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“You have to have something else, and when you do, it’s gonna come back on me.”
“I’m not gonna let that happen.”
“But he’ll still try, and I’d like a warning before he does. He knows that he can only do business stuff with you, but with me he can ...” I trailed off. He could tryanythingwith me. It had been years since he got physical, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t again.
The scar on my face ached as a reminder of what he was capable of.
“He could do what, exactly?” Levi asked lowly.
“Bad things. Mean things. I can handle it, but you can’t keep stuff from me.”
“I can protect you.”
“Yes, that’s nice and all, but?—”
“Amy,” he said. “Let me do this for you.”
“You’ve done a lot for me.”
“And I’ll do more. But you have to let me handle things.”
I crossed my arms. I didn’t want him to handle anything. At least not on his own, but I didn’t know if I could turn him down. Had I been alone for so long that I didn’t know how to hand things off anymore?
Did I trust Levi to handle them in the first place?
“Please,” he added.
“Fine,” I said, even though it went against the roiling feeling of my stomach. “I trust you to handle it, but can we meet in the middle here? If you do find some legal way to go after him, some way to make him look like the idiot, you have to tell me. I won’t stop you, but I need to know.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
It was something, at least. It didn’t completely get rid of the feeling in my gut, but I would have to make do.
“What do you want for dinner?” I asked. “The least I can do is cook something, considering I came into your office and made you tell me what was going on.”
“I’ll handle dinner.”
“But—”
“I’m fine,” he said. “Trust me, I am.”
I didn’t know if I did. But he wanted to do it all, it seemed.
And I wasn’t sure I was okay with letting him.
Chapter Seventeen
The next morning,my phone rang when the first tendrils of light broke through the curtains. I cursed. I’d done no work on figuring out how I felt about Levi’s insistence on doing everything for me, and whatever telemarketer was bold enough to call me right now had to face my wrath.
But the voice on the line wasnotwho I expected.
“Amy?” Emma’s voice broke, and I froze. “I need help.”
“What happened?” I asked as I tumbled out of bed. “Where are you?”
“I-I wanted to come visit you, but my car started smoking, and I’m on the side of the interstate by myself.”
“Okay, first things first, call 911.”