Pretty Little Lies

14. Bay

FOURTEEN

bay

The last two days have been like living outside of my body.

Nothing has really changed besides Levi not coming to the house to keep up with appearances. He texts me over a hundred times a day to check on Dad, the girls, and my mental state, I’m sure. He admitted that he’s having withdrawals from seeing us all and he plans to sneak over tonight to visit. Especially since the girls know nothing about what’s happening and a sudden disappearance of him would get them to question where he is eventually.

And the universe doesn’t want to cut me a break. Because the next two seconds come to a literal screeching halt. Even the person behind me runs into my spine from the abrupt malfunction of my feet from the blast from the past currently standing in front of me who I never wanted to see again.

I gasp outwardly as Matteo De Leon stands outside my classroom, chewing obnoxiously on grape gum like he always used to do, and smiling at me with that arrogant bullshit look.

The navy-blue tee and blue jeans make him look like he belongs here and that’s probably what he’s good at now, blending in because he never fit in before.

Stepping out of my room, I take a right to head down the hallway and toward the nearest exit. The hairs on the back of my next warn me of his steps, the heavy thudding of his boots, because he’s always equipped to stomp on someone.

Like he did to me once.

“Sweetheart, you know I’m not gonna stop following you,” he coos as he does just that.

I inhale, demanding my body to fall back into its normal state as I yank my cell phone from my back pocket. It’s been years, but it feels like a lifetime ago.

I’m not that girl anymore.

He has no power over me.

I’m not his bitch.

Pulling up Levi’s text thread, I shoot him off a message that I know is cryptic as fuck, but I can’t type a full sentence.

BAY: Matteo. School. Help me.

Passing students running to their next class, I heave my textbooks deeper into my chest, clutching the ends tightly to keep myself from having a mini freakout. The dull edges do nothing to give me something else to focus on. It doesn’t take away the unspeakable things he did. The way Matteo treated me like a queen one minute, then a gutter slut the next.

I was cherished and then abused to the point where taking a shitload of Paisley’s pills was a constant thought of mine. I was too much of a pussy to cut myself. I was going to take the easy, less painful way out of this world because I had already suffered enough at Matteo’s hands, and I didn’t want to endure it anymore.

Finally making it outside, the fresh air immediately greets my lungs, but that’s only because I can’t get my breathing under control.

You’re always going to be mine, Astor. It doesn’t matter how far you run. How many times you send Wallace after me. I’ll get your ass again one day, you little cunt.

I’m suddenly spun around by my bicep, coming face to face again with the demon from my past. His bronze skin and murky brown eyes cause so many flashbacks sprinting through my head that it almost causes a sob to leave my lips.

I’m stronger than this.

But Matteo is this pain point of mine that I never could get over. I swear, I thought several times that he was going to kill me and dump me somewhere Levi and Dad would never find me.

My whole body seizes in fear as Matteo enters my personal bubble. However, my mouth seemed to have gained some balls over the years.

“What the fuck do you want?” I snap, attempting to shove back my unease and the way my body won’t move.

My God, I’m already exhausted with the way he’s making me feel. That the young teenage girl I used to be comes ramping back up again like she never died. All the self-doubt, the worthlessness, simmers in my chest, and it’s hard to cast out once she’s back.

Matteo perks a brow at my attitude, but surprisingly doesn’t address it. “Is that any way to greet me when?—”

“ Yes . Especially when you sprayed lead at me. Did you think you were gonna get a hug?”

“Those bullets weren’t directed at you.”

Yeah, but you didn’t stop them to keep me out of danger if they had.

“I’m not here for a fight,” he tacks on. “I heard about what happened with you and Levi.” I only stare at him. His chestnut hair spiked up gives him a Jersey boy persona.

I fucking hate it.

The only thing he doesn’t sport anymore is the gaudy diamond earrings, but the gold chains he’s currently got wrapped around his neck, and I wish he’d fucking choke on them.

“And?”

“And we both know what that means.” I quirk a brow because, no, I don’t. This motherfucker can jump off the highest cliff, and I’ll watch that shit.

I’d pay to watch that shit.

