27. Bay
TWENTY-SEVEN
bay
I’ve never wanted to step foot in this place ever again. It smells like sex and dirty feet as “Me Porto Bonito” blares from the speakers inside the Breeze Bar.
I did exactly as Matteo said. No one followed me here, not that I had a lot of time to come up with a rescue plan. The word hypocrite sounds loudly in my head because I just got done telling Levi the other day that we’re not going to do anything reckless. That we were gonna lay low after his New York trip.
I promise myself this is the last time.
If you make it out alive .
Pushing my cheek out with my tongue, I shove that thought away. There’s literally no way in hell I’d call Torin to come help me, and Cairo would insist like a motherfucker to come with before I even set foot in the door.
Levi would have Rod blow the whole place up with Reeve inside.
And, Ozzy…the jury is still out on him. Even though I’m rescuing his brother, I’m not ready to entrust him with anything this serious because Matteo De Leon isn’t a game.
He isn’t a nobody .
He’s a douchebag with a high horse and a lot of confidence.
So, I stride inside the janky establishment where every male in this place has predator eyes. I feel them skate up my naked thighs and torso as I amble deeper into the land of my past.
This was Matteo’s little playground when he wasn’t romping through the woods like a lost deer. Unfortunately, no one had accidentally shot him, but he’s a hard one to find.
A hard one to get to.
You’d think that an asshole with barely a kingdom wouldn’t be so hard to locate, but maybe that’s what makes it so difficult. He doesn’t really have a home. He’s a nomad even though most of Shoreline Peaks knows him as its so-called ruler.
Or terrorist .
Matteo is very particular about who he allows around. He has a set schedule of how he’s protected, and he’s paranoid.
As he should be.
I never said the boy was stupid.
Making my way toward the pool tables in the back, I pass the large, still-standing bar, and memories of Torin meeting me there when he wasn’t supposed to brim through the edges of my brain.
“ I wish your fingers were wrapped around another part of me, Wildfire. I love how you feel on me.”
I go to jerk my hand back, shame filling every inch of me because I have a so-called boyfriend. And I’m touching a man I shouldn’t be. An enemy of state and country and all that.
Yet, Torin catches my wrist and tenderly runs his thumb back and forth across my skin in silent support. “I’m watching him. Don’t worry.”
“ I am worried,” I retort. “Someone else might see us. And all it’s going to cause is a fight.”
“And why would that bother you?” He steals a look at me, those pretty tawny eyes soothing away my trepidation, and I like the way he looks at me. I love that he’s here when I don’t want to be. “Why do you think I’m standing here keeping track of your boyfriend, when all I want to do is look at you?”
A huge body steps into my path, stealing those thoughts and placing me right back into reality, when all the hairs on my body rise, forecasting the inevitable.
This is not a safe place for me.
Never has been.
My eyes lock with green ones, familiar ones, Tarzan’s.
I blow out an unsteady exhale through a small opening of my lips and quirk a brow. This dude is almost as big as Levi but taller. He’s known to be inhumanly wild, barbaric, and unpredictable.
And he is.
I’ve seen Tarzan do unspeakable things. No one is safe in his grasp. Not even an elderly woman whose sons didn’t pay Matteo back.
He sexually assaulted her and then jacked off all over her face while Matteo made us watch. Her screams and pleas are still something I can hear if I dig deep enough to find them.
“Bay Astor,” he announces for me, him—who the fuck knows? I’m fully aware of who this asshole is. “I knew I’d see you again.”
Fuck the pleasantries. I’m not having a conversation with this sick prick. I’ve seen his dick way too many times in my life, and I didn’t even want to play with it.
But he did.
I’ve had his cum smeared all over my body, my tits. He loved rubbing the tip of his dick along my nipples to get them to tighten, believing in his fucked-up mind I was getting turned on.
I wasn’t.
“Where’s your puppet master at?” I inquire flatly. “He has something for me.”
Tarzan’s mouth curls into a wicked smirk. “The first person to bring you to him gets a prize.”
My stomach screws up in a very uncomfortable knot because that wasn’t the deal.
Good faith.
Good faith.
I’ll obviously have to remind Matteo of that because the stupid prick conveniently forgets shit. But hurting me is only going to hurt him.
