Page 85 of Chaos Kills

But I do see his fingers squeeze tighter around the slenderness of Nessa’s throat.

“Ozzy.” The sharp octave of Levi’s voice finally gets Ozzy to release my friend slowly, but not quickly enough because Nessa shoves his hand away, and now she’s only amped up more.

“Who the hell isthis?!” She makes a move to touch her neck but decides against it. Nessa has too much pride to show any inkling that Ozzy may have hurt her, and I don’t want that.

I don’t want any of this.

“Not here,” Levi leers, mom-arming Ozzy a bit to give Nessa some space. “We don’t talk private shit at the track.”

Nessa decides then to direct her outrage back at me. “You weren’t going to tell me? After everything—seriously, Bay?”

“Enough,” Levi carps out, more pissed off this time, but my girl doesn’t give up.

She’s hella livid, and I can’t blame her.

I’d feel the same way, too.

I don’t know how long it’ll be until the coast will be clear and we can send away for her. It’s crucial Levi and I make sure that Emilio doesn’t find me.

Any of us.

If not, what’s the point?

“I can’t believe you’d just leave me,” she rebukes, appearing as though she’s seconds away from crying. “I thought—how could you do this? And without me. You’re going to leave South Shore without me? I can’t—” Levi’s body stumbles out of the corner of my eye, instantly blocking off Nessa’s hurt and heartache from my ears.

I catch Ozzy thrusting his palms into Levi’s chest again, sending my best friend back another step before my best friend raises his hands in a silent forfeit.

“We’ll talk about it,” Levi says evenly to Ozzy. “But not—” My husband doesn’t like that answer and jostles Levi back again. “Stop.”

Great, now two additional people know about our departure plan.

“Ozzy,” I begin, about to step in, before a stiff fist slams into my upper bicep.

The pain has me seething through my teeth as I’m forced to refocus back onto Nessa’s look of desolation.

My gut drops at seeing she’s hurt, and it was pretty asshole of me not to have spoken to her about it yet.

However, it’s only temporary.

I just need her to lay low, stay out of trouble, and we’ll all be together again before we know it.

“Nes, I’m sorry,” I conceded. “Honestly, I was going to tell you?—”

“When?” she clips out. “Is Levi your lackey now? Does he do all your dirty work?”

“What?” I immediately shake my head. “No. I—We just came up with it. I haven’t gotten a chance to see you and?—”

“If you don’t stop,” I hear Levi snap angrily. “I’m going to beat your fucking ass right here.”

Shit.

I lift an arm for Nessa to hold on while I glimpse to find Ozzy all up in Levi’s personal space. My best friend is still taller, but Ozzy has this menacing vibe about it that comes off as unpredictable.

There’s no warning label, no tagline to tell you what it’ll be like or taste like. Ozzy is a rarity in that he doesn’t divulge anything.

And that only amps up the adrenaline inside my veins because, for all I know, he could pull a machete out and start slicing and dicing at my bestie.

Levi’s light greens flick over Ozzy’s head and find mine. Then he perks a brow for help.

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