Focus (The Crescent Chronicles, #2) (8 page)

“
Don’t you
knock?”

He grinned. “I didn’t want to wake you
up.”

“
So what was your
plan?”

“
Ideally, I was going to
sneak into your bed, but I guess I was louder than I
thought.”

“
No, I just don’t sleep
deeply anymore.” We both knew why that was. Getting kidnapped by
cougar shifters and almost raped can do that to a girl.

I looked away. Seeing him without a
shirt was doing a number on me.

He noticed. “Still going to tell me you
don’t want to work things out?”

“
Yes, but I’m too tired to
argue.”

“
I just wanted to tell you
that you were awesome tonight. Plus, you did promise to tell me
what upset you.”

I’d hoped he’d forgotten. “Okay, but we
need to be quiet. I don’t want to wake up Hailey.”

“
I can do
quiet.”

I sat down on the couch next to him,
not even caring that I was only wearing a t-shirt. He’d seen me in
less. “I don’t want you going off your handle.”

“
I can’t promise that. If
someone did something to upset you, there will be
consequences.”

I already saw his eyes changing. I
couldn’t set him off. It wasn’t worth it.

“
It really wasn’t anything.
I—I just kind of wished we didn’t have to pretend.” It wasn’t a
lie. It had gone through my head more than once. I wished Levi
hadn’t hurt me so bad that I could never trust him
again.

A slow smile spread across his face.
“Why would I get mad about that?” His eyes went from black to
heated. “I don’t want to pretend either.”

“
You’d be mad that it still
doesn’t change things.”

“
It will one day. It has
to.” He scooted closer to me. “We belong together.” His breath was
warm on my face and he put an arm around me. “I’ve missed you so
much.”

“
I’ve missed you too, but
it doesn’t matter.” I closed my eyes. It was so late, and I
couldn’t fight the exhaustion anymore. I felt Levi shift us so that
we were lying down, his arms wrapped around me.

I forced words out even as I felt
myself drift toward sleep. “I shouldn’t fall asleep with
you.”

“
You’ve slept with me on
the couch before. I’ll be good.”

“
I know.” I was vaguely
aware of him pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and
covering us with it.

“
Goodnight, Al.”

“
Night.” I already knew it
would be the best few hours of sleep I’d had in weeks.

***

“
Morning, love,” Levi said
softly. I turned to look at him. It wasn’t easy considering the
size of Levi and the couch.

“
Hi.” One of Levi’s hands
was still wrapped around my waist—under my t-shirt. He didn’t seem
interested in moving it.

“
Next time, let’s use a
bed. If I recall correctly, you have a perfectly good king size one
in there.”

I felt warm just thinking about how he
knew that. That night had been incredible—the best night of my
life. Too bad what happened afterwards was a nightmare.

“
Thinking about it again,
aren’t you?” He used his free hand to brush some hair off my face.
Strangely enough, I let him.

“
Again?”

“
You said my name a few
times last night.” He grinned.

“
And that somehow meant I
was thinking about that night.”

“
It’s how you said it. The
first time I answered, but then I realized you were sleeping. The
next few times made it pretty obvious what you were dreaming
about.”

“
I wasn’t having sex dreams
about you, Levi.” I sat up, then stood as soon as I woke up
enough.

Levi sat up and stretched. “Seriously,
my back is killing me.”

“
It’s not my fault. Whose
idea was it to stay here?”

“
I’m not saying it wasn’t
worth it. It was definitely worth it.” He raked his eyes over me,
and I suddenly felt self-conscious.

Hailey’s door opened. “Well, hello
there. What did I miss after I went to bed last night?”

“
Good morning, Hailey.”
Levi got up to pull on the t-shirt he’d carelessly thrown over a
chair when he came in the night before.

“
You have a nine o’clock,
right?” she asked.

“
What time is
it?”

“
Eight twenty. If we get a
cab, you’ll make it back just in time to grab your
books.”

“
I’ll drive you,” Levi
offered.

“
Normally I’d say no
thanks, but I can’t be late.” I sighed with relief. Catching a cab
in the morning could take a while.

“
You’re cute.” Levi put a
hand on the back of the couch.

“
Excuse me?”

“
You’re honestly worried
about being late to your econ class, aren’t you?” He slipped into
his black shoes.

“
Of course, it’s only the
second day.” I ignored the fact that he knew what class I had. That
was old news.

“
I just need to get
dressed. Come with me Hailey, I’m sure you can find something too.”
She followed me, wearing the PJ pants and t-shirt I’d given her.
I’d let her have the only pair of PJ pants. I wouldn’t have if I’d
known about the company.

Fifteen minutes later, we were slipping
into Levi’s car. “Thanks for the hospitality, Al. That was the best
night’s sleep I’ve had in a while.”

It was mine too, but I kept the fact
that I was still having nightmares to myself. “Glad to hear it, but
don’t expect it to happen again.”

He started the engine. “It will. Very
soon.”

“
No, it won’t.”

Hailey laughed. “You guys act like an
old, married couple sometimes—wait you are mar—”

“
Don’t say it, Hail.” I
turned back to glare at her.

Levi put a hand on my leg. “Don’t say
married? See, telling everyone at school we’re engaged isn’t so
bad, is it?”

I pushed his hand off even though I
liked it there. I needed to put my resistance back up. I was
getting dangerously close to giving in to him. Truthfully, I’d
already given in. Letting him spend the night on the couch was a
huge step in the wrong direction.

