Page 99 of Hopeless Romantic
“I’m fucked.” He ground his palms against his lids.
“More than you even realize.”
He opened his eyes to find it was Emmitt who had spoken. He’d seated himself at Levi’s desk, flipping through the inventory log and making himself right at home. Gray was across the room, inspecting the empty display case while nursing a cup of tea.
“I’ve got a call in to local pawn shops,” Levi said.
“Good luck with that.” Emmitt leaned back in the chair and kicked his feet up on the desk, showing off a pair of god-awful pangolin-hide boots that some Colombian drug lord had given him in return for doing a story on his missing daughter.
“With any luck, my mom’s glasses will turn up before she catches wind of the heist.”
It had been a day since the break-in, and Levi was still trying to make sense of the situation. Besides the money, some alcohol, and the glasses, he couldn’t seem to find anything else missing.
The going theory was a crime of opportunity. With no sign of forced entry, the sheriff suspected the door hadn’t been properly secured, someone let themselves in, and had accidentally activated the alarm. Panicked, they grabbed what was visible and took off.
It didn’t account for the two previous thefts, but now that the cops were involved, Levi knew solving those mysteries wasn’t likely.
“I think he was talking about Beckett,” Gray said, sipping his tea.
Yeah, he knew that, too. He’d spent all day going through inventory, trying to forget the small, defeated expression on her face when he’d taken off, leaving her in the cold driveway with nothing but a robe and a broken heart to cling to.
She’d hurt him. But he’d hurt her, too. Badly.
“How is her brother?” he found himself asking, because it was easier than asking about Beckett.
“I checked on him this morning,” Gray said. “I prescribed some pretty heavy meds. He got twelve stitches from punching through his bedroom window.”
“I punched an exploding concrete factory with my forehead. Why didn’t I get the good meds?” Emmitt asked.
“Because you’re an asshole.” Gray looked from Emmitt to Levi. “Apparently, you were too.”
“She didn’t tell me Tommy had to get stitches,” Levi said. “Just that he’d gone on an impromptu walk after a blowup with his dad.”
“Did you ask her?” Emmitt asked bluntly.
“Didn’t really get that far.” Levi rubbed his hand over his chest, trying to ease the raw ache that had been gnawing at him since yesterday. It didn’t help. Nothing he seemed to do helped. “I was still freaked over what happened at the bar . . .” He stopped. “We didn’t get that far.”
“Did you not think that maybe she was still freaked over Tommy, her dad, her business, the wedding? Then she had to deal with the fact that she let you down?” Emmitt said. “That’s a lot, bro.”
“Exactly what I’ve been telling her.” Levi sat forward. “She’s so busy giving everything to everyone, she doesn’t save anything for herself.”
Curly and Moe exchanged amused looks. If Levi wasn’t so bone-tired, he’d kick both their asses to the curb and lock the door.
“Herself? Or you?” Gray asked.
“Her!” he snapped, and another silent conversation was exchanged between his uninvited guests. “Maybe me a little, too. I just needed to know if I even rated a blip on her radar.” Levi didn’t know where that last part came from—or the way his heart dipped when he said it. “I guess I got my answer.”
“What? That her family is as important to her as P is to you?” Emmitt asked quietly. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It’s not that simple.” The complicated knot of emotions in his stomach multiplied.
“Why not?” Emmitt asked. “We all know that, regardless of the ‘give Paisley space’ BS you were spouting the other night, if it came down to her needing you, your decision would be simple.”
“What else do you assholes know about my life that apparently I’m missing?” Arms crossed firmly, he pushed back into the couch. “Go on, explain this huge cosmic joke that everyone but me seems to know the punch line to.”
Emmitt looked at Gray, who gave an elaborate you-handle-this-idiot roll of the eyes.
“Whatever you think you know about women, you’re wrong. Not when it applies to thethewoman.” Feet on the floor, Emmitt leveled Levi with a serious-as-shit look. “You keep thinking if it comes easy, it isn’t worth it. But when it’s worth it, it becomes easy.”
