I wouldn’t feel like a fan favorite either.
“Why don’t you and I go out?” I solicit evenly. “For a ride or something.”
“Why would we do that?”
I lift my shoulders. “I dunno, we can go see Travis. We need a break.”
He stares down at me with a blank expression. “I don’t get breaks.”
“Gonna need to learn how. You have a new girlfriend and all.”
“Do I? I couldn’t tell.”
I snort because who’s being the brat now? “Don’t play that shit.”
“I’m not playing any shit, Astor. Other than getting yourboyfriendback.”
His voice whips through the air and cracks alongside my empathy and self-awareness.
He gives me everything.
And I’m asking him for the world. One he’s walking into with several other men who want to stay, too.
“Then maybe Nessa would’ve been a better option for you.”
“Nessa was a needy little snob with sticky hands,” he vouches evenly without a thought. “It was a hard pass for me.”
“Then Carina Black.”
“Yeah?” His expression doesn’t falter at the mention of her name, and that pisses me off. “Do I have your permission, Astor?”
“I didn’t think you needed it.”
“Might be a hard thing to get past her brother, but hey, I’ve done it before.” That cold-cocking thing from earlier is sounding mighty promising. “I do have some pull and protection.”
“You’re going to need it.”
From me, asshole.
“I’m not worried. I’ve snuck out of Lorenzo Black’s house right underneath his nose while Cairo was having dinner with his folks downstairs. He never heard me.”
“Good job.”
“Had to cover her mouth so that she didn’t scream?—”
My fist suddenly connects with his gut, and Levi sucks in a sharp inhale, glaring at me like the dick I am.
“I’m stillhealing, asshole.”
“Bring Carina over, and let’s see how many seconds she lasts inmytown while she tends to you, prick.”
“Got her number? I lost it.”
I feel the stinging sensation along my palm before I realize I slapped Levi across the face.
And the prompt remorse I feel afterward isn’t something I’m looking to add to the night, either.
I am a dick.
