Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

She’d seen plenty of anchored pairs in their ‘honeymoon stage.’ They were both on their best behavior, showed each other their best sides, and generally got caught up in the novelty of finding and bonding with their anchor.

As time went on and anchored pairs became relaxed around each other, their behavior kind of ‘slipped.’ Oh, they were still fully invested in their anchors—that never changed. But they spent less time together and ceased trying to impress each other.

Levi … he’d so far been a model anchor. Showing up with pizza might have been a small thing, but it was still thoughtful. He could have come empty-handed. The same applied to this morning. She’d expected him to merely beep the horn or text her when he arrived, but he’d showed up with coffee and pastries. How he knew what her favorites were, she wasn’t sure. He’d simply said, “I have my sources.”

Coming outside to realize all her tires had indeed been replaced while she slept had been another tick in his column. Then, all the while assuring her that the interview would go well and she had no need to feel nervous, he’d ever so courteously escorted her to his car and insisted on opening the front passenger door for her.

Okay, they were little things. But little things mattered. And they added up.

A downside of having Levi as her anchor was that he played havoc with her hormones. Like Olive said, though, the attraction would fade.

Piper simply needed to ‘friend zone’ him. She’d done it with other guys. She could do it with Levi as they got to know each other.

She’d need to do it fast, because she couldn’t afford to be uncomfortable around her own anchor … the way she was at this very moment.

Right now, the air was thick with the tension thrumming through her. Mostly because of the dream she’d had last night. She couldn’t recall all of it. But she remembered kissing him, remembered him gently pushing her away, remembered his pitying ‘I don’t think of you that way’ smile.

She’d woken with a renewed determination to ensure she never did anything—let alone stupidly kiss him—that would reveal that her attraction to him hadn’t yet given up the ghost. She never wanted to receive that pitying smile in real life. Ever. But being so careful and second-guessing her words and actions had left her strung tight.

Piper strived to breathe away her tension, silently ordering her feminine parts to pull themselves together. But it wasn’t happening. Then again, when you were in a small, confined space with over six feet of dark power and raw sexuality, the odds were low that you’d be anything close to relaxed anyway.

“You don’t need to be so nervous, it’ll be fine,” said Levi. “Harper won’t bite you. That’s more my thing.”

Oh, he thought Piper was so tense because of her upcoming interview with … She frowned as the latter words sank in. “Biting is your thing?”

His mouth curved into a panty-dropping smile that made her stomach flutter.

“Funny. I’m kind of partial to it, too.” Shit, had she really just said that? God, she had. The words simply popped out. Piper faced forward, ignoring the weight of his gaze.

“That so?” he asked, a gritty quality to his voice.

She didn’t respond. She wasn’t going to allow even the most harmless bit of flirting to go on between them. That would just be stupid.

Nothing more was said as they drove to the club that concealed the entrance to the Underground. Levi parked the car and skirted the hood, frowning when she opened her door and slid out.

“You don’t need to act all courteous and stuff,” she said. “Except when there are wasps in my house. You can come to my rescue then.”

“First of all, it’s not an act. Second of all, what’s your beef with wasps?”

“They buzz and chase and sting you for shits and giggles.”

A smile plucked at one corner of his mouth. “You’ve been chased by a wasp?”

“Multiple times. No provocation is required. They seem to hate me on sight.”

His smile kicked up a little more. Oh, he thought she was joking? Yeah, no.

Levi stayed at her side yet ever so slightly in front of her as they walked to the club. Well, it was more like he prowled, his eyes sweeping his surroundings in a very predatory way that appealed to her demon.

He was one big enticement to her inner entity. It wasn’t a simple case of the psychopathic shit finding his power a total turn-on. Levi was so very controlled and self-possessed, but there was an undercurrent of something wild that was barely leashed. That intrigued her demon big time.

In the basement of the club, he remained just as close as they headed to the elevator. They stepped inside, he pressed the down button, the doors slid closed … and her muscles again stiffened as she once more found herself alone with him in such close quarters. The atmosphere quickly turned thick, and she swallowed hard around a throat gone dry.

