14. ~Colton~

14

~Colton~

Hell had frozen over.

Lev had actually slept through the night.

He'd even slept in actually.

He was usually the guy who would go for a run, shower and dress and even make breakfast by the time Mason and I rolled out of bed and stumbled downstairs into the kitchen.

But here he was just walking in now to the kitchen shirtless and in a pair of just his deep-red satin boxers as Mason and I sat at the table eating our breakfast fully-dressed and ready to get our days underway.

Well, he wasn't just walking—he was skipping, really.

And to add to the shock of it all, he was also whistling.

Mason looked up from the papers out in front of him, spinning his pen in his hand in a casual way that I knew was anything but casual. It was more like a tic with him, when he was worried or agitated. He either did that or stress snacked on Cheerios. Seeing as though he was making his way through the omelet he'd cooked for us, the latter wasn't an option right now, so he was settling for the whole spinning pen thing instead.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Hellraiser," he spoke.

I grimaced. Using that name was him calling Lev out.

It had me tensing as Lev walked to the table and leaned against the back of the chair opposite me and beside Mason.

But then he smiled.

Genuinely.

Not in the usual conniving or sadistic way.

Was he actually… happy?

"Some sweet dreams kept me asleep a little longer than usual." He gestured at our plates. "Sorry I didn't get down here in time to make breakfast, but you clearly had it covered." He eyed me. "Well, fortunately, it was Mason who had it covered, or there'd be food poisoning all around on the menu this morning."

"Hey, that was one time."

"One time too many," Mason grunted.

It had Lev laughing.

Again, a real, heartfelt laugh.

Mason and I exchanged a look. What the shit was going on?

He pushed away from the chair, then went to grab himself a coffee, starting to whistle again.

Words churned in my head at the sound, matching to the melody.

It was easier not to open my eyes/ It was easier not to feel a thing/ Until you/ You came into my life like a hurricane/ You eased away the pain/ Until you.

"You're whistling to my duet?"

He lifted a shoulder as he made his coffee. "Am I?"

"Yeah, you definitely are."

"Guess it's caught in my head from the other day."

"How? I've been singing a bunch of my others since then."

"Because of the girl," Mason said, focusing back on his papers.

"Her name is Brianna," Lev bit back with an edge this time, as he returned to the table with the coffee.

I shifted forward on my chair. "Holy shit, you fucked her, didn't you? Outside the bar or at her place?" I eyed Mason in question because he'd been home that night. "Or here?"

Lifting one eye off his papers for a moment, he answered, "Not here."

"No fucking was had," Lev said, waving his hand dismissively. "Not in the technical sense."

"Technical sense? What does that mean?" I asked.

Mason slapped his papers down and glared at Lev. "It means he fingered her up against the wall of the bar then marked her."

"Marked her? Like Hex -wise? He likes her, it's a little hard to believe he would—"

"He came on her," Mason told me.

"Huh, marked her in that sense. Got it." I licked my lips. "I like it."

"Of course you do," Mason grunted. "Dirty slut."

I grinned. "That I am, darlin'. And don't you forget it." I looked at Lev who was noticeably less upbeat now, some major tension having taken him over. "Although, I am a little hurt, you didn't invite me, Lev. You saw that I've got a rapport going with her now."

"You might have a rapport but you don't know her. Double-teaming at this stage would have terrified her and fucked up everything."

"At this stage? So you are actually considering my sharing idea then?"

Before he could answer, Mason ran right over that and demanded instead, "And what might that everything be?"

Lev glared at him fiercely. "How do you know what went down?"

"Hmm, let me see," Mason said, sitting back in his chair and clasping his hands on his lap. Oh shit. Not good. Very not good. "Could it be that your mysterious behavior of keeping to the shadows, combined with your even more mysterious return necessitated me putting eyes on you? Could it also be that one of those sets of eyes reported a very localized blackout at Nirvana right after Colt texted to tell me you were on your way home? A blackout that took out the lights just on a couple of the exterior walls of the building and also downed the security cameras? Gotta say, Levi, that was an impressive feat. It required interference from several different sources as well, and to pull it off in perfect synchronicity like you did… another level. Your skills have clearly grown substantially since you've been away. Strange, isn't it, that your internship didn't include any of that sort of thing?" When Lev just continued glaring at him, his fingers tightening around his mug to a white-knuckle grip, Mason went on, "I had one of my people get the security cameras up and running again and link me to the feed. That's how I saw."

"Hmm."

"That's all you have to say for yourself?" Mason demanded.

