Page 191 of Chaos Kills

“You won’t be able to fix this one,” I announce, causing her to stop in her tracks. “You do this to Oz, he’ll shut down. You’re making progress. It’s slow but steady. It’s more than anyone else has gotten besides my brothers and me. You’re the only otheroutsider, in a long time, who haseverbeen able to get him to talk.”

“Levi does.”

I nod. “He does, so let me rephrase. No otherfemalehas been able to get this close to him. And before, he was hidden away. You made him come out.”

She stares down the hall, pending a few beats before asking, “Why did he marry me? What’s the motive?”

“There is no motive. Somehow…Ozzy stuck with you. Which is, by itself, something.”

I watch as she shifts her weight. “Vivian,” she utters out quietly. “What’s up with her and him?”

My stomach knots a bit. “That’s his story. I’m not telling you that.”

“You’re not telling meanything.”

“And that’s too fuckin’ bad,” I retort, glimpsing over at her. “You aren’t entitled to everything.”

“I am when he’s around my family.”

“Then kick him out, ban him from the house, do whatever it is you need to do to feel safe inside your own home. But you telling him something and turning around on it, that’s Vivian bullshit, Bay. You follow through, period. When it comes to Ozzy, it’s simple. You do what you say, and that’s it. He’s the simplest one out of all of us.”

“You sure about that?”

I lift my shoulders and exhale exasperatedly. “Maybe not. But I will tell you that I know how he operates. And it’s my best advice, Little T. Especially since Reeve and Torin are?—”

“I don’t want to talk about them.” She crosses her arms along her chest as if protecting herself from them, but she’s in their house. And no harm will come to her while I’m present. I’ve already made both of them fuck off.

“But you’re going to know the whole spectrum,” I reply evenly. “Gain another one of us on your side. I promise I won’t let you down.”

Her head slowly cranes over to me, and I see a hint of uncertainty in her blues before she blinks, and it’s gone. “Why do you keep trying?—”

“Because I know what you are. They know what you are, and look at what you’ve done to them. No one has ever had the power to break us apart. Not the war, Emilio, Ramsey, or any upcoming gang that tried to take what was ours. You’re powerful, Bay. You’re as stubborn as you are beautiful. You’re empathic and hardheaded. There’s nothing you can’t do. And Ozzy…I would’ve ripped him from you if I believed for one second what I didn’t see before.”

“Which was?”

“Vivian.”

Bay turns her body so that she’s fully facing me. “She hurt him?”

“I can’t?—”

“Did shehurthim?” she grinds out, brows pinched in fury.

And regardless of how she feels or thinks, Bay Astor doesn’t even know herself.

Ozzy may have freaked her out with what he said—which was the truth—but she’s already accepted him. He’s already in her circle.

She just doesn’t know what to do with allowing herself to trust.

“I’m only going to say this one time, Little T…” I lift her chin higher by the crook of my index finger. “It’s not my place to say. However…she did. And how she did it, why she did it, those are all things you’ll get from Ozzy himself. Not me.Notuntil he’s ready.”

“But he’s never going to be ready?—”

“Give him time,” I retort softly. “Be patient.”

She averts her eyes and narrows them, clearly not liking that answer. But she has no other choice. “Fine.”

“That’s a good girl.” My thumb shoots out to brush along the softness of her cheek, and that’s when she looks back at me. “I have to go pack and shit. So, I’ll grab your snack for him, and then I’ll walk you out when you’re ready.”

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