“It’s not important.”
“It’s important to me.”
He pushed away from the wall, took a step toward her, and gathered her face in his hands. “The wounds are all healed. Every last one of them. Don’t dwell on what he did, baby.”
Whoa, baby?
“He doesn’t deserve to have that power.”
Just as the people around her didn’t deserve to get caught up in all this bullshit. “I should have said no when Harper invited me to the park.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. You’re not at fault for what happened today.”
“But I am aware that someone wants me dead. I shouldn’t have agreed to go on a group outing. I put them at risk.”
Levi lowered his hands to her shoulders, pinning her gaze with his. “You didn’t do anything. You’re living your life. Which is exactly what you should be doing. He’s the only one in the wrong here.”
“Maybe, but I need to take more precautions. No more group outings, for starters. No more paying visits to my parents or anyone else. I can’t go back to the studio for a while either.” Hopefully Harper and Raini wouldn’t fire her for taking time off. As for staying here … she couldn’t do that either. Not anymore. “I should also move out—”
“No,” he said, his grip on her shoulders tightening.
“I need to hole up somewhere.”
“Do you really think I’d be good with you being on your own when you most need protection?”
“I’m not allowed to protect you? Leaving is the only way I can.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he told her, his voice low but firm. “I get that the attack shook you up. I can understand if you don’t feel so safe with me anymore, considering you were dying and I didn’t even notice—”
“What?” Frowning, she shook her head. “I don’t feel unsafe with you. I’d say you were kind of caught up in what was happening around you, so it’s not surprising that you didn’t notice I was bleeding.”
“You’re eager to get away from me.”
“Because I don’t want you to be hurt again.”
“This complex is secure. He can’t penetrate it. That’s why he struck in public.” Levi tugged her close, swiping his thumbs over her collarbones. “Listen to me. You’re safe here. Has it occurred to you that he’d hoped to have this effect on you? That he wanted to make you isolate yourself so that it’d be easier for him to nab you?”
Actually, no, that hadn’t occurred to her. It should have. Dammit, she was smarter than this. “God, I hate him.”
“He will be caught and dealt with, Piper. Then that sick feeling in your stomach will go, things can get back to normal, and we can find you another place to live. Preferably an apartment in this building.”
Piper’s insides seized. Celeste’s past words echoed in her mind.
“Oh, and you’re wrong if you think he’ll let you return to your house. He’ll want you living somewhere in his building so he can monitor your day-to-day activities.”
Piper stepped back, making his hands slip away from her.
His brows dipped. “What? What did I say?”
“You can’t take over my life, Levi.”
A look of genuine befuddlement fell over his face. “I’m not trying to take over.”
“You want me to move out of my house.”
He shrugged. “I thought you might not feel comfortable living there when you know he once squirted come all over the rear wall. If you’re going to relocate, I’d rather you moved somewhere I know you’ll be safe. This place is practically impenetrable. It’s also close to the Underground, and you have friends here as well as me. It seemed like a good choice.”
Her hackles lowered at the sincerity in his voice. “I can’t say whether or not I’ll want to relocate. Not until I go back to my house. But I wouldn’t want to move to this complex. I don’t think it’d be good for us to live virtually on top of each other. Anchors generally don’t live too close together. It’s better that way. For obvious reasons.”
His eyes searched hers as he closed the distance she’d put between them. “You’ve been avoiding me. Avoiding being alone with me.” Sighing, he rested his forehead against hers. “I miss it,” he added softly.
She felt her brows flit together. “What?”
“The ease we had.” He paused. “I miss a lot of things. Miss you.”
She swallowed, cursing her stomach for fluttering. “You see me every day.”
“There’s a difference between being around someone and truly having their company. You and I might have gotten off to a shaky start, but we got past that. Things were going good. We were friends. Then it all got derailed.” Raising his head, he palmed one side of her neck. “I want her back.”
“Who?”
“My Piper.” He gently squeezed her throat. “I want her back.”
She averted her gaze. “Things will get back to the way they were in the beginning. It’s obviously gonna take a little more time.” From the corner of her eye, she saw him tilt his head.