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 hersafe and soundbefore 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.”