“Relax,” he coaxed, which might have helped if he hadn’t leaned into her. “You’ll be fine.”

Yeah, if he gave her some physical space. Which he didn’t. And so the wicked tension inside her remained.

Finally, the shiny doors opened. She took a long, relieved breath as they stepped out of the elevator.

Again, he prowled at her side but slightly in front, radiating protective energy. She knew he’d block any threat that might come her way. It was new and strange but not necessarily in a bad way. Still, it would take some getting used to. If, in fact, they spent much time together after the bond was formed. She highly doubted they would.

Levi had his own life—a busy one at that. You couldn’t be a sentinel and a personal bodyguard to a Prime while still having a lot of free time. And he’d likely want to spend much of that time with friends or running errands.

She believed he would make an effort to be a strong presence in her life and that she would be his priority. But she couldn’t see how his responsibilities wouldn’t get in the way of him acting on that. If Piper ever asked for his help, she’d no doubt get it. But he might not always be able to break away from his commitments, so she might find that he’d send others in his place. Particularly since he often traveled with Knox.

It wouldn’t mean that she and Levi would have a bad anchor relationship. It simply meant that it would resemble a long-distance one. He might not live far away, but he wouldn’t always be close or available.

Piper wouldn’t blame or resent Levi for that. She respected how devoted he was to his positions within the lair. And really, them spending so much time apart wouldn’t be a negative thing. It wasn’t always good for anchors to be in each other’s pockets. Especially since jealousy and possessiveness often came into play and made it difficult for the pair to have relationships with others.

It hadn’t escaped her attention last night that Levi hadn’t seemed to like the thought of her with Kelvin. She hadn’t read anything into it. Levi wouldn’t want to feel that way. It would be instinctive. Piper could have been anyone and he’d have still felt that way if they were his anchor.

Similarly, she’d find it difficult to see him with others. Even when she managed to stick him in a ‘friend’ box, her anchor instincts would be an issue. As such, it would be better for them to have space from each other and be able to keep some aspects of their personal lives private.

Levi came to a stop outside a glass door and looked her way. “Ready?”

She peered up at the huge sign above it that read, Urban Ink. Ah, they’d arrived. And the sign was seriously cool. The font was a sort of graffitied calligraphy.

Piper straightened her shoulders. “Ready.”

He pushed open the door and waved her inside, surprising her by sticking very close as they both entered. The front of his body was almost literally plastered against her back. He probably thought she’d find the contact reassuring. Well, he was mistaken.

Piper glanced around, taking it all in. Nice. And very spacious. The white walls and ceiling boasted tattoo flash and gorgeous metal art such as Chinese dragons and tribal swirls.

Four stations were situated behind the reception area, which was uber tidy. The cushions on the sofa were perfectly placed, the portfolios on the super clean coffee table were neatly stacked, and everything on the chrome reception desk that doubled as a jewelry display cabinet seemed to have its very own place.

Behind the desk stood Khloë, a bright yet mischievous smile on her face. The small, olive-skinned imp was mated to another of Knox’s sentinels, Keenan, and also happened to be Harper’s cousin.

“Hey, Piper,” Khloë greeted. “Why are you all but wearing Levi?” She looked at him. “Dude, do you have no concept of personal space?”

“Could you tell Harper that Piper’s arrived for her interview?” Levi asked.

“Sure,” replied Khloë. “Harper!” she yelled without turning. “Piper’s here!”

Leaning over a woman sprawled on a chair, the female Prime lifted her head and met Piper’s gaze. “Two minutes,” she mouthed.

Piper nodded and took a seat on the sofa. Levi sat beside her, the side of his body pressed to hers. She thought about scooting over, but that might reveal just how uncomfortable she found it to be so close to him. He might realize that—

And there she was, second-guessing her behavior around him again. Ugh.

Piper cast him a quick look, noticing that his eyes were on the nearby wall-mounted TV. “I appreciate you coming with me. You don’t have to stay, though. I know you must be busy.”

He met her gaze. “Not too busy to be here when you need me.”

“But you’re Knox’s bodyguard.”

“I’m taking some time off.”

