley. I promise you I was so fucking drunk that night and I still, to this day, can’t remember it. I know it looks bad, but I didn’t know. I would have never done something like this sober. You’ve got to believe me.”
Her lips push together and her eyes sparkle in the moonlight.
With tears.
When one slips down her cheek I instinctively move to wrap my arms around her, because watching her hurt like this is ten times worse than the hurt of finding out my best friend fucked me over.
But she steps back and throws her hands in their air.
“I don’t know how to feel right now, Levi.” With a huff, she straightens her back. “I think you need to take care of that,” she says, pointing to the papers in my fist. “And I need some time.”
“Baby, there is no time.” I step closer and she steps away, backing against the truck door. I see Anders glaring at me from inside the cab and curse. “The storm’s changed pace, Finley. We have to get out of here tomorrow or we’re not getting out at all. Just come with me, we’ll pack whatever we can in my car and we’ll head home. Where we can figure this out together.”
She gives her head a small shake.
“I’m not going with you,” she whispers and it feels like a knife’s been planted in my chest.
“Don’t do this,” I manage to pull from my throat. My body’s on fire right now from fear that I’m losing the one girl I’ve always wanted because of this fucking stupid mistake years ago.
Her hand grips the handle of the truck and she looks at me.
“I need some time, Levi.”
“Finley, you have to believe me I don’t remember this!” I’m frantic now, yelling at her and waving the crumbled paper in my hand.
“After everything settles down I’ll call you. I promise.” She looks at me with so much heartbreak that tears well in my eyes.
“Finley, please,” I whimper as she pops open the truck door.
“Please be safe, Levi.” She slides in and I let out a scream of rage when she slams the door and Anders pulls away. Rocks fly as I kick at the ground, letting it all out.
Fuck!
Speeding home, I sit on my front porch waiting for her to come home all evening until finally deciding I need a good night’s sleep if I’m going to win my girl back with a clear mind tomorrow. But a little after one am I decide that’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever thought. I need her with me to know we’re going to be okay.
I cross the parking lots and front lawns that separate our places and bang on her door until I hear the latch click. My heart’s in my throat but when Kat answers I growl.
“Where’s Finley?”
“She’s not here, Levi. Give it a rest.” She rubs sleep from her eyes like this isn’t affecting her at all.
“How are you so calm about all this?” I growl. “You’ve royally fucked up so many people’s lives, Kat.”
She chuckles and cocks her head at me.
“It takes two people to get married, Levi. Maybe if you weren’t such an ass back then you would remember that.” She grips the door and leans her head against it.
“And maybe if you weren’t so self-conscious and needy you would have been straight with me since the morning after and not tried for two fucking years to trap me into a marriage I didn’t ever want.”
“You said you loved me.” She narrows her eyes. Who the fuck is this girl? Not my old best friend, that’s for damn sure. The Kat I knew wasn’t this twisted and conniving.
“Yeah. Like a fucking sister.” I grimace. “First thing tomorrow morning you’re getting this taken care of or I’m suing your ass.” I don’t even know if I can do that, but it’s the best I’ve got. She’s a goddamn lawyer! Fuck, this is going to cost me an arm and a leg if she decides to battle this.
I stomp home and lie in my bed for another two hours, calling and texting Finley to no avail. She’s cutting me out of her life.
I hear the front door finally open and I count backwards from twenty to calm myself before murdering my best friend.
“Where is she?” I storm into his room the minute I hear him stomping up the stairs and King and Kellan glare at me from their beds.
“It’s three in the fucking morning, Walsh.” Kellan turns over and pulls the blanket over his head.
“Shut the fuck up.” I growl, kicking his bed frame. I grew up with the man in the same class as him but I barely feel like I know him. He’s mysterious and I have yet to decide how much I trust him, but our dads were best friends so I have to put up with him. “Where. Is. She.” My fists tighten at my sides as I shoot daggers at Anders for taking my girl away from me. Why the hell was she even with him in the first place?
Hell I’m ready for a fight.
“She’s safe, dude. Leave her alone.” Anders pulls off his shirt and tosses it in the hamper. He spins and smirks at me. “Give it time, asshole. You royally fucked this over. She’s trying to wrap her head around everything and I don’t blame the girl for needing space. I talked her out of breaking up with you, but you need to respect her space.”
