Tell Me Your Fears

Chapter 7: Robyn

I don't know how we ended up at a park, but we did, the air bustling with crowds of people despite the late night.

We managed to outrun Peralta's men again, not that they saw us through the window. Though, I doubt if they did, they were going to let us go freely, not this time. We got the element of surprise back at the bar when Levi turned out he was good with his punches. I have no doubt they'd be more vigilant now.

I turn my head to make sure no one tailed us before adjusting my hat back in place.

Levi darts his hand out to me and I quickly catch his wrist out of reflex. "What are you doing?"

I'm very particular with my space.

"I want to see your face," he clips. His chestnut brown eyes was more prominent under the pale light. I never noticed it before, mainly because red rimmed is eyes, but they held so much, yet revealed so little. As if he was intentionally putting you at arm's length.

I narrow my eyes. "You already saw my face."

"Not sober."

"Oh, you're sober? Maybe pigs can fly, too."

I was bullshitting. I knew he was already sober, the adrenaline rush and the three tall glasses of water he gulped down at the restaurant instead of finishing his pancakes were indication I can't f**k with him anymore. I wanted to dally, afraid he might recognize me from yesterday.

Levi and I might have his so-called shared experience, but that didn't mean I trusted him.

A tingle shot down my fingers. I look down and notice his wrist was still in my palm. I quickly let go.

Levi pulls away, resigning. An unusual trait based on the last few hours I've known him. Levi Pavlov was a force to be reckoned with. Giving up was not on his cards.

"Okay, stop that."

He side-eyes me. "Stop what?"

"That inner dialogue you have with your subconscious right now that's judging me. It's annoying."

"How do you know I'm judging you?"

"You have this look in your eye. It's calculating like you don't know whether to act on something or not." Of what, I don't know. Though, he hides it well. Unfortunately for him, I've been around people like Levi Pavlov enough to know what their facial expressions mean. Sometimes, they mix it up, but Levi has a pattern. The way he goes silent when he's thinking, or sometimes hiding it by asking me questions.

Scratch that, I'm pretty sure Levi Pavlov doesn't stop the wheels inside his head from turning.

Levi turns to face the fountain, avoiding eye contact with me. I purse my lips to keep from smiling. Read him like a book.

"You're good at reading people," he asked, but comes out more like a statement.

I don't say anything as I position myself beside to stand beside him, staring at the people milling about the park. When Levi extends a hand out, this time, I don't object. No thoughts pass through my head when I let his fingers make contact with the tip of my cap and slide it off my head.

It's not because I was afraid f what he'd think about me that I don't look at him, but because there was still a possibility that he'd recognize me from last night.

"Am I as pretty as you thought?" I quip.

He snorts. "Bold of you to assume I thought of you as anything but a bartender."

I roll my eyes. "Asshole."

I was exhausted. Running around the streets of Chicago was not how I planned my night would go. Probably a peaceful night's sleep before I hit the road to Anaheim tomorrow and never look back. But of course, Peralta had to put a f*****g tracker chip inside my phone, the paranoid motherfucker. For good reason, too, at least I'll commend him for that.

"Not many people can read me like a page in a book."

"That's because they haven't spent a night running away from the cast of Rocky."

I expected Levi to press the matter further about my involvement with Peralta. But surprisingly, he turns away.

"Where to?"

I quirk a brow. "Excuse me?"

"I don't feel like going back to my empty hotel room probably ordering myself a bottle, or two, of Merlot and bend the hotel worker over the dining table and f**k her until the room next door files a noise complaint." My cheeks heat up at his crude words. Guess a sober Levi Pavlov isn't any good that the drunk one.

Nevertheless, I feel my belly heat up at the image of him naked performing all kinds of acts my imaginative brain could think of.

I look away trying to cover the evident blush that creeps up my cheeks. I'll blame it on the cold if he says anything.

"I don't think you want to go back home just yet."

