Page 150 of Falling in Reverse

I cluck my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “I don’t know, Lev. I saw them and told them to get the fuck out of here.”

His green eyes clasp together, and I’m surprised he can see me. “Why do I have a really fucked-up feeling that something else is going on?”

“Beats the shit out of me. But I think Baby Wildes is still pissed that I shot him.”

Levi grunts and adverts his eyes from me. “Yeah, I guess that’d be right. He’s a bitch.” He sighs heavily. “C’mere.” Opening his thick arms for me, I immediately step into them, needing his comfort and some peace from the marathon in my brain. “You’re such a fucking idiot, do you know that?” I bob my head in response, because I got no retort for that and it’s true. “You should’ve left me there. Now I have to keep three dickheads away from you.”

I shake my head, headstrong on my decision at the end of the day with rescuing my best friend, but not on fucking Torin into a couch. “Wasn’t an option.”

“They weren’t going to do shit to me. It was just a scare tactic.”

“I didn’t know that and you sure as hell didn’t either.”

“Doesn’t mean you make deals with the asshole rat from The Landings,” he shoots back, resting his chin on top of my head. “I see them around you again, I’m going to start picking them off.”

My stomach knots with the intensity of my secret poisoning my insides. I pull my cheek from his chest and peer up at him. “Lev, we need to talk.”

He stares back at me, worry etched in his features before they turn murderous, shaking his head because he’s expecting the worst.

He should.

Because it doesn’t get any worse than what I’m about to say. With Emilio wanting to get into my life, he’s in South Shore’s too.

“Did they hurt you?” His voice is deadly and cold, void of all rationality. It’s when I think I’m going to see who he truly is and what he’s hidden from me for years.

That’s the part that scares me the most.

I’m not fully acquainted with Levi, the King of South Shore, just the best friend version.

“No,” I reply calmly. “I wasn’t hurt.”

“Then what?” His impatience is wrapped and embedded in his tone, posing no bullshit and for me to spit it out.

I can’t.

Not here and definitely not now.

“They’re all dead.” His rage-filled focus snaps over my head, and that’s when I see the transformation.

The killer.

My best friend is an executioner, someone who sheds blood and plans murders to protect our town.

“Lev—”

“Hey, Bay,” Travis calls out behind me, slicing the tension between us and Levi’s manslaughter ideas. “Hey, Lev, how’s it going?”

I pull from Levi’s still-tight clutches, finding my good buddy out of his hospital bed and in normal clothes. His coloring has returned to his skin, and he looks normal with my sister, Ellie, in tow.

“Hey, Trav. I like you in green.” Because he’s been in a blue hospital gown for days.

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were comin’ out?”

“Had to finish some homework first.” He smiles at me, because he knows I’m already going to fix him a look that says he’s way too good and smart to be here. “But I wanted to come and support. You were excited about this when we talked yesterday. Then I saw little El and she told me where you guys were.”

“For the wholesome price of a bag of cotton candy, a blue slushie, and a hot dog,” my sister surmises with a shit-eating smile.

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