33. Bay
THIRTY-THREE
bay
“Bay, can you please tell Levi to go? He’s going to scare him away.”
I honestly pity and can relate to Ellie at this moment. Because the same man has done this to me once before.
Mind you, it didn’t work, I unfortunately still dated Matteo De Leon. However, he was successful with everyone else before him.
“That’s the whole point,” my best friend divulges, rolling a wooden baseball bat over the planes of his thighs. “What was his name again?”
Ellie shoots me over a pleaded expression, and I hate the deep frown that’s formed across her face because Levi won’t chill.
Yet, I’m not so against him making himself known to this little prick who’s taking my sister out on a date, for obvious reasons.
“It’s just to warn him,” I offer up, but it still does nothing to the way she appears as though she wants to disappear and call this whole thing off.
Ellie is at the stage where she’s kinda still listening to me. Being fifteen, she has the whole teenager thing going on, and with Paisley— Mom —only being gone for about four months now, I’m honestly surprised she hasn’t gone off the deep end yet.
I’m just waiting for it to happen.
For the grief to take over and for her to do something extremely stupid or fall into a dark hole where I need to pull her out.
She swapped outfits for me tonight, wanting to go with a short blue dress that she glipped from my closet. And while I don’t mind her touching my shit, I didn’t want her little date to gather up ideas for easy access either.
Ellie, thankfully, changed without much of an argument so I’m trying to meet her in the middle here. She’s in tight jeans and a cute pink sweater that shows off her shoulders.
“Lose the baseball bat,” I instruct Levi, who’s sitting next to Dad and not saying a damn word because he’d probably be doing the same. Levi quirks a brow at me at the same exact time Dad tries to do it, causing me to prop a hand on my hip. “Wanna say something?”
“Yeah,” Levi pledges unhesitatingly. “I got plenty to say about this little prick that’s going to come pick up my little girl.”
“H-h-h-he’s n-n-n-n-ot go-g-g-go-o-ing to h-hurt -h-i-m-m-m, B-b-b-bay,” Dad says, supporting, of course, Levi in this endeavor.
“Daddy,” Ellie whines at my side before pointing to the front door. “He’s going to scare Peter away.”
“Peter?” Levi repeats, sounding unimpressed. “The fuck kind of name?—”
“The one his parents gave to him,” I retort through narrowed eyes. “So unless you want that bat shoved somewhere…”
“Speaking of somewhere …” He eyes me suspiciously and he’s smart.
Really smart.
He noticed me gone last night—at Emilio’s famous Friday night dinner—and I’ve been evading an answer to my whereabouts ever since.
“Yes?” I press innocently. “You wanted to go somewhere when Ellie leaves?”
He glowers at me. “You’re not going anywhere without me, Juice, or Hot Rod.”
Thankfully, Juice was up my ass last night and, when I told him I was going to hang out with Nessa, he was quick to allow me freedom.
“I’d love to. However, I’m meeting up with Trav.”
“I’ll go with you.”
I nod to Dad. “I’m hangin’ out with Pops, too.”
“Great”—he leans back in his wooden chair with his paranoid stare still on me—“I got nowhere else to be tonight.”
The doorbell rings on cue, alluding to Ellie’s date’s arrival, and I immediately feel her nervousness as she rounds to face me.
“Bay…I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be.” I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her to me. “He’s lucky you said yes and decided to waste your time on him.”
Her face falls. “ Bay …”
“What? He’s not your future husband, is he?”
“No,” she mumbles. “I’m fifteen.”
“Which is why she shouldn’t be dating,” Levi interjects with his two cents from behind us. “How about we order pizza and I get rid of the loser?”
Instead of responding to him, I guide Ellie to the door, ignoring Levi’s alternate change of plans. “Just have fun. You have minutes on your phone, so text me if things aren’t going well. I’ll get you out of there without looking suspicious.”
“Isn’t texting you suspicious?”
I lift a brow. “Aren’t you kids always on your phones?”
“You’re not supposed to be on a date. It’s rude.”
“That’s my girl.” My palm hovers over the doorknob. “Ready?”
She inhales a deep breath and holds it. “I think so.”
Twisting the knob, I open the door to find a little blond asshole standing there with a rose in his hand.
Damn it.
Because it’s actually kinda sweet.
Peter is tall and scrawny, reminding me of a younger version of Reeve minus the ink, hazel eyes, and confident persona he holds.
Though, he appears as if he’s going to shit his pants. Especially when he glances behind me.
“Hello,” I greet with a smile, trying to gain his attention. “You’re Peter?”
He doesn’t answer me right away, and that’s when I hear the soft clap of wood against a palm, hinting at Levi’s strategy of intimidation and a promise that he’ll use it if he needs to.
“Hi, Peter,” Ellie quips. The sound of her voice drawing him back to her. “Is that for me?”
