59. Bay
FIFTY-NINE
bay
“In here,” Luisa whispers, opening a random door and stepping aside to let me in. “He just got home. I figured you guys should talk before he heads downstairs.”
She pulled me away from the debacle of Levi and Lorenzo talking shop, not arguing on a thing, but I think it’s Levi’s way of pushing Lorenzo to see if he’ll call off the whole thing.
Plus, I think he wants Cairo in on this, despite not saying shit about it.
Dark green walls and black furniture are the first things I notice inside the large room. It smells like spicy cologne in here, mixed with Cairo’s signature mint as I amble inside, my nerves getting the best of me because I know he’s upset with me, and he just won’t talk about it.
The door softly clicks closed behind me, leaving me alone to face the music Cairo won’t play. He’s like me in the sense he shuts down and shoves it aside when it begins to be too much. I’ve tried my best to show him I’m on his side, but he wants more from me, and it’s not as simple as all that.
My trust issues get the better of me; however, I do believe Cairo wouldn’t betray me in any way, shape, or form.
It’s just getting him to believe me, which is the weird part.
The adjoining bathroom door suddenly opens as Cairo steps inside his room, a white towel drying off his hair as his obsidian eyes steer over to me.
He doesn’t look shocked, pleased, or anything.
He holds a poker face like the best of them, and I can’t seem to decipher it half the time.
“You need something?”
I shake my head, attempting to level out my nerves when I say, “I came to talk to you.”
“About what?” He makes his way to the dresser near a king-sized bed as my concentration skates down his solid chest and the black cross on the side of his forearm.
“It’s new.”
Two words are all I can say when he deserves the whole gist of it.
However, I don’t believe he’d want to hear about my relationship with Levi because they haven’t always seemed to see eye-to-eye.
“Is it?” He peers over at me, not appearing to buy my story in the slightest.
“We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember, and when he came back…”
Cairo bobs his head, and then averts his gaze back to picking out a shirt.
“I’m not trying to hurt you or hide anything. I’m?—”
“But that seems to be all you’re doing. You keep betraying me and runnin’ off like you don’t give a shit how I feel about it.”
“Levi’s being alive was something he asked me to keep secret.”
“Sure.”
My nostrils flare because he’s being dismissive as fuck right now. “It had nothing to do with you.”
“Would you do the same for us?” He glimpses over his shoulder at me before spinning around to fully face me. “If Torin would’ve died, how would it make you feel if I kept that shit from you?”
I don’t know.
“That’s not a fair question to ask.”
“Death is death, Little T. If that boy died saving your latest addition, I wonder if you’d go as bat-shit crazy as you did with Wallace.”
“Torin almost killed me.”
“And how long are we gonna keep talkin’ about it?”
I glower at him. “So it’s okay you guys can go ahead and fuck around with whoever you want? Is that what you’re saying to me?”
“You came in here, Bay.” He shakes his head back and forth, silently telling me he’s not going to argue. “I didn’t ask you to, and frankly, I don’t want you here.”
“Cairo—”
“I need some fuckin’ time,” he leers, erasing some space between us, and he’s so different than Torin, it’s scary I can’t get a feel of what that means and how I fix this. Losing Cairo…I don’t care too much for the thought. “You fucked him, didn’t you?” I shift my weight and feel my stomach begin to coil because this feels like the beginning of the end for us. And technically, I guess it would be cheating because he did mention he was cool with the other guys, but Levi isn’t included in that group. “Did he fuck you?”
The question is slower this time, more enunciated for an honest-to-God answer.
“Yes.”
Cairo freezes and keeps a few feet between us. “And how was that?”
“Stop it, Cairo,” I grumble out. “He’s not some random guy.”
“He’s random to me.”
I pry my eyes off him and stare at the solid black comforter on his bed. “I didn’t do it to upset you. I respect the hell out of you.”
