39. Bay
THIRTY-NINE
bay
“Well, don’t drop it,” I chide Juice, reaching out to him for my sister’s cake, but he slides away from me anyway down the beaten sidewalk. “Juice, I’m gonna kill you.”
He continues laughing, green eyes twinkling in mischief as he gives me a playful wink and pivots around.
Just to stop dead in his tracks.
“Holy shit,” he mutters out sharply, getting me to slide up to his side to see what the problem is.
“What?”
There’s no one standing in front of us in a threatening way. We’re in downtown East Riverside, surrounded by a bunch of small businesses, and I don’t see a fire or a kitten in a tree, so when I glance at him, Juice is already staring at something to his right.
A red Lexus
“I want it.”
“We can’t,” I chortle lightly. “We’re in the middle of?—”
“Hold this.”
He practically shoves Ellie’s cake in my chest before taking off to get a better look at the sleek-looking sports car when I stop him with, “ Wait .” Thankfully, Juice registers my voice through his lust for metal on wheels and glimpses over his shoulder at me. “We need to get back.”
“It’ll take me three minutes.”
“Juice, there are windows everywhere. The person could be looking at us right now as you try to gank their ride.”
“I’ll be gone by the time the pigs arrive.”
“But I won’t,” I argue. “I’ll still be holding the damn cake. Do you want me to run with it?”
Juice glances around, pushing his cheek out with his tongue. “I think I got this, babe.”
I know he does this all the time, but something isn’t sitting right with me and this damn car for some reason.
“What are you doing?” Levi chimes in, coming up to my flank with a bunch of party supplies in plastic bags. “Stop eye-fucking the ride.”
“I need it,” Juice says matter-of-factly. “We can sell this by tonight.”
“How much?”
“ Lev ,” I chide. “Stop fucking around. We need to get back and set up.”
Ellie won a writing competition that earned her a scholarship when she graduates, and I couldn’t be more fucking proud. The little weasel didn’t tell me anything about it until she came home screaming and jumping around, tossing an official school letter at my chest that she got it.
“We’ve got time for that, sweet cheeks,” Levi drones, joining Juice by blatantly staring at the car. “What do you take me for?”
Lord.
I practically have two grown-ass children of my own here who are supposed to be watching me instead of the other way around.
“Go ahead,” I exhort with a heavy sigh. “I’m going to get back and finish things up before Ellie’s out of school.”
“Johnny’s gonna hold the lanes for us at the bowling alley,” Levi says, still assessing the vehicle. “Don’t stress it.”
“Is she even going to like this? She’s sixteen.”
Levi glances over at me with pinned brows. “What do you mean? She loves bowling.”
“ Loved ,” I retort. “She hasn’t been bowling in years.”
“It’s cosmic bowling.”
I mean, it’s dope to me, but Ellie is young and it might be stupid now.
I remember when I turned sixteen, and Levi took me to a club where I danced all night until the early morning. I drank so much I even allowed Levi to answer one of Matteo’s millions of phone calls that night looking for me.
He stopped after that.
“You wanna back-up?” I love Levi for reading my mind. If she hates the bowling thing, we’ll have something else to redeem ourselves. “Alright, I’ll call Carlos and get us in Eclipse. Juice can watch Mae.”
I smile at him, and he rolls his eyes exasperatedly before looking back to the Lexus.
“Glip it,” Levi orders. “You know where to drop it.”
“Yes, sir,” Juice drones with excitement and a salute, rounding the front end of the car just as nails on a chalkboard come screeching in to ruin everything.
“Why the hell are you by my car?!”
It takes only the briefest of seconds before my brain registers the new voice.
Vivian.
Juice glances at Levi who gives him a brief nod, giving him the silent go to continue, when he takes a dangerous step toward Vivian.
“Hey, Viv,” he greets lightly. “Doing some shoppin’?”
The moment he moves, Vivian’s eyes lock on mine, ignoring him and shifting to instantly enraged.
I’m the same.
I haven’t seen this stupid bitch since the day she showed up on my front porch with news of kicking us out of it.
And I have my sister’s cake in my hand.
Fuck me.
“Do you need help with your bags?” Levi holds out his hands like he’s about to help, but she doesn’t move an inch.
She doesn’t flinch either.
No, that’s the power of being the sheriff’s daughter and all. The cunt isn’t scared of anything or anyone.
That’s her first mistake.
“Why would I want you to help me with anything?” she clips back, slicing her glower to my best friend. “So you can steal it?”