He’ll need to remember that.
However, I don’t have blind faith in the fact that he might fuck around and find out. Pulling out my phone, I need backup.
“No secret messages now,” Tarzan chides me before his massive hand shows up in front of me. “I think it’s best you give me your cell.”
I flick my gaze back to Tarzan. “If you don’t get away from me, I’m going to tell Matteo about the time you shoved two fingers inside my cunt without his consent.”
He immediately drops his hand but delivers me a glower. “Bitch, you lie.”
“Aw.” I push my lips out in a pout. “It wasn’t special for you?” He opens his mouth, but I beat him to it. “Show me where Matteo is so I don’t have to stand another moment in your presence, you worthless piece of shit.”
“I will fuck you if you don’t keep that big-ass mouth of yours shut.”
I smile, but it’s not one full of joy or excitement. It’s one of testing his theory because Tarzan knows as well as I do that I’m untouchable, and I will rat his ass out. “I’m waiting, mutt.”
With one withering scowl, he turns on his heel and guides me through the thick throng of people toward the back of the bar. The same pool tables still sit there with several people making use of them. A few are playing the game while others are using it to make out and gamble on.
Tarzan silently ambles in front of me, leading me farther into the establishment and away from the front door.
I know this is bad.
I know I told Levi no more reckless shit.
I know that I have Ellie and Mae at home.
However, there is no fucking way I’m leaving Reeve in the hands of my ex and all the things I know he’s capable of and has learned over the years.
He has a Forsaken Crew member.
A top-tiered one.
That’s going to cost me greatly to obtain back.
And I need help.
I’m not getting out of here unscathed. The vibes are off. Every memory of this place smacks me upside the head, and Cairo is going to have to do.
I just don’t have the asshole’s number.
BAY: Find Cairo Black’s number. Tell him it’s an emergency. Breeze Bar. Matteo has Reeve.
Travis will pull through for me. I just don’t know if it’ll be in time. I still don’t have that prick’s number, and I’ve never needed him before until now.
That’s why it’s good to just have everyone’s number. You never know when you’re going to need it.
Down a narrow hallway—with no exit door at the end because it was the first thing I looked for—Tarzan shoves open a random door and steps aside.
I gesture for him to lead the way. “After you.”
“You first, su Majestad .”
Your majesty.
This motherfuck.
“I don’t like strange men behind me,” I retort. “So?—”
“Close the fuckin’ door!” I hear Matteo bark out, prodding me to what he has and what he could be doing right now to Reeve.
Hesitantly, I step inside, not knowing what I’m going to find and see. That’s the worst part about Matteo. I call Tarzan unpredictable, but my ex is depraved. The most heinous things you can think of are already in Matteo’s back pocket ready to be used.
“ Mi reina .”
My queen.
Matteo.
The only loser that calls me that.
My eyes jolt in the direction of his voice. His murky brown eyes—the color of shit, which is what he’s full of—already locked and loaded on me.
He got what he wanted without having to leave his shitty bar hangout.
It’s amazing what four years won’t do when you have been with someone that long. This silly-ass dickhead still won’t leave me be.
“Where’s Stanton?” I press back, folding my arms along my chest to keep Matteo’s unnerving stare from making me shiver.
Matteo pushes off the edge of the desk he was perched on, of course coming in my direction. I dare not scan the room to show my impatience or worry. It’ll only feed Matteo’s inner demon to make me suffer.
“No hello?” he says disappointedly with a shake of his head. “Bay, don’t play with me.”
I wouldn’t dare.
I’ve never been able to beat this man.
“I thought this was a business deal?” I convey flatly. “I didn’t come for a drink. You cost me money tonight.”
Matteo lifts his head, acknowledging that he knows. “I apologize for that.”
“You what now?”
He ignores me because I have never heard this man say sorry and mean it. “I figured you’d want one of your lost puppies back. In good faith, like I said, Bay.”
I’ve never met someone so damn delusional in my life.
I mean, Pretty Boy gives me a run for my money, but Matteo is another breed altogether. He will make up his own narrative, dialogue, and ending when it hasn’t even happened yet then believe it.
My ex points to my left through my silence. “He’s right over there, mi reina .”
