Page 286 of Chaos Kills

But with Torin, he’s semi-calculated and petty, so the more time that goes by, the more anxious I get because I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

My gaze flicks up to Ozzy when he doesn’t respond, so I’m hoping that’s a fucking no. “Reeve?” He shakes his head, and I’m already out of options. “Please speak to me. I’m dying over here.”

“De Leon’s man.”

My blood instantly runs cold as my arm mindlessly drops from his side and falls to his upper thigh. When he flinches, I quickly remove it. “Oz, no. What…”

I can’t even form the rest of my question because anything to do with my ex is a fuck no.

A deathly unease falls around me, stealing my even breaths and replacing them with shallow ones. Goosebumps prick at my skin everywhere, and my trepidation of my ex and his wish for power is mightier than I once believed.

Or wanted to believe.

I don’t like admitting that years later, I’m still affected in any way when it comes to him. That what he’s done to me can still fuck up my life.

AKA Torin and me.

“Bay…” My concentration ascends back up to Ozzy, who appears…well, like he always does. “Are you sad?”

Hot tears burn the backs of my eyes as my eyebrows knit to keep them away.

This man will literally get himself killed just to clear my name.

And I can’t have that.

I’m already heartbroken and destroyed after everything with Torin. I’m in shambles over what I did to Reeve. Dad is dead. My sisters are parentless. Levi is busting his ass to have us set and ready to either leave South Shore or face everything head-on.

I shouldn’t have my world upside down, my sleep lacking, and my appetite completely gone because of all this.

Yet the man in front of me reminds me I’m not as much of a weak bitch as I feel. That I have his support and I’m not alone.

But I do feel alone.

My emotions have been wrecked over the last two weeks, if not more. My days are getting away from me, and I’m not focused.

I’m preoccupied with memories and moods. I feel nauseous half the time, and the other, I just want to lie down in bed and sleep the rest of my life away.

Ozzy’s hand slowly lifts, prompting me to touch his palm like I do when I need him to calm and remain focused. A gesture that causes my chest to tighten and doesn’t assist the pending tears that threaten to fall from my eyes.

I don’t keep Ozzy waiting, bringing my hand up to faintly touch his. He keeps his there, surprising me a tad that he initiated it and that he doesn’t remove it.

“Ozzy,” I mutter, my voice a fractured expel of air. “Please don’t go see him or go anywhere around him again.”

He gives me a small nod, but he shows zero discomfort, only heeds me.

“Why did you do that?”

Ozzy opens his free palm and reveals a USB drive.

I can only stare at it because I don’t even have the brain capacity to comprehend why he has it, what he’s doing with it, or what it is.

I’m rooted to his blue eyes again, pending an answer to my silent question when he freely gives it.

“Judah.”

A lightness instantaneously fills my head before all I see is black.

SIXTY-SIX

---