It’s like he punched me.
The one thing I never wanted Levi to have, and it’s being used against me as a power piece.
South Shore’s king is down and out on an operating table, and Hot Rod couldn’twaitto use his status and throw it around.
“You’re no King of South Shore,” I snarl through my tightening jaw. “He’s notdead.”
“He’s out of commission, Bay Bay,” Juice inserts, his green eyes glimmering with concern. Fuck me. “Someone has to take over while he’s gone. South Shore has to remain headstrong and swift on its feet. In case?—”
“That’shisproblem.” I point at Hot Rod. “What’s mine is Levi making it out of whatever hell he’s going through. That I’m there when he wakes up. That heknowsI’m there, even if he can’t open his eyes. He has to know. If you can’t take me?—”
“Calm down, Little T.”
Cairo’s voice rumbles through my inner chaos and up my spine before I feel his chest lightly press in from behind. Offering a comfort I didn’t expect coming from him so late in the game. “You’ll see him. I’ll make sure of it.”
I want to believe him.
It’s not that I think he’s lying, but he has no sway here. Hot Rod and Juice hold my golden ticket to see Levi in the palms of their grubby hands.
And I’m out of the loop.
“It’s fucked up,” I mumble back. “We don’t do things like that around here. We don’t manifest people already dying when they’re notdead.”
“We’re not trying to piss you off here, Bay,” Juice retorts evenly. “But we can’t fuck around. I know you want to see him, and at the first opportunity, you will.”
“I want on the text thread,” I command. “I want to know everything that goes down with Levi.”
“No.”
I’m really starting to hate Hot Rod right now.
Like, fully-fledgedI’m-about-to-kick-him-in-the-balls-right-nowhatred.
“Listen, motherfucker, I’m?—”
“Bay…”
My heart suddenly skips at the sound of Ozzy’s soft voice to my left. Edging right along the sidewalk and out of the way, like he doesn’t want to be involved in what’s happening.
My immediate concentration clings to him like the opposite side of a magnet. The man, with the least to say, can lasso my emotions and steady them.
However, it’s not strong enough this time.
Hot tears burn the backs of my eyes, and I’m on the verge of having a nervous, unfiltered breakdown.
I can’t lose Levi.
The thought is unimaginable.
Unthinkable.
A life without him is one I can’t take part in. I’d die without him. There would be no more life pumped into me if something happened.
I don’tfunctionwithout Levi.
Without him present, without himhere, it’s the first time I’ve fully realized how much I rely on him.
I amno one.
