Page 26 of Guarding the Shadows
I scratched my head and tried to look unfazed by his visit, and grateful that Levi had given me a suggestion that I could work with.
“Can’t a guy take a dump in peace without someone checking in with me?” I replied. I noticed my belt on the floor, as well as the dirty cloth and towel that lay where I’d dropped them, and moved toward the dividing doors to Beth’s room, believing if I kept them away from there, they wouldn’t see the evidence of what we’d been up to.
Levi headed to the wet bar, pulled out a Corona beer and took a seat in an armchair. “How long has she been in there.”
I shrugged like I wasn’t sure. “I don’t know. We came into the room, and I went straight to the bathroom,” I replied, sounding convincing, even to myself.
Bodhi rested his ass against a long cabinet and crossed his arms. “So, no sign of the stalker?”
“Not a hint. Then again, I’ve been glued to Beth. Maybe once he saw her with me and Benny, it frightened him off.”
“Maybe. You’d frighten me off,” Levi joked. “Was she good?”
“Good?” For a split second I figured I’d been caught from the scrutiny I felt I was under. Then I remembered two things—how guilt could fuck with an ability to judge situations, and this was Beth’s brother, surely, he would never ask if Beth was a good lay.
“Oh, the gig? She was brilliant.”
“Of course, the gig. What else could you think I meant?” Levi challenged.
Bodhi narrowed his eyes and quietly studied me. “Did those cargo pants shrink in the wash?” he casually muttered.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
My eyes met his and I glared silently toward him.
“No … I pulled my belt out of the loops while I was taking a dump,” I said, almost believing that is actually what I’d done.
“Right,” he said, nodding so slowly, even though I knew, that he knew I was full of shit.
“Levi,” Beth gushed, opening the divider wide and throwing her arms around Levi’s neck as he sat in the chair.
My nervous gaze immediately shifted past her into her bedroom and relief ran through me like a cold, soothing glass of water. The bed was made like it had never been slept in and everything was in its place … everything apart from the chair I’d taken from the sitting room—the chair I’d fucked her in.
24
Beth
“What are you doing here?” I asked, sounding too animated. Raff flared his eyes at me, warning me that I sounded too enthusiastic.
“I know Raff’s more than capable of taking care of you but knowing that fucker was still out there … well, I decided I had to come and see you were okay for myself,” Levi remarked, shifting me from behind his chair and pulling me onto his knee.
“Where are you staying?” I asked my brother, sweetly.
“In here … with you. Bernadette booked two more rooms for Bodhi and Benny,” Levi explained.
My heart sank because I thought Raff and I might spend the whole night in bed together.
“You don’t mind moving your stuff through the connecting door to Benny’s room, do you, dude?” Levi asked Raff. Obviously, from the way Raff’s mouth twisted, he minded a lot … because we had just been getting started on our first night of debauchery.
“Of course not,” Raff mumbled, while he tried not to make eye contact with me or Bodhi. “It’ll be good for you two to spend some more time together.”
As rock stars didn’t keep office hours, Levi sat talking to me until almost 4:00 a.m. “Is that Raff’s belt?” he asked, his eyes immediately suspicious. He pointed toward the offending object curled up where I’d placed it on my bedroom nightstand.
“It is,” I confessed, mostly because I was a terrible liar, and probably because what Raff and I had didn’t feel like a one-time thing. Plus, the belt had a distinctive, initial R on the front.
“Did my bodyguard fuck you when he was supposed to be taking care of your safety?” Levi muttered in that growly tone that scared the shit out of people when he got mad.
“Stop. I’m an adult. What I do on my time is my business,” I argued.
“Not when it’s with my security detail,” he snapped. “Wait until I get my hands on that bastard. In fact, I want to speak to him now,” he demanded, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.
