Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82543 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
But the thought of Levi being scared of falling for me? It sounds like a challenge. One I fully want to take on. If it weren’t for football, my entire future riding on this year, I’d be clubbing him over the back of the head and dragging him to my den.
“I get it,” I say. “And if you only want to be friends, we can do that too. There’s no pressure here. We can go back to your place and hang out. Watch TV.”
“Well, that’s the other thing …”
“What other thing?”
“Maybe instead of telling you, I should show you.”
I put my hands up. “Hey, whoa, I just agreed not to have sex with you, and now you want to show me your dick? There you go with all the mixed signals again.”
“It’s not my dick.” Levi grabs my wrist and drags me the rest of the way to his apartment.
The building is only a four-level walk-up, and I’m surprised when we only get to the second floor. With Levi Vanderbilt’s money, I expected a penthouse. If this place even has a penthouse.
It’s an older-style condo, but it all makes sense when he opens the door. Wide beach views, hardwood floors, a kitchen that belongs in a five-bedroom apartment instead of a one-bedroom apartment … Now, this is Vanderbilt-worthy.
But as we move in farther, I stop in my tracks.
There are plastic sheets hanging on two walls behind his couch, kind of where I assume the dining table is supposed to go, but he doesn’t have one.
“I’ve figured out what you need to tell me, and if it’s that you brought me here to murder me, you should know my dads will never stop looking for you. They will hire big bad guys with guns to hunt you down.”
Levi bursts out laughing. “That’s assuming they could even find me.”
I stumble back a few steps, and Levi shakes his head.
“You’re so dramatic. Follow me.”
“To your kill corner? No.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. It’s sculpting equipment.”
“Like to sculpt your victim’s faces after you take them off?”
“As in my art project. For art school. Because … Because I lied.”
Art school?
Levi runs his hand through his hair, shaking out some of the neatly placed strands. The ends remind me of the shaggy, longish hair he had in high school—the big fuck-you he’d send to his dad by looking disheveled. “My father thinks I’m in law school, but I’m not. I came here for art. For a new life. One that’s not Vanderbilt expectation and pressure.”
I find myself happy for him. “That’s amazing.”
“It is?”
“Scary. But amazing. You don’t think he’s going to find out, though?”
“That’s why I kept up the lie, even with you.” He lowers his voice and mutters, “Especially with you.”
“Why me?”
“Because in a roundabout way, hooking up with you at graduation gave me the courage to go for what I truly want. Growing up, art was the only subject at school that felt like an escape. I even convinced my father to let me take some classes outside of school because ‘it would look good to have extracurriculars on my college applications.’ He reminded me that I would get into Harvard without it because of who he is, but I made him proud by wanting to do it on merit and on my own. It was all bullshit. I just wanted to get covered in clay and express myself in a way I hadn’t been able to verbally. Art is everything to me, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to make a living out of it yet or not. I don’t know if I’m any good. But I’d like to try. Because it represents new life and new opportunities. And it reminds me to go for what I want. Just like I did that night on the roof with you. You’re the reason I’m here doing the thing I love and choosing my own life.”
My chest warms. “That’s what you meant by you moved here because of me.”
He nods.
“It’s not because you’re obsessed with me and want to have all my babies.”
Levi laughs. “At the risk of dinting your ego, no. Though I wouldn’t mind you trying to get me pregnant. You’ve never been with a guy before, so, you know, maybe you’re not aware it doesn’t work the same way as it does with girls.”
“I am a dumb football player after all.”
“Sure. Dumb. Is that why when I transferred to this school, I saw you’d made the dean’s list three years in a row?”
I step closer to him and put my finger to my lips. “Shh. Don’t tell anyone my secret.”
“That you’re a smart jock?”
“A smart, bisexual jock. I’m a true unicorn.”
“I want to say something about wanting to play with your horn, but you know, make it funny.”
“But you can’t come up with something because you’re too busy thinking about my … horn?”