The way he’s talking about Finley like he suddenly knows her better than me makes me snap. Rushing him, I shove him against the dresser and the shit they have piled on it topples to the floor, crashing to the floor.
“You’re going to tell me where you took my girl or I’m going to make sure that smile isn’t that pretty another day in your fucking life,” I roar.
“Get the fuck off me,” he grunts, shoving me back but I retaliate full force and shove back, pushing harder this time.
“I’m not joking, asshole. Where the fuck is she?” Hands grab me and pull me off him and my vision blurs with rage. “Where is she!” I bellow.
“What the hell’s going on up there?” My dad’s voice booms up the stairs and King’s grip on me is tight as fuck. I try to fight out but the man’s got a tight hold on me, cursing up a storm when I toss my head back and hit him in the face.
“Fuck, Walsh,” he growls but it doesn’t make him loosen his grip. If anything it just made it worse.
“Levi.” My dad blurts, making it to the top of the stairs. “What the hell, boys? It’s the middle of the night and I have a house full of grown ass men acting like teenagers!”
“Your son fucked up, Mr. Walsh.” Anders says, crossing his arms in front of him. Like he’s not worried at all that I’m about to kick his ass.
Just as soon as King lets go of me.
My dad sighs and shakes his head.
“Big surprise,” he mumbles and I let out a puff of annoyance.
“He took Finley somewhere and isn’t telling me,” I blurt, shoving against King to try and loosen his grip.
Jesus Christ this man’s strong.
“Because you broke the poor girl’s heart and won’t let her be! Twenty phone calls in an hour, Walsh? That’s stalker material.”
“Shit,” my dad huffs. “What the hell, Levi?”
“It’s not my fault,” I growl, my heart hammering in my chest. It’s hard to breathe. It’s hard to think. It’s hard to fucking do anything other than think about the fact that she’s leaving me. She’s checking out and I can’t do shit about it if I can’t talk to her.
“King, let the kid go,” my dad says, waving his hand at King. “Levi, sit your ass down and start talking.”
I growl at them all, rubbing my arms where King had his death grip on me, and glare at Anders.
“I can tell you what happened, Mr. W.” Anders shakes his head at me. “Your boy over there’s a married man.”
“Married?” my dad blurts and I curse.
“God, no.” I groan. “Fuck.”
“Levi, this isn’t looking good, kid. You better start spilling or I can’t promise not letting these boys kick your ass for being so stupid.”
“Fuck, okay! I’m married, yes!” My stomach rolls and I want to vomit just saying those words. “But did I know it? No. Not at fucking all. I’m in love with my best friend’s little sister, but apparently I married said best friend two years ago when we were black out drunk in Vegas and don’t remember. She never even told me. Then I went and fell in love with her sister. I married the wrong goddamned girl,” I groan, falling back to King’s bed and staring at the ceiling. “Fuck.”
The room falls silent. I stare at the ceiling, praying to wake up from this nightmare. Honestly, how the hell does someone’s life get this fucked in a matter of a few hours? My dad’s laughter finally breaks the ringing in my ears and soon all of them are joined in.
“Wait, you got married in Vegas and don’t remember it?” He laughs harder and King’s snickers make me squeeze my eyes closed.
“Exactly. I married Kat two years ago and she’s known this entire time.”
“And she never mentioned it to you?” King asks and I shake my head.
“Never.”
“Can I please go to sleep? I don’t watch soap operas and I don’t want yours,” Kellan grumbles from under his blanket but everyone ignores him.
“Shit,” Anders mutters. “Man, did you tell Finley that?”
I sit up and glare at him.
“Don’t fucking talk to me right now.” I stand and walk over to him, shoving my finger in his chest. “You’re on my shit list, Pence.” Shoving him, I pause when I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. Frantically pulling it out, my heart sinks when I read her message.
Finley: This hurts more than you’ll ever understand, Levi. I’m leaving and I’ll be safe. You should do the same. Please give me the time I need to process this.
Holding my phone so tight I could crush it, I glare at King then to my dad. “She’s going home.” Where else would she ‘leave’ to? Home is her only option.
“Good. Then you can talk to her once you get back.” He clasps his hands on his thighs and stands from his spot on Anders’ bed. “Go to sleep you four. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”
“I’m trying to!” Kellan blurts. “Fuck.”
