47. Bay
FORTY-SEVEN
bay
Underneath the hood of Dad’s Chevy Nova, I hear the bass of music creeping louder toward the house over the song that’s currently playing on my phone. My brain is in spaz mode because Levi is coming over today and I’m finally going to tell him everything that’s happened, and how the hell I’m going to manage to get through this. The latter is my problem, not his, but I can’t go another day without him knowing everything that surrounds me.
Guilt is beginning to suffocate me, and the last week since the race debacle with the guys has been plaguing my brain to men up, fess up, and deal.
The music I heard down the street floats closer and prominently louder, sounding as if it’s crawling up my driveway when I pull myself out from under the hood and down the length of the black paint of the Nova. And there, walking like he owns the fucking place in dark blue jeans that are cuffed at the bottom and a black Deftones shirt on is Torin Wildes.
The fucking problem—my dad is outside hanging out with me.
Fury immediately pumps through my veins as I march to cut him off from entering my domain.
Yeah, I fuck with him a lot—every chance I get—but he’s not going to be seen by my father.
“This is getting really old, bruh,” I snarl the closer I get, hoping my voice is low enough that Dad doesn’t catch it. “What do you want?”
He smiles, clearly aware that I don’t like him in my space and definitely in my neighborhood. “You showed up at my house. I thought that was our thing, Wildfire.”
“When I said bring your ass to South Shore, I didn’t think you were that dumb .”
He doesn’t lose his shitty grin, looking unaffected by my threat or anyone’s looming around. “Same. Though, I’m not scared of The Nameless. In fact, I could take a little aggression out.”
“I’ll repeat…” I move to my right to keep him blocked off from Dad, but Torin is taller than me which defeats the purpose. “What do you want , Pretty Boy?”
His amber eyes fall back behind me and my stomach twists into a giant knot. “I wanna see your ride.”
Bullshit .
“Get fucked, Torin.”
His gaze moves to my right again. “Then I wanna meet your daddy.”
It’s the way he says it. There’s no teasing behind those words but a blunt warning that he’s here to purposely start shit.
My fingers wrapping around the wrench I was just using, bend on clobbering it over his thick skull in t-minus ten seconds. “You wanna get your ass kicked in front of a grown man?”
“Not yet, baby. I haven’t tasted that pussy yet and...if you’re a good girl, I’ll even forget you steppin’ in on my dinner with your false intentions of just wanting to be part of the family.”
I step up on him because this isn’t a game. I might have him looking out for me in The Landings, but he will not be messing around in my dad’s life nor my sisters’. Being at my house is a whole other level of fucked for me and I didn’t even want to be at his in the first place.
If I had it my way, I’d erase all this and stay out of their way, but I don’t have that luxury right now.
“I said I don’t want to be part of the family. I’m not gonna tell you—” Torin swiftly rounds my body, ignoring my warning, and signs his own death sentence in the process.
Whipping around, I follow him and watch Dad’s blue eyes fall on the motherfucker who just came over the line that divides our two towns to harass me.
“Hey, sir”—Torin extends his hand over my dad’s hospital table that hangs over a La-Z-Boy chair that Levi got him somewhere—“I’m Torin. Friend of your daughter’s.”
Dad’s hand shakily comes up to return the gesture and my jaw tightens as I come up to Torin’s side. “You wanna water, Dad?”
“N-no.” He looks up at Torin suspiciously through droopy eyes. “You c-come t-t-to fix…my k-car-r?”
Torin smiles. “Nah, Bay won’t let me touch it.”
Damn straight, I won’t let you touch it.
“G-g-good. T-t-too men-y-y h-h-h-han-ds…o-on it”—Dad’s jaw bobs like a fish out of water, trying to finish his sentence, but I don’t finish it for him. Pride is all Dad has right now, and I’ll be damned if I baby him. He’s having a rough day today already, I’m not about to make him upset—“mes-ses t-t-hings…up.”
“I highly agree.” Torin glimpses over his shoulder at me. “I was just here to be DJ. That okay?”
