Chapter 6

 

Elle

 

“Why did we not do this months ago?”

I lifted my head from Levi’s chest and looked at him, waiting for an answer to my question.  We had just finished round two of sex and, after disposing of the condom, Levi came back to the bed where he curled me into his body.

Round two, by the way, was incredible.  Quite frankly, I was beginning to regret the time we wasted in not allowing ourselves to enjoy this sooner, which is why I asked him the question I just did.

“I was trying to do the right thing,” Levi answered.

“The right thing for who?” I asked.

He gave me a look.

“It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, Elle.  Emme’s birthday celebration at Lou’s was probably one of the most difficult times for me.  Zane and Emme showed up late because, well, everyone knows why they were late.  I’ll never forget when you stood up from the table to wish Emme a happy birthday and you said you wished you had a reason to be late.  I wanted to pick you up, carry you out of there, and make your wish come true.”

“Really?” I pressed.

“Absolutely.  I’ve got to be honest; I’m not happy about this situation you are in right now, but I’m over the fucking moon that it has led to this.”

“What’s the plan for my situation?”

“I would love nothing more than to spend the day with you today, but I really need to get into the office to get some work done on your situation.  With the flower delivery you received last night, I have a little more to work with now.”

“It’s alright.  I have some last-minute planning and details to get squared away for my upcoming tour, so I’ll be able to keep myself busy.”

“Upcoming tour?” he repeated.

I nodded before explaining, “Yeah.  Nothing crazy.  I’m not some international superstar, but I’m doing a small tour here on the west coast.”

“How small?”

“Eight stops.”

“Fuck.  When and where?”

I grew tense and a bit upset.

“Why do you seem angry about this?”

“I’m not angry.  Just need to know when and where.”

“The first stop on the tour is next Friday.  I’ll be in Denver.  Then, I’m heading to Arizona.  I’ll be doing a stop in Phoenix and one in Tucson before heading to Los Angeles.  After LA, I’ll do a stop in San Francisco followed by two nights in Las Vegas, and finally ending the tour at Lou’s in Rising Sun.”

“Alright.  I need to get up, get ready, and get to the office because you just added a bunch of work to my caseload.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant and decided it might not be a great idea to ask.  Levi seemed a bit distracted and inside his own head.  I didn’t want to add any additional concern or worry to what he was already dealing with, so I simply suggested, “How about I go downstairs now and make breakfast while you get ready?”

“You don’t have to do that, Elle.”

“I know, but I want to.”

He held my eyes a minute before I continued, “A half dozen eggs, right?”

Levi nodded and smiled at me.

I flattened the palm of my hand to his chest so I could get up, but he held on to me.  When my eyes came to his, he challenged, “Are you forgetting something?”

My brows pulled together and my eyes darted back and forth.

Was I?

I felt his body shake before he spoke through his laughter, “Kiss me, sunshine.”

Oh.

Right.

That.

I leaned back in and pressed a kiss to his lips.

After, Levi let me go so I could make breakfast for us.

An hour later, my phone rang.

I had just finished cleaning up from breakfast and gotten the rundown from Levi on the security system at his house.  He wanted me to arm it after he left and explained every feature it offered.  Essentially, if something happened all I needed to do was push a button that would send a signal to the Cunningham Security offices.  He had hidden cameras in the house (he didn’t say where) and said that they’d immediately be able to see what was wrong and get help to the house.

If I was being honest, I was a bit freaked out by this.  To relax myself, I worried out loud.

“Someone is stalking me, Levi.  They might know where I live and where I perform, but what are the chances they know I’m staying here?”

Levi put his hand to my neck.  His thumb brushed back and forth against the skin just below my jawline as he answered, “I don’t know yet.  Until I know more and can possibly get a handle on who this is, I can’t give you that answer.  I’d like to think he doesn’t know you’re here, but I’m also alright with him knowing that.  If he’s got any brains at all, he’ll know my house is not the place to target you.”

“Ok,” I responded meekly.

“Would you prefer to go with me into the office?”

I shook my head.

He needed to work and didn’t need the distraction.  I had to get these last-minute details regarding my tour ironed out and I needed to call my parents.

After pressing a closed-mouth kiss to my lips and giving my neck a gentle squeeze he went on, “Ok, sunshine.  I’ve got to get going.  I’ll get back here as soon as I can.  If you need anything, just call me.”

“Thanks, Levi.”

