Page 152 of Pretty Little Lies

Machines bleep back at me, taunting how he can’t speak to me, that this happened, and we may not be fully out of the woods yet.

“Listen, I can’t be held responsible for sugar rushes when you’re not home. I only have one set of eyes, and you know that Ellie gets cookies down for her since she can reach.”

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

“You know the food sucks here, right? You might want to work on waking up so we can get you home.”

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

“And I’m going to have to hold off on school to make sure?—”

“You’re not skipping school,” Levi’s voice retorts back, shoving himself into the conversation he and I are always arguing about. “You’ve barely been lately.”

“Leave it alone, ass clown.” Levi rounds the other side of Dad’s bed and slowly takes a seat in the brown leather chair. “You done with your stare-down with Cairo Black yet?”

Levi folds his tatted hands over his flat stomach and slices his contemplative green gaze to me. “For now. He’s a smart motherfucker.”

“What do you mean?”

“He hasn’t involved himself with you.” My brows clash together. “He has enough on his plate, and he prioritizes himself.”

I shrug, because I have enough on mine with Torin and Reeve, and I’ve barely scratched the surface with Emilio yet—myrealmission.

“We need to shake things up a little bit.”

Mindlessly, I shake my head. There’s already been enoughshakingandjivingaround here. “No. I can’t do it anymore.”

“Emilio needs a push.”

“You need a push,” I snap back, stealing a glance back at Dad helpless in his bed. “This is definitely not the time for a conversation like?—”

“Focus, Bay,” he says, his voice low and soft. I hadn’t realized that he rose from his chair. Nor that he was on his way overto my side of the bed before his bulky arms around my body, turning me to pull me into a bear hug. “Focus.”

“I can’t.” My words break, on the verge of a sob, and this is the worst fucking time to have a breakdown. Clenching my eyes closed, I say, “He needs me.”

“I know,” he whispers in my hair. “But I’m not leaving you alone anymore.”

My eyes peel open before I slowly pry myself from his body. “What do you mean?”

“It means you can’t handle those pricks and Roger’s health at the same time. We’re gonna need to be there. Me, Juice, Hot Rod?—”

“That’s gonna blow our cover.”

“I’m close as fuck with your dad,” he opposes as I peer up at him. “Family first. Everything else second.”

“But—”

“Shut up, Astor.” My lips comply without being asked twice. I just rest my cheek back against Levi’s chest with Dad’s machines filling in the space.

I’m not sure how long we stand there together, but it’s the most at peace I’ve felt since we fake broke up and all this shit changed.

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