Levi's right. I didn't want to go back to my motel and think over the events that happened in my head as I stare up at my dirty ceiling. I'd rather spend the few remaining hours I have left with Levi before we go back to our separate lives.

I at least deserve this. Just a moment of freedom.

Ironic, isn't it? I was a woman free of responsibilities, yet I feel trapped in an invisible dome that follows me everywhere I go.

Not far off the distance I hear music. Not the Electra pop s**t kids like these days. The once silent air was interrupted with an old jazz people around the park were swaying to.

I turn back to Levi and smile before pulling him toward the makeshift dancefloor at the center of the park. I don't miss how his shoulders tense.

When we reach the edge of the dancefloor, he pulls away. For a moment he just looks at me. His defined jaw and dark brown eyes prominent under the light of festivities.

Levi takes my backpack and nods toward the crowd of people dancing. "Go ahead. I have to make a call first."

I smirk. "You're afraid to dance, are you?"

"I don't like it, no." Not at all surprising. A stubborn man in a suit is not good with his moves.

"How would you know unless you try it a couple of times? The best things in life often comes from the unexpected."

He stares at me, he does that a lot, and I can't help but wonder.

"You really don't know who I am?" I ask.

"Am I supposed to?" he shoots back.

"No, I guess not." Because I'm not Celia at Peralta's party, nor have I any intentions to reveal it.

I'm Robyn, the girl from the bar who had an unfortunate luck to be found out this early on by my latest billionaire to dupe. In any case, I'm glad Levi doesn't know about my little side hustle-that in no way is little in any sense of the word at all.

I don't know if Levi is close with Peralta, though our somewhat very short encounter proved otherwise, but I do know he may have connections to the high ranking men in society. Powerful men who might stop at nothing to see me pay my dues for the serial thieving I've done in the past.

In some ways, Levi was like me—having two different lives as of the night. A reputable prick who like to edge people with anxiety like he did to me and that bodyguard at the wedding, and tonight, a chivalrous man who wouldn't let three big men bully a diminutive woman who wouldn't shut her mouth, and even went as far as to accompany her through the dark alleyways of a corrupt city to make sure she is safe.

It may be a ruse, but I don't remember when I've spent a day with good conversation and a fun time, what with all the state hopping, I've never found the need to have the luxury of friends. This could all be a trap for all I care. Nevertheless, I'll choose who I will be tonight the same way I choose to think the better of Levi.

"Well, Levi Pavlov, I think now's the time to change old habits," I quip just as I starts swaying my hips, my upper body relaxed. "We can't always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it."

I don't hear his response because I let my body flow through the music as it carried me away toward the people dancing.

It doesn't take long to be engulfed by tartan and fleece, the people not caring it was ten degrees out to be partying.

I close my eyes, feeling the beat of the music take over. It wasn't until five minutes later that I feel hands settle on my waist, but I don't panic.

It's funny how you recognize a stranger's touch whom you've only met for a mere five hours just by holding his hand by one.

I smile, leaning my head back on his shoulder as he pressed his chest against my back. Heat from his body radiates against my back despite the layer of our coats, and I sigh.

"You're right. Tonight's about change. And there's one habit I'd like to change."

He moves his body with ease, my hips moving along with his. He's good, better than good. Stunned by the sight of him moving with such ease, I hesitate, just watching until he pulls me closer to him, urging me with the gentle thrust of his hips. Cheeks heating, I size up the surroundings to make sure no one's watching.

Of course, no one was. Everyone else around us were engulfed in their own type of fun that it's apparent none of them give a s**t. And with the warm buzz flowing through me, I decide I don't either.

"What's that?" I sighed.

He pressed his lips beside my ear, his hot breath sending chills down my spine as he says, "Taking you back to my hotel room."

I smirk. "We'll see."

I follow Levi's lead and start rocking my hips because this girl has a little rhythm. Levi's eyes light up with hot delight as we dance through the song, and the next, and the next.

I let loose until I feel my legs almost give out.