With that, he left and I set the alarm before I went about cleaning up the breakfast dishes.  After I finished them, my phone started ringing, which led me to now. 

I picked up the phone, checked the display, and answered, “Hey, L.P.”

“Well, I’m thrilled to hear you sounding like that,” Leah started.  “I wanted to check in on you after last night.”

I loved Leah.  She was the sweetest person I’d ever met.  Most everyone who met her felt the same way.  Initially, this was usually because she was a very quiet and shy person.  As she got to know someone better she opened up and was a bit more vocal.  That’s when you couldn’t help but love the person she was.

“It wasn’t a good night,” I admitted.  “Thankfully, Levi was with me.”

“Did he figure anything out yet?” she asked.

“No, not yet.  He spent the night comforting me and holding me, but he left just a little bit ago to head into the office this morning and work on my case.”

“So, you’re alone at his house now?”

“Yeah, but he’s got a state-of-the-art security system; I’ll be fine.”

“I’m surprised he was willing to leave you.  Though, considering you sound like you’re in a better place mentally, I’m guessing that’s the reason why.”

“He’s the reason for my mood shift,” I shared.

“What exactly does that mean?” Leah asked, her tone accusatory.

She knew what I was hinting at and she was not going to allow me to not share details with her.

“Nothing,” I began, a small smile spreading across my face.  “Levi held me and comforted me last night, but then this morning he made good on our original plans for last night.”

“You slept with him.”

It wasn’t a question.  She already knew that I had, so I admitted, “It was amazing, Leah.  He’s got this incredible body.  Seriously…it’s to die for and he knows how to use it.  He was really good to me in bed and I like how he makes the effort to take care of me out of bed, too.  He’s got such a genuine heart.”

“Wow, E.  I mean, I get the hotness thing, but you barely know him.  You mentioned him to me once before back when you met him, but I didn’t realize you had gotten to this point with him.  I hope he continues to treat you right.”

I felt my insides warm thinking about Levi.  After the conversation we had about me paying him or, more accurately, me not paying him, I knew he would treat me well.

“So,” she announced, breaking me out of my daydream.  “Since you are there alone and I’m stuck at my parent’s house for one more night because they’re out and people are here working on the roof, you should definitely come over.”

“People work on roofs on the weekend?” I asked.

“Apparently the people my parents hire do.  Please tell me you’ll come and keep me company.  Bring your swimsuit.  It’s so hot and humid today; we can use the pool.  Besides, I want more details on your morning with Levi.”

“I’ve got the tour starting next Friday; I planned on working out the last-minute details of that this afternoon.”

“We can do all of that here.  You know what, bring your laptop with you.  I really need to get you set up and using your own social media accounts anyway.”

“You already know that I have no interest in that,” I retorted, rolling my eyes.

Leah had set up accounts for me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter a very long time ago.  I told her I didn’t mind so long as I didn’t have to deal with using them.  She agreed at the time, but for the last six months she’s been trying to get me to take over the accounts.  According to her, there were things I could do that would grow my following immensely.  I explained several times that I didn’t necessarily care about growing my following.  Since she took her many roles in my career seriously, she insisted that not having social media was not an option.

“Yeah, yeah.  I know.  We’ll discuss it further when you get here.  You are coming over, right?”

“I’m coming.  Let me get my stuff together and call my parents.  I need to fill them in on this whole situation.  After, I’ll head over.  See you soon.”

“Love you, E.”

“You too, LP.”

An hour later, I was glistening.

After getting off the phone with Leah, I changed out of my nightie and into clothes.  I packed a bag that included, amongst other things, my laptop, my notebook and pen that I always carried in case inspiration for a song came to me, and my bikini.  Before I armed Levi’s house and got in my car, which had been delivered from Cunningham Security sometime the day before, I made a call to my parents.

“Hello,” my mother answered after two rings.

“Hey, Mom.”

“I was actually going to call you today, Elle.  I wanted to make sure you were planning to stop by to see us before you head out on tour next week.”

“Well,” I started, a bit nervous.  “I’m not exactly sure.  I would like to, but I’m in a bit of a situation right now.”

“What’s wrong?”

I took in a deep breath. 

“I don’t want to worry you or Dad, but I think you need to know what’s going on.  I’m not currently staying at my apartment.”

“Why not?” my mother asked.  “Where are you?”

Oh boy.  This was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. 

“I’m staying at Levi Cunningham’s place.”

