Page 171 of Between Never and Forever
“Hey, it’s me. I’m on a plane. I’ve got in-flight Wi-Fi and okayed the call with the pilot, so call me when you get this please.”
I pause. I open my mouth twice to say it, but I can’t. It doesn’t feel right to do it over the phone.
“See you soon.”
I hang up, then glance at Red in the pod next to me. He’s got my sixty-pound mutt sleeping on his lap, and it makes me smile despite the circumstances. I have no idea how it’s going to work when Ziggs has to pee. It’s a little over thirteen hours non-stop from Milan to Raleigh, and there’s no fucking way she’ll be able to hold it. We brought some puppy pads, so we’ll see.
Red blinks at me, and I shrug.
“He still won’t answer.”
“Try not to worry. Get a little sleep. He’s probably busy.”
I nod. Busy.
I open my phone and scroll back through the article that Hammond sent me. Levi in an altercation with Terry. Levi on the ground with Terry. Levi, sporting a bruised jaw and a scowl, talking with an officer.
Shots fired. No known injuries. Sav Loveless’s lover. Suspect at large.
My nerves are shot. I’m worried for Levi and Brynn. I’m terrified for my mom. What would he want with her now? I did an internet search and found out he was released six months ago. Had he been looking for her this whole time? As far as I know, she hasn’t been in a single article online. It’s just been photos of me and Levi, and discussions about his adopted, nameless daughter.
I don’t know how he found her, but I’m pretty sure it’s my fault.
It’s literally all my fault.
I turn on the television in front of me and flip through the available movies. There are a bunch of Paul Northwood’s romcoms, which makes me chuckle. The world isn’t ready to see Paul in this role. Money laundering, drug running, philandering Paul Northwood? The housewives are going to lose their minds.
And wait until they watch me kill him.
I feel a spark of mischievous glee before I remember just exactly where I am and where I’m going. I turn the television off and take out my lyric notebook. I pop in my earbuds, cycle through the melodies I roughly recorded with my phone and write. At least I’ve gotten some songs out of this whole mess.
Songs and Levi.
I smile.
That’s really all I’ve ever wanted, isn’t it? A purpose, an outlet, and him.
My phone rings three hours into the flight, and I answer it immediately. My voice is hushed and full of concern.
“Levi. Is everything okay? What is going on?”
I hear him sigh and the small bit of relief I felt seeing his name on my phone screen vanishes.
“Levi. What the hell is going on?”
“You shouldn’t be on a plane, Sav. You should be filming in Italy.”
I bristle at the authority in his tone.
“Let me worry about my filming schedule.”
“I’m just saying. There’s no reason for you to be on the way—”
“Levi. Shut up. I’m already cruising at thirty-five thousand feet so table the daddy mindset and answer my damn question.”
He laughs lightly, which makes me smirk, and then he sighs again.
“I’m guessing you saw that I had a visitor?”
