I shake my head. “I know you’re more than capable. You’ve proven that time and time again, but I think you’re wrong. I think Roman does more for you than you will ever know.”
“What makes you say that?”
I shrug my shoulders and look toward the entryway that Roman had just disappeared through. “I don’t know,” I murmur. “Just a feeling.”
I scoot back down on the couch, feeling the painkillers starting to do their thing, though I really hope Roman can come through with that morphine smoothie. The pain is manageable, but if there’s some way that I can forget about it all together, then I’m down. Perhaps a morphine smoothie isn’t really what I need, maybe I should be hitting up Marcus for something a little … stronger.
I glance back to Levi to find his curious stare on me. “What?” I ask slowly, watching as his stare lingers with an odd sense of pride. I narrow my gaze on him, unsure why nerves are bubbling through my system.
He shakes his head softly, letting out a gentle breath. “Nothing,” he mutters. “You’re just … kinda blowing me away.”
My face twists in confusion. “Huh?”
Levi laughs and sits up a little straighter on the coffee table. “You’re different,” he tells me. “You’re a fighter and not at all what I’m used to seeing around here. The girls our father drops on our doorstep give up. They don’t push back and they sure as fuck don’t have the balls to be out here making demands. But look at you. You’ve somehow turned this place into your home. You have Roman fetching you drugs and Marcus making a fool of himself. Fuck, little one. You got me to fuck you on the roof despite my better judgment.”
I scoff. “Don’t act like you weren’t into it.”
“I said no such thing,” he throws back. “I was down, but did I think it was fucking risky? Hell yeah.”
I meet his stare and push up onto my elbow. “What are you trying to say?”
He shrugs his shoulders, his gaze becoming soft and full of wonder. “You’re surprising me. We followed you for months before making our move. We thought in that short time that we’d learned everything there was to know, but I’ve never felt so lost. We thought we were getting a broken girl with absolutely no will to push back, but that’s not who you are at all. You’re thriving here. You’re going to make strides in this world that no other has before.”
“Okay,” I laugh. “Are you sure you didn’t hijack some of my painkillers?”
Levi rolls his eyes, desperately fighting the grin that threatens to tear across my face. “What I’m trying to say is that you confuse me. You’re like a puzzle that I can’t quite figure out.”
“How so?” I question, my brows dropping low.
He narrows his gaze, watching me closely. “Because that girl that I watched for so long was broken beyond repair. You were struggling and in a constant state of exhaustion. You only ever spoke to the old bat who lived down the hall and never treated yourself to shit. You worked more hours than anyone has the right to work, and for what? Your apartment was trash.”
I clench my jaw, glancing away as the shame of my real life quickly catches up to me, but Levi isn’t about to let me get away with it that easily. “What was going on, Shayne? We saw that eviction notice on your fridge.”
I let out a heavy sigh and fight back the tears that well in my eyes. “My father happened.”
Levi doesn’t say a word, just sits and watches me through a narrowed gaze. Though something tells me that he’s more than ready to sit here all day until I finally give him a glimpse into the real me. I slowly push myself up, painfully aware of my skin pulling around the stitches. Levi reaches out and helps me sit up, and I let out a grateful sigh.
“My father is a piece of shit,” I tell him. “I spent my whole childhood locking myself in my closet just to keep away from him. He was an angry drunk and would spend his nights gambling every cent we had. He liked horses, but poker machines were his weakness. By ten years old, I was fishing through dumpsters just to eat, and thinking about it now, it was a miracle that I even had a roof over my head. I was able to convince my local grocer to let me help stack shelves for a little bit of cash and I would hold on to that so tightly. It was only a few extra dollars here and there, but it was my greatest lifeline.”
I let out a breath, distantly noticing the way Roman and Marcus discreetly appear in the entryway with the two massive wolves at their side. I keep my gaze locked on Levi’s, knowing that if I dare look away, I won’t ever get the words out. “That job was everything to me,” I continue. “It gave me purpose and allowed me time away from home. When my father realized that I’d been hiding money from him, that’s when the real abuse started. I was only eleven when he first hit me. He would throw me down the stairs and ransack my room. I quit my job just so there wasn’t any more money for him to find. I thought that he’d back off, but he just assumed I was hiding it somewhere else. That went on for years and I toughed it out until the day I turned eighteen. I moved out of there so fast and never looked back. I had to sleep on the streets for nearly two weeks before I could find somewhere to live, but that first taste of freedom made it all so worth it.”