“
So what are the plans this
weekend?” he asked.

“
I’d like to do something
with some of the girls on our floor—we obviously never caught up
with them last night.”

“
Same, we’ll have to talk
to Anne and Tiffany,” Hailey agreed.

“
Tonight?” Levi glanced
into the rearview mirror.

“
I guess.”

“
Okay, so let’s hang out
tomorrow night.”

I shook my head. “I can’t.”

“
Come on, Al. You know you
want to. It doesn’t even have to be just the two of us. We can hang
out as a group.”

I looked back at Hailey, and she
shrugged.

I sighed, realizing this was another
dangerous step. “I’ll think about it.”

He put a hand on the back of my seat.
“I’ll take it.”

Levi turned on to Broadway and parked
near our dorm. “I’ll call you later to finalize plans.”

“
You never give up, do
you?”

“
Not when it comes to
you.”

Before I could unbuckle my seatbelt, he
leaned over and did it himself, his lips brushing against mine.
“Have a great day.”

“
See ya.” I got out without
looking back.

We went inside, and I grabbed my books
before running across campus to make my first class.

I walked in after the professor had
already started his lecture. He shot me an annoyed look as I slid
into my seat next to Jared. Jared smiled at me, tilting his laptop
so I could see his notes. Unlike Levi, Jared actually took
them.

Class went by in a blur, and I walked
out with Jared just like after our first class.

“
Levi never came home last
night. Do you know anything about that?”

I figured he’d find out anyway. “He may
or may not have spent the night on the couch.”

“
And where did you
sleep?”

“
On the couch,” I
mumbled.

“
You two sure like the
couch. Is he going to be in a good mood when I see him?” Jared
nudged me as we walked.

I moved closer to Jared when a kid on a
bicycle nearly ran me over. “It depends on how happy cuddling makes
him.”

Jared arched a brow. “Cuddling. Is that
what you kids are calling it these days?”

“
You got me. We had hot
sex. I wanted Hailey to join in, but Levi wasn’t up for
it.”

Jared cracked up. “You’re okay,
Allie.”

“
I’m glad you
approve.”

“
But seriously.” He glanced
behind us before continuing. “I’m glad you guys are working things
out.”

“
I don’t know if I’d say
that…”

“
You spent the night
together. I don’t care if all you did was sleep. It still means
something. You don’t do that with someone you don’t want to be
with.”

I adjusted the straps of my tote bag so
they didn’t dig into the bare skin of my shoulder that my tank top
left exposed. “I didn’t want to be with him the last time we slept
on the couch.”

“
Yes you did.”

We reached my next class, and I saw
Owen waiting in the same spot as last time.

Jared nodded. “See you around,
Princess.”

“
Do you really have to do
that?”

“
What? It’s your
title.”

I shook my head. Jared waved to Owen,
and walked away.

“
Good morning.” Owen looked
tired. I guessed he’d been up even later than I had.

“
Before you ask, I spent
the night with Levi on the couch.”

He smiled. “I know.”

“
You do?”

“
I just ran into him.” Owen
held open the door to our classroom.

“
Oh, okay.”

We headed into French class, and I
hoped I’d manage to understand something my teacher said this
time.

Chapter Seven

My first Friday night as a college
student didn’t start out particularly eventful.

“
So, we’ll go to the Boot
first and see where we want to go from there.” Anne applied her
makeup in front of one of the mirrors in the bathroom.

“
Didn’t the guys say the
Boot was lame?” I finished straightening my hair, unplugging the
flat iron before placing it on the sink to cool.

“
Upperclassman always say
that. I think you burn out on it Freshman year because it’s right
here.” The bar was literally a couple hundred feet from our
dorm.

“
Okay, I’m up for
anything.” I couldn’t deny the giddiness I felt about going out
with the girls. Even though it had only been three days of classes,
I’d survived my first week of college.

I grabbed my purse and followed Anne
out of the room. Hailey and Tiffany needed to use the ATM, so we
were meeting up with them outside the bar.

The Boot was happening. People were
hanging out on the sidewalk outside, and a steady stream was
heading in. There was nothing particularly special about the place,
but located right off campus, it was unofficially the Tulane
bar.

We saw Hailey and Tiffany immediately,
and wordlessly we all headed to the door.

We flashed our IDs at the bouncer and
walked inside.

“
One of the annoying parts
about this place is that they actually check ID.” Hailey replaced
her license in her wallet.

“
We can always get fakes if
you think we need them.” Anne definitely seemed keen on the
idea.

Hailey shot her down. “We don’t need
them, and it’s not worth the risk of getting busted with
one.”

“
I never saw you as someone
who would be afraid of getting caught,” I said casually, taking in
my surroundings. A bar dominated the back wall, with tables
scattered throughout the rest of the space.

“
I’m not, but it’s not
worth it when you can get served most places.”

Tiffany nodded. “Yeah, that makes
sense.”

“
I’m sure someone will get
us beer.” Anne smiled as Brandon came our way. I knew I wasn’t
imagining something between them at the frat party.

“
Hey guys. We’ve got a
table and a few pitchers, care to join us?”

We all looked at each other before
Hailey answered. “Sure.”

An hour and a few cups of beer later,
Anne was agreeing on our behalf to go with the guys to some small
house party their friend was throwing. Considering nothing too
exciting was happening at the bar, none of us had a problem with
it. It was really funny to be hanging out with Brandon. I never
would have believed it in high school.