57. Bay
FIFTY-SEVEN
bay
It’s funny.
Getting your ass kicked by three girls in the parking lot of a hospital, but no one is around to help.
I always knew I’d have to answer to Layla again one day for beating her head into a locker in high school, and then knocking her brother out a few weeks back, but I didn’t think it’d be today.
Really didn’t think it’d be today.
As a solid punch is delivered to my cheek, I get a good view of cars that are parked and another reminder that I haven’t been watching my fucking back lately.
This is South Shore. Not the fucking Hamptons.
Girls around here do this shit all the time and maybe with the boys hanging around me so much, they fucked off.
But they’re not with me anymore.
The reality of that hurts more than the kick to the gut that’s delivered by Layla herself as I cower over, one of my palms hitting the cold cement while the other protects my stomach.
Fucking bitch.
“Couldn’t just fight me yourself, huh, Lay? You needed to bring your bitches, too?” My hair is gripped and yanked back for me to meet my nemesis’s glower and shitty attitude.
“You deserve three girls beatin’ your ass, Astor. You think because you’re fucking the Forsaken Crew that you can get away with everything?”
So, that news hasn’t reached her ears yet. Good to know, I guess.
“Nah, I think we’re even,” I reply evenly. “You wanted to bully, and I stopped it.”
“You weren’t the queen of the school, and you should’ve minded your own business.”
“Says who?” I’m answered with a backhand and the taste of blood finally on my tongue.
“Says me .”
I’m not able to respond to that before they rain everything on me. Kicks, punches, I swear I think one of them body slams me, are delivered and plummeted on my body.
It’s almost to the point where the pain is the only thing I can register and not the fact that I need to get out of this.
I’m the only thing that’s going to keep my sisters from the streets and my dad from having a home to come back to. I’m the link.
And it’s breaking right now.
I hear Layla holler something, but I can’t make out the words. The punches don’t stop. The sharp blows are still coming down and it’s not until I hear a blood-curdling scream that my brain registers that I’m still fucking half-conscious and breathing.
I notice that I’m curled into a ball.
That I can’t move and don’t want to because I’m afraid of what’ll be the aftermath of injuries to follow.
My eyes clench shut, trying to shove away the uncomfortable throbbing racks throughout my whole body.
A gunshot rings out, causing me to flinch, and then gasp from the sharpness in my ribs. The smell of cloves and bay rum fills my nostrils, and I attempt to persuade my eyes to open.
I have to leave.
There’s a fucking gun out here.
Without much luck on my sight, I work at my hands, forcing them to push me upward so I can find cover between vehicles.
It’s not until a large but gentle hand lands on the back of my shoulder that I recoil for the second time, another agonizing gasp leaving my mouth and I’m immediately pissed.
“McQueen.”
An immediate whimper and wave of relief fills my chest as my body reacts like magic to the sound of his voice.
The cracks to my eyes break open like someone just said open sesame and it worked. The fact that he’s here does odd and insane things to my beating heart. The way my body sighs in comfort that he’s back within my grasp, somewhat.
“Don’t move, baby. I don’t know if you have anything broken or?—”
“Just get me up,” I emit, slowly turning my head to glimpse at Reeve from over my shoulder, and he’s breathtaking.
Those hazel eyes glimmer against the parking lot lamps overheard and that sandy blonde hair that’s a little longer than before carelessly waves to me from the slight breeze.
Those boyish features of his, the shaven lines of his jaw make my heart clench and faithfully beat to the sight of him.
“Fuck,” I mutter. “You’re so beautiful, Reevie.”
His brow quickly pops as he holds my gaze. “How many times did you get hit in the head?”
“Only a few dozen.” He frowns, and I take a chance to reach out and run my hands through his hair. It hurts, but not as bad as I thought. I’ll have bruises, but no broken limbs have been discovered yet. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
“Yeah.” He breaks his stare from me and looks over toward the cars. “I am too.”
“How?” Reeve peers back down at me. “Why are you here?”
“I came to see you. I wanted…” I see the look of civil war battling out in his head. I’m sure Torin isn’t fangirling over the fact of anyone seeing me right now.
“You shouldn’t be here, huh?”
A flash of anger creeps along Reeve’s face and he locks his jaw. “C’mon.” His hands wrap around my biceps. “Can you get up?”
“I don’t know.”
Slowly, he helps me get to my feet and I need his support for a moment. However, this is hard to deal with because I know why he’s here.
I just have to keep myself from crying when he breaks up with me.
The smell of the ocean fills my nostrils as he leans closer, but it does nothing to calm me. It only desires to drown me because I’ll never find anyone else close enough to Reeve in my entire life.
“Why?” His question is a choked-out singular word that he doesn’t bother hiding how much pain stands behind it. “Why did you do it, Bay?”
“He was trying to kill me.” Reeve’s face twists as he remains grounded in his spot, only a foot away from me. “Torin wouldn’t listen to me and…” I meet his hardened gaze, aware that this is the only time I might have the opportunity to do this. “I don’t know what you saw, but I’m going to assume it wasn’t the part where Judah was on top of me, choking me out.”
