Page 5 of Starting a New Life

A sigh escaped me just as Levi lowered me into an armchair in the back corner of the coffee shop.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I heard him mumbling.

Then his face came into view, those stormy grey eyes studying me with an intensity that made me want to writhe under the scrutiny. But I couldn’t get my body to move. Oh, it was moving all right, shaking and trembling, but I couldn’t get it to do anything else.

“I asked you a question!” Levi repeated, his voice taking on an almost desperate note, his lips pursed. Raking a hand through his hair, he stared at me, his eyes begging me to do or say something—I just didn’t know what.

“Huh?” That was not a real word, but at least I’d managed to get a sound out, even if it was only a single syllable.

“What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. You?” he repeated, grabbing my shoulders for a second, only to hiss and snatch back his hands. “You’re a fucking icicle. Are you trying to kill yourself?”

No, I was fucking not. Quite the contrary. I was doing my best in this fucked-up situation to stay alive and stay free. Maybe I wasn’t doing a particularly good job of it at the moment, but I was fucking trying.

However, I didn’t say any of that out loud. Levi didn’t deserve my anger. Worry was etched into his features, his stormy eyes swimming with unshed tears.

But also… I wasn’t sure how much of that I’d actually get out before my voice failed me.

“Wait here,” Levi said, pinning me to the chair with a glare. “Don’t you dare pull some kind of disappearing stunt on me or I will find you and I’ll… I’ll…” He threw his hands up as he whirled around and ran away as fast as possible, weaving his way through the mismatched assortment of chairs and tables with a precision that stemmed from muscle memory.

I couldn’t do anything but stare after him.

Would he bring me something to eat?

My stomach cramped painfully, a mix of hope and shame flooding me, bringing tears to my eyes. It shouldn’t be like this. I shouldn’t have to rely on handouts from a near stranger. I should be able to afford my own damn coffee and pastries.

Then again, this shouldn’t be my life. I shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be hiding out in the woods in winter, hiding from a pack that was hunting me, while also trying to stay hidden from the local pack that might or might not try to enslave me once they found out who I was. What I was.

My heart skipped a beat, icy fear gripping it, squeezing until I could barely breathe.

“Here,” Levi said before pushing a steaming hot cup dressed in a knitted sweater into my hands, manually wrapping my fingers around the soft yet firm, warm cup, waiting until he was sure I was actually holding onto it before letting go.

Carefully raising the cup in my still-trembling fingers, I inhaled deeply. The heavenly scent of rich chocolate warmed my insides, shaking something loose within me.

My eyes started burning, tears threatening to spill over as exhaustion crashed into me.

“Hey now,” Levi said, carefully nudging me. “Whatever it is, it’s okay.”

It wasn’t.

Nothing was okay.

And I was starting to question if it ever would be.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, gripping the cup harder. It was a big one, white ceramic wrapped in a black knitted sweater with sparkling purple stars on it.

A strangled laugh escaped me as I thought back to our first conversation.

“Did you make this?” I asked, feeling a hint of a smile tugging at my lips.

Levi shrugged, a blush rising on his cheeks. “Maybe? Okay, yeah, I totally did that. I picked up a new hobby, and I found that knitting is really, really calming. And a great way to do something with my hands while talking with my viewers.”

“Viewers?” I blinked as my mind tried—and failed spectacularly—to make OnlyFans fit with knitting.

“Oh… yeah. I’m doing social media stuff. On the side. Like, vlogs and funny TikToks about being a barista?”

“Ohh…” I nodded. That made a lot more sense than knitting on OnlyFans.

“Anyway, I used to do makeup while randomly chatting away, but I wanted to change things up a bit, and since it’s cold as fuck here, I thought hey, knitting. And then I saw these cups with sweaters on and thought it’d be a fun idea to introduce here, but I failed to think about the hygiene aspect, so it’s… wait. No. We’re not doing this again!”