21. Bay
TWENTY-ONE
bay
“Eat.” Levi shoves half of his soft taco in my mouth when I go to protest, and I’m forced to take a bite of it.
Dick.
Wad.
I glare at him as I chew and he devours the rest of it in one shove, smirking at me before giving me a shitty wink that he won.
He has to.
Bestie is starting to notice how much I’m not eating, barely speaking, and he’s going to start asking questions if I don’t get back to normal.
“Ten grand, I got you lined up with a Roadrunner,” Levi says with his mouth full, running his fingers down his chest and using his shirt as a napkin. “You good?”
Can I be anything else?
However, I need my mind on tonight and the money Levi and I are trying to make and bank so we can get a one-way ticket out of here.
I bob my head because I have manners and not going to speak with a bunch of chewed-up food.
“Hey, Lev, you got a second?” Nessa shows up at his side. Her pretty blonde hair is pulled back into a long ponytail as her bedroom-brown eyes flick to me. “Hey, babe. You ready?”
I cover my lips. “Yeah. How old is the guy?”
Nessa smirks wickedly at me. “It’s actually a girl.”
My eyebrows lift in surprise. We don’t get a lot of females racing around here so I’m pleasantly excited for once.
“She’s new,” Levi emits. “And cocky. Juice is already flirting with her.”
“This will be fun,” I deadpan as a spark of excitement goes through me for the first time in a while.
“I’m busy, Nes,” Levi finally acknowledges, getting me to remember that she had asked to talk to him. “Maybe later.”
“It’s important,” she says. “You haven’t?—”
“Don’t you two have to talk?” Levi moves his index finger back and forth between Nessa and me and hell fucking no.
I wasn’t about to tell her about us leaving South Shore tonight. Wrong place, wrong time. But Levi has been on me constantly, suggesting that the longer I wait, the more pissed she’s going to get.
“No,” I deadpan anyway, keeping my face stoic.
Levi’s jaw clenches a bit before he wraps an arm around Nessa’s shoulder and ambles away with her and his limp to get whatever it is she needs out of the way.
I told him to stop working out and pushing steroids, but he doesn’t listen. I guess he strained a muscle, and now he’s walking around looking like he has a stick shoved up his ass.
Serves him right for trying to fuck up my night. I dodged that bullet for today, but eventually, Nessa and I are obviously going to need to speak about it.
Well, she’s going to yell about it.
I’m not sure how many scathing words are going to be passed between us when she discovers we’re leaving her behind for a little while until we can get the girls settled.
I get to Levi’s Malibu because we’re taking turns racing it since Dad’s Nova is still being fixed, and double-check the fluids and tire pressure. I do my normal checks for leaks, check the gauges to make sure power is getting to them, and fill the car with turbo blue while I strive to keep my concentration on what Levi and I are aiming to accomplish.
Fifty grand.
The amount of cash that will tide us over comfortably until we figure out our next move. We’re deciding between California and Michigan. I think the latter will hide us more, and there are plenty of lakes and beaches for the girls.
Perfect world, we’d have a lakefront house so it’s easily accessible at all times. However, I think Levi wants to go to California.
I’m under the hood when I feel something charging me. The hairs on my arms rise on end like a sixth sense as I whip around to prep for whatever it is before a hand cracks viciously across my face.
Blinking twice, I pull a seething Nessa into my view…and Levi told her.
“What the fuck , Bay?” she manages to roar out at me before another body swiftly shows up into the equation, and Nessa is currently being choked out by, none other than…Ozzy.
Everything happens so damn fast I’m unable to utter a single word before Nessa’s long fingernails dig into the skin of his inked forearm.
Her brown eyes constrict with unadulterated rage and adrenaline. I make a move to get him to stop before Levi shows up and taps his forearm lightly.
“Alright, Ryland, enough,” he says calmly. “This is Bay’s friend.”
Ozzy doesn’t let up.
He doesn’t move an inch.