“Oh.” That surprised her, given how seriously he took his roles—she wouldn’t have thought he’d be comfortable with temporarily setting his responsibilities aside. “Still, you don’t have to stay and—Wait, I get it. You’re here to make sure I get the job. You’re gonna freak if I don’t, and you’ll push Harper to change her mind.”

He frowned. “I don’t ‘freak.’ But will I be pissed if Harper doesn’t employ you? Absolutely. And she’d be a fool not to hire you. I’ve seen your work. The back tattoo you did for Larkin is seriously impressive.”

“Uh, thanks. But I wouldn’t want a job because my anchor intimidated someone into giving it to me.”

“Would I do that?”

“Yes. Yes, you absolutely would.”

His mouth quirking, he gave an unapologetic shrug. “I’m very protective of who matters to me. I like to make sure their life is running smoothly and that they have what they need. And what you currently need is a job.”

“Raini co-owns this place, right?” The beautiful demon was also a succubus and fellow tattooist. “Will she sit in on the interview?”

“As I understand it, she prefers to leave that to Harper. They’ve had many applicants, but the sphinx vetoed them all.”

No pressure, then.

Shortly after that, Harper crossed to the reception area with a professional smile. “Hi, Piper, sorry for the wait.”

“No problem.” Piper rose to her feet and shook the hand Harper held out. “However this goes, I appreciate you considering me. And no, Levi, you can’t come along to the interview.”

Harper chuckled. “He was totally gonna ask to be present.”

Standing, Levi grunted, not bothering to deny it. His hand settled on Piper’s shoulder—warm, supportive, and strong. “I’ll be here when you’re done.”

She nodded and then walked behind Harper as they passed the stations that were separated with black-and-white checkered partitions. The other tattooists, Raini and Devon, both offered her friendly smiles.

Inside the office, Piper took the seat Harper indicated, metaphorically crossing her fingers and toes that all would go well.

Levi sank back onto the sofa, not at all impressed that he’d been told to wait here. It wasn’t as if he would have interrupted the interview. Much.

His demon cricked its neck, wound tight. It would no doubt feel edgy right up until Piper was claimed and wore the anchor mark, declaring she was under the protection of both Levi and his demon.

Levi felt just as tightly wound. Not simply due to the absence of the anchor bond, but because his mind was a place of chaos right now. The thought that his aunt’s killer could be not only alive but close by … it fucked with him. And when he was alone, there was no powering down his brain. His thoughts repeatedly circled back to the matter, sifting through the facts, pondering the many possibilities, driving him nuts.

Right now, Piper was his bright spot. She gave him something else to think about. Something else to focus on. She kept his mind solidly on the present rather than the past.

She also repeatedly caused his cock to stir in his jeans. It didn’t take much. A flash of her dimples. A whiff of her floral scent. A glimpse of her cleavage. The sight of her teeth digging into her lower lip.

The woman really had no idea how fiercely tempting she was to him.

Levi narrowed his eyes as Khloë hurried over and sat beside him, a huge grin on her face. “What?” he asked.

“So,” she began casually, “you’ve found your anchor. What a fun development. I’ll bet your demon’s psyched.”

“What do you want?”

“A lotto win. A villa in Italy. A rocket launcher. A Bull Shit. A rollercoaster in my backyard.”

Wrong question. You had to be a little more specific when dealing with imps, especially this particular one. Levi sighed. “I meant, what do you want from me?”

“Not sex, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“My mind honestly didn’t go there. Now ask whatever you want to ask.”

“Okay, okay.” Khloë clasped her hands together. “Can I be there when you tell Celeste the good news?”

“No.”

Her hands flopped to her lap. “Ah, come on.”

“What’s your problem with Celeste?”

“She came on to Keenan.”

Levi felt his brows draw together. “She did? When?”

“Oh, uh … about four years ago.”

Levi blinked. “A period when you and him weren’t even seeing each other, let alone mated?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m not understanding why you have an issue with her.”

“She came on to Keenan,” Khloë repeated, enunciating every word. “Dude, are you not listening to me or something?”

“I’m listening, I’m just confused.”

