Page 77 of Chaos Kills

Stay far away from all this.

I hit upon lucid blue eyes and dark features. The mysterious vibe that illuminates over him and never ever does he give anything away.

I wait expectantly for him to speak or do something, and when he rises to his feet, he moves and gestures for me to take his chair…away from Torin.

Without hesitation, I accept his offer, not giving a shit how it makes me look to Baby Wildes because I need distance from him to get through this dinner. To stay focused on why I’m here in the first place.

“Always the motherfuckin’ hero, Oz,” Torin leers low and deep in his chest, but he doesn’t say any more.

Actually, he doesn’t say fucking shit for the rest of the dinner.

Emilio asks me about school, to which I tell him bits and pieces. I lie and tell him my plans for next semester, even though I won’t be here.

Because we still have to leave.

Ramsey listens and comments here and there, and Ozzy barely eats. I steal glances at him, but he doesn’t look at me again. He just acts like a human wall to the man who almost wasted me earlier today.

I can deal with it when Ozzy is blocking me from the man who almost ended my life.

I want Levi.

He’s the only fucking person who’s going to calm me and give me the strength to continue without reservation of what I used to feel.

For any of them.

NINETEEN

bay

“Why is she like this?What the fuck did you do? What happened at that dinner?”

Levi never understood the term ‘indoor voice’ or speaking at a lower volume when you’re talking shit about someone who’s currently in the same house as you.

I hate that he noticed.

I loathe that I haven’t left my bedroom for over twenty-four hours since last night’s dinner. That the girls have been spending time with me here, watching movies and cuddling with me under the covers as if I’m sick and in need of some comfort.

I do.

It’s just that I also need some space from my own head, too.

I don’t hear Ozzy’s response, which isn’t a total surprise as I nestle deeper into my pillow and close my eyes.

But it doesn’t help.

I’ve never been that close to death before since Judah, and it’s worse because it was Torin. I was younger, maybe more naive and brave. But I have responsibilities now, and I can’t leave Levi and the girls alone.

It’ll devastate Levi.

And I need to leave this room before he loses his shit.

Pushing myself up to sit, the door opens at the same time, and Ozzy slowly slips inside my bedroom but freezes when he notices I’m up.

Sneaking inside my bedroom with Levi in the house.

Bold.

“What can I do for you?” I prompt, throwing my comforter off my body and swinging my legs around the edge of the bed.

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