22. Leo
Chapter twenty-two
Leo
I t all happened so fast.
One second I’m watching Scarlett move gracefully and sensually on the dance floor, my cock straining against my pants as she sways her hips to the beat of the music in that skin-hugging pink dress. In the following second, I glance at Vin as he disappears down a dark hallway with a woman at his side. And in the third and final second, when I look back to where Scarlett was dancing, she’s gone.
“What the fuck?” I jump up from the table and make my way over to my sister, grabbing her arm. “Where the fuck is Scarlett?”
“Calm down, Caveman.” She pushes my hand away. “She just went to the bathroom.”
“You know she can’t be alone.” I narrow my eyes at her. “Why didn’t you go with her?”
She stops dancing, placing her hands on her hips, displeasure written all over her face. “One, I offered to go with her, but she didn’t want any company, so I respected her wishes. And two.” She focuses her eyes on me as she pokes her index finger in my chest. “You need to give her space, Leo. She needs to breathe, and not with you breathing down her neck all the damn time. You’ll make her feel like a prisoner all over again.”
I grind my back teeth. “You have no fucking idea what she’s been through.”
“Don’t I, though?” she snaps back at me, her face paling as remorse spreads across her features.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“N-nothing.” She pushes her hair behind her ear, and I can’t help but notice a tiny tremble in her fingers. She clears her throat, straightening her shoulders. “Nothing.” Her hand, now clear of any nerves, motions toward the back of the room. “The bathroom is that way.” She turns around, giving me her back as she makes her way toward Alina.
I shake my head in frustration. I don’t have time to play fucking games. Storming off toward the bathroom, I push past a few bystanders until I find myself in front of the door.
Knock. Knock. “Scarlett, it’s Leo.”
Nothing.
My hand pulls down on the doorknob, but it’s locked.
Knock! Knock! Knock! “Scarlett. Open the door, baby.”
One second…two seconds…three seconds…
Fuck this.
I rotate my neck and then roll my shoulders before lifting my right leg and putting all my force behind a kick that blasts the door wide open.
My eyes jump around the dark space before immediately landing on Scarlett, curled in a ball next to the vanity. Tears stream down her cheeks as she trembles like a leaf. Her wide-open eyes are glossed over, lost in another world.
In two strides, I’m standing before her, kneeling. My hands cup her cheeks, turning her face toward mine. “What happened?”
She says nothing, her eyes looking at me but not seeing me.
She’s in shock.
“Scarlett. Look at me, baby.” I brush my lips across hers as one of my hands slides around her neck. My thumb rests on her pulse point, beating out of control. As I pull back, her dazed eyes blink a few times, the ghosts of her past slowly disappearing from view. “Good girl.” I swipe back her hair. “I’m here. You’re safe.” I run my hands down her arms, gliding my fingers up and down, hoping my touch will bring her back to me. “Tell me what happened.”
Her lips part, but no sound comes out. Hesitantly, her hand lifts, and with a shaking finger, she points to her phone lying on the floor across from us.
I reach for it, swiping across the screen until I see what has her in this state of panic.
Unknown Number
Always mine.
I clench the phone between my fingers as fury sweeps through me. Engulfing me until I’m practically seeing red.
This fucking bastard.
Shoving her phone in my back pocket, I don’t wait a second before lifting her in my arms and carrying her out of the bathroom. She tucks her head against my chest, the shivering in her body intensifying as we move through the club. Her fingers grip my shirt as tight as she can, holding on to me as if I might disappear from her grasp.
I make it to the table, where I find Eli and Mauro, hands on their concealed weapons tucked into their pants, ready for an imminent attack.
“Get the girls and find Vin,” I order them. “We’re leaving now. And get a hold of Alex. Tell him we got a new message. But this time, it went to Scarlett’s phone.”
I don’t wait for their responses as I turn and exit, barreling out of the building like a bull with a taste of freedom for the first time.