I’d say no, but wouldn’t that cause suspicion?
“T-t-u-trn…off”—Dad raises his arm again and points at the tool bench where my phone is—“I…hat-t-e B-b-ryan Ad..ams.”
“ Dad ,” I snap through narrowed brows. “Are you kidding me?” He glances over at me, unapologetic at his comment and that Bryan Adams is bomb as fuck. Then he lifts his shoulders. I scoff. “Wow…are we related?”
No.
No, we’re not.
But it feels like it.
I’ve always had a connection with this man. I’ve always loved him. I’ve always wanted to be his little girl and have nothing but pride in his eyes for me.
Guess he wouldn’t so much now if he known what I was doing.
“Just for that, Pops, I’m not playing Connect Four with you today.” He jerks his head to Torin, hinting that he’ll just have him take my spot. “ No. ”
“H-hur-ry up…I’m…hun?—”
“Hungry,” I scoff, shaking my head. “I just fed you.”
“Watching someone fix a car is exhausting,” Torin chimes in, propping his spine along the edge of the bench with my phone in his hand. “I’m starving too.”
“Too bad you’re only here for fifteen minutes before you have to blow.” I march to him and snatch my phone out of his hand. On the screen, he was about to play Elton John.
My dad loves Elton John.
I eye him suspiciously, not that I have my dad’s likes and dislikes on a website somewhere but, call me paranoid as fuck, I don’t like it.
“Might have some extra time,” Torin replies, his lips coiled in another cocky ass smirk.
I play the song of his choice and pivot for the car. I’m not going to argue with him in front of my father, but I sure as hell can piss him off to leave on his own.
Stepping up on the front bumper with my knee, I lean over the frame of the car to get back to my water pump, when Torin brushes his hard bicep against mine. “We need to talk.”
“We don’t talk.”
“I’d rather do it alone where I don’t scare the fuck out of your father.”
I slowly turn my head to him. “Why?”
“Come with me,” he orders, straightening his spine and disappearing from my side. I don’t listen, still trying to find the same bolt that I can’t see. “ Bay .”
“Oh my fucking God, dude, wha—” In the middle of me about to rip into him, I feel the barrel of the gun pressed into my thigh. Our eyes lock, his full of frustration, but he doesn’t glower down at me like he normally does.
“Come...here.” Slowly, I do what he asks because there’s a gun in the garage where my dad currently resides and there’s no room for human error right now. I’ve seen what he did to Travis, the sheriff’s fucking son, and he’s still walking around like never did anything. Torin backs up a few steps, the weapon still pointed at me from his hip. “Closer.”
Hesitantly, I move, and when I’m within an inch of him and freeze, waiting for the rest of what he wants.
“I’m not saying this only because I’m trying to keep you away from my family. I’m also doing it for many other reasons that I won’t divulge to you. However, if you like being alive, you’ll stay away from Emilio and my brother. Ramsey seems fine right now to you, but he wears a mask of normalcy as well as I don’t hold a grudge against South Shore. You’d do well to stay the fuck out of The Landings. Whatever you think you’re gonna gain, you’re not.”
I want to tell him the reason why I’m doing all this so he leaves me the fuck alone. That my mom is an asshole and Emilio wants to tie The Landings and South Shore together while threatening my baby sister if I don’t comply, but the agreement was to keep my mouth shut.
And I won’t do anything to risk the safety of my family.
“What if I don’t?” I mutter softly, the exact opposite of what my heart is doing in my chest. “Are you going to kill me?”
“I might have to,” he deadpans.
“What if…” The words clog my throat because I know the dangers of the rest. Emilio might have pull on Torin to stay out of my way, but it doesn’t look like the dynamic of their relationship is a strong one.
“What if, what?”
“Pretty Boy...I’m not looking to take your throne, your gang, or whatever else you have. I’m not interested in you. You’re not on my radar. Emilio won’t leave me the fuck alone.”