“No,” he clips out, nostrils flaring. “Didn’t see that.”
I open my mouth, but my next comment is delayed. I know he’s trying to read me. To see if I’m full of shit. He has years with Torin and only months with me. His loyalty needs to stick with his brother, and he knows that.
But not everything is black and white all the time. The color always brightens up the picture and shows the hidden clues behind things that happened.
“I don’t expect you to stand by my side,” I offer through my trembling jaw. “I know how important it is to stick by your family. He’s your family.”
“He wants to kill you, Bay. How do I stand by and let that happen?” His confession shakes me right to my core. I know Torin was pissed, is pissed, but murdering me?
There’s no fucking way.
Take this seriously, Bay. We don’t have time to fuck around and find out if he’s serious.
“Do you think…” I can’t ask Reeve if he’s capable because I’m terrified of his answer. If Torin tries it, I’ll have to take him out, too, and I really don’t want to be put in that scenario again. Torin confessed that he was falling in love with me, is he able to descend out of it that quickly?
“I don’t know,” Reeve mutters. “But I don’t want to find out. Yet, the thing I don’t get is why would Judah want to murder you?”
I quickly tell him the story that I tried to explain to Torin, and he listens intently without interruption, waiting for me to finish before asking, “So you…you murdered Judah?”
“I…stabbed him.” My gut twists remembering that night and the sheer horror I felt. That I believed I was going to die. “Matteo shot him. I don’t know what happened to Judah after that.”
“Torin didn’t listen to that, I’m sure.”
I shake my head. “Honestly, I don’t even know if I said that part. Everything happened so fast.” Reeve nods and pushes his bottom lip out with his tongue. “I didn’t go out and stage a premeditated murder.”
Silence.
And I can’t help but fear that Reeve is shutting down on me, too.
“You don’t believe me.”
His hazel eyes cut right back to me and soften. “I didn’t say that.”
“But you look it. I know it doesn’t make sense, but that would make two of us. I didn’t understand why Judah pushed the subject so fucking bad about me leaving with him. He was Matteo’s right-hand man. He didn’t need me.”
“Sounds like you being Penn Northcott’s granddaughter was the issue.”
Rendered speechless yet again.
I shift my weight and demand my words to flee my lips. “What are you talking about?”
“Are you?”
I cock my head to the side. “Am I, what?”
“Bay…” The way he says my name sounds like he’s already done fucking around with the back and forth. “I already did the research. I know who you are.”
I don’t.
No one has ever mentioned to me that I’m Penn Northcott’s granddaughter ever.
“What kind of research? My dad has never mentioned anything about me being linked to?—”
“You can’t tell me that no one’s told you.” I blink at him because, obviously. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Reevie…I just found out that Roger is Levi’s dad. That’s why he keeps coming to the hospital. Research that if you don’t believe me.”
He stares at me for a split second, then racks his fingers through his hair. “Fuck…how the hell did you live your life?”
“I…I had a dad and a mom. That’s what they called themselves. That’s what I’ve known. Why would I question?—”
“Don’t fuck with me, McQueen.” He takes an aggressive step forward, and I flinch a bit. “I need to know everything. Even if it’s bad. I need you to be honest with me. This isn’t a joke.”
“I’m not lying.”
“I didn’t say that you were?—”
“But you think I am. Matteo is setting me up, and I need to know why. The only thing I can think of is that, if Emilio believes I murdered Judah in cold blood, that he might take me out, too. I’m a threat for The Landing’s seat.”
“And if he got rid of you, then what?”
“Then…if what you’re telling me is true…” I haven’t even been able to swallow that cold fact down yet. “That leaves that one seat open. The fifth one. The one Levi said no one knows who sits on it.”
Something casts over Reeve’s eyes like a light bulb went off and he stretches his jaw. “I think I know why your dad has kept it a secret.” I keep staring at him and impatiently, waiting for that answer. “Because if you were found out, you might be dead.”
“I need that video.”
“Why, so you can black out the screen and put in some bullshit that might cover your ass?”
My body full one freezes at that voice. The dripping hatred that splashes over me and forces me to get on my knees and beg for his forgiveness.
I haven’t allowed myself to feel sorry about Judah.
Not anymore.
He attempted to off me when he knew I had a family that needed me. He spewed out bullshit that didn’t make sense and wouldn’t let me be.
Yeah, Matteo wasn’t the best-choice for a boyfriend, but that was my ultimate decision, not his.
Slowly I turn, using the fender of the Chevy Malibu I’m leaning up on to keep my weight from crumpling at the sight of a disheveled Torin Wildes.
He looks fucked up and was dragged through hell several times over. His tawny eyes are rimmed in red. His hair is every which way but still sexy as hell, which I want to throw a punch at because it’s not fair.
He fucked me, left me wanting, and wiped himself off on me like I was his whore.
“Tell me why Matteo would approach me out of nowhere?” he provokes. “What did you do, Bay, threaten his little town with Wallace? It seems out of character for him to be so desperate to get you offed.”
“That would require my speaking with him, Pretty Boy.”