Slowly, I crane my neck in the only direction left in the room and find my surfer boy.
Slouched on a dirty-ass couch with his thighs spread wide, his hazel eyes already finding me before I found his.
I demand my body remain still as my pulse races, and my heart falls to my ass. There’s a brunette at his side. Her face is tucked into the crook of his neck and instant jealousy runs through my fucking veins.
Of course, Matteo would have some cunt on top of him to get a reaction out of me. One of Reeve’s legs continuously bounces, as if impatiently waiting for something. But I highly doubt it was me.
“He’s hardcore,” Matteo advises, and if I didn’t know any better, he sounds proud. “I think I’ve counted three lines of coke since arriving here.”
Wonderful. I love fucked-up Reeve. He’s a class-A asshole.
I clench my teeth together but lift my chin toward my ex. “What do you want for him?”
Matteo’s bronze skin on his face lifts. “You don’t want to go check on him?”
“Unless you’re controlling his body movement by remote, he looks fine.” I spin my finger around in the air. “What was the point of this?”
“I never got my meeting with Wallace.”
I shrug. “He didn’t want to meet.”
“That’s bullshit.”
Bruh…no one around here suffered short-term memory loss .
“You’re not on his good-boy list,” I profess evenly. “Especially since you showed Torin a fake video of my so-called murder of Judah.”
“Nothing fake about it, babe.”
I’m not doing this.
“You think I’m tryin’ to hurt you, sweetheart?” Matteo inquires almost empathically. “I’m not.”
“You have .”
His body lifts dismissively. “Childish indiscretions.”
“I’m talking about Judah.” Matteo blankly stares at me then, giving nothing away as to what his ideas were behind that stunt. That well thought out stunt. “What did you think was going to happen afterward? I’m almost thinking you hoped someone would kill me.”
He scoffs. “That’s not true. I wouldn’t give them something they couldn’t handle. They needed their world rocked a little bit.”
“By you passing the blame on me?”
Matteo cocks his head to the side. “The blame?”
Oh, this motherfucker.
A mirthless chuckle rumbles from my chest, and it reeks of violence and Matteo’s blood on my hands.
He’s another one.
Another problem. Another asshole who believes he can do whatever he wants without consequences.
A dickhead whose faint scars I still wear.
“ Mi reina , the last thing I want is for them to fuck with you. However, in hindsight, I’ll make this all up to you.”
“You put a bounty on my head. That’s not making shit up to me.”
Matteo’s face contorts, and I’ve already reached the limit of his playful, casual side because I’m not playing into his bullshit. “I already told you those boys would tear you apart.”
“They already did. Thanks to your help.”
Matteo pins his eyes on me.
Clearly, he doesn’t believe it because he keeps staring at me like I’m about to out myself.
But that’s not a full-blown lie.
Torin Wildes did that all by himself. Meanwhile, I did it to the man I’m rescuing.
“What do you want for the Stanton boy?” I inquire as my phone buzzes in my back pocket.
Travis pulled through.
Casually, I pluck it from my jeans, as if trying to catch the time, and I find an unknown number across it.
I hit answer, then power down my home screen without putting it to my ear. “If I hurry, I can still make it back in time for another set of races. Breeze Bar is, thankfully, not too far away.”
“You’re tryin’ to tell me there’s still racing going on at three in the mornin’, Bay?”
“It was a full list.”
“You’re not gonna make it back in time,” Matteo answers cryptically, rubbing his thumb and index finger together. “And I still need payment for the Stanton boy.”
“Name it, then. Levi isn’t meeting with you.”
My skin begins to crawl because here it is.
The day I’m going to die all over again.
Where I need to put my mind over matter because I can’t empower Matteo to have any mental bearing over me ever again.
I can’t.
Not with Levi trying his damndest to get us the fuck out of here. Not with Ellie and Mae always on the brink of danger from fuck knows what.
He can’t win over me.
“You, mi reina ,” Matteo drawls, trying his best to hide his amusement but failing miserably at it.
I know him too well, that’s the problem. He loves this shit, and he’s doing his best to try to get me to squirm.
He can suck my whole dick.
“I need you to be more specific,” I quake, hating that my voice just shook a bit. “I don’t work around riddles.”
