Chapter Twenty-Eight Blake
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Blake
I got as far as the main floor, which was where Palma found me, launching herself at me.
Her face was bright. Her eyes were glazed.
Her hair was sweaty. She was having a glorious time.
I looked for Levi but didn’t see him. She wound her arms around my neck, squeezing me tight to her.
“Hi. Where’d you go? How are you? Holy Shit!
Who was the Hottie you Were Grinding With?
” The smell of alcohol blanketed me from her breath, and I cringed, more from the question than from her screaming in my ear.
Before I could respond, Marshall came over and tapped me on the shoulder. Heath was behind him, his arm thrown around the shoulders of another guy. His brother was also there frowning at Heath.
Marshall was saying, “We’re going to head out. Some of us were thinking about getting food—”
Palma lurched forward. “Yes! I’m hungrrryyyyy. Can we get food and then go to bedddd?” She hiccupped before laughing. “Oops. Sorry.”
Marshall frowned at me. “What do you want to do?”
Well, right now I wanted to breathe. Palma was squeezing the life out of me, but I croaked, “Home. Bed please.”
“Gotcha.”
The music suddenly went up a whole decibel, and a wave of people swarmed past us, so Marshall leaned closer, yelling in my ear, “There’s a diner a block over. We could get food there and take it back to the house.”
I moved my head up and down to save my energy. That sounded like a good plan.
I looked around but didn’t see the girl he’d been flirting with earlier. “Where’s your friend?”
He gave me a weird look. “Who?”
I gestured to where he’d been standing at the bar. “The girl you were talking to before. You seemed into her.”
“Oh!” He shrugged, ducking his head a little. “She took off with her friends. I think she had her eye on someone else.” He gave me another assessing look. “You good? You look sober-ish.”
I gave him a thumbs-up.
Some relief fleeted across his face. Alerting Palma on the arm, he knelt down and patted his back. He didn’t say anything, but she knew what to do. With a squeal, she climbed on, and now she was the koala bear in the situation.
No.
I mentally reprimanded myself for thinking of Creighton.
If his diseased dick had gotten anywhere near you, I would’ve hanged everyone he loved.
I could not be with Creighton.
I couldn’t be with someone like that. Other feelings were coming up.
I shoved them all down because none of it mattered.
The whole gate had lifted for Creighton, and the want and need and other feelings were still there.
They were potent. Knowing someone was capable of and perpetuated cold-blooded murder needed to be a lust-destroyer.
I needed to shut it down.
Following everyone as we left the warehouse, another shiver wracked through me, this one heating me again, and I hated that.
Tears suddenly pricked at my eyes.
You’re my conscience.
He made me feel alive.
I was so screwed.
An extra-loud whistle screeched behind us.
Everyone winced.
“What the hell, man,” someone grumbled.
“Wait up!”
My head fell back, and my eyes closed. The sound of a herd of elephants stampeded our way.
I couldn’t stop a grin from tugging at my lips.
Levi blasted past me, bumping my arm gently.
He whispered as he continued past me, “Heya, Blakey.” His voice boomed a beat later, just in front of me.
“Gimme, gimme. I give great piggyback rides.”
Palma tipped her head back, her hair falling so close to the ground. “It’s Leviiii. Where’d you go before? You dsispeared? Dissperead? Dis-a-p-peard on me.”
Levi chuckled as she climbed onto his back. He ducked his head toward hers, and she moved her own, inching closer to him. They were whispering together.
Heath was farther up in the group. His brother had relinquished him to some of Marshall and Heath’s friends.
Seeing he was taken care of, Heath’s brother met my gaze once, giving me a brisk dip of his head before he went back inside.
Marshall noted the exchange, the corner of his mouth falling down, but as he fell in step next to me, he didn’t comment on it.
I had a feeling all those questions would come later.
A toned arm suddenly draped over my shoulders, and I tensed instinctively but then relaxed (slightly) when someone chuckled beside me.
Lassiter had joined us. He was only a few inches taller than me, so it felt almost intimate when I looked up, meeting his gaze.
His head was tipped toward me, and he held my look, a wry tug coming to his top lip.
“Hey.” I stepped into him, my hip bumping his.
“Hey.” He bumped me back.
I tried to smother a grin. Tried and failed.
His matching grin told me he noticed.
“Lassiter!” Levi noticed him and swung around. Palma shrieked, burrowing her face into his massive neck. He held his meaty arms out, walking for us. “You’re joining us tonight?”
Lassiter’s arm tightened a little around me. “For a bit.”
“Nice.” Levi’s smile stretched from ear to ear. His gaze went to me and turned calculating. “You think we could get Cr—”
I coughed. “No.”
We were almost to the street.
Lassiter cut in. “Turn around, Levi. You’re about to get hit by a car.”