But I do see his fingers squeeze tighter around the slenderness of Nessa’s throat.
“ Ozzy .” The sharp octave of Levi’s voice finally gets Ozzy to release my friend slowly, but not quickly enough because Nessa shoves his hand away, and now she’s only amped up more.
“Who the hell is this ?!” She makes a move to touch her neck but decides against it. Nessa has too much pride to show any inkling that Ozzy may have hurt her, and I don’t want that.
I don’t want any of this.
“Not here,” Levi leers, mom-arming Ozzy a bit to give Nessa some space. “We don’t talk private shit at the track.”
Nessa decides then to direct her outrage back at me. “You weren’t going to tell me? After everything— seriously , Bay?”
“ Enough ,” Levi carps out, more pissed off this time, but my girl doesn’t give up.
She’s hella livid, and I can’t blame her.
I’d feel the same way, too.
I don’t know how long it’ll be until the coast will be clear and we can send away for her. It’s crucial Levi and I make sure that Emilio doesn’t find me.
Any of us.
If not, what’s the point?
“I can’t believe you’d just leave me,” she rebukes, appearing as though she’s seconds away from crying. “I thought—how could you do this? And without me. You’re going to leave South Shore without me? I can’t—” Levi’s body stumbles out of the corner of my eye, instantly blocking off Nessa’s hurt and heartache from my ears.
I catch Ozzy thrusting his palms into Levi’s chest again, sending my best friend back another step before my best friend raises his hands in a silent forfeit.
“We’ll talk about it,” Levi says evenly to Ozzy. “But not—” My husband doesn’t like that answer and jostles Levi back again. “ Stop .”
Great, now two additional people know about our departure plan.
“Ozzy,” I begin, about to step in, before a stiff fist slams into my upper bicep.
The pain has me seething through my teeth as I’m forced to refocus back onto Nessa’s look of desolation.
My gut drops at seeing she’s hurt, and it was pretty asshole of me not to have spoken to her about it yet.
However, it’s only temporary.
I just need her to lay low, stay out of trouble, and we’ll all be together again before we know it.
“Nes, I’m sorry,” I conceded. “Honestly, I was going to tell you?—”
“ When ?” she clips out. “Is Levi your lackey now? Does he do all your dirty work?”
“What?” I immediately shake my head. “No. I—We just came up with it. I haven’t gotten a chance to see you and?—”
“If you don’t stop,” I hear Levi snap angrily. “I’m going to beat your fucking ass right here.”
Shit.
I lift an arm for Nessa to hold on while I glimpse to find Ozzy all up in Levi’s personal space. My best friend is still taller, but Ozzy has this menacing vibe about it that comes off as unpredictable.
There’s no warning label, no tagline to tell you what it’ll be like or taste like. Ozzy is a rarity in that he doesn’t divulge anything.
And that only amps up the adrenaline inside my veins because, for all I know, he could pull a machete out and start slicing and dicing at my bestie.
Levi’s light greens flick over Ozzy’s head and find mine. Then he perks a brow for help.
Or maybe a warning to do something before he attempts to put Ozzy down.
“Table this,” I mutter to Nessa. “We have a job to do tonight, and we’ll talk after?—”
“ Fuck you ,” Nessa sneers before shoulder-checking me and striding off in the opposite direction. “I’m done with this shit.”
“Wait,” I plead, pivoting to face her spine. “Nessa, I swear we were going to talk. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I just—everything’s been happening so fast. I haven’t even been able to get my head on straight.”
She lifts a coffin-shaped middle finger in the air at me and continues walking.
I knew it was going to go down like this.
Nessa has severe abandonment issues. It seems like everyone walks out on her—her mother included—and Levi and I have been the only constant in her life.
Now we’re leaving.
“Astor, today .”
Fuck me.
Spinning again on my heel, my eyes bulge when a long, jagged knife catches my attention. It’s palmed in Ozzy’s left hand, and I didn’t notice he was left-handed. Is he?