“No…you don’t. Because you never would’ve left the house and killed Nessa. And you never would have run Matteo down. And you sure as hell wouldn’t have fucked Levi behind my back.” My jaw tightens because this is one of those arguments where I don’t have a leg to stand on nor a point to make. “How good was it, Bay?”
“He fucked me on the trunk of his car and filled me with his big cock with his lips all over me. That good enough for you?”
Cairo looms closer. The air in the room gets thicker and more stagnant with each passing second. “Did you like that? Did you cream all over it?”
I hate these questions.
And I loathe myself for making him doubt me.
“Yes.”
“How hard did you come?”
“Hard,” I reply flatly, as if I’m bored.
“Nice and rough, just how you like it?” Those dark eyes fall down the length of me, eyes smoldering with lust as I watch him take me in. I’m apprehensive about answering him and adding fuel to the fire already simmering between us. I know we jumped over a hurdle, but I’m known to do stupid things.
“No.”
Cairo’s dark irises flick up to me, curiosity immediately filling them. “No? You’re tellin’ me the King of South Shore didn’t fuck you properly, Little T?”
“No, as in I’m done answering your stupid as hell questions.”
“You don’t think I’m entitled to them?”
“I think you should accept what I’m saying is true and move on.”
He scoffs, rocking his head back and forth as he shoves his arms through the sleeves of his black tee. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I’m just supposed to magically forget what you’ve done?”
“No, I’m not saying that at all.” I press my lips together to keep the frustration out of my voice. “Please know I wasn’t in my right mind. I know what I did was wrong. I didn’t think of it.”
“How about when you were fucking Wallace? Were you thinking of me then?”
Hot tears sear the backs of my eyes. I never, ever wanted to cause him any sort of discomfort or mental anguish. Normally, I would walk away. But today, I need him to see me for who I truly am. And if that’s not enough…
“I’m sorry—” Cairo’s chest bumps into mine, causing me to stumble back when his long fingers grip my hip and tighten there.
“Don’t tell me you’re fucking sorry again,” he leers over me, his eyes narrowed. “You’re gonna make it up to me, aren’t you, Little T?” I bob my head, not too proud to deny it because he’s been there through some real reality-check moments. “That’s my good girl.” His palm cups the side of my face, causing my eyes to flutter from how warm and good his touch feels. “Get Wallace to agree to work with us. You know we need it. I need it. I want this shit done.” I nod, reveling in how comforting his touch feels. “And that doesn’t involve fucking him. Can you do that?’
Here we go…
I begin to pull out of his grasp, but he only tightens his fingers around my jaw. “I’m not going to say it again.”
“Get used to him, Cairo,” I order with a sneer. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“Then maybe I should,” he retorts, just as pissed and annoyed. “We shouldn’t have gotten here anyway.”
“You want to whine about this like a baby and not be a grown-ass man? Don’t make me think you’re more of a bitch than I thought you were.”
“Maybe that’ll be the perfect turn-off so we can drop this shit.”
I shove at his wrist, finally getting him to release me. “Fine by me.”
“Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.” He turns his back on me, and I think that’s what does it—where my patience and resolve finally snap in half.
The only thing in my possession is my car keys, which just happened to be tucked away in the back pocket of my jeans before they flew at the back of Cairo’s head.
I miss, hitting him in the spine, but it still gets my message across.
I’m not taking this shit, and he’s going to deal with it.
Slowly, he turns around. The little scar on his left cheek seems to scream at me as his jaw twitches along with it.
“Was there something else?” he grinds out. “Or did you want to finally beg for my forgiveness?”
“Beg?” I repeat with a scoff. “Now, what I’ve done is forgivable? I thought we were breaking up?”
“You’d have to be mine for us to break up.”
“I am yours,” I retort. “Or was until you just decided my loyalty to Levi was supposed to supersede yours. I didn’t know of the ranking system. My bad.”
“You fucking almost killed yourself under the false pretense that Wallace was dead.”