“What do you want, Matteo?” I solicit, attempting to keep my voice as hard as my heart is for him. He was my biggest mistake and my worst nightmare.

“You need protection.”

“From you?”

My ex huffs out a scoff and runs his fingers down the side of his cheek, right over the scar Levi left behind. “Last time I checked, you weren’t a dumbass bitch, so let’s cut the bullshit. I’m offering a position at my side when I get the Titan seat from Wharf Bay. I’m going up against Cairo Black, and I’m gonna win. I’m ready now.”

Is this dude for fucking real?

I blink at him, attempting to keep the smartass comments to a minimum. That means less talking and more my getting away from him.

“Well?” His expression hardens at my lack of giving a fuck, so I give him what he’s looking for, a haughty scoff of disbelief.

“Matteo, it’s good to aim high…but you’re reachin’ a little too high.”

His lips drawl back in a snarl. “Says fucking who? The fucker who just dumped you?”

“That motherfucker was and will always be a better man than you, so let’s cut the bullshit, like you said. I highly doubt you sought me out to offer up some fairytale dream of us getting back together. Did you use up all the Shoreline Peaks pussy, or are you bored?”

“You hard of remembering? I let you go. Levi didn’t force my hand on that venture.”

I’m lookin’ at the scar, bruh.

“The answer’s no.”

Matteo rolls his eyes, as if I’m being hella dramatic. “You were with me from the very beginning. Before, when I was a nobody.” You’re still a nobody. “It’s only right you reap the rewards of what I’m about to obtain. And, contrary to what you believe, I loved?—”

“Nah.” A mirthless chuckle escapes my throat, because now that Levi is allegedly out of the way, my ex saw a perfect opportunity to drop in and obtain what no girl in Shoreline Peaks probably dares apply for. And that’s to be this asshole’s woman. “Don’t begin lying to me now and start spewing shit you think I want to hear. You loving me is literally the last thing I’d want to experience today and you’re not capable of the emotion.”

His dark eyes slit, and I can see the wheels screeching to a halt in his head. I’m not the same girl he fucked up.

Not totally anyway.

He’s going to have to put in more work to try and win me over when that’s a dead-end road anyway.

“You’re open season now,” he starts, his tone drenched impassively, reminding me that I should be flattered as hell. “Every piece of shit is going to want to use you to gain information that you learned from Levi. And they’ll do it whether they spread your legs wide or torture it out of you. I can offer you security. Those Forsaken fucks are going to make a move and it’s only a matter of time before?—”

“You need to keep up, De Leon. Because that’s already happened.” Matteo suddenly spins around like a startled animal at the sound of the male voice that just pierced through his heartfelt monologue.

And, in his wake, rigidly stands my sworn enemy with metallic eyes of gold zeroed in on the dickwad flanking my side.

“Why are you standing so close to my girl?” Torin hedges, as if it’s the question of the century that he’s trying to figure out. “ Move .”

Matteo, being Matteo, doesn’t.

No one tells him what to do. Especially in public. He’ll stand off with Baby Wildes until he’s physically moved or killed right where he’s standing.

Meanwhile, I study the tight muscles underneath Pretty Boy’s gray, striped shirt, waiting for them to flex or tense, but they remain relaxed and unbothered.

Am I the only one who remembers how psycho Matteo is?

“What brings you to this neck of the woods, Wildes?” Matteo counters back. “Because I think you have the wrong girl… again .”

Torin motions me to his side with two fingers and, like a frantic victim, I’m quick to follow his silent order.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Matteo growls out as I flee away from him. “We were having a talk.”

“Talk’s over,” Torin deadpans flatly, uninterested in my ex’s disdain and taking a head-to-toe inventory of my body. “Did he touch you?”

“No,” I mutter, discarding the fact that he did when he spun me around, but I’m not about to see blood spilled and a whole lot of chaos ensue for that.

