27. Levi
TWENTY-SEVEN
levi
Time shifts when Bay Astor walks into a room.
Especially after I fucked and kissed her—for real this time. No bullshit ploy to get the Forsaken assholes to believe one story over another. Not some stupid just-in-case-someone-sees-us display of PDA.
No, I kissed her because I had to.
I fucked her because she’s always been mine.
Call it whatever the fuck you want; I grew up with this girl, and I have happily put my life on the line to keep her safe. It’s why I kept Baby Wildes out of South Shore. It’s why I never made an alliance with Cairo Black to gain an ally. Fuck Reeve Stanton because his flirting gets on my last fucking nerve.
And then there was my cousin, Ozzy.
I can’t say I was a huge fucking fan of the idea of him marrying her, but he was the least bit vulnerable when it came to his dick and his emotions, so I gambled.
Roger would fucking kill me.
Nonetheless, despite my efforts, shit has gotten messy. I’m not entirely sure what bullshit charm Torin put on her, but she fell for him. I know she did.
Same for Stanton.
I don’t have to rub two brain cells together to figure that one out. If I was an ounce bisexual, I’d probably fuck him, but I’d rather choke him out and watch the life leave his eyes more than anything. I’m not going to forget him hitting her and how he missed his trip to Mexico.
“Lev.”
The sound of my name off her lips and the way she smiles at me was worth threatening Hot Rod over.
He’s still pissed at me. I couldn’t give a fuck, but he’s my brother-in-arms, a faithful right-hand man. Sitting in an empty warehouse like some fucking most-wanted felon wasn’t eating away at the need to see Astor.
So, being the prick I am, I’m holed up in Pedaline Graham’s house, a South Shore OG. She’s lived in this very house since before The Landings and South Shore split and has lived through each day of its violent rivalry. I remember when her husband died about five or six years back, the whole community gathered up and helped with anything she needed.
I mean, fuck, people still come over and mow her grass, pick up her groceries, and check in on her to make sure she’s alright. It probably wasn’t the best place to hide, but I have a safe house I’m leaving for tonight. This was the closest I could get to Bay before I have to disappear again.
“That you, Astor?” Tears build up in those lucid blue eyes of hers before she bobs her head repeatedly in confirmation, erasing the space between us in rapid succession. “C’mon, Bay, don’t cry again.”
“Fuck you. I had to go to your fake funeral the other day.” She plops down on the bed beside me, causing discomfort to ripple through the stitches in my gut, but I ignore it. “It was fucking awful.”
I reach for her, cupping the side of her face and feeling the softness of her slightly tan skin. “Yeah…I know. I’m sorry. I’d ask you if it was bomb, but I heard about the fucking sniper.”
She scoffs. “Yeah. Apparently, I have fans.”
“Mhm.” I drop my hand and feel the loss of her immediately. “We need to talk.”
Bay gives me that face that tells me to start it. An argument, something I’m about to jump her for.
I am pissed she attempted to run De Leon down with my fucking car. The paint job alone is worth more than his life, but I digress. It’s almost poetic, in a sense, that she did that for me.
That she would kill for me.
I know I’m a lot of things to her; we’re practically each other’s lives, but I didn’t imagine she’d pop her girlfriend.
“You alright?” She nods and lifts her chin, waiting for the ball to drop, I’m sure. “You look like shit.”
And I mean she looks exhausted. Ozzy tells me she’s not eating. I can tell she’s lost some weight and it bothers me.
With me being gone , she needs something else to occupy her time. Something to look forward to.
“And you look like you didn’t dodge enough bullets.” I grumble out a scoff because touché. “Start talking. Tell me why the fuck I was told you were dead, Levi.”
How much time do you have?
Because I don’t have much at all.
“I need to give you the summarized version,” I profess. “Because I don’t have much time, Astor.”
“Why?” she presses. “What’s happening?”
“What Hot Rod and Juice put into place. I didn’t order news of my fake death, nor was I conscious when they passed the information along. I was knocked out because…well, I’m not sure which time.”
“What happened?”
