Page 180 of Falling in Reverse

I’d be lost without him. I’d be nothing.

I can’t form a sentiment that would fit what Reeve just said. I’m aware that no words would ever replace the empty placement of hopelessness that he probably feels right now.

And before I know it, my arms are wrapping around his middle, lightly squeezing him to my frame.

My cheek lies on his hard chest, the smell of salt and that herbaceous scent filling my nostrils into yet another calm that is always coming off him. The soft waves of the ocean, even though they scare me to death, are still beautiful and relaxing to be around.

Like Reeve.

I’m enclosed in his arms a second later, and feel his chin prop against the top of my head.

Just like Levi, but less aggressive and not yet placed in the friend's zone.

“You were the first person I thought about when…” He doesn’t finish his sentence, and I don’t need him to.

I’m his Levi, in a way. Or maybe his Travis.

No, definitely Levi, I’m an asshole.

I peer up at him and he tucks his chin in to look down at me, our lips only but a breath away when I say, “Come with me.”

FORTY-FIVE

reeve

TORIN: You good, bro? Cairo said you dipped. We’re orderin’ FOOD in a bit. Are you gonna be home for dinner?

No.

That’s the only answer I want to give him, but I don’t want a text message thread of a million questions to come after it.

Cairo’s dude, this fucking investigator, can’t figure it out. He can’t find my dad. He’s as clueless as the day he was born and no one, for years, has ever had any answers for me.

And something still just doesn’t settle right with me about it.

He’s been gone since I was thirteen and the things that could’ve happened are endless.

Did South Shore finally get him?

Was he murdered by someone else?

Did he simply just leave like my mother adamantly expresses that he did?

Even though the latter is hard to accept, and I’m still not totally bought on the idea. Yet it may be something I have to swallow.

And it’s a big pill.

Bay guides me to a white-bricked house and into a decently sized backyard with a swing set and a small patio table along the backside of the home.

I faithfully follow. It’s not difficult.

My pull to her was immediate and sealed from the first night I met her. The singular moment while she was in the middle of blasting Davis Morrison in the side of the head.

The crowd was wild that night, shouts of a girl beating someone’s ass were what received my attention when Cairo and I stepped inside and into the thick throng of animals.

I’ve never seen anything more beautifully a mess than Bay Astor that night. Her black hair and those ferocious blue eyes that were murderous at the audacity of some asshole putting his hands on her.

Cairo handled Davis.

---