“What’s there to be confused about? She’s hot for Keenan. She keeps smiling at him. I don’t like it. Or how she looks at me all judgy. I’d enjoy seeing her have a total meltdown, so can I be there when you tell her that Piper’s your anchor?”

“No.”

Khloë pouted. “Why are you always so mean to me? Don’t you like me? Is that what it is? God, it is, isn’t it? I’ll bet you think Keenan can do better than me. You do, don’t you? You think—”

“Khloë,” he interrupted with a sigh.

“Yup?”

“Be quiet.”

She slanted her head. “Have you changed your mind?”

“No.”

The pout came back. “You are so unfair! Why are you being like this? Why can’t you—” She cut off when Devon splayed her hand over Khloë’s face.

“Stop tormenting Levi,” said Devon.

Khloë laughed, batting away the hellcat’s hand.

“I’m surprised Tanner’s not here,” Levi said to Devon. The hellhound had been hovering around his mate since learning she was pregnant.

She flicked her ultraviolet ringlets over her shoulder. “He and I have an agreement. I’ll go on maternity leave slightly earlier than I’d originally planned if he doesn’t insist on smothering me.”

Levi felt his brow crease. “That doesn’t seem enough to keep him from sitting on this sofa throughout your entire shift.”

“Ah, well, my seriously frustrated hellcat may have surfaced and clawed at his face earlier.”

Levi winced. “Yeah, that’d do it.”

Just then, Raini made her way over to them, beaming. “Congrats on finding your anchor, Levi. We’re all so pleased for you. And we’re all totally planning to big you up so she’ll cave and form the bond fast.”

“We call it Operation Break Piper,” Khloë chipped in.

Raini frowned. “No, you call it that.”

Devon nodded. “The rest of us simply call it helping Levi out.”

Khloë let out a tired sigh. “And you wonder why I think you’re all boring.”

Devon pursed her lips. “I don’t wonder that. I don’t wonder why you do or think half the things you do.” She gave the imp a condescending pat on the head. “I’ve given up on trying to understand you, sweetie. It’s a pointless endeavor.”

“Only for those who are weak of mind and will,” said Khloë.

Devon rolled her cat-green eyes. “Just go answer the phone.”

“It’s not ringing.”

“Pretend it is.”

“Like we’re pretending you’re not constipated?”

“Khloë.”

The little imp raised her shoulders. “What? It’s nothing to be ashamed about. We all struggle to drop the Lincoln log from time to time.”

Devon squeezed her eyes shut. “Stop.”

“Especially pregnant women. A lot of them get sewer capped.”

“Seriously, stop.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll release the kraken sooner or later.” Khloë patted her arm. “This poo shall pass.”

Raini swore. “Dev, you can’t keep grabbing her by the throat!”

*

Later that day, Piper blew out a breath as Levi pulled up outside the bungalow that Whitney and Joe shared. Celeste was already here—her car was parked nearby. Awesome.

Piper was tempted to delay passing on her news. Not for the sake of procrastinating, but because she didn’t want to spoil what had otherwise been a good day. She’d gotten a job, which she’d officially start tomorrow. Levi had taken her to one of her favorite Underground restaurants to celebrate, so that had been a bonus. They’d talked for hours, exchanging funny stories, not touching on anything too serious or personal. It seemed a shame to shit all over the day.

But backing out wasn’t really an option. She and Levi had been seen together by many people in the Underground. Someone would pass on that little nugget of info to her family, who’d then for sure ask her about it. And if she had to be all, “Well we’re anchors but I didn’t get around to telling you,” it would look like she’d been hiding it. It would look like she’d felt that she had to hide it. Which would only feed Celeste’s belief that it was wrong for Piper and Levi to bond—that was how the woman would see it.

“It’ll be all right, Piper,” said Levi, resting his hand on her knee.

He really needed to stop touching her, because it wasn’t helping her friend-zone the holy hell out of him. “You sure you want to come with me?”

He snorted and slid out of the car.

She’d take that as a yes.

Piper edged out of the vehicle and took a steadying breath, her inner demon very still and serious. With him behind her, she walked up the path, used her key to let herself into the house, and then followed the sounds of voices into the kitchen. Whitney was plating up food while Joe and Celeste stood near the open back door, talking to each other.