“Y-yeah,” he quickly replies, shoving the pretty flower at her. “I hope you like it.”
“I do?—”
“Did you buy that or pluck it from Mrs. Morrison’s house down the street?” Levi asks. “I don’t allow my girl to go out with little punks who steal.”
“I bought it,” Peter quickly retorts, wrapping his tan coat tighter around his body. “At The Bloom Room on Tuler.”
“I’d like to see a receipt.”
I gently give Ellie a little push out the door so I can end Levi’s interrogation. “Have a really good time, you guys. Peter, she needs to be home by midnight on the dot.”
“Of course,” Peter quickly replies. “We’ll be back by then.”
“I’ll be waiting,” Levi adds as Ellie gives me one last nervous look. Her blue eyes aren’t as excited as they were an hour ago, and I believe it’s because Levi won’t shut the hell up.
“Have a really good time,” I remind her, giving my sister a hug before whispering in her ear, “Text me if you need me. I’ll be here.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you more.”
Ellie and Peter take off down the cement porch, but I keep the door open when I pivot around to face Levi. And, what do you know, he has that Louisville Slugger in his hands, still tapping away at it.
“You wanna wait out on the porch?”
His unamused expression clashes with mine. “You wanna tell me why you weren’t home last night and Nessa said you weren’t hangin’ out together like you said?”
Motherfucker.
Rule number one of lying; make sure your alibi knows that you’re using them.
“So, where were you?”
Standing in front of Levi and his no-bullshit stare is pretty close to the hardest thing I’ve had to do this week.
But I’m still on the fence about telling him anything Emilio-related and the little tiff I got going with the boys.
“Out,” I deadpan, knowing damn well that it’s not going to cut it.
Levi doesn’t remove his emotionless features. “Out where?”
“Okay, this possessive boyfriend role you’re playin’, you can stop now. We’re not in front of Tweedle-dee or Tweedle-dumb.”
He treads closer to keep the TV in the living room as the only thing Dad hears. The foyer’s wall blocks us from Dad’s view as well. “You’re right. Because if you were my girlfriend, I’d have you handcuffed to your bed right now for giving me these vague-ass answers.”
One of my brows quirk as I try to shove away thoughts of Levi, a bed, handcuffs, the possibilities…and that’s when that friend zone kicks in.
“I honestly can’t see why girls like you, Levi.”
“Really?” He swings the baseball bat over his wide shoulder, flexing those damn black tattoos that ripple along his tan skin. “I could give you a list.”
“I think it might make me puke.”
That’s a whole damn lie.
Though, I don’t want to know what girls he’s slept with. I have a feeling my jealousy will ramp up and I’ll beat the crap out of one of them.
“You got a secret boyfriend I don’t know about?”
I scoff. “No.”
“Then talk.”
I hate this.
I really do. I’m literally, straight-faced lying to my best friend right now, and if he ever finds out, I don’t believe he’s ever going to forgive me.
But it’s his fault that I don’t trust his actions with the knowledge and reality of my situation. That he might make us pack up and move while he deals with the boys himself.
It’s not that I don’t believe he could do it.
I just don’t want him seriously hurt in the process.
“I’ve been overwhelmed,” I reply still meeting his hazel gaze. “I have Hot Rod up my ass. I have Juice harassing me about playing cards and throwing bets on it. I have Mae wanting every ounce of my attention when she gets home from school and Ellie has been a wreck about this Peter kid. Dad is dad and you haven’t been around.” I lift my shoulders dismissively. “I just wanted to be alone. So I took Dad’s car and drove. In South Shore, of course.”
“Are you fucking serious?” I’m not sure if that’s a real question or if it’s commuting in his head that could be the reason.
So I don’t answer it.
“Fuck…” He extends an arm out for me to arrive at his side and I mindlessly appease his offer. Levi immediately wraps his arm around me and props his chin on top of my head. “I’m sorry.”
You, Bay Astor, are such an asshole.
“It’s okay,” I convey, squeezing him tight. His scent calms down my anxiety as his warmth seeps into my veins. “I know you’ve been busy. I didn’t want to bother you.”
“I’m never too busy for you, Astor. You should’ve called.”
I wish I could’ve. Having another head in this would be better than just mine.
“I’ll do that next time,” I reply. “I didn’t want Juice riding with me and ruining my music.”
Levi chuckles. “That’s relatable.” He pulls me in tighter. “You wanna have a lunch-car date tomorrow? I gotta work on an old Buick tomorrow.”
“Sure. That’d be nice.”
“Okay.” He kisses the top of my head and slowly begins to release me. “I’m ordering a pizza. I’m starving.”
And then he strides into the kitchen for probably another beer, and I’ve gotten out of this once again, but how many more times am I going to get lucky?
I have a feeling it’s going to run out, and soon.