Page 82 of Hushed

I sigh. “I want to make you feel safe, too, Levi.”

“You do.”

I wake up with my phone ringing.

I sit bolt upright and Levi rearranges himself. I glance at the display and answer quickly. “Ronald! What’s up!”

“Good morning, and good news! They’re going to have this whole thing closed this week.”

“This week!” I say. Levi kisses my shoulders and runs his hands over my stomach. He arches his eyebrow at me.

“It’s been long enough,” Ronald says. Levi kisses down my sternum. I pull the phone away from my ear and mouth lawyer.

Levi mouths oh and stops trying to seduce me. Instead he reaches over me to the notepad he placed on the bedside table.

“…with the collapse of the original complaint, I’m frankly irritated that it took this long. So I’ll need you back in DC at least for Friday.”

“Friday,” I repeat. “Does it have to be this week?”

Levi writes the word transcript on the paper and underlines it.

“What do you mean? I thought you’d be over the moon to have this over.”

“Oh, it’s not that. I’m…getting married this week.” I glance at Levi, who’s lying naked next to me in bed, flicking the eraser of the pencil against the pad impatiently.

“Oh!” Ronald says. “Congratulations! When is the big day? I can ask for a short delay for that.”

“I’m not sure. We’re waiting on our families to arrive and then we’ll go to the courthouse this week.”

“You didn’t tell me you were seeing someone,” he says.

Next to me, Levi circles transcript three times.

“Because I wasn’t the last time we saw each other. We met a few hours after the hearing.” I cringe in spite of myself. “Also, I’m going to need your services again.”

“Oh. I haven’t done a prenup in a while, but I can knock one out pretty quickly. Because that’s a really short courtship.”

“Oh, no, it’s not that. Umm, I don’t know how to say this. He’s a combat veteran.”

“Please don’t tell me he was one of your subjects.”

“God, no!”

“Well, it’s not ideal for the committee, but it could be worse.”

“He’s nine years younger than me.”

“Oof. Well, it could be worse.” I can hear that he’s trying to inject cheerfulness into this, but I can also see it from his point of view and it’s looking bleaker by the minute.

“He’s also my student now.”

There is silence on the other end of the line.

“And they fired me for it.”

“Suspended!” Levi says.

“Why aren’t you in class?” I demand.