Lev sucked in a harsh breath, then narrowed his eyes. "No. Far from it, brother. You're so afraid of not being in absolute control of every little thing that it's become a sickness. A worrying and really fucking sad sickness."

"Lev—" I started to warn.

He ignored it and pushed harder, "You're so stifled that I was stunned that Colt was able to get you off. I mean, props to him, that's a major feat. The guy's got skills, we all know that, but with you that's not even a given. It's slamming up against some real deep-seated repression." Lev scoffed. "You don't even know who the fuck you are. I mean, shit, you can't even acknowledge him in public—or around anybody outside of the three of us—you leave him relegated to just some friend. You just don't see how much that hurts him every fucking time, is that it? Or you don't care? Or is it because you're so emotionally stunted these days that you really don't register it?"

I slapped my hand to my face and slumped back in my chair. "Shit. Stop this."

Mason sneered at him. "Your attempt to redirect was admirable, yet majorly transparent."

"Just stay out of my business and keep your focus on that," Lev told him, gesturing at the papers surrounding him. "Got your army in place yet?"

"Working on it."

"And then what? You're gonna hit at Daddy Dearest?"

"One step at a time."

"You chickened out the last time around."

"Because you left."

"That's your excuse. You made the decision to call it off before I even announced I was taking off for a while. But you can't stand failure in any fucking thing, so you leveled it on me because I'm an easy target as I don't care about blame, insults, or any of that shit."

"Right."

"You're actually admitting it?"

"No. I'm talking about you being right about you not caring or having a reaction to normal human things. So why are you now?"

"What?"

"You're reacting, Lev. In a major way. And it's because of this girl, isn't it?"

"If I'm reacting then you're reaching. Majorly."

"Nah," Mason said, shaking his head. "It's clear as day to me. This girl's a threat."

Oh no. "She's not, Mason," I interjected. "She's a sweet thing and—"

"She's a threat in the sense of how she's affecting him," Mason clarified.

"The fuck she is," Levi bit back.

"The way you're reacting to her, the lines you're crossing, the obsession she's clearly become for you… it's dangerous, given what and who you are. And it won't be tolerated."

"What does that mean?"

"What do you think? She has to be dealt with in the way Hex deals with all threats—absolute decimation."

Before I could object, Lev shot to his feet and slammed his hands down on the table, rattling our plates. "You stay the fuck away from her," he seethed at Mason.

Mason didn't so much as flinch, eyeing him steadily. "Give me a reason to."

"What?"

"Explain to me why she's so special, why she's under your skin, and why you're going to such lengths with her."

Lev's jaw worked as he stared Mason down.

As the seconds ticked by and he didn't say anything, didn't offer anything up, Mason told him, "You have forty-eight hours to give me the truth, or she's marked by Hex."

Levi stormed around the table and snatched the papers from the table. Looking them over rapidly, he muttered, "Twenty-five recruits since we restarted Hex. All loyal to you through fear, intimidation and blackmail."

"That's the way we do it."

Lev pulled out his phone and took rapid photos of each piece of paper with the list of names Mason had along with the details involved in what he had on each of them, what he was holding over their heads, as well as the assets and connections he wanted them for, what use he had for each of them. Then he threw the papers on the floor out of Mason's reach and leaned in and growled in his face, "You strike at her and I'll annihilate every single fucker on this list. Mark my fucking words. Don't test me."

With that, he pulled back, then did something we hadn't seen from him in years.

He lost his temper.

Snatching up his mug, he let out a roar as he tossed it across the kitchen, wherein it smashed against the wall and shattered to pieces, coffee spraying everywhere.

And then he stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door shut with such force it shook the entire fucking room.

I cursed and rounded on Mason. "What the shit are you playing at? Why did you provoke him like that?"

"I needed to test a theory."

"And what theory was that? The damage he'll do if he loses his temper? You remember the last time, yes?" I gestured at his right shoulder. It was covered by the gray henley tee he currently had on and his skull with wings tattoo beneath that, but it was never really out of sight to me. "You got shot. And so did Lev." I lowered my voice. "The two of you murdered five guys. Your dad put you on a leash."

"I'm well aware," he gritted out. "Well fucking aware, Colt."

"Then why do this now? I mean, shit, didn't you see how happy he was when he first walked in here?"

"I did and you know as well as I do how worrying that is with him. All the signs are there like they were five years ago. You haven't been looking as closely at it as I have, namely because you've been caught up in helping him here and there with the bits and pieces of a much bigger picture he hasn't let either of us in on. That's why I did what I did, to see exactly where he's at. Last time, neither of us acted it time to stop all that hell from breaking loose. I'm not gonna make that mistake again."

