Page 44 of Pretty Little Lies

“Talk’s over,” Torin deadpans flatly, uninterested in my ex’s disdain and taking a head-to-toe inventory of my body. “Did he touch you?”

“No,” I mutter, discarding the fact that he did when he spun me around, but I’m not about to see blood spilled and a whole lot of chaos ensue for that.

“Don’t lie to me,” Torin retorts softly. “I want to know if there was skin-to-skin contact made before I?—”

“I always touch her, Wildes,” Matteo volunteers, making my skin crawl with memories. “She was my woman. I told her what to do. She was inmybed at night, waiting for me to fuck her until she screamed. Bay was, and always has been, my sweet little slut.Always ready for me. There was never a time when she’d turn me down. She even would play with that sweet little pussy in front of my boys and—” A distinct click snaps my neck back to Torin as he calmly has a gun pointed right at Matteo’s chest.

“Continue,” Torin coaxes as if my ex is stupid enough to do so.

He could.

However, there are too many witnesses for Torin to murder Matteo right here, but I’m sure he has connections. Someone to erase any security footage or money to pay people off.

My ex chuckles at my side, as if Torin has a water pistol aimed at him. “I’ll spare you the details. Maybe Bay can tell you all about it later.”

Fuck no.

“And she said no, didn’t she?” Matteo vouches. “What are you, her new bodyguard? You’re a long way away from home, Wildes. I wouldn’t fuck with me when you don’t have your butt buddies around.”

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Torin argues back. “You’ve been takin’ it up the ass from me for years.”

Matteo moves forward, and I flinch back, unable to help it. Everything about my ex freaks me out.

Torin notices and counters Matteo’s step with one of his own. His gun still raised, people are starting to notice, freezing in place and slowly stepping away. “This is the last time you see her. The final time you speak to her. And, by all means, try to do it again. I’ve been waiting to kill you for years, De Leon.”

“You’re out of line,” Matteo leers. “Your little antics of trying to steal her from me never really worked out for you, did they? You might be closer, Wildes, but I know where she belongs, and so does she. My girl even has a tattoo of my initials on that pretty little body, don’t you, baby?”

Tears burn the back of my eyes, because I did. Until I had them filled in with a black heart because that’s what I felt as though I had.

“I’ll be sure to fix that,” Torin replies matter-of-factly. “And I’ll make sure you have mine before I bury you in the ground so we can always be together.” Matteo scoffs haughtily. “Now, get the fuck out of my sight.”

“I’m not done yet.”

“You don’t get within a mile radius of what belongs to me, De Leon, and I’m going to start ripping limbs off and feeding them to my dogs.”

He has dogs?

A humorless chortle leaves Matteo's throat. “Funny you should mention that, because I remember tellin’ you the same fucking thing.” He takes a step forward and holds Torin’s glower. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into with this one. Didn’t before either. She has Wallace wrapped around her finger, but he won’t be gone long. And where do you think that’s going to leave you, Wildes?”

“Exactly where I am now.”

“Confident little prick still,” Matteo muses. “But not everything is what it seems.” He snidely bumps Torin with his shoulder when he turns to me, not giving a shit that he touched Torin in the first place. He smiles, and it’s not a warm, cuddly smile, but one that believes I’m between a rock and a hard place. “I’ll give you some time. You’re a smart woman, Bay. You know what happens after this. If Levi finds out, word on the street is that you’re dead.”

We all know what sort of falsehood that is, but I don’t correct him.

“We’ll be in touch,” he promises, only digging himself a deeper grave when Levi finds out about all this because it won’t be mine.

He strides away, not a care in the world, and I’m able to take my first real breath in the last five minutes of hell.

I try to steady my heart rate but, when Torin stands directly in front of me, it only beats at a new and hasty pace.

“Well…you’re lookin’ fine as fuck today.” The comment throws me off for a moment, because it’s literally the last thing I expect out of his mouth after all the vile things Matteo just said. “How’s my Wildfire doing today?”

“What are you doing here?” I press back, brows clenched. This isn’t his stomping grounds, and I can’t think of a single reason why he’d be here.

“Aren’t you glad that I am?” He quirks a brow because, in his head, he’s God’s gift to me, apparently.

But, yes, unfortunately, I am.

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