Page 179 of Chaos Kills

“She’s not,” I tell him confidently because I would know.

“You with her all the time?” He narrows his eyes at me as if I’m not doing my job right. That I’m not capable of doing what I have been. All Torin knows about Bay is because of me.

“She hates Matteo.”

Torin tsks. “Yeah…but she loves dick, though.”

I ball my hands to keep from raising my voice. “She doesn’t like him.”

My cousin shakes his head at me as if I’m daft. “Listen, Oz, I know you’ve watched her for, like, ever and a day, but she’s poison. She’s capable of eating you up and spitting you out. That’s why you never came out, and that’s why we’ve kept you at a safe distance.”

“Like she did with you,” Cairo shoots back. “That’s all you, brother. You just haven’t come to terms yet with whether you hate or love her. If you should allow and look into more of this because you’re afraid of what you might find.”

“Ayyeeee, dipshits,” Reeve hollers, breaking into the forming tension, clearly half in the bag himself because his words are already slurred. But his focus instantly lasers in on me.

He’s doped up on coke—that’s my first observation.

My second is that he hasn’t seen me since I married Bay, and he’s had my number since the day he found out and vowed to “kill me”.

His speed is pretty on point as he rushes me, dropping the white box of something that he had in his hands like beating my ass is more important than eating.

I don’t bother to dodge him.

Maybe this will make him feel better.

His first punch barely makes its mark along my cheek as his full body weight lands on me, sending the chair I’m sitting on backward and into the cement behind me.

He grunts, legs tangled in the chair somehow as he tries to regain his footing while I attempt to sit up before he’s on me again.

Reeve’s chest hits mine like we’re sumo wrestlers before he straddles me and throws another punch, slamming into the side of my jaw this time and rattling my teeth. The pain immediately shoots to my temple, and a high reverberating sound rings in my ears as he shouts something at me that I can’t fully hear.

He’s allowed two more hits before I put him on his ass when I hear him break into a vulnerable, pissed-off whine of fury.

“I loved her, and you fucking took her from me, you piece of fucking shit!” Another blow, this time to my nose, and I feel the gush of blood free itself. “She was supposed to havemyfucking last name!”

I mean, I don’t think she has mine, but if he wants her to have his, I don’t care.

“Reeve, get the fuck off.” That comes from Cairo, but he still delivers another slug before he’s ripped off me as I lie flat on the cement to catch my breath.

But when another body lands over me, careful not to touch me, I don’t think I’m seeing what I’m viewing properly.

In fact, my pulse rapidly pumps as sky-blue eyes peer down at me, and dark raven hair hangs down from her face as it twists in…I don’t know.

“What the fuck?” Bay leers, glowering down at me like I just did this to myself.

I guess it depends on who you ask.

She straightens her spine and glances over her shoulder at something. “You fucking animal. Are you fucking crazy? Why would you do that to your brother?”

She must be yelling at Reeve; however, I can’t see him.

All I see is an Eminem shirt that says I’m the Real Slim Shady and the creamy skin of her torso underneath it.

I’ve never seen anything as beautiful and wild as Bay Astor.

I was okay with standing in the background forever until I had to make a detrimental move to keep her out of Ramsey’s deathly grasp.

I don’t do well with this.

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