Whitney looked Piper’s way and smiled, but that smile wavered when she spotted Levi. Just the same, Joe’s warm look faltered at the sight of the reaper. And Celeste? She went utterly rigid.

Her hands clasped, Whitney came forward. “Hello, sweetheart.” She kissed Piper’s cheek. “Levi, I wasn’t expecting you.”

Joe sidled up to his mate and gave Piper a gentle smile before offering his hand to Levi, who then shook it. “Always good to see you, Levi. Is everything all right?” Ah, Joe had assumed he was here to discuss a lair issue of some sort.

“Everything is fine,” said Levi. He gave Piper a ‘the floor is yours’ look.

She turned to the others. “I came to tell you … well, we came to tell you … that we recently discovered we’re anchors.”

Delight lit up Whitney’s face. “Oh, that’s wonderful news.”

Just like that, the hard lump in Piper’s stomach fell away.

“Well damn,” said Joe, his lips curling. “Congratulations. It was the last thing I was expecting—”

“You are kidding me,” Celeste blurted out, her voice dead.

And here we go.

Celeste strode forward, her hard gaze bouncing from Piper to Levi. “Anchors?” She might as well have said the word ‘cannibals’ it came out ringing with so much disgust.

“Anchors,” Piper confirmed.

A humorless chuckle bubbled out of the banshee. “This is a joke, right? A bad one.”

“No joke.”

Poking the inside of her cheek with her tongue, Celeste folded her arms. “And have you formed the bond?”

“No, but—”

“Good. At least you’ve got the sense to realize it can’t happen.”

“Do you really think I’d have come here and made this announcement if I meant to forsake Levi and the bond?”

Her eyes hard and gleaming like chips of ice, Celeste said, “I won’t allow it.”

Whitney whirled to face the banshee, her expression a mask of horror. “You can’t expect Piper to give up her psi-mate.”

“Oh, I can and I do,” said Celeste.

Whitney spluttered. “Having an anchor is vital to every demon. It’s the only way to be sure she’ll never turn rogue. She needs the bond.”

“I won’t allow it.”

“It’s not for you to allow or disallow,” Levi told Celeste, the epitome of calm. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“Nothing to do with me,” the banshee echoed quietly, a note of disbelief in her tone. It was really never a good sign when one of her kind lowered their voice like that.

“This is about me and Piper, no one else,” Levi stated.

Celeste sucked in a breath. “Are you forgetting we were once together?”

Joe raised a calming hand toward his daughter. “Let’s not—”

“Well, are you?” she pushed, glaring at Levi.

“It’s completely irrelevant here,” said the reaper, still remarkably calm.

“Oh, I’m irrelevant? We were together for four months!”

“Six years ago. Not that that matters. It’s in the past, and that past has no bearing on—”

“Don’t you try to dismiss what we had!”

Piper lifted her hands. “Okay, enough. You’re making this whole thing about you, Celeste. It’s not.”

Joe turned to his daughter again. “Honey, there’s no sense in being angry with Piper or Levi for this. No one here is out to hurt you. People can’t choose who their anchors are. This is out of their hands.”

Celeste’s fingers curled like claws. “But they can choose whether or not they form the bond! They’re choosing to do it! I’m not having it, Dad. I’m not.”

Good Lord, the woman was a trial. “It isn’t your decision to make.”

Celeste snarled. “What if it was the other way around? Huh? What if you found out Kelvin is my anchor?”

“Then I’d feel sorry for you.” He was a freaking tool.

“You’d really bond with my ex? A man I slept with? A man I cared for? A man who loved me?”

Levi coughed to hide a snicker. He’d never once implied that he cared for her, let alone professed to love her. She’d complained about it often.

Although he’d known she’d take his and Piper’s announcement badly, the whole ‘I won’t allow it’ had still taken him by surprise. Was she really so used to getting her own way that she thought she could dictate how this situation would go?

