Page 269 of Chaos Kills

I don’t want her to get upset that I can’t do one simple thing and touch her. That I’m weak and so messed up that a simple brush of skin freaks me the fuck out.

“What do you need?” she solicits. “Do you want to go home?”

I do, but not right now.

I’m good with where I am.

How, even though my hand trembles a little, I like Bay’s skin against mine for longer than a split second.

“I’m never going to be her.” Bay’s lips are set in a flat line as if she’s mad. “I saw her and…whatever the hell she did, you stop me before I do it, okay?” Her hand presses a little more firmly into mine to get her point across. “Do you understand me?”

I give her a curt nod, and a small smile graces Bay’s face. I expect her to drop her arm, but she doesn’t.

Not until I do.

Maybe she feels the same way I do. Maybe that slight electrical current runs through her veins, and she’s intrigued by me.

I don’t give her much to go by. So maybe that’s what sparks her curiosity.

“This party sucks.”

A small smile tugs at my lips, but I keep it down. Elaine was always into overly extravagant bullshit, so this is no surprise.

“How about pizza and a movie?”

I stare at her because she’s never really invited me over. I just show up.

“I’d kill her for you,” she says out of nowhere. “Just say the word.”

My brows clash together, and when I want more answers, Torin comes busting through the room like a bat out of hell.

“Oz, we need you.Now.”

SIXTY-ONE

cairo

“Motherfucker, call me.”I hang up for the hundredth time and stare back down at Reeve’s name on my phone.

It keeps going to voicemail. Hinting to the fact he’s not going to be found tonight, and he’s possibly not coming home.

Yet, he needs to.

Like seriously right the fuck now.

Because behind the bookcase that Bay heard something banging behind was Luther Stanton—Reeve’s deteriorating dad.

A man who has been missing for eight years.

Behind the secret space was a set of steep stairs that led into a stone and concrete prison that smelled like piss, death, and mold. All three combinations made my stomach tightly coil, prompting my nausea and immediate retreat up the stairs because it told me everything I needed to know.

Elaine did this.

And when Reeve finds out his long-lost missing father was kept captive in his own home, he’s going to kill her.

Just like Luther almost did when he gripped Torin’s shirt and almost sent him tumbling down the stone steps in a frantic move to flee. He screamed fury like we put him there, and I barelyrecognized him with all the grime and dirt covering his whole body.

We’re all grown as fuck now; he only remembers us as teenage kids.

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