Page 41 of Heartbreak Hero

“No, you didn’t,” Rowan said, his eyes wide. “You screwed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“It wouldn’t matter how early you left her bed if you didn’t say the right words,” Rowan said.

“That’s true,” West agreed. “Whatdidyou say when you left?”

“Ahh, she asked if I was going back to Seattle and I said no.”

“Did you tell her you wanted to see her again?” Rowan asked.

Levi blinked, and his stomach fell. “No? But I do.”

“You fucked up right there, buddy,” Nash said, coming out of the kitchen with cheese rolled around slices of ham. The man took a big bite of one. “Women need tohearthat shit. You can’tjust assume that they know,” Nash said around the food in his mouth.

“You got that right,” West said with a nod.

“I was going to ask her out for a date when I called her, but she won’t answer the phone,” Levi muttered.

“You took her to the beach,” Nash reminded him.

Paralyzing fear suddenly spiked through Levi. What if there was a repeat of the attack on Sara?

“Shit, what if…” he swallowed hard, not able to get the rest of the words out.

“Hold on,” Rowan soothed and lifted the laptop. With a few key taps, the man pulled up the nearest surveillance of the street in front of Mandy’s home.

“Back it up to yesterday,” Levi said hoarsely, and they all watched as Rowan brought up where Mandy and Sara left in Mandy’s car around noon. With a fast forward, the women returned later that afternoon. Then, Sara left the house toward dusk with a small overnight case in a Lyft car.

“She hasn’t come back since then,” Rowan said, scrolling through the video.

“It seems okay.” West pointed to the screen. “Maybe she had plans.”

Levi managed to release the breath he’d been holding, but he was still worried as hell.

He tried her number again, but it went to voicemail.

“How long have you and Sara been sleeping together?”

Levi coughed, gripped his phone tightly, and shot West a glare. “Just a few times…over a month ago…and then again when I got back into town.” Levi grimaced, keeping it vague. He wasn’t going to share about how many times they had gone at it Saturday night.

He felt like an asshole. No wonder she wasn’t taking his calls, and no wonder she was no longer at Mandy’s. He’d be lucky if she ever talked to him again.

“She probably thinks you’re a casual fuck,” West said.

“No, she thinkshethinks they are a casual fuck,” Nash disagreed.

“There’s nothing casual about us,” Levi snapped with a scowl.

“Doessheknow that?” Nash asked and sat on the couch to finish his food.

“Again, I was going to talk with her over a date night,” he reiterated with frustration.

“Bro…you took her to the farmers market. If that’s not a date, I don’t know what is,” Nash said with a laugh.

“It’s too late anyway, dude.” West cut in. “You missed your window.”

“Well, shit,” Levi muttered. “Now what?”

---