“I thought he was dead,” I argue. “I didn’t know he was alive until the day of the funeral.”
“Bullshit.”
“I didn’t. I fucking killed Nessa, Sinatra. Why the fuck would I do that if I didn’t…” My breath catches as it suddenly hits me I murdered someone.
I murdered one of my best friends.
I unloaded half a clip, the whole clip…I don’t know, what did Hot Rod say again?
Does it really fucking matter? You actually took someone’s life.
My feet retreat toward the door, and I have a strong need for some air.
She betrayed Levi. She picked the wrong side. He could’ve died.
It could’ve been real, then what? She chose Matteo all over some rejection of a crush she had.
Is that really mature? That’s psycho bitch shit right there. Then what? She just keeps going at people? She keeps working with Matteo to destroy my family and ? —
Fingers wrap around my biceps, and I’m grounded to the hardwood floors when I blink past my inner turmoil.
It’s Cairo’s pierced nose, dark brown eyes, and that pissed-off scar that come into view next.
“You’re mine for the foreseeable future, and if I would’ve been the one who fucked up, I’d be kissing your ass right now.”
“That’s not my style,” I mutter, inhaling a deep breath to ground myself to the universe and not getting too fucked in his eyes.
“No,” Cairo agrees. “It’s not. But you’re going to suck my cock like the good little South Shore slut you are?—”
I pull out of his grasp, but he only tightens his fingers around another part of me again.
“That’s a term of endearment, baby. No one else is allowed to call you that but me. Especially when you’re going down on me, and especially when you’re swallowing my cum down that pretty little throat of yours. Do you understand me?”
I swallow, my throat closing up at the prospect of watching this man lose himself while I suck him off. I loved seeing that when I crashed his romantic little getaway with Vivian. I even enjoyed doing it, but I’m not sold on the name he just fucking called me.
“You need me to repeat any of that?”
“No,” I reply through my teeth.
Cairo’s thumb grazes my cheek before leaning over, his mouth inches from mine. “I’ll see you later then. Now get the fuck out of my room.”
Welp…so much for instant forgiveness.
“I’d rather do it now,” I vouch, lifting my chin in open defiance against his touch. “Unless you’ve already been satisfied tonight.”
He frowns. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I’d put money on it that no one fucked Cairo tonight. In fact, it was never a thought in my mind.
However, he hasn’t asked once what happened to Vivian, and I never bothered because I honestly could not give a singular fuck about that bitch.
But since Levi took his shot at her, Cairo has been in his feelings about us saving him from spawning a little brat with Viv and Levi being alive.
If I didn’t know any better, he doesn’t know where he sits in the grand scheme of things.
“Nothing changes between you and I,” I vouch easily. “You’ve been pissed at me since finding out Levi?—”
“I already told you he means shit-all. You want to fuck him, I can’t stop you.”
“But you’re pushing me away.”
“Fucking you was not pushing you away.”
“You were high.”
“So?”
“And you haven’t touched me since.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “I’m sorry. Was there a time frame on when I was supposed to do it next? I wasn’t notified of the schedule.”
“I’m not Vivian,” I chide with grit to my tone. “You don’t fuck me when you’re horny, then ignore me for the rest of the week.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“Doing what?”
“You want a list?”
“I’ll take what you did tonight and where you were.”
“Got hung up.”
“On what or who?”
He slowly rocks his head. “You think I’m fucking someone else?”
“No,” I reply honestly. “Because you know I’d kill you.”
His lips coil upward, but it’s the only sign of amusement to cross his face. “I don’t doubt it, Little T. Glad we’re on the same page.”
“Answer my question.”
With heaved shoulders, his thumb runs down my cheek when he says, “I killed someone tonight.”
I freeze at his words because they made it to my brain just fine, but they still don’t register into reality.
“Now, get on your knees,” he mutters, deep and fucking delicious. “And suck me off like the good little South Shore slut you are.”