Chapter 17
Levi
The rest of the day Sunday, Kathleen and I hang around my friends. Her and Kelly seemed to have hit it off well. Micah is coming around to her, but I don’t know what she is thinking.
When she’s in the kitchen getting Axel and Bone some juice, I wait. Once she hands it to them, I grab her by the arm and pull her outside.
She yelps and the boys giggle. They always love for Micah and me to play around. I let her pretend to beat me up a lot.
Once we are outside and I look at her, she has a smirk on her face.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She tries to hide her smile by biting her lip.
“Spit it out Mi.”
“Whatever do you mean, Vi.”
I run my fingers through my hair. This one drives me crazy. I think I may have grey hair because of her. I give her a little growl and she starts laughing.
“I think Kathleen has you a little tied up.” Micah says her name with a sassy little tone and I know she is mocking me over using her full name and not the name everyone else calls her.
Here’s the thing. I like to be different. Kathleen fits her better than Katie does. Kathleen has a sophisticated vibe about it whereas Katie has a fun flippant vibe to it. I really dig a sophisticated woman. I want a deep conversation with a woman. Not just small talk. I’m just calling her by what I want. But I won’t even acknowledge that I am interested in her like that.
Even if I am looking at her in an interesting way, I can’t do it. I can’t let anyone else in. Especially if Fred has anything to do with her attempted kidnapping. I don’t want anything he is a part of around me. I also don’t want him near her. I’m torn.
“I don’t have time to be tied up in her. Look at the mess we are in. How am I going to keep her safe, myself safe, and still prepare for TT in a couple weeks?”
“The same way you do everything else, Levi. You have a knack for taking care of people in a unique way. You always come out looking like a hero that didn’t know what he was doing but doing it great all along.”
I know she is referring to herself, and I just shrug. Helping her is easy. I do it out of normal instinct. I’ve been doing it for so long. Helping others can be a challenge. Kathleen’s issue is pulling at me, though. It’s pulling me in. She’s pulling me in. I don’t know if I like that.
“Take it slow, Vi. That’s all you can do. Figure out what is going on and just get to know her as you do it. You may be surprised at what happens.”
“I don’t need a woman in my life, Mi.” I walk away from her and pace over the grass in her backyard. I walk around toys that are all over the place. Feeling like I’m walking through a maze, I keep pacing.
“I know that. You don’t really need anyone, but don’t you want someone?”
“I need you, Kelly, Macy, Z, Chance and the kids. That’s it.”
“Again Levi James… don’t you want someone?”
I stop walking and keep my back to her. Do I want someone? Do I want someone like Kathleen? I don’t even know her? How can I want her?
“I don’t know her,” I whisper.
“That’s the point,” Micah whispers back.
Micah and I stay outside talking for a little while. Kids come and go. The others check on us, but we are content just to catch up, vent, and talk things out.
Before we start to head inside, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I stand, help pull Mi up with one hand, and pull my phone out with the other.
I’m expecting Ron or Dale.
It’s neither.
Unknown number: Don’t keep my prize from me too long, Levi. She’s going to get me a lot of money that someone owes me.
Micah has gotten to the door, so I call out to her. “Mi.” She turns back to me. “Tell Zant to come out here.”
“Sure thing.” She walks in and shuts the door.
“What’s up man?” Zant steps out the back door and sees my phone in my hand. I turn the phone around to show him the message. He reads it a couple times before looking at me. “I can only imagine what he means by that.”
“What does he mean?” I don’t have the slightest clue as to what he’s talking about, but I don’t like the tone of his voice or the look in his eye.
Zant runs his fingers through his short blonde hair and looks at the ground. I know he doesn’t want to tell me, but knows I need to know.
“Spit it out, Z.”
“He’s probably going to sell her if he gets his hands on her.”
“Sell her?”
“Human trafficking. Sex slave. There are several things going on in Martinsville from what I heard.”
I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. I don’t live in a hole. I know what those things are, but I’ve never known anyone that has been in there or related to it. Kathleen is beautiful, and I can only imagine the things that someone as evil as those monsters could do to her. My blood runs cold and I feel like I’m going to puke. Knowing that I literally ripped her out of the arms of Satan himself makes my knees week. I think I may pass out, but as soon as that passes, I feel rage.
It starts to consume me, and I feel Zant behind me. “Stay in the light Levi,” I hear him say. He’s known me long enough to know what is coming and I don’t know if I can stop it. I feel myself slipping.