8. Bay
EIGHT
bay
I drove by the house that Ozzy gave me a dozen times earlier, but I didn’t go in.
Honestly, it was bizarre and could be a ticking time bomb waiting to go off when I open the door. Or maybe like some Indiana Jones shit where you take one wrong step and arrows come flying out of the walls. But, if I’m truly going to get my sisters back, they need a stable place to stay.
And I’m using stable very loosely here. So, I enlisted Hot Rod and Juice to scope out the house.
And now, I’m parked in the driveway while everything around me is eerily quiet.
It takes all my mental strength to get out of the car and go inside. Not that I’m scared, but because it’s empty as shit.
Or, it was.
When I flick the lights on, everything from our old house is here. If it wasn’t for the emerald-green walls instead of ivory white, I would’ve thought I was striding inside Dad’s house.
But everything is meticulously placed right down to the magazines and Dad’s La-Z-Boy.
What the fuck kind of sick shit is this?
I force myself to move into the kitchen to discover more. Cereals, bowls, and several bags of whatever is sitting on the kitchen island topped with fake white marble.
It still looks nice.
But I didn’t go grocery shopping. And I have this queasy-ass feeling I know who did all this. Who was in this house when I was gone?
I move to the fridge and find milk, juice, beer, and soda. Then I begin to search the rest of the damn place.
The cabinets are empty, so I’m assuming it’s my job to fill them with what’s on the island. I move through the rest of the three-bedroom house. The girls’ things are put away separately into their own spaces. Before, they shared a room, and this will work out perfectly, but one of them was supposed to be Dad’s.
Mae’s room is painted pink and Ellie’s purple with all of their furniture and things inside. I make my way to mine and come across the same discovery.
All my things are placed where they were in our old house. My bed is made, the small bedside table is seated right next to it and my dresser next to that.
The shotgun.
I scurry and drop to my knees in front of it, reaching underneath it and feeling the cool metal of the barrel. It sets off every hair on my body to rise on end, waving several red flags in my midst.
I haven’t smoked.
I’m not drunk.
How the hell is everything here right now in the same position as the old house?
Rising to my feet, I quickly make my way out. I can’t wrap my damn head around it.
Well, I can.
Apparently, we’re good with giving me a house and waltzing into it like we own it. I mean, he bought it, I guess. But legally, my name is on the title unless that was as fake as the marriage certificate I signed that was supposed to have Ramsey’s name.
This is all fucked.
I don’t want to stay here. I hate this house.
But I’m left having to deal with it because where are Ellie and Mae going to go? When the social worker or whoever drops them off, it can’t be at a train car.
Rubbing my temples, I do everything in my power to calm down.
One thing at a time.
My talk with Torin was a bust. I knew it was a longshot, but it was still disappointing. He was mad. So listening to Cairo and taking him seriously for once wasn’t hard.
He’s not fucking around.
And while I don’t like being told what to do, I have enough on my plate with Dad’s funeral arrangements and getting Ellie and Mae together.
To keep them together.
This is going to be rough as it is, and they’ve yet to learn what happened. They are going to be devastated, and I have to be as strong for them to lean on as Levi is for me. It’s important I’m as present and sane as possible during this time.
I’m left with no other choice but to be only that for them.
Mumbling outside the front door possesses my attention then, and I instantly chide myself for not grabbing the shotgun from my bedroom. Backing away, I sprint back inside and fetch it.
With purposeful steps, I’m striding for the door and ripping the damn thing open. Barrel pointed at the porch, I uncover Nessa jumping away from a man who I quickly realize is Levi.
Levi.
My breath catches as light green eyes latch onto mine before he mom-arms Nessa out of the way and beelines for me.
I toss the gun onto the nearby couch and am quickly gathered up in Levi’s arms. Jumping onto him like a koala, needing to be closer. I nestle my face into the crook of his neck, and he smells awful.
Like days of sweat and grime all over his body, but I ignore it. My eyes close on their own, and I revel in the solace that Levi brings.
I inhale him again to make sure this is real. That Emilio fucking Wildes actually held up part of the deal.
Everything is going to be all right now.
I’m safe.
“Whose house?” Levi asks me, the depth of his voice sending a calming wave through my system.
I give a small shake of my head. “Not now. One more minute. Please.”
His long fingers splay over the base of my spine, permitting me these moments that I so desperately fucking need.
The next few days are going to be hell.
And I’m so beyond grateful that he’s here that it’s almost unbearable.
“Whatever you need, Astor,” he mutters into my hair, inhaling, and I feel his muscles relax under the fingertips of my right hand.
“Are you okay?” I ask, squeezing him a bit more. “Are you hurt? I’ve been waiting to hear about you for days.”
“I’m good. It was just Muncy being a bitch about letting me go.”
Rolling my eyes from behind my eyelids, I break from the safety net of his hard body and peer down at him, loving the fact that I’m looking right into those eyes that are like the color of celery sticks.
