The Fall Up (The Fall Up, #1)(54)

I couldn’t say the same for Devon. While I considered him part of my family, I couldn’t lose sight of the fact that he was also my employee who obviously didn’t know his role. I was supposed to be able to trust this man with my life, and he was taking advantage of that trust for some reason that was lost on me completely. Fine, he didn’t like Sam, but he wasn’t required to. His only job was to make sure I was safe. And the way my stomach knotted at this little revelation made me feel anything but.

“Shit,” I hissed into the phone.

“I’m sorry. Look, Carter and I will be there in about an hour. Devon’s on the flight behind us. We’ll all come together and figure this out. Just tell them to let Sam in. They can’t keep you from seeing him.”

I groaned. “Apparently, they can. They’re refusing to let me see him until they speak to a member of my family. I’m not calling my parents to ask permission to see my boyfriend, Henry.” Tears welled in my eyes.

It was too much.

All of it.

I was supposed to be relaxing and getting things under control. Instead, I felt like a prisoner inside not only these walls, but my entire f*cking life as well.

And just like that, the familiar free fall engulfed me.

I closed my eyes and fought the ache in my lungs.

“Is Sam still there?” Henry asked.

“I think so,” I managed to squeak.

“Just tell him to wait. I’ll be there soon. We’ll get this fixed, okay?”

But I didn’t want to tell Sam to wait. I wanted to see him.

And go home with him.

And let him do exactly what he had unwittingly been doing since the day we met—healing me from the outside in.

Suddenly, my eyes popped open. Why couldn’t I have that?

Yes, my life had spiraled out of control. But the only person who was stopping me from taking charge of my own future was me.

Levee Michelle Williams was a fighter. I hadn’t gotten my success in the music industry by sitting around and letting people tell me how to run my life. I had done it by clawing my way to the top with nothing more than a guitar and head full of dreams.

Fuck this place. No one was going to tell me how to run my life—a life I suddenly realized I never wanted to leave. And that epiphany hadn’t come from the bottom of a prescription bottle or inside those walls. It had come in the shape of a gorgeous man who’d saved me with nothing more than a quick wit and a simple conversation. And he was sitting only yards away in a parking lot because his name was on a magical f*cking list.

I dropped the phone from my ear and pushed the conference room door open, then the hallway door, and finally, the front door of the entire building. I didn’t stop until my high heels hit the asphalt of the parking lot.

Voices called my name behind me, but they were all muted by my newfound determination.

My feet kept moving in search of a pair of golden eyes that I soon realized were nowhere to be found. As I came up empty, nerves didn’t take over. I didn’t have a million thoughts of guilt and worry. I was no longer allowing the free fall to dictate my life.

I squared my shoulders and smiled proudly, feeling like myself for the first time in months.

“Levee!” Doctor Post called, but I quickly slipped behind a car, squatting low until the voices disappeared.

I wasn’t going back, not even to explain that I wasn’t going back. I wasn’t in the mood for an argument. I was in the mood to start living.

Without my phone, I couldn’t call Sam, but there was only one place I needed to go. So I started down the sidewalk and hailed a cab.

He’d know where to find me.





AFTER ALMOST THREE hours of chugging coffee, smoking cigarettes, and talking myself off the ledge of rage, I decided to head back and see if I could charm my way in to see Levee. As I pulled into a parking spot, I was thrilled to see a familiar face. Carter, the barrel-chested bodyguard who had driven me home from Levee’s house after our fight the first night together, was standing out front, barking into a phone. I threw my car in park then jogged up to him. Maybe he could get me inside.

His eyes grew wide as I approached. Using his hand to cover the phone, he asked, “She’s not with you?”

“Levee? No. They won’t let me in. I was hoping—”

He lifted the phone back to his ear. “Sam just arrived, Mr. Williams. She’s not with him. We’ll keep you updated.”

Mr. Williams? Levee’s dad?

He hung up. “Come with me, Sam.” He walked toward the door.

I grabbed his arm. “What the hell is going on? Why would you think Levee was with me?”

“Follow me,” was his only reply.

The receptionist glared at me as Carter escorted me past her and into a back office. I was already a bundle of nerves, but the moment I caught sight of Henry’s hollow eyes, I realized something was terribly wrong. He stopped midpace, and hope filled his empty expression.

“Oh thank God!” He rushed in my direction and peered over my shoulder. “Where is she?”

“I have no idea.” Bile rose in my throat.

He threw his hands over his mouth and spun in place to face Devon and the Men in Black conferring in the corner. Several other people lined the walls, all looking equally as devastated by this realization.

“Someone please tell me what the f*ck is going on!” I barked as my gaze flashed around the room, pleading for some answers.