Page 73 of Ace of Spades

I shook my head and stepped up to him. He pushed aside to give me some room.

I clicked around the screen and showed him exactly what he was looking for. An easy fix.

“Oh,” he said, relieved. “So I’m just an idiot. Got it.”

I laughed at his self-deprecation. And he gave me the faintest of smiles.

“Any other problems I can solve?” I asked, leaning against his desk and facing him.

“Climate change? World peace, maybe?”

“You’re a real smartass, you know that?” He said, still grinning as he pulled his chair back in closer to his desk.

As he did so, his leg brushed mine. The contact instantly made me swallow.

Levi’s already made it clear, we can’t be anything, and my time here is limited. So I told myself I imagined all the moments over the past week where I caught him staring at me a second too long.

Or how he seemed to be extra nice to me all of a sudden. Like he was done making my life hell while I worked with him.

Now I’m crouched next to Theo’s bike, trying to finish it up before the weekend.

“What are you still doing here?” Levi’s voice booms through the space.

I look up at him.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

He sighs and drops his backpack on the table before coming up to where I am, next to the bike.

He drops down on one knee.

I grunt, pushing a piece into place.

“You should go home.”

I let out a breath before dropping the tool on the floor in search of a better one.

“You’re always trying to get rid of me.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. You’ve been here since before the sun came up.”

I rummage through different wrenches looking for the one that will fit.

“And I’ll be here until it comes up again if that’s what it takes.”

“Sienna.”

“No, Levi. You’ve already made it abundantly clear that this is my personal project. So I’m not leaving until it’s done.”

He fists his hands into his sides.

“You need rest.”

“Andyouneed to let me be.”

He’s silent, and for a second, I wonder if he walked off. Instead, I feel him get closer. He wraps his hand around the one I’m holding the tool in.

“What are you–”

---