“Levi?” she wondered.  “Zane’s brother?  Why are you there?”

I went on to tell my mother everything that happened after Charley and I went out for lunch on Friday.  To say she took the news hard was an understatement.  She went crazy.

Eventually, my dad got on the phone because my mom was so worked up.  I explained to him what was happening and what we knew to that point, which wasn’t much.  He was upset, but managed to keep it together much better than my mother.

“I promise I’ll try to check in as much as I can while I’m on tour.  Wes knows and he’s insisted that Levi give him regular updates, so he’ll be able to fill you in as well.”

“Is Levi going to be going on tour with you?”

I didn’t know. 

“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly.  “He asked me about the dates for the tour today and told me I just added a lot to his caseload, but he didn’t confirm that he was going.  I would feel horrible if he did go.”

“Why?”

“Because he refuses to let me pay for his services as it is.  Going on tour with me would be ridiculous.”

“He’s not charging you?” my father asked, clearly shocked.

“No.  And I’ve tried talking to him about it.  He won’t listen.”

My dad chuckled.  “My guess?  He’s going to go with you.  If he’s not, I want to know.  I’m not real keen on you traveling all over the place with a crazy person after you.”

“Ok, Dad.  I’ll keep you posted.  I’m heading over to Leah’s now, so I’ve got to get going.  Tell Mom I’ll call her before I head out on tour.”

“I love you, Elle.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

I disconnected the call and left. 

The minute I entered the Price residence, Leah was giving orders for me to get my swimsuit on.

“I can’t stand to sit in this house listening to the banging on the roof any longer!” she shouted.

As quickly as possible, I put on my suit and we made our way out to the pool.  We lathered on the sunscreen and settled in two of the loungers.  I, of course, had to also apply a generous coat of lip balm.  Today’s flavor was candy apple.  I secretly wondered if Levi would enjoy this flavor.

“I’m not sure I understand your hardship,” I admitted to Leah as I looked through my shades back at the house where several tanned, half-naked men were working on the roof.  “There might be some noise, but you’ve got all that to look at in exchange.  Doesn’t seem like a bad trade-off to me.”

“Yeah, that’d be great if I could do more than just look at them.  I stayed here last night because my parents left so early this morning.  When I answered the door, the guy asked me if my parents were home.  When I told him they left two hours earlier, he asked who was home with me.”

“Oh my God.  I would have died.”

“Well that would never happen to you because…well, look at you.  He was gorgeous, I wanted to lick his entire body, and he thought I was a tween!”

I burst out laughing. 

“I’m sorry,” I got out through fits of laughter.  “It’s not funny.”

“It’s so infuriating and frustrating,” she sighed.  “Anyway, so what do you still have left to figure out for the tour?”

“Everything is squared away for Denver.  I’ve been in touch with the venue and the hotel is booked.  I’ve not confirmed anything beyond that.”

“I’ll take care of it for you between today and tomorrow,” she offered.

“It’s ok, Leah.  I’ve got the time on my hands now anyway; I can do it.”

“Listen, I’m stuck here until my parents get back tomorrow, so I might as well give myself something to do.  Besides, I have other ways for you to spend your time now.”

“I’m not tweeting,” I huffed.

“Elle, you’ve got to get with the times.  Social media is the key to expanding your career here.  If you are trying out this mini-tour to see if you want to take it to the big stage, it’ll be good to already have a loyal fan-base.”

“I like the fan-base I have now, though.  I don’t have high expectations for this tour to lead me to a place where I suddenly decide that I don’t like the feel of a small town.  I’m trying this mini-tour out, but I really love my life as it is now.”

“Ok, but you never know what could happen.  You might feel differently after the tour.  All I’m saying is that you should try it out.”

She leaned toward my lounger and snagged my phone from beside me.

“Here,” she started.  “Let me at least put the apps on your phone and show you how they work.  Give it two weeks and if you decide it’s too much or you really don’t want to do it, I’ll take over the role again.”

I let out a frustrated sigh.

Leah was not going to let up on this.

Two weeks.  I guess I could manage that.  I’d put in the time, make a valiant effort to use the apps, and then I’d tell her that it wasn’t my thing.

Perfect.

“Ok, fine.  Two weeks.  But if I hate it, I’m done.”

She smiled big at me and agreed, “Deal.”