“I would never.” Levi’s large hand falls on his black shirt, right over his heart. “Damn, Viv. After everything and shit.”
Her eyebrows knit. “What do you mean after everything?”
“Now, you’re gonna act— seriously ?”
Vivian’s face twists even harder. “What are you talking about?”
I’d like to know the same thing about where he’s going with this, but I don’t move because Juice already has her door open and slips inside.
“I guess you wouldn’t,” Levi proceeds to say. “It’s ancient history at this point.”
Vivian scoffs. “What are you getting at, Wallace? We don’t talk or hang out?—”
“You can thank Cairo for that.”
A break in her expression shows how shocked she is by what he just said and oh boy. Now I get to see him work his charm on Vivian Muncy.
Hard pass.
“Levi,” I call out because I’m about to drop this damn thing, ruin it, and beat this bitch for what she’s done.
If she didn’t take our house, CPS may have not been able to take my sisters. There would have been no signs of so-called child abuse or abandonment issues.
Nothing unless Torin paid them off, but still.
I’d still have Dad’s house.
I’d still be able to sit in his chair and pretend.
“You need help?” he asks me, stepping away from Viv, and if he isn’t reading me now, he better. When he’s within inches of me and sliding his fingers underneath the cake, he mutters, “One hit, Astor. Then, Juice is taking off, and we’ve gotta go.”
“Start for the car,” I answer, stepping around his frame. “I’ll be there?—”
“Why are you in my car ?!” Vivian hollers out, prompting me to buy Juice a few more seconds while I start for her.
The Lexus starts with a sexy little rumble as I pound the pavement for the blonde bitch who assisted with taking down my life.
Pointing to the left, Juice must notice because he peels out the next second, and Vivian is already digging into her purse for her phone.
Which I just happen to rip out of her hands.
It flies behind me, contents scattering everywhere, but it’s my fist I’m more concerned about that connects with her stupid face.
Vivian squeals out in pain, shuffling away from me as I fist the front of her purple dress and yank her toward me.
I’m met with olive green eyes slitted in surprise and pretty curls like she just hit the salon to get a test run on her hair for the fun of it.
Every piece is perfectly framed and pinned back into half a ponytail as though she doesn’t have a fucking care in the world while mine was crumbling around me.
“Oh hey, Viv,” I greet finally, suddenly not giving a shit I’m going to ruin her day versus her fucking up my life. “How’s it going?”
She shoves at my shoulders, but I don’t let up on her dress. “Get off me, bitch!”
“Oh, you mean like how you got off when you had my family kicked out?” I retort. “Like that kind of get off?”
“ Yes ,” she seethes before the corners of her lips quirk. “Like that.”
I chuckle and push the issue. I shouldn’t because I know it’ll piss her off to no end. “How about I get off and go fuck your man on my way back home?”
Her hand flies across my face, proving my previous point, and I don’t make a means to stop her.
It stings, I can feel my face burning from the hit, but I still don’t make a move to leave.
“Ouch,” I deadpan flatly.
“You think he’s going to fall for you, hoe? He knows what’s good for him. And it’s not you .”
“He doesn’t need me to be good to him,” I counter. “He just needs me to take care of his needs.”
“He won’t touch you.” A slow smile forms over my face, and she frowns. “Do you want me to take more from you?”
“Go ahead and try.”
She scoffs. “Like Ozzy is going to do anything to me. He’s my sloppy seconds, sweetheart. That boy was so head over heels in love with me it was fucking stupid.”
That statement almost knocks me on my ass.
How the hell are they linked up?
“Funny,” I muse, but I can’t help but clench my jaw while she keeps that cocky smirk on her face. “He never mentioned you when he was balls deep inside me.”
She doesn’t ask me who I’m talking about when she lunges for me, which is concerning. How the hell is she, in any way, connected to my legal husband?
“Careful, Muncy.” Hot Rod suddenly shows up behind her, grabbing both her wrists to keep from swinging at me again, and I release her because we’ve got to go. “If I hit her, I hit you, and I’ll break something.”
He shoves her to the side and comes up to wrap his arm around my shoulder to get us back to the car.
I swear I can see steam coming from her ears, but I take the welcome out. If I don’t, I’m going to catch an assault charge for sure.
All I was doing was trying to grab a cake for Ellie for this little dinner I had planned tonight and some bowling afterward. However, now, I have to ask Ozzy how he’s associated with Satan’s bitch.
These towns are too damn small.