When I glance at him, his hard stare is on me. He’s not even putting up an effort to run and is only keeping up with my pace. It’d be suicide to ask him for a race.
His muscles expand and move with ease. Even his breathing comes in and out with ease, unlike my choppy one.
After a few laps around the park, sweat coats my temples and my hands. My legs scream to be put out of their misery as if I just finished a marathon.
I fall against the bench, panting so hard my heart almost leaps out of my throat.
“I’m done. So done.”
Dark laughter fills my ears as a bottle of water is thrust into my face. I don’t know where he got that from, but I don’t care as I gulp half of it down in one go.
Levi slides beside me, his chest rising and falling steadily while mine nearly breaks down from the erratic breathing.
When I glance at him, he’s taking a sip from the same bottle I did, that familiar spark taking over his eyes.
I lick my lips. He’s drinking from it on purpose, isn’t he?
“How do you aliens do this all the time?” I stare ahead to distract myself from his glistening lips.
Damn his lips.
“It’s all about stamina. Besides, you’re doing it all wrong.”
I wipe the sweat off my eyebrows and my temple. “I’m doing it all wrong because I’m not supposed to be doing it at all.”
He smiles. “No, I meant that you shouldn’t waste all your energy at the beginning. You have to divide your strength and pick up slowly.”
“Like at the games?”
“Sort of.”
I peek at him, not sure if I want to poke the bull by his horns. “Then what happened last game?”
His face closes until there are only unreadable lines. It’s like he had his guard down and now he’s closing the fort.
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t play like yourself in the second half.”
“You came to one game and now you’re an expert on how I usually play?”
“How do you know I didn’t come to the previous games?”
“I would’ve noticed you.”
“No, you wouldn’t have, Levi. I was invisible to you until that stupid party.”
He says nothing. The silence stretches long enough that it becomes uncomfortable. I fidget with my backpack’s straps.
“Do you believe in fate?” he asks.
I’m taken aback by his super out of character question.
“Not really.”
“Me neither, but now I’m starting to.”
My pulse quickens at the irresistible drop in his tone. “Why is that?”
He fists my hair in his grip so my head is angled up. “I would’ve found you no matter what, princess. It was a matter of when not if.”
26
Levi
Fight all you want, but you’ll never win.
* * *
There are two things I learn when I drop Astrid off at school.
A- She doesn’t want to be seen with me.
B- I fucking hate it.
As soon as I park the car, she flies out towards the entrance, watching her surroundings as if her arse is on fire. Although it’s a shame to have that tight little arse on fire.
Daniel comes out of his car as soon as Astrid crosses the threshold. He must’ve called her name because she turns around and meets him halfway for a hug.
My grip tightens around the steering wheel.
One more thing I fucking hate.
I watch for a change in Daniel’s expression. An excuse to erase him completely out of her existence.
Lucky for him, he only gives her a brief side hug with his arm at her back.
Astrid’s smile widens at another man who comes out of the passenger seat of Daniel’s car. He’s a taller, a bit buffer version of Daniel with a mohawk hairstyle — who does those anymore?
He opens his arms and Astrid goes right into them. I grind my teeth at how his arm dips to the small of her back. The sorry fuck grins at her with that unmistakable hunger.
Huh. Looks like someone’s going down.
Soon.
No one touches what belongs to me.
Astrid Clifford is already mine. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Today’s practice goes smoothly now that I don’t have to worry about the little princess in the crowd, cheering for someone else.
“Good to have our captain back.” Cole winks at me on our way out of the locker room.
“Did I ever leave, fuckers?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Uh, yeah?” Xander raises both eyebrows. “You were the living dead on Saturday.”
“Shut it, Knight.”
“Yeah, shut it, Knight. My party cheered up, Captain.” Ronan flings his arm around my shoulder and waggles his eyebrow. “Were Mum’s paintings that inspiring?”
I smirk. “Very.”
“Oh, bordel.” His face falls. “Come on, Captain. In the office? Mum will fucking kill me.”
“Rest in peace, little shit,” Cole says.
“Don’t fuck the corpses when you’re dead,” Xander laughs and we all laugh with him.
Ronan head-locks both Xander and Cole making them butt heads. I let them walk ahead as Aiden stalks to my side like the creep he is.
He’s focused on his phone, on someone’s social media. That’s rare. Usually, Aiden doesn’t give two shits about these things.
Unlike me, he does have an Instagram account, but he only uses it to paint a fake image.
I angle my head to the side to see who’s the pitiful fuck who has my cousin’s attention. I only catch a glimpse of a girl’s Instagram before he hits home.
“Are you recruiting someone for a satanic sacrifice?” I ask.
“Maybe.” His poker face’s game is too strong. It’s as if he’s actually entertaining the idea.
Wait. Is he?
“What gives, Lev?”
“About?”
“No fight with Jonathan for the entire weekend. That’s a record.”
“He’s not worth it.”
“And you’re not speedy.” He raises an eyebrow. “Keep doing what you’re doing.”
My feet falter for a second as Aiden’s words sink in.
I’m not speedy — not that I like the term.
Fuck.
I was never able to pull a break on it before but now, the wheel is slowing down on its own.
“You coming to the Meet Up?” Aiden asks over his shoulder.
“No, and Ro!”
“Quoi?” Ronan pants barely escaping Xander’s punches.
“Take Daniel with you.” I pause. “From now on, always take him with you.”
I find Astrid in the car park, frowning at her cell phone.
She needs to stop staying in fucking isolated places like these. If someone has half of my power over here, they’ll easily manage to pull some shit like the other time.
“Trouble getting a ride?”
She jerks, wide eyes straying my way before she releases a breath. “You scared me.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t stand in isolated places like a prey begging to be eaten.”