His chest bumps mine and I glimpse over my shoulder to locate Dad before Torin’s hand grips the fabric of my shirt. “He can’t see you.”
“Torin—”
“Kiss me,” he commands. Those lucid light brown eyes peering down at me with challenge and fervor glazed over them. “I wanna know what not interested tastes like off your lips.”
“I’m sensing small dick energy right now, Pretty Boy. Let’s just keep it how it is. I like your face and your dick was alright, but I’m not a fan of your attitude. I hate your world and your life, so stay out of mine. You wanna try to nail me again…” I flick my eyes to his lips because I’m an asshole. “Maybe I’ll let you join in next time Levi’s deep inside my cunt.”
I wink at him, and surprisingly he hoists his mouth in return. I’m not sure if he thinks I’m joking or that I can’t make it happen—I can’t, let’s be real here and ew—but I’m not about to remove my mask.
“Do I need a 401k and an accountant to get your attention?”
“No,” I reply. “You need to put some fucking respect on my name. Let’s also mention that you’re part of The Forsaken Crew. And until then…you can fuck all the way off in the brand-new truck that your daddy bought you. I’m not interested. Not that you were either. You’re as excited to kiss a South Shore girl as I am wanting to be seen with some dickwad from The Forgetful Fuckheads.”
“Someone’s sounding a little judgy.”
My nostrils flare. “Just mocking what you’ve given me since we first met.”
“I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time we met,” he vouches, causing my hands to ball into fists and keep myself focused on the conversation at hand.
“I’m not flattered,” I reply stupidly, because that only makes him lean closer at my challenge and the weapon in his grip presses deeper into my hip.
“Give it up, Wildfire,” he whispers. “You find me attractive and my ownership of a gang that rivals yours only intrigues you.”
“And kissing you is gonna do what?”
He gives a slight shrug. “Appease my curiosity for one. And who the fuck knows...maybe I’ll go to bat with Levi on who gets to touch you intimately by someone you’re actually gonna enjoy it from.”
His lips just brush mine, but he keeps his golden browns locked on me the whole fucking time. He’s so close it’s starting to make my body malfunction.
All I can concentrate on is how I want him to just take me right now and erase the conflict between our two towns. That it has nothing to do with us when it has everything to do with us because we live this life.
“Sounds like a personal prob—” His mouth crashes into mine, clasping around my upper lip as his two plush ones clasp and crush mine. He doesn’t stop to give time for my rationality to come in to save the day but keeps ravishing my mouth like he’s never, ever going to get another chance.
Torin Wildes—the enemy of South Shore—is kissing me like he wants to.
Like he was born to do.
A leader who sweeps in and takes what he wants for his own gain, knowledge, and desires. This man is the youngest child of Emilio Wildes, but he doesn’t act like a follower. In fact, he doesn’t seem to be on the right side of Emilio’s game but against it.
And that intrigues me.
Gaining control over my bottom lip, Torin slowly slides his tongue inside my mouth, meeting my traitorous body and connecting with him just like he said I wanted to. His free hand comes up to cup my cheek and underneath my jaw, keeping me positioned to his kisses. The way his tongue slides teasingly in and out to claim that this—us—is exactly what we are when we’re not in a mini make-out session; dangerous, consuming, and bound for disaster.
Teeth sink gently into my swollen lip, and he replaces it with one agonizing pull to give up everything to him and him only. I’m not sure if he’s intimidated that I might team up with Ramsey, but he doesn’t hold a candle to this man who strides around with so much swagger that I’m sure he doesn’t know what to do with all.
Sure, he might think he’s the shit or that he has power, but Torin Wildes is a fuckin’ hot piece of ass who’s on the wrong side.
“You taste better than I thought you would,” he voices when he gives us two seconds to breathe then comes back for even more. “Sin, madness, and fucking temptation.”
His kiss deepens, and I’m lost, relishing how he can command my body and mind to do whatever he wants.
I must’ve lost my fucking mind somewhere between now and when I decided that having sex with Torin was a good idea to show that I could be domesticated to listen.
