Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 765(@200wpm)___ 612(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 765(@200wpm)___ 612(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Minutes later, he had flipped through the small list of channels and couldn’t find anything interesting to watch. What was wrong with him? He didn’t even know how to have free time. Levi clicked off the television and stared at the time on his phone. He had wasted less than ten minutes.
Luckily, his phone vibrated in his hand, and he eagerly clicked open the notification to Nathaniel’s email. He still had no memory of the man, but his message added to this newfound since of ease coming over his heart. Whoever Nathaniel was didn’t truly matter. It seemed he had an advocate inside the university. If the guy could help this transition, Levi would gladly add Nathaniel’s name to his lengthy pay it forward list and give back the first chance he got.
“I hope I didn’t overstep, but I reached out to student affairs who sent me to financial services to check on your scholarship. Everything’s intact. If I understood correctly, your deferment is good until the fall semester. I took the liberty of issuing an extenuating circumstance report that would allow you to extend the deferment past that point, but only one time.
“I hope this helps.”
After reading the message, he began to type.
“That’s a load off my mind, thank you. The way things are going here, I’m hoping I’ll be back in Maryland by the fall. I’ll have my teenage brothers with me. Do you have any idea how to apply for on-campus family housing?”
He pushed send and shoved off the sofa, barely starting for his room when the phone vibrated in his palm. Nathaniel had immediately responded.
“I can check into that tomorrow for you. How many brothers?”
Levi stopped in the hall, and instead of answering Nathaniel’s question, he quickly typed back, “I don’t want to put you out.”
He stood there the few seconds, waiting, and got an almost instant reply. “No, I’d like to do this for you. I get the impression you’ve been saddled with a heavy load. I want to help you with that. The alumni mentoring program is a community of networking and camaraderie (as per written in the brochure). I’m here for you.”
Levi grinned at the brochure remark and typed back. “I have two brothers. One has been accepted to University of Virginia; he’s graduating from high school early and plans to start Virginia in January. The other is younger—fifteen. He’ll be with me for a while.”
After a second more, he typed, “Thank you for all this.”
Levi left the phone on the nightstand as he crawled in bed. Minutes later, thankfully, he was sound asleep.
~~~
Thane paced the small office, berating himself, wearing a hole in the carpet. He was dressed in his tuxedo and painful new dress shoes that needed a good stretching, waiting for cocktail hour at whatever gala he’d been scheduled to speak at this evening.
Guilt ate at him. He knew the right thing to do. He should bow out right this minute. End this farce with Levi and be done with the whole thing. If he wanted to win Levi, then he should get his ass to Coronado and make that shit happen, stop being deceptive inside the university’s application.
That sounded like an easy, reasonable solution.
Work-wise, with everything he’d missed over the last few days, he couldn’t deny how off-center Levi made him. For well over a week, he’d been acting like an ass for no other reason than he wanted that one particular man to do what he wanted him to do. Levi didn’t need his selfish, bullheaded issues right now, and honestly, neither did his staff.
Besides, if he were as good a man as he liked to think, he’d cool his jets and wait this out.
He’d just gotten the confirmation Levi planned to come to Maryland in the fall. That would give Thane more than enough time to decide what emotions he had going on inside him. He could deal with all this internal chaos, and more than likely, bury all the unwanted emotion. If his past was anything to go by, then history would prove he’d be long over Levi by then.
Thane barked out a harsh laugh. He had a feeling he’d remember every vivid detail of the man that got away until the day he died. He dropped his phone in his breast pocket, forcing himself not to type one single word to Levi.
Lifting his hands to his hair, he stopped seconds before pushing his fingers through the styled strands. Dammit, he was like a loose thread, slowly unraveling, bit by bit. He couldn’t make himself focus on anything more than Levi Silva, and after four long, painful days, he should be well past the point of caring. They’d had one night together. Yes, it was spectacular, but still, it was only one night.
Thane reached for his cell phone. Maybe if he could continue to do something as small as secure Levi’s place in school, then he could justify hiding behind the Nathaniel name for a little longer. As crappy a person as his father was, his tenure and position in JHU could certainly make family housing happen for Levi.