28. Ozzy
TWENTY-EIGHT
ozzy
I don’t know how the hell Reeve ended up in New York City, but he looks like he walked here himself.
Even from the forty yards he has on me, he’s disheveled. The clothes he’s wearing are wrinkled with stains on them. But it doesn’t stop the redhead in front of him from grinding her cunt seductively on his thigh.
Reeve stares up at her like he’s in a daze. His hands to his sides, either star-trekking off drugs, or he’s lost all sense of reality.
The latter is what worries me the most.
Next to the withdrawals and stability of his mental health, I’ve played with the idea of locking him in the house. It might cause a stir with my brothers, but it’s that or this. It’s obvious he’s not doing well.
And I’m the last person he will want to see tonight.
But this can’t happen again. Especially since Bay told me she’s pregnant.
Together, we can’t keep going down a spiral of messed-up feelings and being hardcore with the actions we want to inflict. Since Wallace is gone, Bay needs us more than ever.
In the meantime, Torin and Reeve can fight over who the father is, which I’m hoping will give Reeve something else to consider other than his next fix.
Green strobe lights sway back and forth through the club. It’s space themed. Girls are barely dressed on top of the bar tops, skin painted in greens and blues to make themselves look like UFOs. They look dumb as hell with antennas sticking out of their heads, but that’s neither here nor there.
I hunted Reeve down here, which I’ve been doing for weeks since he disappeared, then he finally fucked up and charged his cell phone.
Then turned it on.
It didn’t take long to nail this place down after he stopped moving long enough for me to link up. But now I have to convince him to come home.
It’s not an option.
If I have to drag him out of here kicking and screaming or knock him out, my brother is coming with me, whether he’s ready to or not.
And I have a trunk full of sedatives to give him in case he decides to try me with the whole staying away from Bay thing.
Wiping away the distance between us, I start for him through the thick crowd of dancing couples and singles. I’m feet away when a blonde steps out in front of me. Her skin is pink and glittery, catching the light from the strobes above, and she smiles.
I’m not entirely sure why.
“Hey,” she greets, moving her hips back and forth to the rhythm of the music. “Wanna dance with me?”
I respond by stepping around her, but she blocks my path.
“ Wait ,” she pleads, lifting her hand as her smirk disappears immediately. It reminds me of the only physical connection I’ve had with Bay other than clutching onto her thigh the other day. “What’s your name?”
My eyebrows clash at the question because who cares? I stand out here, clearly, with my black jeans and T-shirt. Maybe some people don’t follow the dress code fully, but I’m not here for fun.
I’m here to get my brother and leave.
“Move,” I order, holding her stare with one of indifference.
“I’m Ashley,” she says, as if I needed to know. “And you’re super hot. Can I buy you a drink? Maybe we go somewhere more quiet and—” I glower at her because why does everyone want to talk all the time?
Especially since I’ve clearly made it known I’m not here to do whatever it is she’s here doing tonight.
I’ve been away from home long enough. I haven’t seen Bay in four days, and it’s messing with my head.
I don’t like it.
Cairo keeps me up to date several times a day, but it’s not the same. I’ve never left her alone this long. When my brother told me Muncy had arrested Bay, I was going to turn around and come back home, but Cairo told me he had it handled.
That it didn’t land all on me.
It was hard to get the image of her in a jail cell out of my head. I know what that’s like. As the space becomes smaller, the air starts to get thicker. It’s dirty and unkempt. I didn’t want her there, and Cairo promised me she wouldn’t be there for long.
He came through.
“Fine,” Ashley finally says with some bite to it. “Fuck you.”
She finally moves out of my way and gives me my trail back, but when I look at Reeve again, he’s got the redhead previously giving him a lap dance bent over the edge of one of the stages.
One hand is threaded through her long hair as he grates his hips against her ass. He’s dry-humping and prompting her to go someplace else, but that’s not happening.
For the first time, I’m cock-blocking.
I reach him within seconds, tapping his shoulder to get his attention, but he doesn’t budge. Reeve is too busy getting off to notice before I do it again.
And again.