“Oh, sweetheart, you know what I want.” He takes a menacing step toward me, irking the shit out of my nerves and courage. “What I’ve been craving. What I haven’t been able to have.”
My mouth suddenly becomes dry, and I need to buy more time. If Cairo is on the phone, I just dropped two hints.
Breeze Bar.
And Reeve.
The dude’s smart—I mean, I hope. He’s the new King of Wharf Bay—and should be on his way to back us up.
“Then what?” I bite out through the growing anxiety and the nausea building in my gut.
I don’t want him to touch me. I can barely stand him looking at me right now.
The air is growing thicker with tension, but the only thing I have working in my favor is the time spent where we haven’t been together. Who I have standing in my corner and the tidbits Matteo doesn’t know about.
He knows I have Levi, but who else do I have? Who else is looking out for me? I might be crawling in my skin right now from being in the same room as Matteo, but I’m not the same stupid girl who stood by his side for way too long.
I’m Bay Astor.
The fucking daughter of the late King of South Shore.
“Then you’re free to leave.”
Bullshit.
“That’s bold,” I deadpan with lifted brows, leaving my vague observation for him to muddle and obsess over. If he truly believes I’m going to fuck him and not tell Levi…he must not remember the time he got his ass handed to him.
Or Levi beat the shit out of those memories.
“What’s bold?” Matteo fishes, stealing more space between us. “You think I’m scared of your boyfriend?”
“You think he’s not going to retaliate? C’mon, Matt, read the—” His grubby fingers latch tightly around my forearm in warning. I’ve reached yet another line, and the best thing for me to do is shut up and shrivel back down into nothing.
Into that scared little girl who cowered at his every word and move.
“I’ll tolerate a lot of things now, Bay,” Matteo sneers through a clenched jaw. “But your disrespect isn’t going to be one of them.”
Fuck you, prick.
I hold the words back and glance down at where he has my arm. He wants to speak about respect but there’s none on my name. “Move it.”
“Or what?”
Stop. Do not utter a single word, Bay Astor.
“You wouldn’t rat me out to Wallace, would you, babe?” The pads of his fingers dig deeper into my flesh. “If you thought Wildes ripping your sisters out of your grasp and Emilio killing your father was bad enough, you’re stupider than I thought.”
I mindlessly tear my arm out of his possession and step back.
And Emilio killing your father was bad enough. You’re stupider than I thought .
Yes, I had to repeat those words in my head because he didn’t get it right.
“My father died of another?—”
Matteo scoffs and gives me an exasperated look. “Don’t be naive, Bay. It doesn’t suit you.”
No. He’s fucking with my head .
The doctors explained everything. I can’t confidently say that I remember everything, but there was no foul play.
Unless Emilio paid off the doctors.
No, there’s no point. It’s not going to make me run quicker to Emilio to fill the father role.
Fuck him. He’s lying.
Pivoting on my heels, I refuse to think about Dad right now because I’m here, on earth, with a bunch of fucking morons.
One who is currently getting his neck sucked by one of Matteo’s sluts.
Reeve is still slumped on the couch, hazel eyes pinned on me with three of Matteo’s dudes hovering around. The office is bigger than I expected. There’s another pool table in here with green felt instead of red, like the others. Smoke hovers underneath the light as a few others play and suck on whatever is between their lips.
“What are you doing here?” I mutter through the lull of music still blaring outside the room. “You know better than to do this stupid shit.”
“Bay Bay McQueen,” he greets with an easy and cocky smirk. “Goddamn, woman, can you still get me hard as fuck.”
Yep, fucked up.
Reaching for his face to inspect if he has any bruising, Reeve smacks my hand away. “ Don’t .”
Don’t.
Does he seriously think I’m playing right now?
Snapping my fingers impatiently, it takes everything in me not to snatch the brunette by her hair and yank her away.
However, when she hears it and glances my way, I realize how much of an absolute fuckhead Matteo is.
Blue eyes.
Her hair is lighter than mine, a dark mocha that casually waves down her chest, but she’s a pretty close duplicate of me.
Sorta.
Her face is a little rounder and her lips fuller, but we could almost be related. A distant cousin or, who knows, another one of Emilio Wildes’s daughters. I wish I had one of those lying around so she could take my place at those Friday night dinners.