“Don’t lie to me,” Torin retorts softly. “I want to know if there was skin-to-skin contact made before I?—”

“I always touch her, Wildes,” Matteo volunteers, making my skin crawl with memories. “She was my woman. I told her what to do. She was in my bed at night, waiting for me to fuck her until she screamed. Bay was, and always has been, my sweet little slut. Always ready for me. There was never a time when she’d turn me down. She even would play with that sweet little pussy in front of my boys and—” A distinct click snaps my neck back to Torin as he calmly has a gun pointed right at Matteo’s chest.

“Continue,” Torin coaxes as if my ex is stupid enough to do so.

He could.

However, there are too many witnesses for Torin to murder Matteo right here, but I’m sure he has connections. Someone to erase any security footage or money to pay people off.

My ex chuckles at my side, as if Torin has a water pistol aimed at him. “I’ll spare you the details. Maybe Bay can tell you all about it later.”

Fuck no.

“And she said no, didn’t she?” Matteo vouches. “What are you, her new bodyguard? You’re a long way away from home, Wildes. I wouldn’t fuck with me when you don’t have your butt buddies around.”

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Torin argues back. “You’ve been takin’ it up the ass from me for years.”

Matteo moves forward, and I flinch back, unable to help it. Everything about my ex freaks me out.

Torin notices and counters Matteo’s step with one of his own. His gun still raised, people are starting to notice, freezing in place and slowly stepping away. “This is the last time you see her. The final time you speak to her. And, by all means, try to do it again. I’ve been waiting to kill you for years, De Leon.”

“You’re out of line,” Matteo leers. “Your little antics of trying to steal her from me never really worked out for you, did they? You might be closer, Wildes, but I know where she belongs, and so does she. My girl even has a tattoo of my initials on that pretty little body, don’t you, baby?”

Tears burn the back of my eyes, because I did. Until I had them filled in with a black heart because that’s what I felt as though I had.

“I’ll be sure to fix that,” Torin replies matter-of-factly. “And I’ll make sure you have mine before I bury you in the ground so we can always be together.” Matteo scoffs haughtily. “Now, get the fuck out of my sight.”

“I’m not done yet.”

“You don’t get within a mile radius of what belongs to me, De Leon, and I’m going to start ripping limbs off and feeding them to my dogs.”

He has dogs?

A humorless chortle leaves Matteo's throat. “Funny you should mention that, because I remember tellin’ you the same fucking thing.” He takes a step forward and holds Torin’s glower. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into with this one. Didn’t before either. She has Wallace wrapped around her finger, but he won’t be gone long. And where do you think that’s going to leave you, Wildes?”

“Exactly where I am now.”

“Confident little prick still,” Matteo muses. “But not everything is what it seems.” He snidely bumps Torin with his shoulder when he turns to me, not giving a shit that he touched Torin in the first place. He smiles, and it’s not a warm, cuddly smile, but one that believes I’m between a rock and a hard place. “I’ll give you some time. You’re a smart woman, Bay. You know what happens after this. If Levi finds out, word on the street is that you’re dead.”

We all know what sort of falsehood that is, but I don’t correct him.

“We’ll be in touch,” he promises, only digging himself a deeper grave when Levi finds out about all this because it won’t be mine.

He strides away, not a care in the world, and I’m able to take my first real breath in the last five minutes of hell.

I try to steady my heart rate but, when Torin stands directly in front of me, it only beats at a new and hasty pace.

“Well…you’re lookin’ fine as fuck today.” The comment throws me off for a moment, because it’s literally the last thing I expect out of his mouth after all the vile things Matteo just said. “How’s my Wildfire doing today?”

“What are you doing here?” I press back, brows clenched. This isn’t his stomping grounds, and I can’t think of a single reason why he’d be here.

“Aren’t you glad that I am?” He quirks a brow because, in his head, he’s God’s gift to me, apparently.

But, yes, unfortunately, I am.

“How do I get rid of you now?” I beseech honestly, which only earns me one of those cocky Pretty Boy smirks.

“You don’t.”

I avert my focus to the parking lot, hinting that I’m ready to leave and be done with this shitshow today. “I need to go.”

And Levi is going to be here any minute.

“What did he do to you?” Tears—fucking tears —burn the back of my eyes, but I exhibit ignorance. He takes one step forward and I gain back those tawny eyes that don’t give me any reprieve from avoiding the subject of Matteo and my past. “Tell me.”