There were so many things he wanted to say to Celeste right now. Starting with how utterly self-absorbed and childish she was acting. But Larkin’s warning played on loop in his mind …

Let her be the bad guy in front of others. Let her be seen as unreasonable and selfish. Be the rational and fair one. Defend Piper, but don’t let Celeste draw you into pointless arguments.

So he’d bitten back most of what he’d love to say, knowing that this was the right way to deal with the situation for Piper’s sake. But right now, to be blunt, being tactful sucked.

“None of that is important here, Celeste,” said Piper. “I’m sorry if that hurts you, but it’s not. And the fact that you’d begrudge me an anchor bond, knowing how important it is for me to have one … well, what does that say about you?”

“No one will expect you to be happy for them, Celeste, but at least let it lie,” Joe said to her.

The banshee glared at him. “Let it lie? Are you not getting how fucked up this is?”

“Perhaps Levi and Piper being anchors might be awkward for you at first, but it’s not as if they’re in a relationship,” said Joe.

“It’s close enough to count.” Celeste whirled on Levi. “This isn’t even a little bit weird for you? Finding out that your psi-mate is actually the stepsister of your ex?”

“No,” Levi replied simply.

“Well it should be.”

“I don’t think of Piper in terms of who she is to you,” he went on. “I think of her in terms of who she is to me.”

“Who she is to you? She’s not going to be anyone to you. I won’t fucking have it!”

“Celeste, try to calm down,” Whitney cut in. “Yelling isn’t helping. And you can’t really want Piper to walk away from the very person that will keep her and her demon stable.”

The banshee sneered at Whitney. “Well of course you’d take her side.”

Joe closed his eyes. “There are no sides.”

Celeste planted her hands on her hips. “So you’re not all banding together against me?”

“We’re not against you, we merely don’t feel the same way about this situation as you do,” said Joe.

“Because Piper’s happiness is more important than mine, right?” Her voice broke.

Levi telepathically reached out to Piper. She’s good at manipulating them, isn’t she?

She does it subconsciously at this point, his anchor said. Stay tuned for the ‘You love Piper more than me’ part of the segment.

“That’s not what I said, Celeste,” Joe told her patiently.

“You don’t need to say it,” the banshee clipped. “Your actions are screaming it. I’m supposed to accept my own ex as family? I’m supposed to be happy that he’ll now be all about my stepsister?”

“No one is saying that,” said Joe.

“But you don’t care how hard this is for me. No, don’t say you do. Don’t lie. If you really cared, your first reaction wouldn’t have been to congratulate them. You’d have at least been sensitive to how this would affect me.”

Joe flapped his arms in a helpless gesture. “What would you have us do, Celeste? Really? We can’t change this situation. We can’t make someone else be Piper’s anchor. Nor can we erase your past with Levi. We can only move forward.”

“As one big, happy family?” Celeste snorted. “You wouldn’t expect that of her if the situation was reversed. You always put her feelings before mine, and then you’re always so surprised when I point out that you love her more than you do me.”

Told you it would come, said Piper, her mind gently bumping Levi’s. The psychic contact eased his entity’s tension slightly. The demon found the banshee pathetic, but it worried her dramatics would eventually cause Whitney and Joe to back her.

Celeste’s eyes welled up, and she wrapped her arms around her body. “You always plead with me to try and get along with her. Do you really see that ever happening now?”

As the room temperature abruptly cooled, Levi looked to see that Piper’s eyes had bled to black.

Her demon glared at Celeste, who froze. “I cannot begin to tell you how much dealing with you bores me,” it told the banshee, making Levi’s demon chuckle. “I will say this only once. No machinations on your part will prevent the forming of the anchor bond. I would not allow it. She would not allow it. And as much as you wish to ignore it, he would not allow it. Throw petty tantrums if you must, but know they will achieve nothing.”

Pleased with the entity’s statement and the assertiveness with which it had spoken, Levi’s own demon lost every bit of its tension.

The moment Piper’s entity subsided, Levi announced, “Piper and I are leaving now.” Eating a meal with these people … yeah, that wouldn’t happen this evening. “We have somewhere to be.”

Celeste swiped at her tears and turned to her father. “Well you should go and again shake the hand of the man who doesn’t at all care how his selfish actions are going to affect the people in this room.”