“Move,” I order, jerking my head for her to go, but she doesn’t.
Nope, she is like me .
“Who are you?” she asks casually, permitting herself to study me like I’m nothing and she’s everything.
“See, he’s fine, Bay,” Matteo bellows out from behind me as if his words are going to mean anything to me. “No one touched him.”
“I’m going to beat your ass for coming here,” I leer before Reeve’s eyes pin into slits, and I mutter, “Shut up and don’t talk.”
“You shut up and don’t talk,” he carps back through knitted eyebrows. “I didn’t ask for you here.”
God, fucked-up Reeve is a brat.
“Yeah, well…you showed up at the wrong bar, moron.”
Reeve tsks and shrugs. “Big deal. He’s not gonna kill me.”
He’s right.
Matteo will just torture him and then send his body parts to his brothers.
Like he did so many others.
Apparently, Reeve is on a suicide mission of not giving a fuck. And I don’t have the luxury of getting high every two seconds or blasting my thoughts away with cocaine or whatever he took.
But this is serious. Matteo will kill Reeve if he doesn’t get what he wants.
“Is he up to your standards, mi reina ?” Matteo’s voice is suddenly up close and too personal before I feel the pressure of his chest on my spine. “I don’t want you touching him. You do it again…I’m slicing off said body part off his body.”
“No need to be extra,” I mutter. “I?—”
“If you’re not rollin’ with these boys, why are you here?”
“I’d love to know the same thing,” Reeve chimes in, his attention back on the brunette as he runs the crook of his index finger underneath her chin.
“I’m not looking for you to blame me for anything else,” I tell Matteo. “If he’s beaten up or killed, I’m going to have my head on a spike.”
“Then…maybe we shouldn’t send him back.” His palm falls possessively on my hip as he jerks me backward and into his body. The bulge of his cock pushes up against my ass, but Reeve doesn’t miss it. His hazel eyes fall to the hand currently holding me hostage, and they don’t move. “You know I can make people disappear, Bay. Just say the word and he’s gone. No one would ever know.”
“You sure about that?” I press. “You don’t have any video cameras filming this?”
Matteo chuckles lightly. “Nah. Not in here.”
I rock my head back and forth. “Too much heat?”
“I don’t want to cause you any stress, my love. One less Forsaken fuck, the better for all of us.”
He’d love that, but he knows I’m never going to agree.
“Let me decide.”
Matteo waits for a beat before I feel him loosen his grip a bit. “Alright. I did say I brought you here out of good faith. If you’re going to be my queen, of course, you get a say.”
He’s so full of shit, I’m surprised it’s not coming out of his pores.
Nonetheless, if he stays true to his word—which is a long shot—Reeve will walk out of here alive.
Turning my head a bit, I put on my best warrior face, but I can’t help my nostrils flaring from the shit I’m about to endure. “Can he have some water? It’d be easy for me to get him out of here if he’s halfway sober.”
“Water isn’t going to do shit with what he’s on or what he took before. He’s been high since he arrived with two blondes.”
Two blondes and now a brunette.
I might end up smacking the shit out of him if we get out of this.
“Can you have one of your guys help me get him out of here?” I solicit, jerking a thumb over to the door.
Matteo’s lips curl into a sinister and sick smile. “Not so fast, mi reina . My payment first.”
I think I’m going to get sick.
He wouldn’t fuck me if I threw up, right? It should make his dick soft? The smell alone would piss him off. He’d have to wait.
“You know what I’d love to do…” His digits skate along my pelvis and descend between my thighs. “I’d love to fuck you right in front of him.”
Yep, I’m going to throw up.
It’s inevitable, honestly.
I don’t want him fondling and caressing any part of my body.
His breath on my skin is making me want to gag, and the thought of his lips trying to mangle with mine might get me there.
I hate him.
I’ve never hated anyone else in this world as much as I do Matteo De Leon.
But it’s the next voice that pierces the air that is a close runner-up. Someone I’ve underestimated greatly, who might be my demise after all.
A man who should take that top spot because he has tried to kill me recently.
“Funny you should say that, De Leon. Because I was thinkin’ the same thing with my girl.”