“I…I died twice on that table. I don’t know if they thought I wasn’t going to make it or…I don’t know. Rod and I are on the outs, and Juice won’t speak to me about it because I’m not happy. I’m not thrilled how shit went down. They’re not pleased with my ass either because I was ripping out IVs. I…I had to see you, Astor.”
She reaches for my hand and laces her fingers tightly around mine. “I died every moment, all over again, every day you weren’t with me. I…” Tears well up in her eyes. “How bad is it?”
“Well, I shouldn’t have been out of bed the other day. Had to get restitched. Bullet clipped an artery in my heart. I had a few in the gut, one to the thigh. One missed my liver…I lost a lot of blood, and the medical team wasn’t fully ready when I went down the first time.”
I see her slowly inhale before she says, “Before you…died the first time?”
I nod. “I lost a lot of blood. And I was already crashing before they got me there.” Her brows knit, and I know she’s trying her best to keep it together. “I’m not going to go down by his command. And I wasn’t going to leave you without saying goodbye. I can’t survive without you. I need you to know that. But I also need you to know, I can’t be around. I’m the wild card now. You can’t tell anyone about me.”
She bobs her head. “Okay, but for how long?”
“Until De Leon’s throat is wrapped around my fingers. Then I’ll come back out and play.” She exhales slowly. “And…I need you to come up as Queen of South Shore.”
“ No .” The response is mindless from her throat and unsurprising. “No, that’s—that’s not my thing.”
“Well, wouldn’t it look suspicious if no one stepped up to take my place?”
“Have Hot Rod or Juice do it.”
“You’re the rightful heir,” I claim flatly. “You’re Roger’s daughter.”
“Adopted daughter. Kidnapped daughter?—”
“Bay—”
“I can’t ,” she emphasizes, nervously fidgeting with her fingers. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about it. Besides, I’d be the worst person for the position. Have you seen me lately? I’m a complete wreck. I can’t lead a bunch of guys who don’t show their faces and?—”
“Rod and Juice will be there. And it would help if you had the protection right now, as well as Mae and Ellie.” My eyes steel on her to show her how serious I am. “I need this.”
Bay immediately glowers at me. “How long are we going to use your injuries as a way to get me to do stuff? I’m already over it.”
“I dunno,” I claim with a slight cock to my head. “How long are we going to wait until you tell me what happened with Nessa?”
Her blue eyes soften a bit at her name.
Bay can try to be as hard as she wants about it. I know it rattles her.
She might deny and debate inside her head about why she did it. I’m not saying she’s entirely wrong for wanting to take Nessa out, but it was Nessa.
It was her girlfriend who went shopping with her and shot the shit. It was something Bay needed.
“She knows how much I wanted those damn brownies,” Juice’s voice suddenly grumbles down the hallway, breaking into the slight tension building up in the room from one of the many conversations we haven’t been able to have yet. Then he steps inside the room. “What’s a man gotta do, get shot?”
“Shut up,” Hot Rod chides, stepping in behind him and smacking the back of his head. “Go buy some.”
Juice huffs like he can’t afford it, but we know it’s because he’s lazy as hell and hates grocery stores as much as he loathes arguments. He leans against the wall with his arms crossed as if this is the biggest dilemma he’s going to have today. “It’s not the same.”
“You two got everything in place?” I inquire, ignoring their back-and-forth and pushing forward with the task at hand.
Bay has to take the South Shore seat. She has to be queen.
With her status comes danger but not any more than she’s already in. With De Leon running wild and reckless and Baby Wildes taking out his father, she needs the power.
Hot Rod nods, stealing an unamused glance at Bay before answering, “Yeah. She just needs to agree.”
She shifts her weight. Not because of Hot Rod being pissed at her, he’s more pissed at himself because he underestimated how far she was willing to go to avenge me. But because she could’ve been killed.
That nags at his conscience more than anything.
It’s been on mine since I became semi-conscious after being shot. It’s currently why Rod and I aren’t on good terms right now. Speaking one sentence answers and sizing each other up, waiting for the other to throw a word or punch that’s going to result in a battle.
I can’t because I’m not exactly well after the drive-by.
However, it doesn’t mean I’m going to forget either. It’s not all because of Bay’s actions but because he wouldn’t let me out of that damn warehouse.
