Holding the boxed ring in his hand, Levi's mind kept drifting back to the weird men at the jewelry store. When he'd googled the best jewelers near him, Levi found that the place he went had five stars and was adored by some of the wealthiest people in the state.

His neck still had a slight burn where the one man, Elijah, touched him, and he didn't know why. There was no mark, but it still ached, and it seemed to hurt the further he walked away from the jewelry store.

Levi pushed it from his mind and checked his phone, upset to find that Maggie hadn't responded to his text about going out for a nice dinner. He decided that he'd go meet her in her apartment, since she didn't have work that day anyway.

When he got there, he saw an unfamiliar car parked in the space next to Maggie's car, and Levi felt his heart drop. He tried to convince himself that it was her mother or father's car, but Levi also knew they lived in Montana and didn't use rental cars, preferring to take an Uber whenever they visited.

He ran up the stairs and knocked on the door to the apartment and heard thumping from inside.

"The pizza is here!" a man's voice called, one that Levi had never heard.

The door opened and a man that had to be at least thirty stood on the other side. He looked confused, clutching a twenty in his hand.

"Who are you?" Levi asked, feeling worse and worse by the second.

The man held out his hand. "Marcus," he said, putting his hand down when he realized that Levi wasn't going to shake his hand. "Are you Mags' brother? Friend?"

"Boyfriend?" Levi asked, trembling in anger and pain.

Marcus turned and looked back into the house, and Levi saw Maggie standing in the doorway to her bedroom wearing nothing but red lingerie.

"Levi!" she exclaimed, sounding angry. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"What, is your boyfriend of two years not allowed to visit you?!" Levi yelled, gripping the box with the ring in his hand so tightly that he wouldn't be surprised if it broke. "You said you loved me!"

Maggie glared at him. "You never said it back! You're always so distant and I can't deal with it!" she said, crossing her arms and scowling at him. "You haven't come to see me in days, sex is boring, and you're always so damn sad. Why did you even come here?"

Levi's tears fell down his cheek and he showed her the box in his hand. "I came to propose. I wanted to get better and I thought you'd be able to support me and help me," he said, his voice breaking. "If you didn't want to be with me you could have at least been mature enough to break up with me before I got you a damn ring!"

"I know a really good pawn shop that'll give you back probably half of what you paid," Marcus said, earning himself a disgusted look from Maggie and a tearful one from Levi.

Levi shook his head. "Fuck you, Maggie," he said, turning away.

"Levi-" she tried, drawn in by the ring, but Levi cut her off with a nasty glare.

"We're done, by the way, because I'm mature enough to end a damn relationship without cheating!" he yelled, stomping down the stairs.

Marcus ran after him and grabbed his arm. "Hey, I didn't know she was taken, man," he said, obvious regret in his eyes.

"She's not anymore," Levi spat, pushing Marcus' arm off of him and stomped down the streets, his heart heavy and mind in horrible pain.

He was right; no one could love him.

•••

Levi had seen first hand what alcohol could do to people. In his foster homes where he was sexually abused, most of the men would drink before they raped him and it would only make it more painful.

Because of his past experiences, Levi rarely drank. He would deal with his sadness other ways, usually by means of cutting his arms up. However, on his way home, a bar caught his attention and Levi decided that he'd rather get to the bar because it was closer and he could start to drink himself to death.

He took a seat next to an Asian man with red and black hair and ordered the strongest drink they had, downing it in seconds.

"Usually I don't care about other people," the Asian man said, sipping on his beer while staring at the boxing match on TV. "But I haven't seen someone as sad as you in a while. What happened?"

Levi was already dazed. "My girlfriend cheated on me... well, now my ex," he said, laughing to himself. "I don't know how I could be so stupid. I'm not good enough for anyone, so it makes sense that she cheated."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"Oh, but it is," Levi giggled, calling the bartender over and asking for another drink. "I'm depressed, suicidal, I've been used by countless guys who were supposed to raise and take care of me, and to top it all off, I couldn't even see through it enough and bought her a damn engagement ring that's non-returnable."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Can I see the ring?" he asked.

Levi shrugged and showed him the shiny gem. "It's not all that bad," he said, closing the box. "I mean, I took the money from savings, so it'll only take me a few years to save it back up, you know?"

"What's your name, kid?" the man asked.

