Sweet Fall (Sweet Home #2)(56)
Lexi’s sleeve-covered palm lifted over her mouth and her eyes grew to the size of the moon. “Have… have you… killed anyone?” Her focus was all on the stidda on my cheek, like she could see the answer if she stared long enough.
Closing my eyes, I tried to stay calm by breathing in real slow through my nose. “I shot someone in the chest. Never knew if it woulda killed him or not.”
“You didn’t stick around to find out?” she whispered anxiously.
I glimpsed at Levi watching me for my answer too, and I shrugged. “Didn’t have to. Axe shot him between the eyes before I ever found out. He was a key member of their crew and he needed to be taken out.”
Water filled Lexi’s eyes, and I felt Levi hang his head. In shame, disappointment? I didn’t wanna know.
“Hello, you must be Levi,” Lexi said, moving on from what I’d just revealed and addressed my brother. I watched Lexi smile at him in easy acceptance. Levi blushed and nodded his head. As Lexi shook his hand, the edge of Levi’s bottom lip sucked in like he always did when he was nervous.
I bent down to Lexi and laid a grateful kiss on her head. I was thankful she was being kind to my brother, but more thankful to God that knowing another element of my f*cked-up past, she hadn’t cut her losses and run.
“Yeah, I am. Who… who are you?” Levi asked Lexi quietly, and I moved out of the way to shut us in the privacy of the trailer and away from prying eyes.
As I watched my fourteen-year-old brother stumble and sputter his introduction, my chest filled with regret. This kid before me was dealing coke. This nervous, bumbling kid was out on the streets, selling snow to junkies. Putting his young life on the line so Mamma could live pain free.
Everything about his life, this life, was so f*ckin’ wrong, and I had no idea how the hell to fix it for him.
“My name’s Lexi,” Pix answered and let go of his hand.
Levi looked over Pix’s head to me, then back again, that same damn blush coating his cheeks. Levi wasn’t like Axel. He wasn’t full of confidence, arrogant or rude, thinking he could take on anyone no matter how strong. He wasn’t like me, all jaded, angry at the whole f*ckin’ world, and pessimistic to the nth degree. Levi was a thinker; he was quiet, barely saying a word if he wasn’t forced to. Preferred to listen and learn than be the center of attention. He had more natural athletic ability than anyone I’d ever known. And he was smart. Real f*ckin’ smart. And because we needed coin for Mamma to live the rest of her days in relative comfort, he was forced to work the streets and put himself in harm’s way.
“Are you… Austin’s girlfriend?”
My breath paused at Levi’s sudden question as I waited for what Pix would say. When only silence followed, I felt my stomach fall into that empty pit of disappointment.
Levi looked to me. “Is she, Aust? She your girl?”
Walking toward the two, I placed my hands on Levi’s shoulders and said, “She’s my Pix. That’s all you need to know.”
I saw Levi frown in confusion at my answer but heard the quick inhale of Lexi’s breath behind me, and I turned to see a sweet, stunned expression on her face.
That satisfied whisper of happiness right there made my whole f*ckin’ life. Chest cracked, heart exposed—whole f*ckin’ life.
“Austin?” My mamma’s barely-there voice drifted from the direction of the bedroom, and as always, I instantly felt weak. I wasn’t a twenty-one-year-old gangbanger and potential NFL player at this moment. I was a helpless young kid whose mamma was slowly dying. Seeing Mamma worsen by the day was completely killing me.
“Si, Mamma. Sono qui. I’ll be through with your meds in just a minute,” I shouted back, then lowered my voice once again. “What the hell happened tonight, Lev? You’re a f*ckin’ mess.”
For the first time since we walked in, I took a real look at all of Levi’s face. Gritting my teeth, I put my fingers below his chin and lifted his lowered head. His whole right cheek was red and grazed, his skin caked with dried blood.
Anger infused my body. “You were targeted at the drive-by?” I wasn’t really asking the question because I knew the answer already. He’d clearly dived to the ground and had the gravel-scratched evidence all over his face.
“At least I wasn’t hit, Aust. Seba and Carlo were. Carlo in his arm, but Seba… right through his chest. That’s where Axe is now, at the hospital with Gio, seeing if Seba pulls through. That’s why the place is so quiet.” Levi’s eyes filled with tears. “Not sure he’s gonna make it… There was so much blood and he’d stopped breathing when they all left.” Levi dropped his head again, and as I followed his eyes, I caught sight of his formerly white sneakers now coated with blood.
My fingers ached from how tightly my fists were clenched. And, turning, I had to walk away to the living room of the trailer to get some space. I had to… had to—
A gentle hand lay on my shoulder, distracting me from my anger, and I felt myself slowly exhale. I knew it was Lexi. I’d come to recognize that small stroke of her hand on my back, that reaction of calm my body adopted when she was close. That complete and utter peace you only got from someone you trusted implicitly.
“You okay, Austin?” she asked softly.
Dropping to the faded red-rose-patterned couch, I ran my hands down my face, then looked up to Lexi, looking mighty out of place is this broke down tin palace.