We make it to the house in minutes, and after carrying Scarlett to our room, I place her on the bed, noticing that her shaking has subsided, but not entirely. I wrap a blanket around her shoulders and then head to the bathroom, turning on the faucet to the cast iron clawfoot tub. My fingers swirl in the water, ensuring it’s the perfect temperature. Searching in the cabinets, I find a bottle of lavender bubble bath and pour some of it in the water.
Going back to Scarlett, I pause in the doorway.
She looks lost. Scared. Helpless. And it breaks me.
It fucking breaks me.
I take a few steps until I stand before her and place my hand on her cheek. She melts into my touch as if needing my strength.
“We need to get you into a warm bath. Okay, baby?”
She nods, staring off. Her mind is clearly lost in a dark place. And I’m not sure what she’s seeing, but it’s scaring the fuck out of me.
Carefully, I lift her, slowly walking back into the bathroom and dimming the harsh lights to a mere glow. I stand her before the tub, the blanket falling to the floor around her.
“I’m going to take your clothes off. Okay?”
She nods.
“I need to hear you say it’s okay, Scarlett.”
Her lips part. “I-it’s o-okay.”
I reach behind her and slowly unzip her dress. Not in a sensual way filled with lust. But in a way that won’t have her scared of my touch. That won’t erase all the progress we’ve made with each other. A way that tells her I want to help her. I want to make her feel better.
As the dress falls to her feet, she steps out of it. My eyes graze over her, loving every piece of her before me. I unclasp her bra, and she wiggles her arms, letting it fall to the floor as well. Kneeling, I glide my thumbs on each side of her underwear and slip it down her thighs and calves. As I reach her ankles, she steps out of those as well, her hand reaching out to me, gripping my shoulder for support.
Standing, I hold a hand out for her, letting her know it’s time to step into the tub. She takes my hand, gripping my fingers as she slowly lowers herself, bubbles surrounding her. She bends her knees, resting her head on them as she wraps her arms around her legs, keeping her eyes closed.
Just as I’m about to sit on the floor—because I’m not leaving her goddamn sight—her whisper fills the space between us.
“Can you…come in with me?”
I don’t hesitate. I strip myself bare, kicking my clothes to the corner before sliding in behind her. She slowly leans against me, and I take that as an invitation to wrap my arms around her, holding her against my chest.
She fits perfectly in my arms.
But the contrast between us doesn’t go unnoticed. Besides our significant scars—her back and my hand—we have more differences than similarities. Where her skin is smooth, mine is rough. Her body is like a piece of porcelain; mine is a tattoo-plagued being. Her hair is a soft blonde cascading smoothly down her shoulders, but mine is dark and messy.
Yet somehow, we work, blending light and dark together, creating a space where only we fit.
She reaches hesitantly for the closest bottle of shampoo, but I stop her, wrapping my fingers tenderly around her wrist. “Let me.” She nods, shifting forward just the tiniest bit. I grab the spray nozzle and turn on the water, my other hand reaching in front of her to tilt her head back as I soak her hair. I then take the shampoo and pop the lid, inhaling the sweet scent of peaches and apples. My hands rub a dollop amount together between my palms before I lather it in her hair, massaging her scalp.
She lets out a soft moan, relishing my touch. I rinse the shampoo and do the same thing with the conditioner.
When I’ve finished, she turns in my arms, facing me. Her blue eyes no longer appear lost but clear and beautiful. Present. “Thank you.”
I press my lips to her shoulder. “Is this helping?”
“Yes.” I feel her body relax in my hold as she closes her eyes and snuggles her face into my chest. One of my hands rests on her stomach, my thumb gliding back and forth across her smooth skin as my other hand rests on her thigh.
Silence fills the room as we lose track of time and stay just like this, neither of us wanting to move.
As Scarlett falls asleep in my arms and peace surrounds us, I stare out the French doors beside the tub, overlooking the ocean. I think about all of the things I’m going to do to Le Diable once I get my hands on him before I kill him and then kill him again and again and again.
Because I may not be God, but I hold the power to bring that motherfucker back to life over and over again simply so I can kill him in every single imaginative way I can think of.
I won’t stop until he breaks.