I’m sinking deeper into the realm of darkness I didn’t want to go in, and I know there’s more to him, the Forsaken Crew, and Emilio that I have yet to see.
Torin suddenly growls out loud, sucking on my bottom lip as he does before releasing it. Opening my heavy eyes, he’s glowering down at me like I just shanked him or something.
“You’re gonna step the fuck away from her, and keep your hands where I can see them.” Levi’s deep octave shocks me right to my core as Torin stupidly stands where he is and doesn’t move.
“Your gun doesn’t mean shit when I got one on your girl, Wallace,” Torin replies flatly, and, fuck me, I forgot it was there. He just kissed me stupid.
“Bay,” Levi mutters as I flick my gaze over Torin’s shoulder to see him matching Torin’s pissed-off expression with one that’s much more heated and dark. “ Where ?”
I exhale, trying to find my voice that got shoved somewhere else than my throat. “Hip.”
“How lucky are you feelin’ today, Wildes? Because I got shit to pick with you that I’m having a hard time shoving back right now.”
“Lev, Dad,” I alert him, because I’m just as much of an idiot to have forgotten for the last few seconds or minutes that he was around.
My best friend shakes his head at me. “He’ll be fine.”
“You’re not going to shoot someone when my dad is here,” I leer through a low tone. “ Neither of you. I will castrate both of your dicks.”
“Tell your boy to back off then, Wildfire,” Torin replies simply. “I’ll walk out of here and?—”
“You’re not gonna walk out of shit,” Levi snaps, shoving Torin forward a tad. “Actually, maybe I should make it so you don’t walk again at all.”
The man in front of me, the one who decided coming to South Shore today would be a good idea, reaches up and runs his thumb down my lower lip. “I say we deserve a redo, what do you say?”
My brows snap together because he’s a little too damn cocky for his own damn good. “Tor?—”
“I’m gonna kill you, motherfuck?—”
“Levi Wallace,” I whisper-yell over Elton John singing “ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” “Seriously, stop . I know Dad saw you walk up. Go say hello to him and Torin will leave.”
Levi bores daggers at me, but he can’t deny that what I’m saying is right. And if he doesn’t hurry his ass up, it’s gonna look weird.
“You heard the pretty—” I punch Torin in the gut on instinct, surprised that the gun doesn’t go off due to my stupidity.
Not only did he welcome himself here, but Levi caught him.
Which means I have to explain every fucking thing now including him while my best friend is super pissed.
“Go, Lev.” I hit him with an exasperated and pleading look before I see something in his face soften a tad.
“I’m going to go say hi, which means Wildes has that amount of time to get the fuck out of here or I’m putting a bullet between his eyes. If he shoots you, I’m going to do so much worse.”
“He won’t.” Torin’s brow quirks as I speak for him when Levi does what I ask, rounding our bodies to go talk to Dad and buy the Prince of The Landings a minute to leave.
“What makes you think I wouldn’t shoot you?” Torin asks me like a moron.
“Get out of here, dumbass. I just saved your life.”
“Answer the question.”
“You wanted a redo, right?” I huff, because it’s the only thing I can think of right now. “Now, go.”
Torin smiles like he just didn’t have a gun to his spine. “Stop runnin’ dope through The Landings. They’re amping up on the street security. I don’t want to be the one who catches you again.”
“I’m not running anything illegal, remember?”
“Yeah.” He still doesn’t sound convinced. “I’ll believe that when I stop hearing about the girl who does the most in South Shore. Didn’t you know you had a name floating around through the mouths of gangsters?”
“Your bluff sucks as much as I do.”
“I’ll show you next time.” He winks at me, stepping away before pointing an index finger at my face. “Remember what I said.”
He yells out goodbye to my dad to piss Levi off more, walking down the length of my car when he promptly jumps into his truck.
Still a motherfucking problem.
Just like his dad.
And he underestimated me as much as I did him.
That man is trouble, and I have a hard-on for shit I shouldn’t be doing.