Veintisiete
The pink-haired girl and that big guy Evie knows finally fucking left. They were distracting me when the three of them started talking. It didn’t matter that I had these earbuds in; I was still able to fucking hear them.
I’ve found out a lot about Princess Payton already, but I need to know more.
I had to create some dummy accounts to find her on social media, but there she was with public profiles, lots of pictures, and videos for me to click through and assess.
I needed to save them all, so I used a USB drive to store them.
I’m gonna study each and every one of them.
I needed to look for answers and write down what I saw, but it was getting harder and harder to do that. I couldn’t stop yawning. My eyes were on fucking fire from trying to stay open and focused on the screen.
I kept telling myself to stay awake. I’d found out the basics but needed to look further. I needed more time. Sleep had to wait. I could sleep when I’m dead, and I need to try to gauge how close that actually was, especially since it wasn’t clear if he was still in her life.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what that meant for me. If he were still in her life, and she told him that I was here, he could kill me. Have they been this close, literalmente, in Havenwood this whole time?
He’s got just as much street and book smarts as I do. I’m sure he’s figured out that I snitched and ran. He was my fucking handler, and he knew every move I made Monday through Friday while I was at Kings for four fucking years.
But he wasn’t the only one paying attention.
I was, too. He was my only blood family, and I wanted to know as much about him as I could.
Gabe loved two things: the X and Payton.
He might’ve been a soldado, but the OG’s had plans for him just like they had a plan for me.
It wasn’t known, but I knew what to look out for.
They were grooming him just like they were grooming me.
The X wanted to get into borough contracts, and they had chosen Gabe for a role in their waste management business.
It originally was owned and operated by an old Italian man who refused to comply with the X order.
They killed him. Fucked with his brakes, and he ended up dying in a car accident on the Moshulu Parkway. An accident they orchestrated.
Their plan was for Gabe to run routes as an underboss.
It would give him crews, a territory, and power.
It would be setting him up for the future, and the X would have their own personal garbage disposal.
He was all in. It’d give him what he thought he needed to give her the life she was accustomed to. He’d get to have both the X and her.
And I ripped him away from it all when he got arrested. He’s not anywhere on her social media, but that doesn’t mean he’s not in her life. Even if he’s not out yet. She may be a fucking bitch, but she fucking loved him.
I try to blink away the exhaustion, but my eyelids are heavy.
I feel like I could sleep for a month and it still wouldn’t be enough.
I’m so tired that I feel lightheaded and make a deal with myself to shut my eyes when I close my laptop and fold my arms over the top of it.
That’s all I need. Sólo cinco minutos. Just five minutes.
“Come on, sleepy girl, let’s go.” I feel like I’m floating when I hear his voice, and I can’t tell if I’m awake or not. ?Es un sueno o estoy alucinando? Is it a dream, or am I hallucinating?
“Time for bed, Ed. I’m taking you to the couch. You can resume detective work tomorrow.” I feel like I’m moving through the air, but I don’t panic. It’s like my body knows it’s him. I turn in his arms, burrowing into his chest.
“I gotcha, you’re okay,” he says, and I must believe him because my eyes stay closed. “I’m gonna get us all comfy on the couch.” His arms are securely around me, and I feel safe like this. I exhale a breath, relaxing into him, and he hugs me tighter.
I’ve hardly ever been hugged. Evie has hugged me the most. Oye , before today, I’d never been kissed like that, and now I can’t fucking stop. ?Oh Diosas!
“I’m gonna set you down now,” he whispers before lightly kissing the tip of my nose. I scrunch up my face. “You’re okay, sleepy girl,” he adds. The firm tone of his voice is just as comforting as the nose nuzzles he’s now giving me. ?Estoy sonando? Am I dreaming?
He bends down, and I slide from his arms to the couch, and I immediately open my eyes when I feel us separate.
“What’s wrong, Ed?” he asks while I come to. “You’re okay,” he says again.
“Wait, did you carry me in here?” I ask and look around the room. My bag is where I left it, but I don’t see my computer. I need to get it, but I’m so tired, I don’t know if I have enough in me to get up to grab it.
“That’s correct, smartypants.” He adds, while his ripped arms, the ones that evidently just picked me up and carried me in here with, are above his head as he pulls off his sweatshirt. Ugh, ?Qué estás haciendo? What are you doing?
“What are you looking for? Your eyes are all over the place,” he comments as he pulls down his t-shirt. Nada, wey. Trying to avoid looking at your stomach, pendejo .
“You need something?” Yes, I need to not look at your stupid belly button that, for some strange fucking reason, I find insanely attractive. I mean, who has a fine-ass belly button? Like why?
“My computer,” I mumble.
“I got you,” he says while nodding his head.
He walks out of the office, and I sit up before leaning back on the couch.
I take off my sweatshirt, fold it into my pillow, and place it on the armrest before lying back down.
My temples are starting to throb, and I wish to Hecate that the lights were off as I close my eyes to stave off a headache.
I hear him come back in the room and listen to him place my laptop on a hard surface somewhere in the office. That’s fine, as long as it’s in here with me. I have so much more to do.
He hits the lights, and darkness covers the room.
It’s quiet for a whole ten seconds, and I’m convinced that he left.
The couch moves as he takes a seat close to me, and I feel the presence of his big-ass body.
Nope, he’s still here. I don’t need to open my eyes or flip the lights to know he’s inches away.
“Come here, sleepy girl, lie on me.” His arm wraps around my shoulders, and he switches me from one side to leaning against him. Again, it’s like my body trusts him, and I feel myself following his lead. My head lands on his shoulder, and his arm stays tucked around mine. “There, that’s better.”
“I was comfortable like that, cabrón , stop moving me like a stuffed animal,” I tell him with a yawn in a weak-ass attempt to protest.
“You’ll be more comfortable with me, hermosa ,” he says and pulls the brim of my beanie down over my eyes. “Now stop fighting me and rest. Stop fighting what feels right.”
“This feels right? Sleeping on a tiny-ass couch when you have a bed somewhere that’s waiting for you?”
“Your ass is on this couch, so that’s where I’m sleeping tonight. When you’re ready to sleep in my bed, we’ll sleep there. Wherever you are feels right to me.” ?Qué? ?Este cabrón está hablando en serio? What? Is this man serious?
“I don’t understand all this shit you keep saying to me today.”
“Well, understand this, I like you and I’m not going anywhere. You like me, and you’re not leaving. So that means we see where this goes, and we go where it leads. Okay, Ed?” I nod into his chest because this idiot is right. ?Maldita sea, diosas! Me gusta. I do like him.
“Glad that you agree. Now sleep. Because tomorrow you’re gonna need to be wide awake to tell me how you and Payton know each other and why she called you a different name.”
“You’re not gonna like me after that,” I grumble, and my heart makes herself known.
“Little demon, there isn’t a hell on earth that I wouldn’t walk through for you. Whatever happened in New York isn’t gonna change that.”
“You’ll see.” I feel myself falling, and I brace for impact, but I don’t hit the ground. Instead, his hands hold me to his chest, and I feel his heartbeat under his skin.
“No, Ed… you’ll be the one to see.”