His intense eyes burned into me, searing my soul. Levi wanted more. He wanted to come clean. Maybe he needed the validation, or maybe he just wanted to finally be able to call me his without worrying who overheard.
But he still hasn’t said the words.
“Maybe we can talk to—”
The blare of my cell phone cut through the tension swirling around us.
“Leave it,” he said, clearly not ready to end this conversation.
“It must be Letty.” She was the only person who ever called, and since she knew I was here with Levi, it was probably important.
I clambered to my hands and knees and crawled over to the coffee table. But the second I picked up my cell, dread slammed into me.
“Bee, what is it?” Levi was sitting up now, leaning back against the couch, watching me as I stared at my father’s name flashing over the screen.
“I... uh, it’s my dad.” I barely got the words out over the lump in my throat.
“Well, don’t just stare at the thing, answer it,” he said as if it was that simple.
It wasn’t.
This was the worst possible thing that could have happened today. Because my gut told me he wasn’t calling to check in. He was calling because he knew.
My father finally knew the truth.
Levi
Phoebe stared at her cell like it was the devil come to claim her soul.
“Bee,” I said again, and she visibly flinched.
“I... uh, I’ll just take it in the bedroom.”
I watched her hurry into the bedroom and close the door.
What the fuck?
I knew from everything she’d told me that her relationship with her father was shaky. But this felt like more than just a little father-daughter rift.
I pulled myself up onto the couch and waited. It was killing me not to know what she was saying. I couldn’t imagine he was all too thrilled with his daughter seeing a guy like me, especially after what went down with Zephyr, but she wasn’t a child. Phoebe was a twenty-one-year-old woman. She could make her own choices, her own mistakes.
Not that I had any plans on becoming a mistake anytime soon.
Things were good. Great, even. I felt more stable than I had in years. I didn’t wake each morning with a gnawing hole in my chest, and slowly, the constant hunger had begun to subside. I knew I wasn’t healed; I wouldn’t be for a long time. But it was a start.
And it was all thanks to my honeybee.
It was hard to believe that in just a few days I would be spending two weeks on a small island with my bandmates, my brother and his girl, and my girl.
My fucking girl.
I didn’t think anyone could have predicted it. I was so fucking thankful though. Thankful to Letty for bringing Phoebe into my life, thankful to Phoebe for giving me a chance. I knew she was worried about the world tour, about revealing our relationship to the public, but the sooner we did it, the sooner we could get on with our lives. I had no plans to push her into the spotlight, but if they knew, then it wouldn’t constantly feel like we were hiding and sneaking around. Besides, there were times when we were out and about, at interviews or meet and greets, that I just wanted to pull her close and kiss her. I drew strength from Phoebe. She was my light. My anchor.
My North Star in dark skies.
I pulled out my cell phone and made a note of some more lyrics. I’d been trying to put something together for her, but I was yet to share it with anyone. Humming the words, I typed and deleted, shuffled words around and added more, until I’d nailed two more verses. But Phoebe’s raised voice caught my attention. I didn’t want to eavesdrop; I didn’t want to be that guy anymore. Paranoid and possessive. She sounded angry though, her voice rising above the silence. I got up and went to go to her, forcing myself to stay back. She’d obviously gone into the bedroom for some privacy, and I wanted to give her that.
I did.
But the second I heard her yell again, I stalked over to the door, pressing my ear against the wood.
“No, you can’t... I won’t let you,” she shouted, her anger palpable even from here. “Daddy, please, I’m begging you. I love him, I—”
I burst into the room and her head snapped up. “Levi...” she breathed, tears streaming down her face.
Anger welled inside of me.
“Hang up the phone, Bee,” I gritted out, my jaw clenched impossibly tight. I didn’t know what had gone down here, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good if it had upset her.
“I... Dad?” she said, clutching the phone to her ear, her eyes never once leaving mine. “I have to go. We can talk about this later.” Phoebe hung up, ignoring the shrill rants of her father on the end of the line.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that,” she gave me a sad smile.
“You were shouting.”
“He’s just so...” A heavy sigh escaped her lips. “He doesn’t understand.”
“He’s not happy about us?”
“He was shocked to say the least.”
“I- I don’t understand…” We’d been seeing each other for weeks.
“He only just found out, Levi.”
“What?” I reared back as if she’d slapped me.
“I didn’t tell him.” Guilt glittered in her eyes, taunting me. “I didn’t want him to worry, and I knew he’d react badly.”
“You didn’t tell him?” I shook my head because it didn’t make any sense. He was her dad, the only family she had left… and she hadn’t told him about us?
About me?
“My father doesn’t know I’m on tour with the band.” She expelled a heavy sigh. “Well, he didn’t. Dowager recognized me at the party, he just told him the news. That’s why he was calling, to express his grave concerns about me working in such an ‘unstable environment’.” She mimicked the words.
“Hold up, you said Dowager told him... so he thinks you’re seeing Hudson?”
Her expression darkened punching me straight in the stomach.
“I told him, about us. It was time.”
“Time?” A bitter laugh bubbled up in my chest. “Fuck, Phoebe, here I am wanting to tell the whole world about us, and you haven’t even told your dad. That’s some messed-up shit right there.” I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to get a handle on the anger swelling inside me.
She hadn’t told him.
“I just didn’t know how to tell him. After Zephyr—”
“I’m not your fucking ex,” I snapped. “I thought we were past all this?”
“We are.” She came closer but I jerked back. I didn’t want her to try to comfort me, not when her betrayal was coursing through my veins like acid.
All this time, I’d been worried that I was Phoebe’s dirty little secret... and I was right.
I was fucking right.
“You’re ashamed of me,” I spat, the words like a glacier between us.
“I am not ashamed of you. I just knew he’d do this. I knew he’d—”
“That he’d what? You’re a grown woman for fuck’s sake. Does it really matter what your old man does or doesn’t say?” I seethed. I couldn’t stop. Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t trust anything coming out of her mouth. “I don’t even know why we’re having this conversation.”