Half an hour later, I had learned all about tweeting, stories, and statuses.  Leah made me post my first story on Instagram before I had to send out a tweet on Twitter with a link to the details of my upcoming tour.  Finally, she had me go live on Facebook.  It seemed as though she had already done an amazing job of building up my followers because I had no less than forty thousand people following me on each platform, but much more on some.  When I went live on Facebook, I was bombarded with questions from fans.  I had to admit that it was a bit fun being able to interact with my fans that way.  I hadn’t realized I had these options available to me.

“See?” Leah pressed.  “Wasn’t that worth it?”

“Alright, I’ll give it to you.  I had fun.”

“So, you’re going to keep it up for the next two weeks, right?”

“I promise I’m going to do my best,” I answered honestly.

And I would.  It wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be, so I figured it was worth a shot.

“Now, considering my love life is non-existent, I’m going to need you to share some details on what’s happening with you and Levi.”

I didn’t get a chance to answer before I was suddenly no longer being warmed by the sun.  I looked up to see one of the roofers was standing off to the side of my lounger, staring down at me.  He wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was checking me out.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, I shifted in the seat.

“Um,” I started.  “Is something wrong?”

The roofer’s eyes drifted from my body up to my face.  He broke out into a beautiful grin, which I had to admit was breathtaking.  It only slightly detracted from the fact that he felt like a total creep standing there gawking at me.

“Nothing at all,” he replied.

He answered in such a way that I knew there was far more meaning behind his words.

“Ok…” I trailed off.

“I saw you when you arrived earlier.  I’ve been trying to focus on my work on the roof and finally decided I needed to just come over and talk to you.”

“Me?” I asked.  “About what?”

“I’d like to take you out if you’re free anytime soon.”

“Of course,” Leah scoffed.  “How does this always happen?”

I hoped this wasn’t the same guy she had met at the front door this morning.  If so, then I was really going to feel horrible for her.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m currently seeing someone.”

“Lucky guy,” he mumbled as he pulled a card out of his back pocket and handed it to me.  “If that ever changes or if you ever need roofing work done, call me.”

I nodded as I took the card from him.

He turned on his boot and walked back toward the house.

I looked to Leah.  Tears were in her eyes.

“He’s the guy from the front door this morning, isn’t he?”

She nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, E.  It’s not like you wished all my faults on me.”

“What are you talking about, Leah?  What faults?”

“The fact that I look like I still belong in grade school, the fact that I hate what I’m doing for a living, or the fact that I have no knight in shining armor coming after me.

My heart hurt for her. 

“LP, those aren’t faults.  At least, not all of them.  You might look young now, but imagine how that’ll be when you’re sixty and you only look like you’re thirty-five.  There is a knight in shining armor out there for you.  He just hasn’t found you yet.”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to believe that my knight fell off his horse and broke his neck.”

I laughed before I continued, “What you’re doing for a living is another story.  If you want that to change, love, only you can do that.  I’ve told you this how many times now?”

“I know, but I can’t do that.  I’m worried about what people will think of me if I followed my heart and did something that I was truly passionate about.  It’s my family.  Being anything other than a vet is something they’ll frown upon.  It’s expected for me to have this career.  According to them, anything else is beneath me.  I miss our days at college.  Hanging at The Grind was the most fun.”

Now I was feeling nostalgic.  The Grind was the coffee house on campus at college.  They did karaoke nights and allowed students who were in bands to perform.  Leah and I always got up on stage for karaoke nights.  I performed solo a few times throughout my years at school, but didn’t get serious.  I knew I wanted to be a singer, but I didn’t want to overshadow my college experience by spending it focused on my career.

“You’re right, Leah.  We should do a karaoke night performance together at Lou’s after the tour.”

“What?” she asked astonished.

“It was a blast when we did them at The Grind.  It would be fun to relive old times.”

“No way.  I couldn’t, Elle.  You are a superstar and I’m just me.”

“You could be a superstar if you allowed yourself to follow your heart instead of worrying about impressing other people.”

“Let’s get off the subject of me and get back to the question you never answered.  What’s the deal with you and Levi?”

I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses at her.  She knew.  We had had this conversation many times before and it always ended with her not answering my question or finding a way to skirt around the issue.  I wasn’t going to force her to talk about it, so I usually just moved along. 

That’s precisely what I did now.

I spent the next few hours with my best friend telling her all about my morning with Levi and where I hoped to see things go between us.  As she always did, Leah sat there and listened before she offered me her thoughts.  Through it all, I hoped that I’d one day be able to give her the same support she had always given me.