"I get that, but you need to get that there are other ways to approach this." I rose to my feet. "And your way, the brutal way you just attacked and threatened somebody he clearly cares about… all it's gonna do is risk driving him away again. For good this time. I don't want that. And as much as the two of you butt heads, I know you don't actually really want that either. He's our brother, come what may."

"I'll do what I have to do to protect us, Colt."

I shook my head at him.

"Shit, Mason."

With that, I walked out without another word.

There was no point.

He was clearly in one of his hardheaded moods right now.

Any pushing would just further entrench him in his current position.

I'd have to try again when he wasn't so worked up, come at it another way.

I found Levi in his workshop.

He was staring at an intricate carving in front of him on one of his workbenches.

Holy shit. It was incredible.

He'd carved a one-foot butterfly, the wings with some amazing detailing and patterns etched into them.

"Wow," I uttered, approaching it. "This is some of your finest work. Maybe the finest."

As I came within reach, I went to touch it, but he snapped his fingers a fraction of a second before I made a move. "Uh uh, no touching works in progress."

I pulled my hand back. "Right. My bad. I forgot. It's been a long time since I've been around you doing your woodworking—or carving, in this case."

He was now dressed in his black cargo pants instead of just his boxers, but still shirtless, and I took note of his hoodie thrown over his laptop bag by the opposite door that led out through the side entrance to the mansion. There was a small garage out there too where he parked his Harley, separate from Mason's Porsche and my dark-blue Mercedes. Lev liked to come and go without notice, so he set things like that up where he wouldn't disturb us when he did. The same with him having control of the security system here. From Mason's pessimistic view of it, he believed it was Lev looking to keep whatever troublesome things he got up to off our radar.

I got that it could be worrying with Lev. Of course I did. But Mason often forgot—or didn't like to think about—what Lev had suffered through six years ago. Something that had completely changed him, shattered him. And when he'd tried to put the pieces back together they hadn't fit together the same way. I guess, he hadn't really wanted them to.

He'd become volatile and malicious.

Well, that was what people saw from him. All they really saw.

They didn't know him like I did.

He was just so tormented, in so much pain, and that was how he handled it, by becoming that.

But Lev had a good heart. He did care. A lot.

It was just really fucking sad that Mason couldn't see it anymore like I still could in him.

His fear of losing control and losing grip on controlling Lev warped so much for him.

I took note of some hardware—wires, connectors, some sort of battery thingy—and went to pick it up to get a closer look.

A sharp slap to the back of my hand had me jerking back. "Ow!"

"I told you, no touching."

My lips quirked. "Come on, you know how much I like to touch."

He patted my cheek. "Tone it down, cupcake. I'm already worked up. Not a good idea to throw any kind of provocation my way right now."

He moved away from me and settled behind his bench, fiddling with some tools I had no clue about as he worked on the connectors and a battery-type of thing.

When it came to my music, I was king. But this sort of stuff, the technical know-how it required—a different kind to my field of interest—it was way beyond me.

"I've told you many a time that I can teach you if you give it a chance," he said, catching me looking on curiously.

"My focus, Lev. It wouldn't be possible."

"You've done it with your music, with the band."

"In my better moments, yeah."

"Nah, more than you realize. I've seen you doing it with that duet, your persistence with it, with trying to get it done, the fact you were able to put it together so quickly."

"I put it together in one of my obsessive, determined modes."

"Yet, you're still pursuing it." He looked up at me, pausing what he was doing. "You don't give yourself enough credit." He shook his head to himself. "Not surprising when you're going up against Mason's intensely controlled and anally streamlined bullshit. Nobody can match that. For the record, not even him."

I shoved my hand through my mohawk. "Look, I know you're upset—"

"Don't defend him to me, Colt."

"That's not why I came in here."

He cocked an eyebrow.

I held up my hand. "Just hear me out before you fly off the handle."

"Not flying off the handle, working," he said, focusing on putting together… whatever that hardware in front of him was.

"All right, good," I said, dropping my hand and leaning against the workbench on the opposite side to him. "Because I think you should just put it out there… whatever your true interest is in Brianna."

"Hmm, so you're not defending him, but you're advocating for me to give him exactly what he wants?" he spoke in that deceptively calm tone of his that really meant there was bubbling anger just beneath the surface, ready to unleash in a full-on tidal wave at any second.

