Chapter 10
Kathleen
“Kathleen, wake up.” I open my eyes to Levi’s face. Why is he so close? I jerk back and hit my head. I look over and realize I’m still in his car. Rubbing the back of my head, I look around.
We are parked outside a simple little house in a cul de sac. It’s an old house with white siding and wood shutters. The front door is a deep maroon color I can only see, because the front porch light is on.
“Where are we?”
“My house.” I look at him, but he’s already getting out of the car. What does he mean by his house? Doesn’t he live in Martinsville? This isn’t Martinsville.
I open the door of the car and follow him to the front door. He opens it and I remember he called someone to have his house ready. They must still be here since the door wasn’t locked.
“Z, we here,” Levi says as he walks in and drops his keys on the table right inside the door.
I look around. It’s a simple lay out and set up. Deep brown leather, wood furniture, and stainless appliances. It screams bachelor pad. However, I look on the refrigerator, and there are pictures of kid’s drawings and paintings everywhere. Maybe he isn’t a bachelor. Maybe Levi James has kids.
After a second, a guy with sandy blonde hair and a devilish smirk comes into the living room. He’s about the height of Levi, but not as wide or as built.
They give each other a fist bump and then a hug.
“You wanna introduce me?” the guy says.
Levi takes a deep breath and turns to me. “This is Kathleen Roberts. She’s going to be staying here for a little bit. Kathleen,” he says to me, “this is Zant Taylor. He’s my brother.”
“Brother?” I ask, full of confusion. Everything I’ve ever read about Levi says he was an only child. His parents were never named, but it was stated in an article at one point that he was an only child. Besides, he just said this guy’s last name was Taylor. Something isn’t adding up.
“Yes. Brother.” He doesn’t give me any other explanation. He just walks into the kitchen.
“We aren’t real brothers. We’ve just known each other since we were five.” Zant steps closer to me and out of reflex and what happened earlier, I take a step back. He immediately puts his hands up in surrender.
“Not going to hurt you. Sorry. I’ll go into the kitchen. Get comfortable. It looks like you will be here a while.” With that, I feel like crap, and he goes into the kitchen with Levi.
I make my way to the couch and sit down. Not knowing what else to do, I make myself comfortable. I have no idea where I’m at, but I need to call dad. I pull my phone out and before I can tap his name, Levi speaks over me.
“Don’t do it, Kathleen.” I jump up, spin around to face him, and grab my chest.
“Jesus! Don’t scare me like that. I’ve had a bad night already.”
His knuckles turn white as he grips the back of the couch. “Sorry,” he says in a rumble.
Zant enters and walks to the door. “If I’m done here, I’m going home. My wife is waiting for me, and she expects to hear everything.” He gives a look to Levi. “She also expects to see you tomorrow.”
“We will be there with an explanation.”
“You better, brother. You better.” Zant then walks out the front door without another word.
~
Levi shows me to my room and gives me a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. After he backs out and shuts the door, I finally pull off my heels. My feet are killing me.
I gladly pull off the clothes that I purposely picked out for my date with Wilson. Not that I picked them out for him, but now, they give me bad memories of him and what happened earlier. I pull them off and toss them to the other side of the room. I will trash them after I buy something else to wear tomorrow. I never want to see them again.
I stop and throw out a silent prayer… please let where ever we are have a mall, or at least a decent clothing store. I don’t want to look completely horrible around Levi James. That can’t be how this goes.
~
The next morning, I wake up to the smell of coffee. I throw the blankets off me and make my way to the kitchen. I stop short when I see Levi standing at the stove. He’s shirtless and I think my heart just dropped to the bottom of my stomach. I don’t know. I have never seen a man’s back look so good, and I’m not a prude. I’ve seen plenty of guys shirtless.
Naturally tan skin. Wide shoulders. As he stirs whatever he’s cooking, his muscles ripple and I could watch them for days. His pajama pants sit low on his hips and I can’t help but wonder what’s underneath them. I stare at him just a few seconds longer before making my way to a barstool. I don’t want to make this anymore weird than it already is. He looks over but doesn’t say anything while he continues to stir.
“Morning,” I finally say. I’m not really a morning person, so he isn’t getting anything chipper.
“Morning,” he says with the same tone. Apparently, he isn’t a morning person either. Wonderful.
I finally notice that he is making eggs. I hope he has something that I can eat. I’ll need to fix something once he is done.
“I hope you like eggs.” I’m caught off guard.
“You made me eggs?”
“I was making eggs for me. You’re here, so I made extra for you. That’s all.”
Well then. “Ok. Thanks.”
We sit in silence as he finishes and plates our eggs. Next, he gives me a cup of black coffee. I just look at it. He huffs, turns, and pulls milk from the fridge. After sitting it and sugar in front of me he picks up his own cup and drinks the black coffee from it.
I pick up my fork and take a bite of the eggs. A moan exits me before I even realize it. When I open my eyes, Levi is looking at me like nothing I’ve even seen before. I wish I could read his mind right now.
Soon the look disappears, and he goes back to eating.
“So,” I say after finishing off my coffee, that taste like Heaven by the way. “What’s the plan?”
He finishes putting the dishes in the dishwasher before answering me. Standing with his palms on the bar and his arms extended, it looks like he is trying to stand on his toes, using his arms.
“I don’t really have a plan. You being here is sort of a detour to my original plan.”
“What was your original plan, or can I ask that?”
He answers my first question and ignores the second one. Surprisingly enough.
Levi isn’t a very open or talkative person. I’ve figured out that I have to drag everything out of him. That is if he answers me.
“I’m here to see my family. I’m going to do that still. In between that, I will be figuring out why Deep Pockets is after you.
“Deep Pockets? Who is that?”
“Deep Pockets is Russell Glint. He’s the guy that lost his money the other night.”
“Was he the racer? I’ve never seen him be…” I snap my mouth shut. I’ve told him that I’ve seen his races. I didn’t tell him I was there Friday night.
“You were at my race Friday?”
Busted. “Yes,” I say, lowering my head and looking at my hands. I don’t know why I’m embarrassed. There is nothing wrong with me liking racing. I look back up and he has his arms crossed over his chest.
That does nothing to calm my nerves.
I feel hot. Is it hot in here?
“Why, Kathleen. You really are a secret racing fan.”
“How would you know it’s a secret?”
“I’m guessing. You don’t look like the type.”
“What type do I look like then?” He looks me over for a few minutes without answering. I’m beginning to think he isn’t going to answer at all.
“I don’t know, yet. It isn’t a racing fan, though. That’s for sure.”