When the service was over, Levi didn't wait around to speak with anyone. He took me by the hand and led me back to the limo as the others followed us.
"You didn't want to speak with . . ." He cut me off before I could finish.
"No . . . I didn't," was all he said. He made a sound in the back of his throat and I glanced up to see his eyes welled with tears. If anyone else noticed, they did a good job of hiding it, because no one said a word. They just stared out the window in another bout of total silence. I unbuckled my seatbelt and crawled into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and lightly kissed his cheek.
"Thank you,” he murmured against where his head had dropped against my shoulder.
"For what?"
"For, being you. For loving me the way you do." My heart melted and I squeezed him a little tighter, rubbing my hands up and down his strong back.
Peyton
That night we sent one of the guards out for food. We all sat around the coffee table in the living room eating Chinese food from little boxes, while the guys shared stories about being on the road, and how all the groupies threw themselves at Levi because he had the Ken doll look about him. They were obviously trying to keep the mood light and lift his spirits, if that was even possible. It actually worked for a short period.
"Hence the tattoos, baby," he said, looking at me with a wink.
"You actually thought that would turn them off of you?" I laughed. He nodded his head and then shrugged.
"Boy were you wrong!" I laughed. "Babe, tattoos are chick magnets. Every hot-blooded woman loves a bad boy with tattoos."
"Amen to that," Honesty said, giving Linc goo-goo eyes.
"You can say that again," Honor said, flipping her pink and blond hair over her shoulder and then smiled at Chance, who was sitting across from her.
"I'm gonna head upstairs guys," Levi said, holding out his hand for me to take. I placed my fingers in his warm hand and said goodnight to the others before following Levi up the stairs.
"Goodnight, sweet . . ." His mouth crashed down on mine, he pulled me into his bedroom, and closed door with his foot.
"Need you in here tonight, babe," he said against my lips. I didn't argue. I started with the buttons on his shirt because he'd already stripped himself of his tie. Each open button revealed tanned, toned abs and as I moved my way up hard pecks with colorful ink across his broad chest. I slid the shirt from his shoulders and along his inked arms, until it hit the ground at our feet.
I placed a kiss on each of his flat nipples while my fingers worked their magic on his belt and the button of his black slacks. With one push, they landed around his ankles and he stepped out of them, leaving him standing in front of me in all his naked glory. Muscles upon muscles; ink upon beautiful ink. I traced my fingers over his pecks and then they feathered along the indentions of each well-defined muscle and straight to the deep-V that led me strait to glory land. I dropped to my knees and wrapped my small hand around his hard cock that stood proudly, begging for my attention. He sucked in a breath and his head fell back on a groan.
"Baby, you don't have to do this,” he breathed, but I could tell it was what he wanted.
"Shush. This is about you Levi, just relax, and enjoy," I said, gripping his muscled thighs for support as I slowly took him into my warm mouth. I worked him in and out, up and down. My fingers ghosted lightly up the insides of his thigh until I reached his heavy sac. I palmed his balls, lightly traced my fingers through the light sprinkling of hair there. I licked him from root to tip and then swirled my tongue around the velvet head, stopping long enough to lick the pre-cum from the tip. It tasted salty and so good. I lowered my head and licked his balls before taking each one into my mouth and flicking it with my tongue. His body stiffened and two strong hands landed on my shoulders, bringing me to my feet in one swift movement. For a moment, I thought I'd done something wrong, but his mouth crashed down on mine in a hungry, demanding kiss.
"Too many clothes." His hand went for the zipper at the back of my dress and when he got frustrated with it, he ripped it down the back. The dress lay on the floor in two pieces. How was I going to explain that to Honesty? He tossed me back onto his bed and stared down at me, lying there in nothing but my little, black thong. His hand slowly slid up my legs until he reached my underwear and slid his thumbs under the thin elastic on each side, snapping them in two. He tossed the ripped underwear over his shoulder and smirked down at me, causing me to giggle.
"I love you," I said.
"I love you more.” There went another little piece of my heart.
The moment his body entered mine, I realized that he was not fucking me. He was making love to me. Our bodies moved as one, in a beautiful rhythm of a love song. He'd become a part of me, a beautiful lyric that warmed my heart and made my soul sing. It was the most beautiful song I'd ever heard. That night we slept wrapped in each other's arms, or so I thought. The next morning when I awoke, the bed was empty, and Levi was nowhere to be found. I dug around in his dresser drawers, until I found his old sweat pants and a t-shirt. I knew all of my clothes were across the hall in the guest room and I didn't want to take a chance at someone seeing me run across the hall naked. I found the others sitting around the kitchen table, discussing something in a loud manner. Everyone stopped and looked up when I entered the room.
"Morning," I said, crossing the room to grab a cup of coffee.
"Morning," Honesty said. I looked around the room and the one person I wanted to see the most was not here either.
"Have any of you seen, Levi?"
"Come, have a sit with us." Honesty motioned to the empty chair beside her. I immediately knew something was up because the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end.
"What's going on? Where's Levi?"
"That's what we were just discussing." This came from Jinx. "He left early this morning. He said there was something that he really needed to take care of and that you'd be riding back with us." He said this like it was old news to me. It was anything but. I thought we were a team. Teams did things together. I thought we established that last night.
Oh. My. God. What if he was actually saying goodbye to me last night? I jumped from my chair and ran upstairs. I felt as though I was going to be sick. I entered his room and sure enough, all of his things were gone, even his guitar. How did he not wake me in the middle of his packing? I stared around the room, the room where just last night, we made love; the sheets still crumpled in the middle of the bed.
"There's something you probably should know about Levi," Jinx said from behind me. I turned slowly to face him and then sat on the side of the bed when he motioned me to do so. "Levi is a recovering alcoholic." I sucked in a breath. That explained the silent exchange between he and Levi yesterday before the funeral. I nodded my head.
"I had no idea."
"He went to rehab when he was twenty, spent almost a year there. ever since . . . since then he's drank a lot less. But, when he took that drink before the funeral, I knew we were in for trouble. He drinks to numb himself. I'm sure he would have told you in time, it's just not something he's very proud of. Levi is a strong man, but alcohol has always been his weakness. He woke me up early this morning to tell me he was leaving. He said you'd be riding back with us. I assumed you knew," Jinx explained. I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn't help it. I fell apart. When I say, I fell apart, I mean at the seams. Tears poured from my eyes and down my cheeks. I felt the bed dip on both sides and two sets of arms wrapped around me. Honesty and Honor. They held me and let me cry until I couldn't cry any longer.