“Howdid you talk?”
I meet his gaze full-on because I’m not getting the whole Muncy’s kid hate-act here. It radiates off him like the heat does the sun. You can’t miss the shit.
“I cornered him in his bedroom, held a knife to his throat, and told him what he wasn’t going to do.”
I sigh and slowly swing my feet around to lay back in bed. “Was all that necessary?”
“Yes.”
“You know, if you would’veasked,he would have done it.”
“I liked my way better.”
A weak snort escapes my lips, but I don’t berate him for his actions. I just don’t understand why they had to be so aggressive. “Anything else I need to know besides…” I can’t say out loud that Bay gunned down someone. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because it means coming to terms that my girl is starting to shape-shift into something else entirely.
“Nothing else,” Oz claims. “They were looking for Wallace, but they were being trailed by Nessa. Then…they received the news, and Bay went crazy.”
I bob my head. “Okay. Remember what I said.”
“I will.”
“Alright, kick rocks.” Oz doesn’t move. “I’m fine. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll be ordering you around for snacks and shit when I get home because I’ll be moving around like an eighty-year-old.”
“Okay.” He backs up and leisurely makes his way to the door.
“Make sure you get her something to eat. And call me if something else happens.”
He dips his head again before finally turning on his heel and disappearing to take care of my girl.
Our girl.
My cousin deserves her way more than I ever would.
Except I’m slightly apprehensive about what she could do that would possibly tip him over the edge. Something that would hurt him.
Something he wouldn’t hesitate to end.
And I’m afraid she’s banking on it with where her head’s at.
NINE
bay
I took a shower.
Cleaned the day off me, yet I still feel the murky and sticky remnants of the events to come and the emptiness that won’t leave my gut. The years, and the rest of my life, I’ll have to go on without Levi at my side.
The image is as daunting as it is heartbreaking. I feel nothing but hollow inside. Whenever my brain goes to the future, I can’t seem to pull my adult responsibilities to the forefront and act like a normal human being.
All signs point to Matteo’s death.
Not Ellie and Mae and how this is going to change their lives, too. How they are forever going to be as traumatized as me because Levi was such a strong and constant presence in our lives.
No, slaughtering is Matteo first and foremost before I allow myself to go down that rabbit hole.
It’ll never end if I don’t.
He will always be there to torture me in some way, shape, or form, and next on his list, will be my sisters.