"You're looking at it the wrong way. The stubborn way—which is something both of you have in common, by the way. This is best for both of you."

"Cupcake, I get that you're not normally the strategist amongst us, but this is another level."

"It's not. Listen, Lev."

He sucked in a breath and returned to working. "Fine. Hearing you out."

"You tell Mason what's really going on and it will cut through all the worry he's currently feeling with your mysterious return and all the things not adding up about you becoming fixated on Brianna Walker out of the blue. It will calm him down, Lev. Meaning, it will get him off your back. It could even lead to him helping you, rather than being a thorn in your side to your plans. He won't feel the need to exert control, he won't throw obstacles in your path, and he won't go after her either."

He blew out a breath and stepped back from his work. Shoving a hand through his wild curly hair, he looked me in the eye and told me, "I didn't just become fixated on her out of the blue. There's much more at work here. It's complicated. The kind of complicated that Mason will never accept. So, you see, even if I reveal the truth to him and I'm transparent about the reasons behind my recent actions, he won't be on board. In fact, the threat he made over breakfast will seem like nothing in comparison."

"No, if he's aware of what's coming, he can work with you. He'd be willing to. It's the not knowing that amps him up and brings out his dictatorial side."

"Sorry, brother, I know you're trying so hard to make peace, but I can't allow interference."

"Lev, what could be so bad that you'd cut us out of it completely?"

" You're not cut out. I like you growing closer to her, I'm all for it."

"As pleasantly surprising as that is, I meant in the big picture."

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall beside a peg board full of his many tools. "Because the fundamental difference between Mason's approach versus mine comes into play in a big way here. While he has been known to take what he mistakenly terms calculated risks—the kind where it's not even really a risk at all because he's already planned moves ahead and manipulated the outcome he wants— I'm prepared to truly risk and wager everything to get what I want, and to cross any godforsaken lines in the process too. I don't have any limits."

"Holy shit, this is like a call to war. But against who? And where does Brianna fit in to all of this?"

"There's a difference between wanting to know and needing to, Colt. Trust me, you're better off where you're at right now." He pushed off the wall and came to me, telling me, "Believe me, this is me protecting you." Reaching out, he cupped my cheek. "Okay, cupcake?"

"Lev—"

"Hey, don't you need to get down to campus? Your first class of the day starts in fifteen minutes."

"Of course you know my class schedule."

Both him and Mason made a point to. It was an effort on their part to ensure I kept to it and wasn't late, or missing classes entirely because of my focus issues.

"Why did Mason let you come in here when you should've been on your way down to class already?"

"He was pissed about what went down in the kitchen and I was pissed at the way he tried to handle you, so he took off without me."

He shook his head. "Get your bag and I'll give you a ride."

"On your Harley?"

"Sure, if you don't mind riding bitch. Either that, or you let me drive your Mercedes. There's no way I'm getting in the passenger seat with you behind the wheel."

I chuckled. "A year away and you still haven't moved past those minor issues."

"Minor? Sure, we'll go with that."

"I'm fine riding on the back of your bike. I'm hella secure in my masculinity."

He grinned. "Don't I know it."

I watched him walk to his bag and hoodie. He slipped the hoodie on over his bare chest, unfortunately hiding the gorgeous sight. As he slung his laptop bag over his shoulder, then opened the door so we could head to his bike, I gestured at the butterfly he'd made.

"What's it for?"

"It's a night light."

"Oh, that's the stuff you were fiddling with to add to it? LEDs?"

"Nah, the LEDs are the easy part. What you saw me doing was rigging the hardware there to be able to send signals and work with an app I created."

"To what end?"

"So the recipient in question can use their phone to turn it on and off at their will, and also schedule it too."

"That's neat. I would ask if it was for you, but you're not into butterflies. But Brianna's butterfly tattoo comes to mind here. You actually made that for her?"

He lifted a shoulder. "She doesn't like the dark."

I frowned. "But Mason said you caused a blackout around her?"

"I needed her in the right frame of mind."

"And scaring her was the way to go about that?"

"Unfortunately, yes. She insists on pushing me to employ unpleasant methods."

"Jeez, Lev."

He ruffled my mohawk. "Relax, it worked the way I intended. All is well."

"And what if she has second thoughts in the light of day?"

"That's not an option."

"It's not an—"

"Come on," he said, nudging me. "Go get your bag and I'll fire up the Harley. Two minutes."

I stared at him for a moment.

"Go," he pushed. "I won't let you be late."

I guess that was settled then. Not an option.

Holy shit.