Page 76 of Chaos Kills

I nod, and Torin chuckles, pleased I’m so fucking shaken at his presence that I’m no longer able to just be or speak.

“It seems to be a good last dinner,” Torin chimes in under his breath. “Especially if you decide to continue being here.”

“We haven’t had a woman in the same room with us in forever,” my sperm donor mentions to the room. “It’s good to be able to feed a woman and get us to eat something different.”

My God, shut the fuck up.

“I’m extremely pleased that you’re here, Bay.” I feel his blue eyes fall upon me, and I take the opportunity to meet them just to show I’m physically present or that I’m listening. He gives me what seems like a genuine smile. “If these little shits give you trouble, you just let me know.”

I recognize the incandescent lure of Torin before he even speaks. The melon mixed with cedar scent wafting closer to me as if to asphyxiate me again.

“Yeah, baby…” His sentiment delves into the wicked villain that he is. “Run to Daddy whenever we pick on you.”

What he means is,piss me off more, and we’ll move this death sentence along faster.

“Starting already, Torin?”

Torin’s lips smirk with his next words, self-assurance radiates off him. He’s back to his Pretty Boy vibes, but this time he has me down his sight as his target, and he doesn’t want to let go.

“Nah, Daddy-O,” Torin replies. “Just letting her know how things are done around here. You take your latte at seven, you smoke in the evenings. You hate anything chocolate, and we’re concerned about you with that feat.”

Emilio rolls his eyes as he takes another sip of his bourbon, taking his analysis off us, and that’s when Torin’s chest finds my bicep.

“You wanna go up to my old room?”

“No,” I say quickly, rolling my shoulders to get him away from me.

“Why not?” He actually sounds confused as fuck. “I can warm you up. You’re freezing. I mean, you are, but I can feel the coolness of your skin from here, Wildfire.”

My eyes drop to the table, where they latch onto the pristinely shined butter knife along the side of my plate.

It won’t do much, if anything at all.

I just need him away from me.

I can’t listen to his voice. The way his words mix and mingle with other comments he used to tell me. How he used to speak to me like he gave a shit. The sweet, vulnerable words that used to make me warm and fuzzy inside.

Now, I feel cold and dead.

He literally dropped me in the ocean to eliminate that warmth from my body, leaving behind an iceberg of barren emotions of fear, hopelessness, and unease.

I went from believing Torin and I had something, that we might be able to overcome all of this, but now…there are too many of them.

They’re fucking everywhere.

“Let me fuck you again, Bay,” Torin whispers at the back of my ear. “My warm lips all over this beautiful body. Maybe I can keep taking from you like you did Judah. Maybe I can live through him and give him some sort of satisfaction that you really weren’t worth the trouble. Wouldn’t you like to show him that? Show me that? Maybe it’ll help you out in the long run. There’s a really good possibility I’ll grow so fucking tired of you that I’ll either kill you on the spot or just throw you away like the South Shoreslutyou are.”

Like the South Shore slut you are.

That’s entered my thoughts before. I’ve had him and Reeve at the same time. I’ve made out with Cairo, and now I’m married to Ozzy. I’m just riding the carousel of doing something with all these men where I’m really starting to feel like a whore.

A whore who’s going to find the strength to make Pretty Boy cry on his knees for me.

I’m suddenly nudged then, my attention captured to my right, where Ozzy patiently sits and—honestly—I kinda forgot he was there for a while.

He’s so fucking quiet, and cryptic and distant.

He should stay that way.

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