Yes, I said celery sticks.
“Lev…” I inhale to give my lungs the oxygen to get the words out. “I haven’t told the girls?—”
“We’ll get to that.” He gingerly cups the side of my face and wipes a tear away from my cheek with the pad of his thumb. “We’re gonna get through it, alright. We got this…together, got me?”
I don’t got this. I’m far from alright. I’m a mess, barely able to function. How we’re going to get through this loss, I’m not entirely sure. Dad was Levi’s father, too.
And we’re both parentless in this world now. But I will try my best to be his comfort as he is mine.
I bob my head because I’ll be whatever and do whatever he needs me to be. “Okay. Can you?—”
“Alright, you two, break it up.” I instantly tense, which gets Levi to scowl as he turns his head to his left, and I look in the same direction.
Nessa.
My eyebrows knit as I loosen my hold on Levi, and he slowly puts me down on my feet.
Speaking of…
“What are you doing here?” I almost accuse, earning a lifted expression from my girl version of a best friend.
“Um, to see you.”
Wrong.
“My bad,” I chuckle emotionlessly, and the urge to grab and rack my gun sounds loudly in my head because why did she just jump back and away from Levi like that?
Why was she so close to Levi?
Why am I suddenly red-hot with jealousy she was so close to my best friend?
Because make no mistake about it, that’s not going to happen. I don’t give a shit if they both like each other, I won’t allow it.
There, I said the shit.
In my head.
That counts.
I smile at Nessa, but the fake fondness I normally feel for her doesn’t make it to my eyes. “I meant, why did you practically jump to the other side of the porch when I opened the door?”
Nessa might be a blonde, but she’s far from fucking stupid. She knows exactly where I’m going with this. What I’m calling her out on and, most importantly, that I see her.
“Because you scared the shit out of me,” she claims evenly and, alright, we’ll talk about this later. I don’t need Levi breaking up our fight because he wants to play Superman to my Lois Lane. “And I wanted to be here for you since…everything happened and shit.”
Better answer.
But still, not the full truth.
“We got it from here,” Levi vouches dismissively. “You can go.”
Nessa slices a heated glower in his direction. “Listen, fuck boy , you’re not the only one here who gets to hang out with Bay. What you need to do is take a shower because you’re grimy as shit, and I can smell you from here.”
She’s not wrong there.
However, she had no issue being up close and personal with him moments ago.
“What you need to do,” Levi leers back, “is decide if you’re going to stay here or not after that little incident with De Leon because I can’t watch all of you.”
Nessa scoffs. “You never watched me before.”
“Bullshit,” he clips back, then jerks a thumb at me. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be.”
“Oh, wowww,” Nessa coos, sizing him up as if she’s about to slap him so hard he’s going to be seeing colors for weeks. “Well, then I’ll consider myself blessed since you decided to take the time. Where do I pray to your altar?”
Levi smirks like an arrogant ass. “ Now you’re starting to get the hang of it. And when I tell you to go—” I place a hand on Levi’s chest, feeling some of his tension still there.
When these two go at it, it’s like World War III in this bitch.
“Go take a shower,” I order softly with a faint little tap. “It’s been a long couple of days for you. I’ll order a pizza.”
Food and Levi go like sex and orgasms.
He’s immediately turned onto it, and anything that was mentioned before is automatically turned off.
He mumbles something I can’t make out, but I don’t ask him to repeat it. Stepping away from my touch, he rounds my body toward the bathroom located in the back of the house.
When I hear the door click, I’m returning my focus to Nessa.
“What the hell is going on?” I seethe through my teeth. “What’s going on with you?”
Her perfectly shaped eyebrows snap together, as if confused. “What are you talking about? I came to see you, and he showed up.”
“Why are you so jumpy?”
“Because he scared the shit out of me, and then thirty seconds later, you do it. What the fuck is wrong with the two of you?”
Two peas in a pod.
That’s the only explanation I’ve got. And since I’ve been on edge for what seems like eternity, I’m more than likely freaking out over nothing.
“Sorry,” I mumble. “It’s been…yeah.”
“I know.” She jerks her head in the direction of the couch. “Why don’t you get rid of the hillbilly gun, and I’ll order the pizzas, alright? I’ll stay the night.”
I nod with appreciation. “That sounds good. Thanks.” I make my way toward my room but pivot and say, “Don’t forget old-styled pepperoni and sausage.”
She smirks at me. “Of course. We all know how much you love sausage, Bay.”
“Go suck a dick,” I grumble, pivoting to do what she suggested.
I hear her laughter continue as I hit the hallway, but catch Levi standing outside the bathroom. Our gazes latch, and I have no idea what he’s doing, but it’s just another reminder he’s here.
For real.
It’s not my imagination but a break in my luck. We’re together again.
And now we have to go through the worst time of our lives.