“And I don’t care that you have or haven’t. However, that Penn Northcott secret you’ve kept bottled up for years seems to have done the trick.”
“It makes sense,” Reeve puts forth. “If Roger would’ve made it known she was the heir, we both know what would’ve happened to her.”
“I have no doubt that she’d be dead already,” Pretty Boy agrees. “However…I couldn’t give a flying fuck about who she is and what she is. The cold hard truth of the matter is that I had to have my fucking brother’s remains dug up to see if Emilio buried his ass. And, guess what…he did.”
My head cranes back and forth, even though I knew Judah was dead.
He had to be.
I never saw him again.
Matteo never mentioned him again.
It didn’t take a brain scientist to put two and two together that Judah never made it out of those woods.
“I didn’t kill him, Pretty Boy,” I explain. “I only—” Torin reaches behind him before a shiny silver pistol that screams he doesn’t want me to speak points right at my face.
“Don’t fuckin’ call me that,” he leers, his fingers wrapped tightly around the handle as Reeve moves to stand in front of me, blocking half of my body with his.
“Chill out, brother,” he says gently. “You’re fucked up.”
“Am I?” Torin cocks his head and releases a mirthless laugh. “Maybe I’m seeing things clearly for the first time in a long time.”
“Torin, please,” I beg. “I’d never just hurt someone like that.”
“But he knew your secret,” Torin replies flatly. “Why would you want him to go off and risk it?”
“I don’t carry a gun.”
“Doesn’t mean you couldn’t get your hands on one.” Torin shakes his head, not allowing my words to sink in. He’s moving from side to side, drunk and upset, two things that aren’t mixing well in my favor. “Judah loved you.”
My brows knit as I watch him bring the barrel of the gun to his temple, snatching my next breath.
I mindlessly step around Reeve, wanting the gun out of Torin’s risky grip before he does any permanent damage. He might be scratching the side of his head with it, but everything on him is trembling with grief and sadness. It vibes off him in a way that cuts through me. I haven’t felt guilty about Judah in a long time, but it feels raw and open again.
And it only feels that way because Torin is suffering the consequences of my actions before I even knew him.
Pretty Boy notices my movements like a raptor waiting on something to walk by to bounce on and returns the gun to me. “ Don’t fucking come near me .”
I’ve never heard him sound like that.
Torin’s voice emits absolute devastation and misery. I think back to years ago and if Judah ever mentioned a brother, but nothing comes to mind.
Nothing at all.
“Torin—” Reeve is cut off by the swing of Torin’s glower before it returns to its rightful place.
Me.
“You’re the girl”—Torin lifts the gun up and down as if putting me on display—“the one he wrote about. The one he spoke about when I used to see him at the Coney Island.”
I shake my head. “No, Torin, he dated a lot of girls. I remember?—”
“ Shut up .” He takes a menacing step forward and oxygen refuses to enter my lungs because everything on me is numb and labored. “You think you know everything? That you’re gonna brainwash things that actually happened in my life? Stunning blue eyes, that’s fucking you . He wanted you, but didn’t want to taint you. He said you were special. That you were the pandemic that was going to destroy his relationship with De Leon. I never put two and two together…” He stares off at something behind me and doesn’t continue his words. So lost in his grief that I’m sure everything he wants to get out dejects him.
Reeve, on the other hand, has already reached for my hand and laces his fingers with mine. Slowly, pulling me back and close to his side.
“Let’s go home, brother,” he says. “We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” his best friend responds back, his tone placid and placed as though he’s already a million miles away in his head. “I want it to stop.”
I squeeze Reeve’s hand, hinting that he needs to take him before one of us gets shot.
Thankfully, my surfer boy understands me and moves so that he’s blocking Torin’s shot of me.
“Alright,” he says. “We don’t need to.”
“She’s going to destroy us,” I hear Torin say. “She’s already starting.”
“Nothing is going to pry us apart. I promise.”
“You’re here, aren’t you? You’re here to see her, protect her. I got the message from?—”
“C’mon,” Reeve urges. “It’s been a long day. Let’s go home and eat.”
Torin surprisingly doesn’t argue as Reeve wraps his arm around Torin’s shoulders, guiding him away to another aisle of cars to take him back.
They disappear, and I force myself to get it together. My heart absolutely aches for Torin, and I don’t know how to fix this. How I could possibly make this right when I’m incapable of bringing someone back to life.
Sounds like you being Penn Northcott’s granddaughter was the issue.
I need to talk to Levi.
Everything in my existence is so fucked that I’m not sure how much more I can literally take.
Pivoting, I slowly make my way back to my car when my phone buzzes with a message.
REEVE: We’re not done talking. We’re not done, period.
Tears burn the back of my eyes with relief.
I didn’t lose him.
He believes me.
I don’t care how weak I feel when I see the words he just sent me, because I’m also relieved.
Reeve didn’t abandon me. He’s going to help figure this out and bring Torin back. Not so sure how we’re going to do that, but Reeve knows him better than anyone.
Than me.
And, it’s then, that I definitely and undoubtedly know that I’m in love with Reeve Stanton.
Period.