“Selfish,” Levi echoed. “Hmm.” So she still does a lot of projecting?

Yep, Piper replied. “I’ll speak to you again soon,” she told her mother and Joe, who looked as though they’d prefer to ask her to stay but thought better of it.

In the car, Piper clicked on her seatbelt and said to Levi, “Well, welcome to the family. I’ll bet you’re so excited to be part of it.”

He switched on the engine and pulled out onto the road. “I like your mom and Joe. Celeste might think that acting like a drama queen makes this difficult for me, but it doesn’t. She’s easy to dismiss. Just a brat throwing a tantrum. It took me a while to see the real her, because we didn’t spend much time together, and she’s good at showing people what she thinks they want to see. I didn’t care enough to look any deeper or I would have seen how much more there was to her.”

“You didn’t care for her as deeply as she believes?”

“I didn’t care for her at all, Piper. I barely knew her.”

“The way she tells it, you were serious about her but struggle too much with commitment and so the two of you had to part ways.”

“I have no problem committing to anything. That said, I’ve never been in a serious relationship. I never met anyone I was serious about. But Larkin’s right when she says I walk into relationships with a closed mind and don’t make an effort to build something real. If I wasn’t that way, maybe I would have at some point found myself truly interested in someone. But after years and years of being given the ultimatum of ‘it’s me or your roles—choose,’ it became instinct to keep my relationships casual and not invest anything of myself into them.”

“You don’t expect them to last.”

“No. And they don’t. It’s usually me who gets dumped as opposed to doing the dumping. Can you guess why?”

“Because you don’t care enough to bother doing it yourself.”

He nodded. “And that was how it went down with Celeste. I don’t know if she truly believes I loved her or if she simply wants to believe it.”

Maybe it made Piper a bit of a bitch, but she was relieved to hear that he hadn’t loved Celeste. It smoothed over the jagged edges of Piper’s jealousy. Plus, she didn’t have to worry that he might later change his mind about reconciling with the banshee.

“It could be the latter,” said Piper. “What her mom did … it’s like it made something in Celeste die. It left her with a void. Nothing fills it. And she seeks validation from others. I can understand why she’s so angry. I mean, imagine if your mom woke from a coma and had not only forgotten you but didn’t want to stick around to reconnect with you. Imagine if she then flitted off without even a goodbye, and you told yourself she’d come home once her memories returned … only she never did. It would wreck a child, wouldn’t it?”

“Lots of people have emotional wounds, Piper. Some don’t handle them well, and I don’t think anyone would ever expect them to. But nothing gives them the right to project all their anger and pain onto the people who aren’t responsible for those wounds.”

“Well, now she’s also feeling a whole heaping of jealousy sprinkled with bitterness. She’s going to be a pain in our asses until she’s worked it out of her system.”

Switching gears, Levi went on, “That wasn’t just about jealousy or bitterness. In manipulating Whitney and Joe, she also controls what you do to some extent. She tried controlling me with subtle techniques, but I wouldn’t stand for it. So she knows I won’t let her pull that shit with you; that she’ll lose her favorite whipping girl. That’s part of why she exploded.”

Piper felt her brows knit. “Wow, you’re right. I didn’t see that before. I should have, because it’s kind of obvious that she’d feel the need to control the people close to her—she can then ensure they don’t go anywhere. She can keep them from hurting her the way her mom did. It all comes back to that.”

“It would seem so.” Approaching a red light, Levi slowed the vehicle. “That scene in the kitchen didn’t go as badly as it could have done.”

“It was one of the very few times where my mom and Joe really spoke up for me and refused to back down. Well, it was more that they were very strongly appealing to Celeste to accept how things are, but still. You know, there were a couple of times back there when I felt like Celeste was trying to provoke you.”

“She wanted me to growl and yell and insult her so that your mother and stepfather would jump to her defense.”

“I guess I should have expected that.” She exhaled deeply. “Thanks again for … well, everything you did today.”

He shot her a lopsided, sideways smile. “Like you, I’m not so bad as anchors go, am I?”

Her mouth curled. “No, not so bad at all.”