"I'm twenty three, so I'm not a kid," Levi grumbled. "And my name is Levi. What's yours?"

"Winston," the other responded. "I know the people who own that jewelry store."

Levi hummed. "One of them is weird. He touched my neck and now it's been burning all day," he said, grabbing the part of his neck that was still hurting.

Winston glanced at his neck and pulled out his phone. "That is a little weird," he said, taking another sip of beer and turning back to the screen. "You should probably lay off on the liquor, kid. You seem to be a little out of it."

"Not a kid," Levi said, taking another drink and feeling his mind slowly go fuzzy. "Feels so much better."

The bartender continued to serve Levi until he was having trouble seeing. "Sorry, gotta cut you off, man."

Levi slammed his fists on the table. "No, you don't!" he growled. "I'm having a shitty day and I want to drink until I die, so give me another fucking drink!"

The bartender wasn't at all intimidated. "I'm going to call you a taxi, man," he said, handing Levi his card back. "Your tab is closed."

Levi shook his head, trying to climb over the bar. "I'm paying you to serve me more, so give me more," he said, but someone grabbed his waist.

"Stop it, kid," Winston said, pulling him back over to the right side of the bar. "He's my friend's boyfriend. I'll get him home."

The bartender appeared like he wanted to fight back, but Winston shot him a deadly look and made him back off.

"You're friends with Maggie?" Levi slurred, leaning into Winston's side. "She's not even my girlfriend anymore."

"I'm not talking about whoever Maggie is," Winston grumbled, his patience running thin with Levi. "I'm talking about the guy who put that mark on your neck."

Levi gave him a puzzled glance. "What mark? There's no mark, my neck just burns."

"You just can't see it," Winston growled. "See that silver car right there? That's where we're going."

"No, I don't want to," Levi complained, not caring about the anger radiating off of Winston. "I want to go back and drink more."

Winston gripped his arm tighter. "You're getting on my last nerve, human," he said, pushing Levi toward the car.

Levi tried to get away, but Winston was significantly stronger. He gave up his struggle and opened the door to the car, and Levi's mouth dropped open.

"You two?!" he asked, seeing the men from the jewelry store. "What're you guys doing here?"

Winston pushed him into the car and narrowed his eyes at Greyson and Elijah. "If he pukes in my car, you two are paying for cleaning. And I want an explanation as to why you marked him, E."

Elijah huffed and wrapped his arms around Levi, pulling him between himself and Greyson . "You're so drunk. You're not going to remember any of this in the morning," he said, resting his chin on Levi's shoulder.

Levi pursed his lips. "I'm not stupid," he mumbled. "I'm going to remember everything."

"Really? What's my name?" Greyson asked, trying to keep from laughing.

"Well I don't remember that!" Levi exclaimed.

Elijah giggled. "He's so perfect," he cooed, placing his hand on Levi's hip. "I love you, cutie."

Those words sunk into Levi's brain and he felt himself hyperventilating. His fuzzy mind began to race and he tried to escape from Greyson and Elijah's grasp.

"Let go!" Levi screamed, trying to hit them but missing his targets. "Don't touch me!"

"What's going on?" Greyson asked, his eyes wide with concern as he tried to keep Levi from opening the door to the car.

Winston groaned from the front seat. "You're a fucking sin from Hell, Greyson! You too, Elijah! Use the powers that you constantly forget about and put him in a trance or something!"

Greyson didn't want to have to use his power on his beloved, but he didn't know what was making Levi panic and he could see how much it was upsetting Elijah. So, he grabbed Levi's face in his hands and made direct eye contact, his emerald eyes glowing.

"Relax."

Levi's screaming ceased and his eyes seemed to glaze over.

Greyson sighed in relief. "Good. Now sleep."

Levi nodded and closed his eyes, laying against Greyson and falling into a deep sleep.

Winston growled from the front seat. "Damn, you two act like humans," he said, anger bubbling up in him.

"Calm down, your Wrath is showing," Elijah teased, making the red hair on Winston's head illuminate and the steering wheel steam under his hands. "Don't burn the wheel because we're not paying to fix that."

Greyson scolded both of them. "Stop it, both of you, or you'll hear it from Paxton," he said, his voice hushed so he wouldn't wake up Levi. "Let's just get home."