Chapter 12
12
brIAR
“ W hy are these here?” Elara asks as she perches on my bed, her head in her little hands. Her hair is piled on top of her head in a bun from Aunt Isla, and she has a few specks of paint on her cheeks.
“Well, I had to bring some things over here. It’s nice to have a little bit of home, right?” I ask her. I try not to lie to her, but I also can’t tell her the real reason.
“Then why do you look so sad?” She frowns, her brown eyes searching mine.
“Sometimes it’s okay to be sad, Bub. It’s okay to have days like that.”
“I get sad when you tell me to eat my vegetables.”
I purse my lips. “Yeah that’s completely different, silly. Go get ready for bed, okay? We’ll watch a movie before bed.”
She groans. “Fine.”
Sorting through the rest of my CDs, I sigh to myself.
Not many survived, but considering the size of my collection, not many still happens to be a lot. 2 old Styx albums made it, but none of the others. My dad used to get them in a CD subscription in the 90s. There’s a Hysteria vinyl to my right, and a Third Stage vinyl to my left, flanked by my very own collection of CDs. Every Matchbox Twenty album, the Goo Goo Dolls, even some Snow Patrol. And in front of me, toward the back of the pile, is my grand collection of Nickelback CDs and vinyl’s. Because no one can tell me they’re not good.
I wish I had a record player here, but I would bet a million dollars I absolutely do not have that Leo doesn’t have one. And definitely not a CD player. Elara has her Walkman, but I’m not about to take it away from her.
I’ll have to go out and get myself one soon.
A soft knock on my door knocks me out of my daydream, and thinking it’s Elara, I invite them in without a second thought.
“That’s quite the collection you have,” Leo says as he leans against the doorframe. I whip around, taking him all in.
Leo is a large man. As the sister of a professional football player who also happens to be six-four, usually height doesn’t impress me much. But Leo is both tall and large. His lean muscle is impossible to ignore, and I wonder how the hell he maintains it while eating that god awful pizza he’s obsessed with.
“I’ve been collecting them my whole life,” I mumble, tucking my feet underneath me.
“You said.”
“What do you want, Leo?”
“I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
Sighing deeply, I lean against the bed, closing my eyes. I know he means well. I do. But sometimes I just want to be left alone to my sadness.
“I think I’m doing okay. Thank you for tonight,” I tell him sincerely. I really am thankful. I don’t know what I’d do without what he did tonight.
I know even considering not calling the cops after what happened was absolutely insane, especially to Leo. But I don’t think he realizes how much power men with money have. Especially men with money who are friends with half the police force.
Honestly, that should have been a red flag for me. There are a lot of things that should have been a red flag to me.
That familiar tinge of regret and unease threatens to rear its ugly head, but I push it down, refusing to acknowledge it.
Leo nods as his fingers grip the top of the doorframe, and I fight just as hard not to acknowledge his arms. “You can tell me anything, Briar. I know I may not seem like the most trustworthy person on the outside, but I am. And I can help with anything.”
“I think I’ll be fine,” I tell him, not sure what else I can say.
Leo Warner saying something sweet is absolutely not something I ever thought I’d hear, but he’s been nice this entire night.
It’s a side of him that I don’t see too much.
“What’s that one?” he asks, nodding to the right.
“There’s like twenty over there,” I tell him with an eye roll.
“The blue one on top.”
“The Snow Patrol album? One of my favorites.”
“Aren’t they that band that plays that one song?”
I snort, and I watch as his eyes widen, a soft smile playing at his lips. “I mean, they are the band that plays that one song. Just like every single other band here is.”
“You know which one I mean!” he chuckles, his back now to the right side of the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, his muscles popping through the thin material of his long sleeve shirt.
“If you mean Chasing Cars, then yes.”
“What show was that from again?”
I sigh, shaking my head. “I’ve never watched a single episode of Grey’s Anatomy, Leo, and I still know it had something to do with someone dying. ”
It’s probably one of the few reasons I still love that song. Every time I play it, Zara breaks down in tears.
Leo smiles. “Yeah, that one.”
“Anything else I can help you with?” I ask him as the door across from mine opens, Elara finally emerging in her pajamas.
“No, that was all,” he tells me, a playful glimmer in his eyes.
“Leo!” Elara exclaims as she jumps to give him a high-five. “I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“If I got a puppy, could I keep it here?”
“Wait,” I stop her. “Where is this coming from? I said nothing about a puppy ever.”
Elara pops her hip. “I heard Uncle Owen talking to someone on the phone about a puppy,” she says to me before turning back to Leo, leaving me with my jaw hanging. “And I know convincing mom ,” she rolls her eyes in my direction, “isn’t the problem.”
“Excuse me?—"
Leo shakes his head. “No can-do kiddo. I’m not a huge fan of dogs.”
“Why not?”
“They carry fleas.”
She shakes her head, her cheeks turning red. “Not if you take care of them. I’ll brush him every single day. And give him baths.”
Leo looks at me, and if he wasn’t smiling, I’d think he was being tortured.
“I just don’t think it’s a great time for one,” he says, the look in his eye pleading with me to stop it.
But honestly I’m having a little fun.
“Okay well, I’m going to make a list,” Elara nods, flopping onto my bed.
“Of what? ”
“Reasons you need a dog.” Elara sits up, looking down at me still on the floor. “Did you see mom’s collection? You should see how many she has back at home,” she tells him, her voice excited as she changes the subject just as fast as it came up.
His eyes catch mine, and I have to look away.