Afterward, sated and sleepy, they lay in each other’s arms, enjoying the afterglow.
“Guess the light’s a hit,” Levon joked, his chuckle rumbling beneath her ear as Olive rested her head on his chest, over his heart. She snuggled in close, careless of their sweaty, tangled limbs, their plastered hair, and the mess they’d made. She completely dismissed the fact that the end result of her luxury bath had, ultimately, been undone.
All she cared about was that moment.
All she cared about was the baby and Levon.
12
“Sorry, dude,” Clint said, over the phone line. “That SIM card was pretty much destroyed from sitting in the water so long. All I managed to get were the few phone numbers and call logs I sent to you.”
“Okay.” Levon scrubbed a hand over his face and stared out across the faculty parking lot from his position behind one of storage buildings, out of sight of the rest of the campus. He’d been hoping for some kind of lead from that SIM card, but the only thing it had done was confirm what he already knew. The numbers and call logs Clint had salvaged had been traced to cell numbers belonging to Colin Wilson and Franklin Monroe. So basically he was right where he’d started. “What about the security footage from the school? Anything new there?”
“As a matter of fact,” Clint said, pulling the phone away from his mouth while he talked to Noah offline, then coming back on again. “Yeah. That kid you mentioned. Franklin? He’s all over it. Check your email, should be coming through now.”
Levon held the device away from his ear and pressed the button to open his mail app. Sure enough, the video clip opened on a grainy image of the dark-haired senior selling what appeared to be drugs on a street corner near the mall in Harper’s Forge.
Shit. Just shit.
He’d been hoping he’d been wrong. Worse, he’d been hoping he’d never have to tell Olive her favorite kid had already crossed over to the wrong side of the law. Dammit.
“You get it okay?” Clint asked over the phone line.
“Yeah, I got it. Thanks.” Levon raked a hand through his hair, agitated and on edge. Cars were starting to pull into the lot and he moved farther back into the shadows to avoid detection. He’d forgotten about the stupid parent-teacher conferences tonight. That would mean Olive would be here at school later than usual. A part of him was glad, since it would give him more time to figure out how to tell her about Franklin. “Listen, I need to go. I’ll call you later when I know more about what the Reapers are planning here. Stay safe.”
“You, too. Stay safe, dude,” Clint said, hanging up after their usual SSoF sign-off.
For a long moment, Levon just stood there, hoping the breezy sunshine might wash away the growing dread within him, but unfortunately life wasn’t that simple.
Wasn’t as simple as lying in bed at night with Olive either, though he wished it were.
When he was with her, he felt like a different man. Not a SEAL or a stupid kid with dyslexia or even a Southern Soldier of Fortune. When he was with Olive, he felt like the superhero she always teased him about being. Like he could scale any mountain, conquer any foe.
Except right now, he was battling his own past and his own demons.
He’d never expected to feel this way about anyone, and damn if it didn’t have him twisted seven ways from Sunday. He loved Olive Owen. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but didn’t see a way to do that. Not with his job in Arlington and her life here in Harper’s Forge. He’d never ask her to give up what she loved any more than she would him.
And probably, she didn’t even love him anyway. Why should she?
She was a star, like the ones he’d projected up on the ceiling last night. She could have anyone, do anything. She was the smartest, funniest, most beautiful woman he’d ever known. She deserved so much better than him. So did their baby. If their kid was lucky, they’d take after Olive.
He kicked a rock across the dirt with the toe of his black boot. Who was he kidding? He didn’t know how to be a dad. His own parents had been pretty great, but that didn’t mean it transferred to him. Man, he wished they were still around so he could talk to them about this, but they were gone, killed in a fire at the farm shortly after he’d joined the Navy.
Another scar from his past. Another failure to add to a long line of them.
Maybe if he’d been here, he could’ve saved them. Maybe…
Aw shit.
He strode off from behind the storage building and headed for his truck across the parking lot. Work had ended an hour ago and he needed to get out of here, needed some time and space to sort through his feelings as well as figure out how he was going to handle the whole situation with Olive.
He loved her, yes. But sometimes love wasn’t enough, even though he wished with all his heart it was.
13
There was one school invasion worse than any organized criminal ring: and that was parent-teacher conferences.
Usually. Today, Olive found she didn’t mind them so much. She was still on cloud nine after her night spent with Levon. For the