Levi’s eyes widened, and he swung around, then cursed and braked to a sudden stop as a bus went past him. His laugh was a little uneasy. “Thanks for that, man. You just saved my ass.”
Lassiter chuckled softly next to me.
Marshall moved farther away from us, catching up to Palma and Levi. Because Lassiter seemed like he was being nice tonight, I reached up and laced our fingers together.
He glanced down at me, his eyebrows raised.
I lowered my voice. “I know how you feel about him.” I ignored the sudden tension in his body.
Maybe I shouldn’t bring it up, but knowing Lassiter, there wouldn’t be another time like this.
He so rarely lingered, and here he was, walking with me.
I wanted him to know, and if this was the only chance I had to talk to him about it, I was going to take it. “I’m sorry.”
He didn’t reply, but he also didn’t pull away. Half of the group broke away, going a different direction. Our small group with Levi, Palma, Heath, and Marshall continued moving forward.
Lassiter’s mouth curved down. His arm felt like dead weight around my shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. He’ll only be obsessed with you, and I’m aware of that.”
I tipped my head up to meet his gaze.
A dark and slightly sad understanding passed between us.
I tried suppressing a tremble that went down my spine, tried and failed.
Lassiter felt it, his eyes questioning.
My breath caught in my chest. I held it a moment before I said, quietly, “I’d be with him in a heartbeat if he wasn’t . . .” If he wasn’t who he was.
Lassiter bit out a bitter laugh. “And I want him any way I can get him.”
A bell rang ahead of us as someone opened the diner’s door. They ducked inside. When it was just me and Lassiter, I held him back. “Last.”
My heart ached at hearing what he said.
He avoided my eyes. “It doesn’t matter. He wants you.
I know you’re going to fight tooth and nail because you’re the good one of all of us, but at the end of the day”—his eyes flitted to mine—“you love him too.” He cursed before lowering his forehead to rest against mine.
He hugged me to him with his one arm still around my shoulders.
“Don’t feel any sort of way for me, Blake.
He’s never been quiet about his obsession for you. ”
“Things have changed. Recently. It wasn’t always this way.”
His laugh was soft. And sad. “Wasn’t it?”
Oh, god. That hit me deep. “Does he know how you feel?”
He stepped back, his arm falling away. “I don’t know. Knowing Creight, probably. It doesn’t matter.” The side of his mouth tipped up. “Look at us, having a moment.”
I snorted, playfully punching him in the chest. “You mean, look at you. You’re not being an asshole for once.”
“Yeah. Well.” He reached for a packet of cigarettes and took one out. He held it up. “Go on in. I need a smoke.”
“You’re going to join us?”
He held my gaze, and I saw it then. He wasn’t. He was going to leave, and who knew when I’d see him again.
I didn’t know why he decided to walk with me tonight. It was out of the norm for him, and now that I’d said what I said, now that I addressed some of the awkward undertones, he was going to cut and run.
I said, “I’ve missed you.”
He tipped his head back, his grin transforming into a smirk.
He masked everything else inside of him.
“Don’t be such a fucking stranger then, hmmm?
” He nodded behind us to the diner. “It’s like Levi lost a nut, the way he’s been going on about not being able to see you.
The whole agreement you have with Creight fucks the rest of us as well. You want us to stay away too?”
I pffted at his words. “You’re the one who usually stays away. Not me. And besides, it doesn’t seem to matter anymore.”
“Do Levi a favor? Let him be around you. He’s one of Creight’s, but you’re his sister. He’s like a giant teddy bear without his stuffing when he can’t see you. It’s weird to see. Pathetic.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. That boundary’s been blown tonight.”
There was another shriek from inside. I grinned, recognizing Palma.
“Get in there. I’ll stay put for a bit before heading back.”
It felt like there was more to say, but my head had exploded from everything that happened tonight. With my two worlds combining in a big way. With my fight with Creighton. With the feel of being in his arms—with this very rare gift I just got with Lassiter.
I kept trying to keep all the different parts of my lives separate and in their own lanes.
I was trying to control everything, but I couldn’t.
I kept trying to control everything. Maybe that was the problem?
Maybe I should stop trying to think, trying to control, and just let life happen because at the end of the day, that’s what was going to happen anyways?
My thoughts were all muddled as I went inside, and once the door swished shut behind me, it took a second before I looked up.
I went still, oxygen freezing in my lungs.
Three masked men had guns in the air. The rest of my group was on the floor. I skimmed over everybody, taking in what I could. Marshall and Heath had their arms around Palma, who was silently crying.
Levi was the closest to me, and his hands were in the air, but he was glowering at them. He met my gaze, and we shared a look because fuck.
The one closest to me shoved his gun to my head. His hand grabbed my shoulder, and he shoved me. “Get the fuck down, bitch, and empty your pockets.”
We were being robbed.