Page 70 of Every Single Broken Piece
When he starts the car and the engine purrs to life, I clap my hands and lean down to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you! Now Jordan can get off my back.”
“You’re welcome, my muse,” Levi replies. “I’ll go get snow tires put on later today.”
I step back so he can get out of the car and shut the door.
“Levi.”
Hearing a woman’s voice, we both glance toward the end of the driveway where Colby is standing with a microphone in his hand, a cameraman, and some lady who looks awfully familiar. For a few seconds, I can’t place where I know her from, but then recognition shudders through me like an earthquake.
Wesley Porter’s mother.
“Why would you bring her here, Colby?” I exclaim in complete shock.
Does he hate me so much?
“Fuck,” Levi mutters under his breath.
Feeling completely rattled, I glance at Levi, who’s staring at the three people with a grim expression, the blood draining from his face, and his jaw clenching hard.
Suddenly, he grabs me by my wrist and begins to drag me toward the front door, but Colby calls out, “Levi, your mother came all this way to see you. Don’t you have anything to say to her?”
Mother?
A weird pins and needles sensation spreads from the top of my head to my toes as I’m hit with a wave of shock that threatens to wash my feet from right under me.
“Levi,” the woman says, her tone urgent as she walks closer to us, “I just want to talk to you.”
Levi shoves my front door open, and I’m hauled inside.
“What’s going on?” I ask, air bursting over my lips and drying them quickly. “Why ...?”
My heart clenches into a tiny ball as the grief I’ve worked so hard to deal with consumes me.
“Kelcie, did you know your boyfriend is related to the man who killed your mother?” Colby shouts for half the neighborhood to hear. “Wesley Porter is Levi Graye’s brother.”
No. No. No.
I shake my head, unable to process what Colby is telling me. There’s no way it’s the truth.
Lifting my eyes to Levi’s, I don’t even have to ask whether what Colby is saying is the truth. The guilt is written all over his face.
No!
Somewhere deep inside my soul, something breaks.
It’s only then that I begin to make sense of everything, and I rip my wrist free from Levi’s tight hold. I slowly shake my head, the initial blow of heartache so intense it forces me three steps backward.
“Levi,” his mother says, trying to get his attention.
He turns his head, hatred and disgust darkening his features as he snaps, “Fuck off, Rene!” He slams the door shut in her face. After locking it, he keeps his head turned away from me. “I can explain.”
Oh God.
A sob threatens to escape from me. I take another step backward, shaking my head faster as my breaths turn to short puffs. “No, Levi,” I whisper, my tone filled with unspeakable fear. “Tell me Colby is lying. Tell me this isn’t true.”
It feels like I’m being sucked into a world where everything is turned upside down and nothing makes sense. I lift my hands to cover my mouth as another wave of shock shoots through me.
Finally, Levi looks at me, his eyes filled with guilt and pain.
