L E V I ' S  P O V

Going to Elijah's house to get Ophelia wasn't one of my favourite things to do. She should be home with me.

It was an absolute pleasure to see the smile that lit her face when she saw the roses in my hand and I let out an internal sigh of relief when I realised that she liked roses. I had never gotten her flowers before and wasn't sure which kind she liked.

As she moved away from the door to place the flowers in a vase of nice, chilling water, I grit my teeth as I looked up at the ceiling, placing my hands in my pocket.

Don't look down, Levi.

I then took one hand out of my pocket to rub the slight stubble on my chin.

Don't fucking look down, boy.

I cursed myself in two different languages as I damn well looked down, letting out a quiet groan.

Fuck she had a nice ass that my hands were itching to touch.

Stop it, you dumb fucker, she wasn't a piece of meat.

I cleared my throat as she walked back.

Now here we were, at an Italian restaurant. I had just finished ordering for Ophelia and I could tell that she was happy that I did since she wasn't sure what to order or what even was on the menu. I could've taken her to the restaurant we went to before with her favourite food but I wanted something different so it didn't look like she didn't deserve a new and special idea each time we went out.

I just thought that hopefully, she would find more food to like other than just chicken alfredo.

I poured Ophelia a glass of water, knowing that she didn't drink.

"So, how's work?" I offered conversationally but then cringed afterward.

We sounded like we were having a first date.

"It's going alright, Rachel's just cutting down my days a little so I have to take over-time most of the time," She explained softly.

I gritted my teeth. I wanted to tell her that she knew that she shouldn't be overworking herself with too much work, especially late at night. I did make sure that since Gerald wasn't picking her up, Elijah had one of his drivers do it. I wanted to tell her to stop exhausting herself, and then afterward, for her to reassure me that she was fine. I wanted for her to just wrap her arms around my waist whenever this topic came up and pepper my jaw in light pecks in a way to get me to forget about the situation, in which I never would, but just pretended to get her to continue to have her lips trailing my skin.

But I didn't have a say this time. Obviously, if Ophelia wanted to, she could work whenever she felt like it, but she took in my opinion and my thoughts mattered to her so much that she wanted my 'okay' just for her to feel comfortable while working the overtime.

But as I said, I had no place to voice my thoughts or to say anything about the way she wanted to run her life, especially since I didn't know what to call us now.

So instead, I forced myself to say, "Oh? Just be careful." As I squeezed the wine glass in my hand.

She nodded her head and looked down longingly at her water with a frown, almost as if she wanted me to scold her about not working too hard.

"Is everything okay at work?" She asked quietly.

I was now attending work once again and everything was the same. Tended to happen when you had employees that you can depend on to look after a business for you when you're not available to.

"It's good, Mrs. Alton asked for you, by the way," I told her.

"O-Oh. Tell her hello for me, please." She said politely.

The waiter came out and brought our meal. He placed Ophelia's plate in front of her first before placing mine, "Will that be all?" He asked kindly.

"Yes, thank you," I said in reply and I watched as he walked off.

It was quiet when we ate our food, before Ophelia placed her utensils on her plate, "Levi?" She whispered as she fiddled with her napkin.

"Hmm, yeah?" I answered as I placed some food in my mouth.

"Can- Can we stop?" Her voice was barely audible.

The food on my fork paused before it can fully enter my mouth. "What?" I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"T-This," She gestured to the both of us with a hand.

"It's getting awkward and I just want us to talk like normal, not like if we're strangers." She looked down at her lap.

I rubbed my hands over my face. She wanted us to speak like normal? Normally when I took her out on dates, I would tell her how I was going to buy a house for her and a car and all of the clothes that she wanted. She seemed to take it as a joke as she giggled her head off and told me to stop talking gibberish.

However, I would never tell her that I was serious if it would get that beautiful sound to leave her lips.

Most of the stuff we talked about on our outings were about us. Was there even an us now?

Would it even be appropriate to speak about these things without her thinking that I didn't respect her space about letting her think over things?

