23. Torin
TWENTY-THREE
torin
The weed that sinks into every fiber of my brain, pores, and mindset is the calmest I’ve had in a long time. I needed it after that motherfucker in the green mohawk called Bay a bitch, then a cunt, then decided it was in his best interest to grab her.
Then all hell broke loose.
I was never a fan of Levi Wallace before, but the moment his meaty, inked hand wrapped around Bay’s throat is when it all shattered around me. The realization that I like this girl. That I’d go after the King of South Shore—her town—and make him reap his consequences.
And what a dumb motherfucker.
If all he had on her were other guys and a fit of jealously, that would’ve been an easy fix. She’d never leave my side. I’d lock her ass in her room when I couldn’t bring her along and there wouldn’t be any cock sniffing around her without a few pieces of lead in them.
And, just like Reeve, I share half this blame of why that even was a thing in the first place. Yeah, we were in East Riverside, mutual territory. I could stroke my dick there and he couldn’t say shit about it.
However, I get the whole pissing on what’s mine thing. But not the let’s put hands on what belongs to me unless she’s panting underneath me shit he pulled.
I also can’t lie and say that fucking her wasn’t only amazing, but it was partly because she was Wallace’s girl.
And that I’ve wanted her for years.
I kept my conquest safe and hidden, respectful even, because I didn’t go blabbering off that I got to feel how tight she squeezes and milked me fucking dry.
God, that pussy.
“How much you wanna bet she punches him in the face by the end of the night?” Reeve muses, gently ashing the tip of his blunt over the metal railing we’re leaned up against.
We’re on the second story, overlooking the party when really we’re both just eye-fucking Bay in her entirety. I’ve chilled out with her, him needing to make peace with her and what happened out there the night they put on the performance of their lives.
However, he seems back to his old self again, and I’m hungry.
“Who?” I ask, focal point gliding down her ass as a small amount of her naked thigh peeks out from underneath the black dress she’s wearing. Her hair is down, draping over the deep dip in the back, and it’d take but one weak pull at one of her straps to have that whole thing cascading to the floor.
“Matteo De Leon.”
Every inch of my being stands to attention at the mention of his name. “ Where? ”
Since word got out that Levi Wallace dumped her ass, it’s not surprising that he’s prancing around like a horny stray cat in the middle of a dog pound. It doesn’t take a brain cell to determine that he wants her for one thing and one thing only, South Shore intel.
I mean, honestly, if there was a shit ton of it, I’m sure Wallace would’ve used it already. We’re at a standstill with this so-called war, stealing and pounding our fists into each other’s faces once in a while, but nothing to write home about.
Meanwhile, Matteo didn’t read up on the definition of rising up well above his means. And I don’t like how he has in his head that he could use her in several different ways to his advantage.
One being prying her thighs open.
How suddenly I could use her to my advantage.
It wouldn’t be a hard thing to do. Sinking between her legs again, her hand wrapped tightly around my cock as we battle it out with our tongues and lips. The thought at the movie theatre has me rock hard again.
I want her.
Reeve pines over her and Matteo De Leon just checked in. He believes he’s going to beat Cairo for the Titan seat and the girl from South Shore is his key.
He got lucky.
South Shore could whomp down on his ass because Matteo’s mouth is bigger than his whole piddly-ass gang.
“Somewhere down there,” Reeve replies, waving his hand over the party. “Don’t worry, I have my eye on her.”
“Emilio must’ve invited him. Trying to make rivals friends and all that shit. The last thing I need is Bay siding up with him.”
Reeve glances over at me, brows pinched. “You still on that? Dude, if she wanted us dead, we would’ve already been dead.”
I don’t know.
I wasn’t expecting my temper to make an appearance, to anyone else other than Bay, because that’s the norm, it seems. And since trying to find out what she’s all about, my facade is breaking about how much I can’t stand the fact that she’s South Shore and I’m part of a gang that has a strong hatred for it.
I'm running out of reasons besides a bunch of men putting a hit out on me as a child. Or maybe it’s the looming and bullshit prospect that a girl lives there with two sisters and a father recovering from a stroke that’s got me fucked up. That I don’t want to cause her any harm in any way, shape, or form.
“It’s not just about Forsaken Crew shit,” I retort. “It’s about what she plans on doing with Emilio. If she’s gonna be an enemy when we go to South Shore, and if that’s even an option for us anymore.”
“She’ll let me in.”
I roll my eyes. “If Bay teams up with Emilio, we’re never breaking free. We’re stuck here.”
“Why?”
“Because she’ll take the Titan seat. The shift in power won’t allow us to go without a hit on both our heads.”
My best friend shakes his head. “You’re missing the point here, Wildes.”
“Which is?”
Reeve blows out a large puff of gray smoke over the party. “Imagine serving that girl every fucking night. I don’t mind worshipping her, killing for her. I’ll be her little warrior, solider, whatever the fuck she wants.”
If only it were that easy.
“You’re living in a fairy tale,” I mutter. “And she’s spiraling.”
“I don’t see it. What I did see was Wallace breaking up with her. Did he hit you that hard in the head that you forgot?”
“That guy has been wanting to beat my ass for years, so that’s not a shocker. However, she has options.”
“Yeah, us . You have a past with her. You said you wanted her way back in the day when she was rollin’ with De Leon and his Pistol Pussies. So, either stand up and in line or fuck off. You don’t have many options, Torin. And, that’s if I allow you to fuck my girl.”
My eyes clench. “ Your fucking girl?”
“Hold your grudge,” Reeve says under his breath, to where I barely hear him. “You’re only helpin’ me out.”
Jealously ramps through me like a lightning bolt, and my fingers curl around his bicep, whipping him around to face me. “What the fuck did you say?”
