Page 24 of Needed You

After switching out of my social media app, I save Lev’s number in my phone. Then I type out a text and delete it. I try again and delete it again. Everything sounds stupid. I try again, stare at it, groan, and delete it once more.

I move to my bed and pull the covers up over me, and then I finally decide on something safe and simple.

Me: Thank you for my clothes and food.

I hit send and put my phone down, ready to try to sleep.

Chapter 13

Levon

Lycan: Thank you for my clothes and food.

Heading out toward the sunroom at my parents’ house, I glance at the text from Dare for probably the tenth time today, a smirk working its way onto my face. I know I shouldn’t be looking at it right now, not when my parents and sister are around, but I’m obsessed with the way this single text has been making me feel ever since I woke up to it this morning.

It admittedly didn’t feel great when Dare snuck out of my apartment the morning before, but I don’t know what I expected, really. A nice breakfast together? Maybe a make-out session and a walk hand in hand down by the lake? Yeah, right. I do, however, like the way my heart flutters when I read the text again, and I can easily imagine him saying the words in person, his eyes sparkling and his teeth playing with his lip ring as he grins up at me.

I’ve always had this innate feeling that I need to protect and care for him, even when we were kids. As Nate’s brother, he was around a lot, always trying to tag along and wanting to be a part of what the Wolf Pack was doing. Nate tolerated it to an extent, but he got a lot more frustrated with Dare than I did, and I remember sometimes having to step in and tell Nate to back off.

I wonder what Dare thought about that then. And I wonder what he thinks about it now, how I tried to be there for him and protect him again. My heart constricts as I realize that I could have handled things differently and maybe kept in touch with him after I left town. With a sigh, I shove my phone back into my pocket and step across the threshold into the sunroom, where Lindsey is sitting, drawing.

Her head bobs side to side, and she’s got her earbuds in, so she doesn’t even know I’m here. I smile and walk up behind her, smacking her lightly on the head. She lets out a gasp and rips one of the earbuds out, turning around.

“You scared me,” she breathes loudly.

I laugh and take a seat on the rocker in the corner of the room. “What are you up to?”

She points to her sketchbook. “Just a few ideas,” she tells me. “I got home from work—oh, Dare came in for breakfast yesterday—and I decided to try to draw a few things.”

Her voice is muffled, and I didn’t hear anything beyond that Dare went to the diner for breakfast yesterday.

“What time?” I cut in.

She squeezes her eyebrows together. “What?”

“You said Dare came in yesterday. What time?” My heart beats loudly in my ears.

“I don’t know, Lev,” she says on a sigh. “It wasn’t long after we opened, so like six? Six thirty? Whyyyyy?”

I rub my face with my hands.

“Lev,” she deadpans.

I let it all out in a rush, knowing what she’s thinking. “He was at the Exchange the night before, and he got pretty drunk. He was in no shape to drive, and he was puking his guts out, so I didn’t want to leave him alone at his house, and I didn’t know what time he left because he was gone when I woke up.”

She gives me a sly smile that I ignore. “Well, if it helps, he looked kind of . . . peaceful? I don’t know. Anyway”—she swishes her hand in the air—“he ate and left and that was that. What’s going on with you two?” Lindsey narrows her eyes at me. “You were weird with him when I was with you at the Exchange, and when the guys were busting on you, you got all quiet and broody.”

I turn to her. “I do not brood.”

“You so brood,” she snaps back. “But seriously? Is something up?”

I sigh. “No. Nothing is up.” I mock her words. “I’m just worried about him. He lives alone, his parents seem to have forgotten him, and he was really drunk. I would have done that with anyone.”

She gives me the side-eye. “Mmmkay. You know what I think? I think you liiiiiiike him,” she teases.

“I don’t want to know what you think,” I say jokingly.

“What? I know you, Lev, and I know your heart. You like him!”