Page 288 of Chaos Kills

The trust in her eyes gets me to kneel beside her and begin brushing away the black strands of hair away from her cheek.

“It’s alright,” she fusses, but she doesn’t wave my hand away. “I’m fine.”

I don’t know how to comfort her or follow up with something funny like Reeve, so I just stare at her, hoping she gets the message that I’m sorry.

“Just shoot me,” she moans, turning her face away from me. A pained expression falling over her face. “I can’t keep doing this.”

I cock my head to the side, confused. Why she wouldn’t want to finally clear her name is beyond me.

This is what she was trying to do.

It’s what I wanted to do for her.

To stop this back-and-forth bullshit so we could all be a family again. This time with me out of the shadows.

“Bay…” I like that she cranes her head back over to me without me having to say anything else. As if she can sense my unease and reasoning for what I need to know.

“I don’t want him to live with the guilt.”

My stomach knots uncomfortably because I wanted him to die.

For a moment.

However, Torin is family. My brother. The petty dickhead, but unless he kept going on the path he was, I may have not had another choice.

But the reality check he got an hour ago solved that issue.

“Who are you?” she asks suddenly, calling my attention back to her. “You’re always comin’ to the rescue, Oz. I don’t know if I deserve you.”

I blink, thrust back another lump in my throat, and push out what I know is true. “Yours.”

SIXTY-SEVEN

bay

I wake up in bed,remembering Ozzy brought food without me asking and silently asked me to eat.

We didn’t talk about the video anymore—one of the times I’m truly grateful he’s a man of few words—and I must’ve passed out while he played “K” by Cigarettes After Sex.

It felt normal and safe. It felt good just to be stared at by Ozzy and lie peacefully in silence without the loudness of the world.

However, what’s not so fucking normal is the rock-hard abs and the arm wrapped around my middle.

It’s not Levi.

The smell of motor oil and sandalwood doesn’t fill my nostrils, but I know Ozzy wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye to me.

Even though he’s not in the room with me right now.

Craning my head over my shoulder, I find the sleepy figure of Cairo Black shirtless behind me.

He doesn’t stir when I slowly fall to my spine to get a better look at him. Nor does he feel my gaze on him while I watch him sleep.

We haven’t talked about Torin and Emilio. I haven’t pushed Ozzy to hook up a meeting, because I figured Oz would tell him everything he needed to know.

I would only be repeating myself.

Plus, it saved me another conversation about Pretty Boy and having to think about him.

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