Page 11 of Pretty Little Lies

“No.” I shift my weight. “But I know I’d pick your life over any of theirs.”

“That does nothing for me when he tears you to pieces and leaves them on my doorstep for abandoning you.”

I lift my head, finding him staring at me as though he’s unsure of what to do next. Of how we’re going to operate because I’ve kept the biggest thing from him yet and this changes things.

“Ramsey used to run through South Shore streets to taunt the Nameless just so he could spill blood. He jumped my ass at sixteen with all his buddies and almost took my fuckin’ head off with a drain pipe. I’ve seen him torture men just to find out the identities of the Nameless. He’s cut off limbs, burned people alive, just to extinguish them and do it all over again.”

Fucking great.

“And Torin…” Levi scoffs with a slight shake of his head. “I’ve never met someone as petty as that prick. He captured one of my best guys, Henry. He was runnin’ a job for me and got caught. Baby Wildes tore him up pretty fucking bad, ended up killing him and sending me the body parts.”

A cold shiver racks up my body, and I remain frozen in astonishment that Pretty Boy is capable of such things.

Pretty Boy.

The GQ model with an attitude problem.

I try to imagine him bloody and pissed—the latter isn’t hard. However, the whole severing limbs off and putting them in brown boxes seems to not fit the imagery of what I’ve fabricated in my head.

“What was the job?”

My best friend takes an extremely long drag of his cancer stick before replying with regret. “Spying. He was a spy for me.”I nod, not knowing what to say about that. “And in what capacity does Emilio think we are?”

“He knows we’re friends. And, in turn, hurting you wouldn’t work in his favor.”

He sizes me up when he asks, “And your plan is to…what? Take down Emilio Wildes and company?”

“Something like that.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” I bite down on the inside of my lower lip to keep from disputing that fact, but Levi moves forward and takes one more hit before saying, “I’m going to go.”

My heart leaps from my chest at his dismissal of speaking of it any further. “Levi, I?—”

“Can you do me a favor?” I’m immediately nodding, because I’d give him anything right now just to not be upset about this anymore. “Stay the fuck inside the house. Is that possible? Can I have a day where I’m not worrying about you running off and landing in one of their hands?”

My jaw aches from keeping a broken sob from escaping my lips. “Yes.”

I expect Levi to have the last word—like he always tries to get—but he strides past me without another glance and down the driveway to leave.

Everything in me wants to stop him and apologize again, but it’s not going to get me anywhere. I backstabbed him and his trust.

And I may never get it again.

FOUR

reeve

TORIN: Celeste is looking for you. You comin’ out tonight?

REEVE: Busy, brother. Tell her I’ll see her Thursday.

TORIN: You might as well bail on that, too. Because she’s bitching about how you haven’t fucked her in three weeks.

REEVE: And she’s only making it worse for herself.

Pocketing my cell,I shove the pads of my fingers underneath the screen of Bay’s bedroom window and pray to fuck it doesn’t scare the shit out of her.

Not that my sneaking into her roomisn’tgoing to do just that. That girl is on guard like she’s holding the Mona Lisa in her room and waiting to ship the thing out.

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