Sweet Soul (Sweet Home #5)(31)

I didn’t know how to react. I held the book tightly in my hand, and moved forward until he looked down at me from his tall height. His face was apprehensive. Unable to do anything else, I timidly rose on tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek.

I heard him inhale sharply. Feeling my face heat, I darted to the door. As the door opened and I stepped outside, Levi followed me to the yard and said, “I’ll watch, to make sure you get in safe. I’ll see you’re in your room when you stand in your window.”

Smiling a goodnight, I rushed through the house. Entering the room that I was staying in, I placed the poetry book and the jar on the dresser top, and moved toward the window to show Levi I was in and safe. As I stepped across the floor, I stopped and a thought came to my head.

My heart beat in tandem with my quick steps as I went back to the dresser and held the neon jar in my hands. As I arrived at the large window, I saw Levi standing in the shadow below. My hands trembled as I stared down; then, with painstaking slowness, I placed the fake lightning bug jar on the window ledge. Its light still shone brightly.

I waited to see what Levi would do. When he stepped into the path of moonlight, his expression soft and gentle, I could see he understood.

This jar was my light.

In minutes I was in bed and asleep. The glow from the jar kept all the haunting memories from my mind, and the nightmares from my sleep.

It was the first night I’d slept right through in years.





Chapter Eight


Levi


“Why you so damn anxious to get home?”

My leg was bobbing up and down and Ashton slammed his hand on my knee to stop it. Turning to my friend and teammate I pushed his hand off.

“What?” I asked. Ashton looked at Jake who was sitting in front of me on the team bus. We’d just played at USC, winning by six points. I’d scored a touchdown and was fairly happy with my receiving game. But from the minute we got on the plane back home, and now on the bus back to college to pick up our cars, Ashton had been right, I was desperate to get home.

My friends both waited for a response. I didn’t give one.

Ashton rolled his eyes, and asked, “You coming over to the party tonight?”

Checking my phone, I saw it was nearly midnight and shook my head.

Jake sighed, but the pair of them dropped the subject. They were now getting used to me not turning up to anything.

“You see Harper after the game?” Jake leaned across the table between us to ask.

I shook my head and stared out of the window. Jake kicked my leg under the table and I slammed my eyes to meet his. He smirked. “She was looking for you. I told her where you’d be.”

Truth was, as I was coming out of the locker room, I saw her walking down the hallway toward me. I’d pretended not to see her and fell into step with our offense coach all the way back to the bus taking us to the airport. I had nothing to say to the girl.

And it sure wasn’t her who was occupying my thoughts day and night. It was Elsie. Ever since the other night in the pool house, I hadn’t been able to get her out my mind. The very next day I’d had to travel away for this game. I looked in her room before I’d left to say ‘bye’, but she was fast asleep. Staying up that late, and her still being sick, must have wiped her out. I didn’t want to wake her up when she slept so peacefully. The jar was still by her window though, clearly refilled with one of the glow sticks I’d given her. And my heart had almost burst when, also lying beside her in bed, was the poetry book.

I’d checked in with Lexi a few times every day, and she’d said that Elsie had kept to herself; slept and read. Lexi thought Elsie’d been feeling down for the last few days. As much as I didn’t want Elsie to be sad or on her own, a part of me was real hopeful that the reason she’d been down was because I was gone.

The lights of the Husky Stadium slowly came into view as we turned a corner. I grabbed my bag, ready to get the hell off this bus. My leg bounced again as the bus pulled into the stadium car park, and I was up on my feet the second we stopped.

Jake punched my arm getting in line behind me to exit the bus. “You gotta take a pill or something, Alabama? Thought you were gonna jump out the window to get off this friggin’ bus.”

Shaking my head at my friend, I said, “Just tired, man. Need to get home.”

“What you doing tomorrow? You wanna come round and watch the Seahawks’ game at our house?”

“Nah,” I said to Ashton. “Gonna help Lexi with Dante. Austin don’t get back until Monday, and she has to work.”

Austin and Rome were away in Cincinnati playing the Bengals. But I wasn’t helping Lexi. In fact, she’d told me she had to be in her center all day. Lexi took Dante with her when she could. She’d also asked me to stay with Elsie, but there was no way I was telling these guys about that. They wouldn’t understand what was going on. They wouldn’t understand why I’d helped her that night, instead of partying with them.

I was keeping Elsie to myself. Was no one’s damn business anyhow.

Shooting off the bus like a damn dart, I threw my friends a wave and jogged across to the Jeep. I ignored the cheer bus pulling behind us. I heard Jake’s girlfriend trying to call me back. I ignored the fans that had gathered to congratulate us on our win.

I just needed to get home.