“You’re only helpin’ me out?” My best friend only stares at me, paying no heed to my endless temper and the fact that I’ve claimed her first.
As if it doesn’t matter.
And we’ve been through this before, back in the day, Annabella Sheridon.
10 th grade.
A beautiful blonde with a nice pair of tits and lips that were made for sucking good cock.
“Have you fucked her?” My question is a gaping hole of how much it’d piss me the fuck off. That he thinks he can just waltz his cool-as-a-cucumber veneer and take her from me.
“Are you still fisting my shirt, Wildes?”
Shit, I didn’t even realize it until he just said that.
I should let go. Keyword— should.
However, he knows how much that answer is going to relieve or make me want to toss him over this balcony.
Yeah, I don’t deserve shit from that girl. If anyone, he does. I’ve repeated it over and over in my head, time and time again. However, it doesn’t resolve anything. It doesn’t stop making my dick hard. It doesn’t halt the way my eyes soak her in, and I imagine more incidents of her shirt pulled over her tits, her lips wrapped around my cock, listening to that shuttered breathing she tries to control.
The night Reeve ran after her when Levi lost his shit, I wanted to accompany, but held back. He’s always guarded her against me and my temper.
He’s perfect.
I’m fucked up.
He’s purely for her and I’m tainted with a carnal need to just own now that the urge to kill her has worn off.
“You got five seconds,” Reeve exhorts with that cool attitude and the blunt fastening around his lips. “We’ll do an experiment and I’ll fuck you up to see if we can get that hearing back.”
I shove him away from me, to which he promptly goes back to the railing to watch his new obsession, unfazed by my sulking and small fit of rage.
“ I think it’s time to mix things up ,” he says casually, using his hands to make sure I don’t miss his words. “ Maybe shift some plans and win some brownie points .”
I come to his side so I can hear him better in my right ear. “What do you mean?”
“I think…” He inhales his next hit, long and smooth. His blonde hair blowing from the breeze coming from the ocean. “We should publicly—” A few gasps and a loud splash of water catch my attention during the skip of the next song and Bay is gone.
My eyes fall to the pool, finding dark locks floating aimlessly under the surface as Matteo hovers over the side, waiting for her to resurface.
Reeve leans over the railing, getting a closer look through his high, and a few more seconds tick by and nothing.
I blink one more time through my own haze before Reeve kicks his leg over the metal banister without hesitation, about to jump down over fourteen feet-ish to the ground and break his damn ass. My hand clutches the back of his shirt, seeing Cairo step out of the crowd like a mirage.
“ Wait ,” I growl out right before Matteo jumps in after her then, submerging underneath the chloride water.
“Get off me,” Reeve sneers, ripping out of my hold and beginning to twist around to, I’m sure, get down there.
“ Hold on ,” I clip out, meeting Reeve’s darkened expression. He’s pissed, and I am too, because something is plainly not right or hasn’t been between the two.
That’s intimidation if I’ve ever saw it.
I’ve done it.
Cairo cuts his dark gaze up to me, standing at the edge of the pool. I nod because Reeve and I will take care of that problem before the end of the night.
Bad enough for De Leon is that Reeve is high, and highly pissed. I’m petty all the time, but he’s a bitch when mad.
Matteo breeches the surface with Bay in his arms, reaching the edge and slowly depositing a dripping wet Bay Astor. The black material of her dress sticks deliciously to her skin, but it’s unfortunately not my sole focus.
It’s my best friend hovering over her like a possessive wolverine about to tear Matteo’s face off.
“It was a setup,” I tell Reeve.
“For fucking what ?” Reeve’s eyes fall to Cairo, but he doesn’t relax. His severe gaze plummets back to the scene that just played out before us. His chest hauls in air with great efforts because his…I ground my jaw.
She’s not his girl—yet.
Cairo’s heel launches back and kicks Matteo in the chest, sending him backward into the pool he just shoved Bay in.
Fishing out my cell from my dress slacks, I call my cousin, needing information and stat.
“Yes?”
“I wanna know everything about Matteo De Leon and Bay Astor. I wanna know their past. I want to know if he’s hurt her and?—”
“Yes.”
My brows clash together, and Reeve steps closer to me. The moment I said her name, he’s all ears, and that girl is lucky Reeve is nothing but loyal and devoted to the people he cares about—which aren’t very many.
“What did he say?” Reeve solicits, white-knuckling the railing again as he looks at me for confirmation. My face must say it all because Reeve’s cool expression just darkened and appears like a bad plan in the making.
“How?” I ask. “I want details.”
“What do you want to know?”
“All of it.”
“Weren’t you there?”
I was.
But I think I’m in denial about everything and anything that happened. However, my cousin comes in with the shit I didn’t want to know but needed to hear.
“Word on the street is that he had sex with her in front of his men. That he allowed them to masturbate all over her, but couldn’t touch her. He would smack her around and lock her in a room. She left him, and Levi Wallace put an end to that. But there’s more?—”
“We just watch him shove her into a pool and wait half a century before jumping in to get her. She doesn’t look like she swims but sinks.”
“She’s not working for him,” my cousin claims flatly.
“Good.”
At least there’s that working in my favor.
Reeve steps closer to me, cocking his head so he can hear the other line. “I want him fucking dead. Tonight .”
“That falls on us, brother,” I retort. “We can’t get in Shoreline Peaks bullshit. However, we can issue out a lesson.”
“Is she okay?” my cousin asks.
I nod, though he can’t see it. “She’s fine. Matteo won’t be, though.” Jerking my head, I instruct for Reeve to follow me so he can see if Bay’s okay. It’ll calm him down the moment he lies eyes on her. “I’ll talk to you soon, cuz.”