Page 58 of Pretty Little Lies

“So is being his bitch,” he retorts like a fucking class-A douchebag. He reaches my buzz a little bit with his shitty attitude, but I send his dancing partner an apologetic grin instead.

Cairo leans over her shoulder then, blocking me from her face and he stays there for an annoyingly long moment before straightening his spine and smacking her ass. She ambles away, not bothering to glance at me while Cairo turns to face me again.

However, he doesn’t move.

Okay.

Pivoting, mygoal has been reachedlevel has been completed, and I begin to make my way back to the dude that doesn’t spew his asshole shit to me before Cairo opens that big-ass mouth again.

“You gonna be around for a while or what?”

Navigating my focus back to him, I’m not going to do it again. I need another beer from the dowsing he’s throwing on my once-tipsy state. “Or what?”

“Here…with my boys.” I heave my shoulders dismissively because more than likely. I’m not about to get into why and what I need to do about shit. Tonight is my freebie, my relaxing night, my fucking break. “That’s how they’re talking.”

“Talk about me a lot?”

“Not particularly. I wish you’d disappear.” He whirls his index finger around, and I notice symbols on his knuckles that I never noticed before. “You’re no good for anyone around here.”

“Thanks for your two cents. I’ll use them to buy a fuck.” He stares at me evenly tempered, and I give. I understand his worry, how he’d want to protect his friends from a South Shore girl. It’s not exactly a secret how we feel about each other. “You’re afraid I’m going to break Reeve’s heart?”

“No.”

“Torin’s?”

He scoffs through his nose, wrinkling it as if that’d never be an unpenetrable feat I’d ever conquer. “Definitely not.”

“Then yours.”

“Oh, yeah, Little Terror, terrified.” He steps closer, and I smell the leather of his coat, along with the weed and rosemary coming off his skin and clothes. The faded cut on the sides of his head gives him that edgy effect paired with his gauged ears. However, he’s the most boring of the three. “I’ll be so bent out of shape when you’re gone.”

“Gosh.” I force a sigh, even though it’s more like a swoon so it sounds real. “With words like that, how will we ever tell Vivian that you’re secretly in love with me?” I narrow my eyes. “I mean, being in your presence is as exciting as watching the fucking grass grow.”

Cairo’s facial expression still doesn’t crack, remaining stoic and placid as all hell. It’s insanely impressive. “Guess we’ll have to figure that out.”

“Yeah, well…I’ll be sure not to hold my breath while that phenomenon takes place. Might be dead by then. And you should smile sometimes, Car. It might look good on you. Maybe it’d even take the stick out of your ass.”

“It might. If there was something to fucking smile about.” His chest bumps mine, and it takes me a second longer to regain my footing. The dick. “Stay the fuck out of my way. Stay the fuck away from Matteo De Leon. He’s inmine, and you don’t want to get there either.”

He bumps me again with his hard biceps when he walks away, leaving me to stare at the stage crew setting up for the next gig.

My phone buzzes in my small clutch hanging at my hip as I fish it out, watching the stage crew set up the show’s next set. And what’s awaiting me, couldn’t come at a better time.

LEVI: Why do you look upset?

My lips heave, he’s here—somewhere.

BAY: Just suffered some severe whiplash from Black. The dude’s a real peach.

LEVI: You got two of the three in the palm of your hand, don’t sweat him. He’ll be overruled in time.

BAY: I think he might be more of a problem.

LEVI: Well, you wanted to spare them so badly. We need to find out where their headspace is going to be when we get rid of Emilio. Are we fleeing the country or can we kick it and chill?

BAY: This is a lot of socializing.

LEVI: LOL.

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