37. Levi

Chapter 37

Levi

now

"What the hell, G?"

A blast of cold air hits me, followed by an even colder glare.

I've been looking for Greedy for nearly an hour. I've been through the house more than once, searching every room. I was ready to give up for the night and go check on Hunter when I popped into the primary bedroom one more time.

Honestly, I didn't even know this was a balcony, but when I caught sight of the door, I gave the handle a tug, even though I'd all but given up on actually finding him.

Color me shocked when it swung open to reveal my best friend standing outside in the bitter cold.

"How long have you been out here?" I step out onto the small landing—a Juliet balcony, I think it's called?—then instantly question my life choices.

There's barely enough room for Greedy to be out here alone. I have to crowd his space and position my feet wider than his in order to even shut the door behind me.

His focus is set on the view around us—mountains and valleys, night sky and wisps of clouds that travel across the horizon and hide the brightest stars. From this angle, there's even a clear view of the lower balcony. Where the hot tub is. Because of course there fucking is.

He doesn't look at me. Doesn't even acknowledge my presence, despite how I'm all up in his personal space.

"G," I say again.

What the hell do I do now? My goal was to make sure he's okay after what Kabir and I walked in on and how Hunter reacted. But he's stone still, his face an expressionless mask.

I reach out to get his attention. But when my fingers brush the hand he has braced on the railing of the balcony, I hiss and recoil. "Dude, you're fucking freezing."

He doesn't react. Doesn't say a damn word.

Shit. Shuffling back as far as I can, I pull my hoodie off.

He watches me, his face emotionless as I work, but he doesn't move or react as I awkwardly try to pull the layer over his head.

I've struggled for several seconds before he grumbles something unintelligible and finally puts a little effort into working his arms through the sleeves.

"Why are you out here?" I ask, gritting my teeth as the cool night air passes through the thin fabric of my T-shirt.

"Why are you out here?" he fires back like a petulant child.

"So it's going to be like that?" I straighten and level him with a glare. When he doesn't reply, I change tack. "I was looking for you. I wanted to… check on you. Make sure you're okay."

"Does it look like I'm fucking okay?" he seethes. He balls his hand into a fist and slams it into the balcony railing. "Fuck! "

I snatch up his hand, fighting the urge to recoil at the frigid sensation. It's like an icicle. His skin is tinged blue. I can't imagine pounding the railing helped matters.

"Come here," I huff out, frustrated. I take his hands in mine, then suck in a sharp inhale and brace myself.

Stepping closer so our feet are practically touching and our thighs are woven between one another, I slip his hands under my shirt.

I hiss as I press them to the still warm skin of my torso and clench my abs, powering through the sensations as I work to get him to unfist his hands and splay them along my stomach.

Eventually, he exhales, flexing his fingers ever so slightly against my torso, as if he's checking to make sure he still has feeling in each digit.

"Better?" I ask, my words choppy as my own body temperature plummets.

He's standing out here, fucking freezing, no doubt punishing himself for an incident he didn't even understand. But as heat transfers from my body to his, he physically relaxes.

"Yeah," he says thickly, his breath skating over the skin of my neck. "Thanks, man."

As the seconds pass and he allows me to hold him, I yearn to comfort him, to take away the pain. At least some of it. It's honestly too much for one person to bear.

Why the hell either of them thought they could, what, bang each other out of their systems? It was ludicrous. The idea was doomed from the start. According to Hunter, the encounter was completely consensual, but then it all started to feel like too much.

"Hunter takes responsibility for what happened," I tell him. "She knows you didn't know."

"But I fucking should have," he bites out, digging his fingers into my skin with so much force I have to fight back a wince. "I should have known, Leev. All of it. Everything." A choked sob escapes him then. "I should have fucking known. "

He collapses into my arms, and I'm so shocked I don't immediately react.

Eventually, I come to my senses. I wrap my arms around his torso and smooth one hand up and down his back, hoping to imbue him with at least a small sense of comfort.

He slips his palms over the planes of my abs and around my obliques and upper back until he's cupping my shoulder blades.

"I should have known," he repeats, the words gritty and broken as he continues to cry.

Emotion overwhelms me. Fuck . He's right. He should have known. Hunter lied. I lied. We kept secrets, and we cut him out in the name of self-preservation.

Even as recently as last week—when my fake dating arrangement with Hunter evolved into something so much more—he should have known.

"I'm sorry." I stroke his back through the thick fabric of my sweatshirt as he clings to me. "I'm so fucking sorry for not being a better friend, G. For not telling you what I knew back then. For not being up-front about what's going on now."

He shakes his head in the crook of my shoulder. "Back then?" he croaks. "Yeah. You should have fucking told me. But now…"

He sniffles and pulls away, using the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe his nose.

"Dude," I deadpan. "Gross. You better wash that before you give it back to me."

Greedy snickers. "It smells like you." He pulls the neck of the hoodie up to his nose and takes a long whiff. "It's fucking delicious. You're not getting it back."

I fix my expression into something like a glare, but I crack. I turn away quickly, but not before he catches my smile.

"I don't blame you for anything with Hunter now," he tells me, lowering his head and roughing a hand over the back of his neck. "She's… incredible. If you're what she wants— "

I shake my head and pull my shoulders back. "I don't think I'm the only one she wants."

Greedy presses his lips together and pushes his tongue out to wet them. "I don't know how we come back from this."

"Don't," I suggest. "Don't try to come back. Don't keep going back and dredging up the past. Start fresh with her, man. Let go of then and focus on now."

"What if she doesn't want who I am now?" he asks in a hushed tone.

That's an impossibility. Greedy's incredible. He's gorgeous. Brilliant. Exceptional on the field. Amazing to his family and friends. He's the best friend I've ever had. Anyone would be lucky to be loved by him. So fucking lucky.

"She does," I tell him. In my heart, I believe that. Hunter loved Greedy. Hunter loves him still. "But I said it before, and I mean it even more now. I'm not giving her up for anything."

"She's what you want," he says, nodding, as if he's accepting the truth of the situation for the first time. Finally.

Teeth chattering, I find the hem of the sweatshirt and plant my hands against Greedy's now-warm back.

He goes rigid and sucks in a sharp breath. "Jesus, Leev!"

For a second, I think he might pull away, but when he settles again, moving his hands higher up my back, I pull him closer and line up our bodies so we're standing chest to chest, cold hands seeking warmth on one another's bare back.

"She's not the only one I want," I admit. I swallow past the lump of anxiety rising up inside me and force the words out. "I'm sorry I haven't been a better friend since I've been back." Licking my lips, I gently rest my forehead on his, willing him to feel my sincerity. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you why she left and what I knew back then."

I hold him. He lets me hold him.

If my instincts are correct, I think he's holding me just as tightly .

Pressing my fingertips into the taut muscles of his low back, I garner all my courage, exhale, then say, "G… maybe you and I could start fresh, too?"

He pulls back a fraction and locks eyes with me. It takes every fucking ounce of self-restraint to not smash my mouth against his. Instead, I hold my breath and search his face.

"Yeah," he says, his shoulders loosening. "I'd like that."

Finally, I exhale, sinking into the peace that those simple words have created.

He nods once, looking out over the mountains, before eventually pulling away. "I need to talk to Hunter first, though."

Chest tightening, I nod. Knowing him, he won't rest until he knows that she's okay—that they're okay.

I just hope like hell they really can start fresh, and that once they're in a good place, there'll be room for me, too.