"I- I'm really trying here," I laughed lightly.

My initial thought was to tell her that I really didn't know what she expected me to do or speak about. But to me, that sounded as if I would be guilt-tripping her into forgiving me just so our conversation could flow naturally.

She rubbed her arm embarrassingly, "Is it about what I said three days ago?" She looked down.

"No, no! Don't blame yourself, Ophelia. Remember, none of this is your fault, okay?" I tried to reassure her.

"It feels that way though." She mumbled ashamedly.

I sighed, "Let's just eat our food and then we can go somewhere else, okay?" I suggested softly.

She bit her lip and nodded.

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Ophelia's face morphed into a beautiful smile when I took her for a Cookies and Cream treat. Her eyes lit up and her toes bounced on the concrete

"Thank you!" She said elatedly as she licked the top twice with her tongue.

My eyes zoomed in on the action and my lips began to blubber as my throat grew drier than the Sahara Desert.

She continued to lick the delectable treat, unaware of the thoughts flowing through my head about other ways her tongue could be put to work.

I quickly shook my head.

Bad, Levi.

Now to think of it, my thoughts on Ophelia were becoming more and more sinful as the days passed. My previous sleepless nights were now turning into nights of grunting in pleasure and panting as I wrongfully think of all the ways that I can take her in my house.

"Aren't you getting one?" She asked innocently.

"Wh- Oh! Y-Yeah, I'm not hungry." I cleared my throat.

She shrugged her shoulders happily at my reply and turned and bounced out of the parlour happily as I trailed behind her.

My eyes travelled to her round ass that bounced swiftly with every step she made. It then travelled to the natural way of her hips and tempting arch in her back.

Instead of dryness in my mouth, I felt my mouth water in anticipation as I slowly pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. Soon, the saliva filling my mouth decided that water should be transported heavily to the pores on my forehead as I felt sweat dripping from my forehead.

Blood rushed to my groin as I swiped my hand across my forehead swiftly, the stiffness in my pants making it uncomfortable to walk.

"Ophelia, Ophelia," I called after her and she stood confusingly at my call. "Just— walk with me." I swallowed as I gently pulled her next to me. This way, my eyes wouldn't wander wrongfully.

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"Thank you for tonight," Ophelia said sweetly as I walked her up to Elijah's door.

"It's no problem," I replied with a charming smile on my face. "So, do I get another date?" I asked cheekily as I placed my hands in my slacks.

She laughed and looked down on the ground, "What'd you have in mind?" She asked softly.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Dinner at my place?"

She smiled, "Sounds okay," She giggled.

"See you soon, okay?" I said softly after a moment of silence.

She bit her lips to stop the trembling and said, "Y-Yeah... okay, see you soon." She turned away quickly to enter the house.

I sigh deeply before stepping into my car and speeding off.

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"Hello?" I answered the phone.

"Hey, it's me, Adam." A voice on the other end of the phone said.

I propped the phone between my shoulder and ear, signing away on the papers in front of me. "Hey, how's college?" I asked.

"Shit, but whatever," He waved it off.

Adam was my father's brother's son, making him my cousin. He was currently in college with his girlfriend. Both of them bought an apartment outside of college so that they could live together.

"How's Ariel?" I hummed. "She's good, went shopping with Libby and Landon today." He sighed. "Anyway, what about you? Uncle told my dad about some girl that 'doesn't deserve you'." I could hear the roll of his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it," I waved off with finality in my voice.

"Whatever you say," Adam mocked. "I called to ask you for one of your vacation houses. Ariel's birthday is coming up and I want to have her alone." I could practically hear the suggestive tone in his voice and I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, I'll have someone stock it up and clean it for you." I hummed.

"Thanks, man, I owe you one." He said and with that, he ended the call.

I placed the pen on the table and rubbed my hands through my hair. Thinking back to yesterday, I wished it had gone a bit differently. It seemed as if Ophelia and I were moving backward.

And that thought annoyed me.