Page 94 of X's and O's

She had a point. Levi and I definitely had some things to work through.

But more than that, I wanted the family Rebel and Bliss had described. I had Toby, but I could already see a life where he and Devin wanted their own space to be a couple. At some point, he’d move out.

Then I’d be all alone again, just like I’d been before Toby had walked into my life.

I didn’t want to hold him back. And I didn’t want to be alone.

Bad things happened when there was nobody to have your back.

But that meant letting new people in and putting myself out there, even if that meant opening myself up to being hurt when they inevitably left me.

The picture Bliss and Rebel had painted was too sweet to pass up.

I’d just ignore Levi. We could learn to be in the same place at the same time. I could forget all the promises we’d made each other, all the secrets and hopes and dreams we’d shared.

I’d just pretend I didn’t know him at all.

It was either that or torture myself with all the thoughts of what we could have been. And I think I’d already tortured myself enough.

24

WHIP

Grayson:

Did your group pick a target yet? The others have gone through three off the list so far and gotten nowhere.

The text had come in hours before. I could practically hear the anxiousness in Grayson’s voice. That second letter had rattled us all, but Grayson especially, and I hated that. Out of all of us, Grayson didn’t deserve to be targeted. He might have started the group, but we were the ones with blood on our hands. We were the predators, hunting in the night. We were the ones who should have been in danger now, and yet whoever this asshole was, who was trying to turn the tables, had the pecking order all wrong.

They needed to come for me or X or Trig.

Not Gray and his family.

I knew Grayson would be able to see I’d read hismessage and would be waiting for a reply. But the one I had to give him, that no, we hadn’t done anything about picking a target from the list to hunt down, was not one I wanted to put into writing.

It wasn’t my style to not do a thing I said I was going to do. And Grayson, of all people, wasn’t someone I wanted to let down.

X wasn’t a problem. He drove me insane, but I was well used to him.

Getting together with Levi though…

A tension knot formed in my neck at the very thought of him.

Fucking asshole. My lip was still fat from where it had connected with his knuckles.

But X was too off in la-la land to organize his way out of a paper bag right now, and Levi was too new to the group to have any idea what was going on, so it was up to me to get this show on the road. The fact Trig, Ace, and Torch had made more progress than I had was insulting. Ace and Torch combined had about as many brain cells as my pinkie.

Instead of texting Doc, I sent one out telling my group to meet me at my place in Saint View in an hour. I included the address for Levi, since he hadn’t been there before.

Forty-five minutes later, the obnoxious music of an ice cream van filtered through from the street outside. I glanced at the clock and muttered, “What kind of sugar truck comes around at ten at the night?”

But the music got louder and louder until I opened the blinds and found the fucking truck sitting in my driveway, X behind the wheel.

I opened the door. “Seriously?”

He glanced up and stuck his head out of the window. “I can’t get the music to stop!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I jogged down the steps barefoot to his side. “Let me have a look.”