Finally, I’m slapping him so hard in the back of the head it prickles my fingers.
“Oz?”
I roll my eyes—shouldn’t have—because I’m suddenly punched so hard in the face I stumble back a bit in shock.
My first thought is he must not be that fucked up because he didn’t miss.
Or maybe it was luck.
Then I realize he hasn’t fully forgiven me yet for what I’ve done, and he wants to go at it.
Again.
It’s better than watching him dry-hump someone.
“Let’s go,” I command as I stretch my jaw through the throbbing pain and return my focus to Reeve, who’s breathing so heavily I’d almost believe he’s about to form muscles he doesn’t have and rip me to shreds.
Too bad he’s not a villain in one of the comic books we like to read. I’m sure he’s wishing he could Hulk out.
“The fuck are you doing here?” he barks back, hazel eyes narrowed in sheer disdain and hatred. “How did you find me?”
I give him an unimpressed glance because I’m not new here.
Just some of my actions.
Never in my life have I stalked a woman, there’s one. Two, marriage was the last thing anyone thought I would accomplish in this lifetime, let alone be next to a woman and not freak out.
“Go home,” my brother orders with a jerk toward the exit door behind me. “You wasted your time.”
“I’m not leaving without you,” I deadpan, ready for him to pop off and ram me next. At least we’ll get kicked out of here, and it’d make my job three times easier.
I hear a mirthless chuckle rumble from him over the music. “Go fuck yourself.” His expression flattens as if a thought ran through his brain and it falters. “In fact, why don’t you go home and fuck your wife ?”
He knows I won’t.
But it doesn’t stop the jealousy from coming out to show why he’s so pissed at me.
I took what he wanted, and he’ll never give me reprieve from that. Even if nothing changed and he could still do whatever he wanted with Bay, we’re legally married, and he can’t see beyond that.
He made it clear he was going to marry her. I underestimated how much of an effect that was going to take. It wasn’t as though I had much time. Emilio stated she was going to Ramsey, and I had to stop it from happening. He was never going to give his daughter to Reeve after what happened in The Landings that night. Torin has always been his stepchild and Emilio wasn’t stupid enough to let those two types of petty plot against him.
So there was me.
Docile, quiet, and a killer, but loyal.
I was everything Emilio believed he could control, and it kept Bay safe.
“You need to come back,” I tell Reeve. “Enough is enough.”
“I’m not going back there,” Reeve sneers with a twisted expression. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?”
Fine.
I wasn’t going to do this here, but desperate times call for baiting Reeve’s temper.
“She’s pregnant.”
It hits exactly where I want, and he reacts but not in the way I imagined it. Within my next blink, Reeve is already bulldozing into me and sending us both careening to the hard-tiled floors.
I’m able to save my head, but it’s a lost cause when Reeve sends another blow crashing along the same spot he got me before.
My skull slams against the floor as my brother delivers another punch.
Then another.
Then another.
And it’s on the fourth one I realize he thinks I’m the one who got her pregnant.
Shit.
Makes sense. I’m married to her, after all.
Blocking his next blow with my forearm, it hurts like a bitch when our bones collide, but I’m able to shove him back a bit to allow some space to see his next move.
Reeve only follows up with his right, not inflicting as much force as he can, being left-handed, but it doesn’t feel amazing, nonetheless.
“It wasn’t me ,” I grit out quickly. “It was you or Torin.”
I save myself mid-thrust because Reeve’s a foot from knocking me with another blow to my head. He’s straddling me with a dumbfounded look.
It’s clear he’s processing. That he doesn’t know what to think.
But I’m not here to lie on the floor all night with his body weight on me. I’m looking to get his ass home so we can handle this like a family.
“Get out of here, Oz,” he grits out, flexing his fingers. “I’m done with her.”
“She’s pregnant ? — ”
“I heard you the first time.” He begins to rise to his feet, but I fuck his ass up verbally because it’s all I’ve got.
“She found your dad. He’s alive.”
Reeve slams his fist into the side of my head again and bends over to get directly into my face, spitting a bit at me when he says, “Have you lost your damn mind? That’s how low you’ve come? That motherfucker is dead . He’s been dead.”