At first, I thought it was to keep me safe—it was. Nonetheless, I have to pull my trump card out and remind him I’m King of South Shore and he’s been in a mood ever since.
It’s not one I particularly like to play. I’m not so doped up on power I need to remind everyone around me. It’s just that Rod is fully aware of how I can get when it comes to Astor.
The same as her.
Stupid as hell.
“She will,” I reply confidently, not needing any confirmation from her. She will because she has to. “What’s the word on De Leon?”
“Stowed away somewhere like a bitch,” Juice states sourly. “Per usual. Dino set half the woods on fire to draw him out.” He shrugs. “Oops.”
“Are you guys out of your mind?” Bay suddenly carps out. “You may have killed animals and a bunch of their homes.”
Hot Rod flicks his gaze to her. “That was the point.”
“Keep pressure on him,” I order to stop them from arguing. “I’m moving underground after tonight.”
Bay’s head jerks over. “Tonight?”
I don’t look at her because I can’t.
It’s another goodbye.
Another way I can’t protect her.
I should be out there, wreaking havoc everywhere and going door to door if necessary to handle this. However, after Juice, Hot Rod, and I talked, we felt like maybe it was the only upper hand we had.
De Leon would never come out if I was up and running. No joke, it would probably take a year to find him. The fucking snake has a good way of hiding. I wouldn’t be shocked if he lived in a hole like the little mole he is. I’ve spent years trying to get to him, and it’s a game.
He comes out, then fucking hides again.
I don’t know how or where, but I’ve been beating my own ass over it for years because Bay isn’t safe until he’s a corpse.
“We’re ready for you,” Hot Rod says. “But you’re going to need to tell her that she can’t be traipsing around The Landings like she owns the fucking place anymore.”
“I’m right here,” she grinds out. “Talk to me .”
“She still has her birthright there,” Hot Rod states. “If she takes it, we’re in better standing than we are now.”
Juice pushes off the wall. “Ramsey will never let her have it. The Wildes kid killed Emilio. He’s bound to go off the rails, and we didn’t plan for it yet.”
Definitely didn’t.
And I don’t know what to do about it.
Ramsey will never allow her to have the space. And putting her closer to him is just asking for a fucking disaster.
“She doesn’t leave your sight,” I emit tersely before slicing my attention to Bay. “And The Landings is off-limits, for real. I don’t want you anywhere near him. Or Torin.” I’m fully aware of how hard the latter is going to be. Especially with Black around and Oz. He comes with the set. “Not alone, anyway.”
A million and one questions illuminate her features, but I don’t have the time to go through each and every single one of them.
I want to. Fuck me, I do.
But my main priority has to be to keep her safe. And I can’t talk to Cairo about it. I can’t send word to Ozzy to keep his full stalker tendencies on Bay’s ass at all times.
So Juice or Hot Rod is going to have to do it for me.
“Give us a minute,” I instruct the boys because I can feel every second pass like a ticking time bomb. And I didn’t like the feeling when Cairo strapped one on me. “Then you have to take her back. You’ve been here too long already.”
Hot Rod and Juice do as they’re told without reservation, and this is the hardest part.
I never want to say goodbye to Bay. It’s unbearably hard and vulnerable. Something shifted after I got shot, and it’s becoming harder to not throw shit to the wind and make this a thing.
I want her.
I think I always fucking have.
But there was a line we drew, whether we meant to or not. Breakups fuck things up, I was young, dumb, and horny with too much power and a father who was going to pass down his crown.
I didn’t want Bay involved in it.
The last thing I would’ve wanted was to royally fuck it up. Forgiveness isn’t something either of us passes out with grace.
In fact, we don’t.
“Emilio Wildes is dead.”
I blink, pulling Bay back into focus, allowing just the briefest of seconds to soak her all in for the last time in, I don’t know when or how long it’ll be until I get to again.
Her long, dark-as-fuck hair is pulled back in a simple ponytail. The only makeup she has on is mascara, something she swears she’ll never leave the house without. I could easily get lost in her blue eyes if I settle where I am—in this uncomfortable bed with springs digging into my ass, but I drop my gaze to her black tee with a rose along the small pocket above her heart.
