“You know this is going to work both ways.” Lorenzo glances over at me for help. “I think I’ve proven myself by protecting Ellie and Mae, you should know I’m not a threat, nor is my son. If we don’t work together…we’re all going to possibly die together.”
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.”