“There’s nothing to?—”

“ Tell me,” he repeats, his voice more of a growl. “I either get it out of you, or I grab his ass right now and torture it out of him.”

“You say that as if I’m going to stop you.”

His frown softens, and in front of me is the boy who kept coming around and offering me something in return. A life outside of Matteo. A person who would possibly like me for me and not my body.

I had a hardcore crush on Torin, but I was too terrified to leave Matteo.

Now, I wish I had.

Or maybe it was always supposed to be this way.

“I never wanted you to suffer the consequences of what I did,” Torin mutters over me. “I just wanted you.”

My head mindlessly rocks back and forth because I don’t believe him. If he wanted me that much, he could’ve tried to save me. He would’ve fought Matteo for me.

But, we were young as fuck, and I couldn’t expect a knight in shining armor when we were all stupid as hell with too much pride on our shoulders.

“You just wanted to fuck me.” I spit the word out because that’s all it’s ever been. “There was no love there, Torin. Just something that you couldn’t have, which made you wish for it more.”

Control.

Pride.

Male ego.

There’s nothing within Torin Wildes that could ever be described as selfless. He’s a prick. Prince of The Landings with a chip on his shoulder that he may have every right in wearing, but I’m not going to fall victim to him or Matteo ever again.

I hold all the power.

“I did,” he agrees solemnly. “But that changed. He may have wanted you at his side as a sidepiece, but I wanted you, period. I would’ve treated you like a queen and I was your servant. I would’ve done anything and everything you ever wanted.”

“I don’t believe?—”

“I don’t expect you to.” I meet that jagged jaw, calm and relaxed, as he meets my stare. It looks genuine. That he really does give a shit about how I’m feeling, and I don’t know how to digest that. “But, no matter what happens, no one is going to hurt you.”

“Besides you?”

“I’m not going to lay a finger on you unless my lips are on your skin.”

My nostrils flare as I try to rid the hot tears from my eyes.

I want to tell him to fuck off and go, but Levi and my plan of getting closer to him doesn’t offer that.

I don’t trust Torin because he’s me .

One inkling of betrayal and our petty is going to ramp up. Ideas of payback will form and fester to the point where it’s all we can focus on.

I’ve never met someone equal enough to me, and it almost scares me. And nice compliments and promises aren’t the easiest way to get to us.

“Stay away from me,” I grumble, keeping his stare locked on mine. “I don’t want you near me. I’m not looking to take The Landings. I don’t want a relationship of any kind. Every time I’m with one of you, something happens. And I can’t afford it anymore.”

“I can solve that, ya know?”

“Since when did you start giving a shit? Did you leave your cloak of invisibility at home when you decided to show up the other night at the race? That Levi wasn’t going to see you?”

Torin moves, and it’s like whatever power he possesses holds me to the cement and keeps a tight hold on me.

I swallow, literally getting eaten up by Torin’s golden eyes and the way he doesn’t appear pleased by anything that’s happened in the last few days.

So, to keep my vulnerability in check, I pop off at the mouth again.

“Talk your shit because I know you’re not here for a social call.”

“How do you know?” he challenges back. “I didn’t break up with you, and?—”

“We were never a thing . We fucked. That’s it. I’ve told you personally to fuck off like a million times over already. Take the hint.”

Torin looks over my shoulder, but still moves forward, towering over me with his handsome features and bad attitude. “We fucked. We’ve said some things. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Pretend we’re not here. Pretend that this never happened— us .” He bends forward and drops his voice, which drips with so much disdain that it causes goosebumps to slowly run up my body as if I hurt his feelings. “I’ll let Reeve know how his girl’s day at college was, since the idea of being mine disgusts you so much.”

Then he strides away, spine steeled against my bitchy words, and motions for two men who stand by a tinted-out SUV to follow.

I didn’t notice them before.

I didn’t heed a fucking thing because I know what lies on the other end of Torin Wildes.

It’s pure devastation.

I survived Matteo. I’m not so sure I have it in me to keep my body and soul together when it comes to him.