“He’s not.”
Reeve stares at me, still looking unconvinced at the prospect that everything he’s been trying to solve was taken care of in one night. “I think you’re selling me short if you think I won’t kill you for fucking with me, Oz. I’m not going home. I’m done there.”
“Luther Stanton is alive and is currently being treated for PTSD, impaired memory, paranoia?—”
“ Stop ,” Reeve seethes through his teeth as he glares down at me. “You want to lay there and lie to me to get me home? Are you that much of a fucking asshole, Oz?—”
“I’m not lying,” I hedge calmly. “If you get off me, I can show you a picture.”
My brother gapes at me some more, as if he can’t fully wrap his head around it.
I can’t say I blame him.
His father has been gone since he was fifteen and there’s been no sign of him since. Now I understand why.
“Your mother had him trapped in that far office, behind a wall. It was the party she threw?—”
“There’s no way. I searched that house a million times. He’s not there.”
“He was. Behind a hidden wall. Some place you didn’t know existed.”
“Stop lying. ”
“Levi Wallace is dead. Torin was shot. Bay is pregnant. Your father is alive. And you need to get back home to handle your business.”
Reeve straightens his spine to get out of my space. His face is void of all emotion. “Sorry, you wasted a trip. I’m not going back to that two-timing bitch who ripped my heart out but will still allow me to fuck her whenever I want. By your standards, it’s okay she used me, but you’d know how that feels, right? Vivian played you like a fucking clown. She messed you up real good, but I’m supposed to be fine?”
“It’s not like that.”
‘It’s exactly like that,” he clips out as I see the crowd that formed around us begin to shift.
Someone is coming.
Or people are coming. More than likely security.
“I’m not you,” I convey evenly. “And she needs all of us.”
“Not me.” He gets to his feet unsteadily and says, “I bet she’s lying. She’s trying to fuck us all over so you guys don’t leave her. That’s what she does. You mean nothing to her.”
His words sting a bit from the truths of my past. How accurate it is.
I’ve never known lust and love like my brothers have. I’ve never had someone want me just to want me, and I’ve never had the opportunity to grow and live as a regular human being.
I murdered someone.
I went to prison.
I’ve spent nights terrified of the dark and the muffles of men getting assaulted or killed.
I’m not normal.
Never will be.
It’s not something that can be easily forgotten. I have a girl who became my wife, and I can barely touch her without flinching. It’s all because of those sounds and Vivian. The manipulation of those so-called innocent caresses because they weren’t real.
And I don’t want to feel anything with Bay that might not be real.
On both sides.
I’m not entirely sure I’m ready or wish for something like that.
“Take your happy ass back home to your wife, Oz,” Reeve states, cutting into my reality. “Whatever you thought you were going to feed me, nice try.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Never said you were.” He lifts his shoulders, detached from everything leaving my lips. “I’m just not interested anymore.”
His comments don’t ring true in my mind.
He loved her.
I saw the way he looked at her myself. I heard the things he wanted to do and how he doted on her.
“She needs you.”
“She doesn’t need anyone.” He bends over, placing his palms on his knees. “You didn’t think because you married her that she was going to keep you, right? Maybe you did me a favor. Now I can fuck who I want when I want, and there isn’t anyone to write home to. I’m good.”
“You’re not.”
He smiles at me, but it’s demeaning. “Well, if you think she needs saving, Oz, go ahead. I’m not touching that South Shore slut anymore—” I’m still lying on the hard dance floor, so it’s easy to make my move.
Plus, Reeve was stupid enough to still be standing over me.
I kick him so hard in the balls, he falls to his knees with a pained groan.
He’ll live to regret those words later.
Right now, several burly men swoop around us before thick fingers are dragging us to our feet.
“Gentlemen,” one of them says gruffly from behind us as his co-workers drag us to one of the exits. “We’re gonna have to ask you to leave quietly, please.”
Reeve begins throwing his charm on the guys, stating we were just messing around, but it’s not flying.
He can’t stand in the parking lot without a ride, and I’m not going anywhere until we’re back where we need to be.
Home.