“I need you to listen to me, Bay,” Rod mutters irritably under his breath. “This isn’t a game. Levi was gunned down tonight. Matteo is making moves. He willcontinueto make moves.”
The thought of my ex mowing Levi down makes me sick to my fucking stomach. I can feel the warm bile wanting to rise from my throat and threaten Hot Rod and Juice’s shoes, but I attempt to keep my brain on the subject matter and what’s most important here.
“You should get home,” Juice inserts gently. “The guys will follow you back.”
I don’t knowthe guys,nor do I give a shit who they are. I need confirmation I’m going to see Levi soon.
“How long?” I ask. “Is he in surgery? What are they doing? Do they have enough equipment to?—”
“It’s enough,” Juice states. “It’s up to him now.”
“Up to him,” I repeat, as that statement doesn’t compute properly in my head. “What’s happening? I needsomething,Rod.”
“He’s in surgery. I haven’t gotten word back that he’s out yet. But when I do, you’ll be the first to know. Otherwise, I can’t take you there. If that building is under attack, he’s dead. I literally have him in the most secure, low-key place around. I have men there making sure shit doesn’t go down. However, I can’t even go in case someone follows me. Okay?”
I bob my head in acknowledgment. I get that, I do. But it still doesn’t stop the anxiety coursing through my brain, my body, and every nerve ending.
Or the fact I’m not at leastthere,standing by and waiting for Levi when everything is said and done.
“When he’s free and clear, I can go see him? When you move him? When it’s safe to move him?”
He bobs his head. “Yes.”
That has to be good enough. His word and the fact he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to his king.
His friend.
“Make sure…” A sob suddenly creeps through, and I squeeze my fingers into tight fists to keep it from forming into something uncontrollable. “Make sure, when you speak to one of the guys…that they tell him I’m thinking of him. That he doesn’t have a choice but to pull through.”
Hot Rod nods. “I will.”
Sheer defeat takes over me as I continue to stand there with no clue of what to do next. I’m helpless to do anything but wait and pray to everything holy I don’t have to bury someone else.
Not someone else I love.
“Go home, Bay,” Juice utters gently, reaching for my bicep and giving it a small squeeze. “We’ll keep in touch, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Just stay put until we tell you what you can and can’t do.”
It’s thewayHot Rod says it that snaps my resolve.
That he didn’tpromise.
And I no longer feel hollow and incapable when my palms find his chest and shove him back as far as I can.
Then I’m two steps forward and in his face.
Well, his chest.
“You don’t get to fuckin’ tell me to doanything,” I bark as spit flies from my mouth. Cute, I know. “If you fuck around and keep him from me?—”
“This isn’tyourcall,” Rod snaps with clenched eyes. “You can take your princess tantrums and get the fuck out of here with?—”
“And you can take your totalitarian bullshit and shove it up your ass. You might be incharge,but I’m notyourbitch.”
“You are when I’m heading the Titan seat.”