Who the fuck cares? He’s about to left-hand stab Levi.
“Ozzy, enough,” I coax, stepping closer. He doesn’t respond, just starts flexing his digits around the weapon. It’s a warning, and I won’t get another one before he acts. “ Husband .”
He tenses at the name, now white-knuckling the knife in his hand. I guess I’m not the only person who’s not a fan of being married.
Wonderful.
It only makes me think this wasn’t his idea, and Emilio’s behind this, but I shove that aside because I’ll deal with it tomorrow.
Right now, I need to get Ozzy under control.
“Please come here,” I transmit softly. “We’ll talk.”
I don’t expect him to come to me immediately, and he doesn’t.
Levi and Ozzy are in the middle of what appears like a glare-off. I’d get closer and reach for him, but I don’t feel as though that would be appreciated.
Ozzy gives off don’t touch me vibes, and I’m not trying to make things worse here.
“Ozzy,” I repeat. “ Please .”
With one small step, he gives up some of Levi’s personal space and turns around. His deep blues connect with mine then, freezing my breathing as I try to manage that.
Manage him.
He didn’t know, so that leaves him telling Torin out. It only leaves more questions about how Pretty Boy discovered those truths. The only thing I can think of is that the house and garage are wired and bugged.
With leisurely steps, Ozzy strides over to me as a wave of goosebumps spread across my whole body. As he gets closer, he shoves the knife back safely into the waistband of his black jeans.
I can’t help the small exhale that leaves my lungs. However, with his blank expression, I can see a bit of sadness in those endless blues. Levi just opened another can of worms, and now we’re going to face another obstacle.
“You can’t do that,” I lightly chide. “We’re in public. And some moron might call the pigs on you.”
I’m fully aware it’s stupid to say. I’m dealing with relatives who all share a common denominator.
Torin, Ozzy, and Levi—the last thing they’re ever concerned about are the cops.
“Astors talk about shit,” I continue through his silence. “We don’t stab people or throw punches first.” Mhm, that’s not entirely true all the time . “This isn’t a Wildes household.”
Says the girl who’s technically a Wildes.
However, Dad gave me the name Astor. It’s mine. No one can take that away from me.
Ever.
It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever been given. No one can strip it, no matter who my DNA matches up to.
“You wanna talk about this?”
Ozzy’s nostrils flare, but he doesn’t give me anything more.
Fair.
He’s upset, clearly, and Nessa’s pissed. It’s a bit frustrating that I don’t know who to settle down first and what to do about either one.
Yet, Ozzy’s still here, but his reaction to the news surprises me a bit. Without me, he’s free to do what he wants.
Unless he needs me for something.
“What does Emilio have on you that you need to get out of?” I solicit evenly. “It’s the reason you married me.”
Ozzy hands me an unimpressed look then averts his hardened gaze.
“Money?” Nothing. “Blackmail?” Nope. “Evidence?” Not that either. “Debt?” Strike four . “I give up. What is it?”
He doesn’t move.
Which, honestly, begins to piss me off a little bit.
“Alright, last chance,” I grind out. “If you don’t want to talk about it, then we won’t. But I’m not revisiting this again. For good, Oz.”
A deep inhale fills his body before he looks back at me.
“Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
Fine.
He’s obviously not a fan of us leaving South Shore, but that’s not going to change anything.
We’re still getting the hell out of here.
“We’ll talk about it tonight,” I manage to get out. “Now, I have a race to get ready for. Don’t do that shit to him again.”
I round him, careful to keep a safe distance, while Levi is leaning up against the driver’s side door of his car watching the scene play out.
Then I bump him in the chest with my fist. “Are you stupid?”
“It had to be done, Astor.”
“ Here ?” Levi pushes his cheek out with his tongue and shrugs. “Why?”
“Because she’s been on me, and I was pissed off. I wanted her to?—”
“On you about what ?” My eyes narrow suspiciously, and Levi rolls his. It only triggers me to think about the night I found them together on my front porch.