“Levi. Downstairs.” My dad points to the stairs and I curse, pulling my hands to the top of my head as I storm down the stairs.
Fuck that.
There’s no sleeping until I get back to my girl.
My phone buzzes again when I get back to my room and I roll my eyes.
Kat: She said she left to head home, Levi. If you want to have breakfast and talk this over we can.
Me: I want you to get the papers drawn up and tell me where to sign.
I toss my phone on my nightstand and lie on top of my covers, trying to figure out how I can make Finley not hate me.
***
“That was the longest drive of my fucking life.” I stand and stretch and Kellan watches me silently with his arms crossed in front of him. “What?”
Usually Anders and I do the drive together, but everyone agreed he’d end up dead on the side of the road if they were to put me in a cab with him, so here we are.
“You want to talk about long drives? Try being the one stuck in the cab of the car with a brooding man who’s ready to spit fire at anyone who looks at him the wrong way.”
“Fuck you.”
“Yeah, I got that message. Plenty of times, bro.”
I ignore him and walk up to the front door of Finley’s mom’s house. I won the coin toss on whether we’d go straight home or straight here. Kellan was pissed, but he’s not one to back down from a bet so here we are. Four in the afternoon and unannounced. It’s been two days since Finley’s replied to any of my calls or texts. Two days since my entire world changed.
Two days since I found out I married the wrong girl.
This morning on the drive here I got an e-mail from Kat stating she was back at work and in the process of filing the paperwork. She apologized again in the e-mail but I ignored it. I didn’t even respond. She’s not getting a response from me until she hands me those papers to sign. And then the only response she’ll get will be my signature on the line. I have nothing to say to her.
I bring my shaking hand to knock, praying Finley’s here. Where else would she have gone? I gave her space like she asked. But she’s had enough. This isn’t my fault…
“Levi?” Mrs. Reeves smiles sweetly as she answers the door. “What a nice surprise!” She hugs me tight like a mother would to a son she hasn’t seen in a long time and for a moment everything feels like it could be okay. Mrs. Reeves always acted like the mother I didn’t have. She was nice, she was kind, and she made killer pancakes.
“Hey, Mrs. Reeves.” I take a step back. “Is Finley here?”
The words feel foreign. Every time I’ve been on this front porch it’s been for Kat. Her oldest daughter. Now that I’m here for Finley the smile on her face fades the slightest and her eyebrows push together. My heart beats wildly in my chest, nerves rolling through my limbs as I watch her head shake ‘no’ slightly.
“She lives in Florida now, I’m sorry.”
A breath leaves me and I feel the panic rising.
“Uh…yeah.” Blink. Breathe. Don’t panic. “She had mentioned maybe coming home this weekend.” I shove my hands into my pockets and my entire body is wracked with nerves.
“I didn’t know you two talked,” she says, watching me carefully.
“Yeah…” I chuckle. “So she’s not here?”
“Unfortunately no, dear. She’s staying with a friend down there until the storm passes.”
Fuck. My. Life.
“Oh. Great. Okay.” I nod, my hands tingling with rage.
She’s still down there.
“I can have her call you next time I talk to her.” She chuckles. “But to be honest, you’ll probably get a hold of her faster than I can. She’s not been very responsive these past couple of months. I think she’s enjoying her life down there.”
“Yeah. Great, thanks.” I turn to head down the steps.
“Levi,” she calls out. I turn to look at her and I feel like she knows. I don’t know how, but she knows something’s not right. “The friend’s name is Alexa, I think. She said she’s safe. I wouldn’t worry if I were you. And if you hear from her have her call home, okay? Just to let me know she’s okay.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Reeves. I will.”
I trudge my way back to the car, feeling like there’s a hundred pound weight sitting on my chest. I pop open the car door and slide in, my ears ringing at the newscast Kellan’s watching on his phone.
“Hurricane Idom bears down on the Florida Keys, wreaking havoc on the everglades as the worst hurricane in the history of Florida hits landfall.”
My ears start to ring and Kellan gives me a look. The video on the screen shows the wind toppling over trees leveling buildings and I feel like I could hurl.
“She not here?” Kellan asks finally.
“She never fucking left Florida,” I whisper, panic rising to my throat and tears threatening.
I left her down there.
Fuck.