“I know. I had it confirmed. Ten-foot grave in the woods. He won’t be coming out of there.”
“Levi…”
I think I love her, and I can’t show it.
This is not the place nor the time to talk about such matters. As much as I want to talk about the kiss, and how I can’t get it out of my head, I need her safe and sound before we go there.
“I know there’s still a bunch of shit we still need to talk about,” I digress evenly. “But you need to get the fuck out of here before someone sees you. And I need you to promise me you won’t go anywhere without protection. No sneaking out. No running around. I have to know?—”
“I promise,” she cuts in, reaching for my hand and squeezing it tightly. “I won’t.”
I look up at her. “You have to become Queen of South Shore. Build and announce your alliance with Wharf Bay. That’s still on the table, right?”
She bobs her head in silence.
“Good.” I run my thumb methodically over her skin to keep a burst of anxiety from coming in and attacking my good sense. “Stay close to him. He won’t betray you.”
“How can you be so sure?” she mutters softly. “You hate him.”
“He’s South Shore. Used to be anyway. And Cairo’s weakness is the same as mine—family.” And you. “Lorenzo Black isn’t going to allow him to ruin what he’s been trying to build with me for years. And if there is anything Cairo does, it’s listen to his father.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me one more time.”
Bay gives me a weak smile. We can both feel this moment is slipping away. That it’s not going to be until this is all over that we’ll finally be able to be. “I promise.”
“That’s my girl.” I give her a small tug to come closer, and Bay immediately crawls along the edge of the bed and lies next to me, careful not to touch any place I mentioned I was shot.
I wrap my arm around her frame and close my eyes. “I have a surprise for you.”
I feel her head come up to look at me. “What is it?”
“Your coronation. I planned a big racing event for you, a huge-ass party. I dare you to wear a crown.”
She scoffs. “Go fuck yourself. I’m not doing that.”
“Dare you.”
I don’t hear anything come out of her mouth, but I don’t open my lids to see what she’s doing. I could spend the rest of the night just like this, with her in my arms.
“What do I get if I do?”
My lips coil into a smile. “What do you want?’
“You.”
At that, my eyes open as I glance down at her. My cock twitches, taking the simple response to mean a whole other level of what she actually may have meant. Especially with those fucking blue eyes angled at me, I could conjure up a whole week full of things I would love to do with her.
“I’m already yours, Astor,” I affirm wholeheartedly. “But sure, that was easy.”
The pads of her fingers press gently into my naked skin in rebuttal. “No, jackoff, I mean to see you again. Somehow.”
Right.
I bow my head. “That can be arranged.”
We hold each other’s stare, and I see the young girl I used to bully and protect. The one I would tell to stop following me around, even though that’s all I did. She’s been my life for as long as I can remember, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“If something happens to me?—”
“ Don’t ,” she warns through pinned eyebrows. “We’re not going there.”
“Roger would kill us both if something happened to Ellie and Mae. They have to be your top priority. Now…and after.” She blinks, alluding that it’d be something she’d have a hard time with.
Shit, so would I.
I would burn towns down to get to Matteo. Then I’d cut off every body part, skin him alive, and have rats eat at him.
“I don’t hear a yes coming out of your mouth,” I lightly chide. “Gonna need that.”
Her lips press together before she says, “Yes.”
“Bay, we gotta go.”
Juice’s voice couldn’t come at a worse time, but when would be a good one? She has to leave me once again without us getting everything hashed out and handled. But it’s better than the alternative.
“I have a million and one questions.”
I nod. “I know.”
“I can’t leave you like this.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I promise. Take my seat, look badass on it. Rod and Juice will show you everything you need to know.”
“Be careful,” she says gently, straightening her spine to sit up. “Have Rod tell me when you’re safe.”
“I will.”
She refuses to look at me, more than likely to keep me from seeing her cry, and I hate it.
I hate this.
“Goodbye, Astor. Win a race for me.”
“You know I will,” she whispers, taking a chance to steal a glance at me and confirming that she is, in fact, tearing up. “Your car or Dad’s?”
“Mine,” I say without hesitation. “Show those motherfuckers what we can do.”
Her nostrils flare, and I see her swallow before she turns on her heels, and then she’s gone.