29. Reeve
TWENTY-NINE
reeve
The motherfucker was lucky he was that close to Bay that I purposely missed so she wouldn’t have his blood all over her.
I saw the way she shook, the distance she was beginning to put between them. It was hard enough to permit her to go out there alone without me, let alone stand idly by and watch the bullshit.
However, I understood why.
And this only further proved my point that Matteo De Leon needs to be put down. Not only because he’s a shady piece of shit, but because my girl’s terrified of him.
The question is, what the hell all did he fucking do?
Bay’s body slams into mine, not losing the momentum she had until she’s safely in my arms.
I like that I’m a safe haven for her.
That she had certainty in me that I wasn’t going to give her shit and let her down. It’s the beginning of what I wanted from the first moment I saw her. I wish for nothing other than for her to be mine and to give myself to something that was going to need me back.
And right now, I have it.
It has sky-blue eyes and fuckable lips. The way she tightly squeezes me only proves that I’m something more than an enemy and an entity that she can rely on. It feels like fucking heaven with curves and places I want to lick.
“I got you,” I mutter, tucking her head underneath my chin and holding her close. “You did good, baby.”
She doesn’t utter a word, the slight tremble still affecting her body and how Matteo De Leon has done shit that I’ll strangle him for.
And I’ll get those fucking answers eventually.
But right now, my girl needs me and I’m going to lay all my concentration on her.
“Let me take you home,” I croon, rubbing my palm up and down the length of her spine. “We’ll talk more?—”
“I want ice cream,” she mumbles into my chest. “And…I don’t want to go home just yet.”
“I can do ice cream.” I wait for her to break from my hold but, apparently, she’s not done yet.
“You shot at him.”
“Yeah.” And I’m not sorry. I never would’ve taken the shot if I knew I was going to hit her. “He was getting too close.”
She tucks her face closer to my chest. “I just want him to leave me alone, Reevie.”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
“Reeve…” She peers up at me. The darkness covering all her features from the trees above, but I’ve memorized them all. “Thank you for coming with me.”
I give her a smile, even though she probably can’t see it. “I got you, McQueen. I’m never gonna let anything happen to you.”
A few seconds tick by before she asks, “You really mean that, don’t you?”
A small chuckle forms in my chest. “I’ve been trying to tell you, girl. If you’d let me fuck it into you, you’d probably learn faster.”
“Why are you waiting?”
“Because…” I feel stupid for my next words, vulnerable even. Which normally isn’t a problem for me, but Bay isn’t just any girl.
This woman I want to marry one day. I want to put a million kids in her and I’d build her a house from scratch if she really wanted it.
Bay squeezes me, urging me to go on when I don’t respond. And I bite the bullet and my pride all at the same time.
“Because I want it to be real,” I mutter honestly. “Not just some random person to get off.”
“You’re the most honest or stupidest dude I’ve met.”
Story of the fucking year, apparently.
“Let’s not think about the latter, eh?”
She chortles and hugs me again, lying her check against the flatness of my chest again. “I wouldn’t bring someone stupid with me here…especially with him. I wouldn’t put you in danger like that.”
“Is that why you wanted to go out there alone?”
“That…and I wanted to face him myself. I needed to know why he broke into my house.”
I instantly still and step away from her, breaking the contact of her body against mine and staring down at her with a glower. “He fucking did what ?”
“Reevie—”
“Hell fucking no, McQueen,” I leer, rounding her body to go hunt him down. “You didn’t say anything about that prick breaking into your home.”
Bay grabs my forearm, and it takes everything in me not to yank it away. “No, stop. Please .” She scrambles in front of me to block my path and I can’t breathe.
I’m fuming with a million and one ideas of how I’m going to kill him and love every damn second of it.
Looking over her head toward the park, I wonder how much time has gone by already and if he’s already gotten to his car.
I’m not playing this shit.
I’m drawing the damn line with break-ins, especially when she has sisters and a dad who can’t fend for his damn self right now.
“Reevie…” My nostrils flare as I give her my attention again. I know what she’s asking me not to do, but it still doesn’t take away the idea. “I can handle this.”
“How? I’m not trying to be a fuckin’ pig, McQueen, but he’ll overpower you. And if he’s stupid enough, which he fucking is, he might hurt your dad or your sister or both. I don’t like that. I’m going to start staying?—”
“You can’t stay at my house,” she says softly. “Mae sometimes sneaks in my room and?—”
“Baby, you’re not getting hurt on my watch. I’ve told you that a million fucking time?—”
“I know. But?—”
“Are you listening to me? I can’t…”
Bay steps up to me, gripping the belt loops of my jeans and keeping me grounded to her.
All I can think about is Rosalie, my sister. How she suffered under my hands and what I did to her. All those nights when our mother would put us together. Her cries and the way she flinched at the sight of me.
She didn’t mean to. She loved me as much as I loved her, but I still did it.
I still hurt my sister.
And I could’ve stopped it if I had a pair of balls.
“Where did you go?” Bay utters gently. “I promise to text you every night. You can even watch me sleep through a video call if you want to.”
That’s not enough.
I’m a fucking monster that lives underneath an easygoing facade, but that’s not what I really am. I’ve done things that Bay would absolutely be disgusted by me for, and I can’t have it.
But I can’t change my past.
I can’t move or shift anything around that’s happened.
A small hand cups the side of my face, and I mindlessly lean into it. “Please, don’t worry yourself to death about me. I couldn’t stand it if you did.”
“You don’t understand,” I confess, my voice cracking and noting my distress. “I have to keep you safe.”
“Okay…” Her blue eyes soften. “What can I do?”
“I just—I need you to be on the lookout. You have to lock the doors. I want that phone call every night.”
“Promise,” she immediately offers. “Did someone…” I watch the hestitation her in features before she pushes through. “Did someone hurt you…before?”
My arm wraps around her waist, and I pull her to me, a broken sob wanting to break free from my throat, but I hold on, demanding it stay put. “Long story, baby. One that I’m not sure you ever want to hear.”
“I’d hear anything you have to say,” she mutters. “Nothing will change the way I think about you.”
She’s says that now…
Yet, I’m not willing to risk losing her. I’m too selfish of a motherfucker to do that.
Bay rises on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek, allowing it to linger there for a moment before coming to my lips.
It’s the most serene and utterly magnificent thing to be kissed by Bay Astor. Her knowing how to comfort me in a way that only she can pull me from the inner turmoil in my head.
I dare not take it any further, knowing that if I do, it’ll lead to something else. And I don’t want memories of what I’ve done to my sister and Bay in the same thought process.
Reluctantly, I pull away, still feeling the touch of her warm lips against mine. “Let’s go get that ice cream.”
Bay stares up at me, with curiosity and the need to know what’s living in my head. “Okay.”
Her fingers find mine, lacing them through the nooks of my digits, and she gives me a little tug toward my car. “I think you deserve a kiss goodnight after this.”
A grin tugs at my lips. “I’ll take it.”
Wrapping my arms around her shoulders, we get the fuck out of the creepy woods and into my car. And she holds my hand the whole way there and on the way back to her house, where I get that kiss that sends a hundred fantasies of us through my head.