Something didn’t vibe right.
But I believed Nessa when she said I scared the shit out of her. I just need Levi to say it.
“What’s going on between you two?”
Levi pilots his gaze back to me. “Going on?” Yeah, no, asshole. We’re not playing that game. “Don’t start, Astor.”
“Start what? I asked a question.”
“And I’m choosing not to answer it.” He pushes off the Malibu and starts for somewhere, but I trip him, and he curses out. I hadn’t forgotten he pulled a muscle in his leg. He spins around, face twisted a bit in discomfort as he glowers daggers at me. “What do you want from me?”
“I thought I made myself clear.”
“She’s spiraling, Astor. Like she always fuckin’ does. I got a guy on her after the Matteo incident, and he doesn’t allow her to hit up malls to steal shit. That hit a nerve. She’s pissed. If she wants to join up so bad with us, then maybe she should learn some self-restraint. We’re not going to be around to bail her ass out of jail, and we’re not her parents.”
I slowly shake my head, even though I’m hearing everything he’s saying, it wasn’t the right time. “You made things worse.”
He bows his head a few times, accepting that. “I did.”
And Levi shows no signs of remorse on that note.
“And now I have to make things right before we leave,” I emit sourly. “More shit to do.”
Levi pierces daggers at me with his light green eyes. “You making up with Nessa or not has no bearing on when we’re fuckin’ leaving,” he retorts sharply. “When we’re gone, we’re gone. End of story.”
“It’s not.”
“Bay—”
“And that’s if you ever pick a place. I might not need to worry about anything. I’ll have all the time in the world.”
He scoffs as if that’s the least of our worries. “Wherever you wanna go, Astor, I don’t care. I’m down.”
“No.” I shake my head. “I need you to like it, too. It’s important. We’re starting over.”
“Well, you don’t wanna do Cali because there’s no snow.”
“I’ll live.”
He lifts his shoulders. “We’ll let the girls decide, then. But that means we’ll have to tell them, and I don’t want Ellie?—”
“Ozzy is going to make this a thing,” I mutter, knowing that he’s not far behind. That he’s still here. “I told him we’d talk about it.”
“Yeah,” he leers. “That wasn’t supposed to happen either. We might have to lie.”
I perk an eyebrow. “About?”
“The leave date. Put him on another trail. Michigan and Cali might be out. He may have heard that.”
“Is he close?”
“Not really. But I don’t know how good his ears are either.”
“We might…”
Shit. There is no way that Levi is going to let him come with us.
There’s no way he’d want to go either. And I’m not sure I trust he wouldn’t tell Emilio or Torin where we went.
“We might, what?” Levi presses, intently holding his broody gaze on me. “If you’re thinkin’ about bringin’ him?—”
“No,” I counter, even though that’s obviously what I was originally thinking. “That’s never going to work.”
“Good girl.” He pats my head like an asshole, and I smack at his hand. But when he ambles closer and towers over me, my breathing hitches for some weird reason. Our chests almost brush against each other, and with the way his eyes gloss over something I can’t read, I’m hit with another what the fuck when he says, “I’m tired of sharin’ you anyway, Astor.”
He taps the ceiling of his car, prompting me to get inside and get to the line.
I don’t. Not yet anyway.
It’s the glint in his green eyes that prompts the hesitation. The way my pulse just raced.
When I finally do, I’m dazed as shit.
Yet, I swallow down my making of what he said into something because that’s not the case. That can’t ever be the case.
I tell myself that as I burn out at the line minutes later, ignoring the fact Nessa isn’t the one about to pull myself or my opponent in to start the race.
I refuse to read behind anything else of what Levi said when Angelina Cooper motions us to the start before mowing down the new girl.
I’m tired of sharin’ you anyway, Astor.
Levi might have to get used to that.
Because I’m not dying as a born-again virgin.
Which means, eventually, I’ll have to do the same when it comes to him.