5. Did He Always Look Like That?
Did He Always Look Like That?
Zoe
Eight (and a half) years ago
Leo: Munch!!
Me: Quit bothering me. I’m working!
Leo: Say yes, and I’ll quit bothering you. Say no or nothing at all, and I’ll text and call you all day.
I shook my head and growled as I typed my reply.
Me: Fine. You suck. You’re buying my drinks.
I didn’t want to do this. I hadn’t been in a club since before Luke died, but it was Leo’s birthday, and he wasn’t giving me a choice.
Leo: I’ll buy you drinks, and I’ll give you my jacket when we leave. You can even take my bed, and I’ll make you breakfast!
I laughed and slid my phone into my back pocket. He was an idiot, but I knew he’d make sure I was okay — more than that, he’d make sure we had a great time.
I’d only been to a club with Leo a couple of times. He turned twenty-one just a few months before Luke got diagnosed, so we didn’t have a lot of time to go crazy together.
Doug and Bree were coming too, so it would be nice. I just needed to remind myself why I was doing this: for Leo and for Luke.
Leo was family. He’d lived three houses away from us for as long as I could remember and had been my brother’s best friend since they could barely walk. He’s the reason I had Luke.
Luke was the same age as me and Bree, and when he came to live with Leo and his dad when he was thirteen, Leo brought him over to our house, and that was pretty much that. I just knew.
He’d been a troubled kid. City life wasn’t working out for him, and he was heading down the wrong path. Before it got out of hand, his mom sent him to live with her brother in Forest Falls; the small town I loved wouldn’t stand for his bratty bullshit.
And it didn’t. Luke fitted in like he was always meant to be there. He loved it, and once we kissed at fifteen, it was all over. He was my soulmate.
‘Damn, girl, you look like the best kind of trouble.’
Leo never had a problem complimenting me, and his enthusiastic catcall as I climbed out of my car outside his house made me laugh, even as heat raced up my neck to my cheeks.
‘Quit it.’ I smacked his chest as he hugged me.
‘Good to see you, munch. Thank you for coming.’
‘Get off my sister, jackass.’ Doug’s deep voice came from behind Leo as he let me go, grinning the whole time, and my brother wrapped me up in his arms, kissing the top of my head. ‘Hey, I’m glad you came,’ he added softly, and I squeezed him a little tighter before letting him go.
‘Where’s Bree?’
My twin had been staying with Doug in the city while she was on a training course for work. She was in the process of setting up Forest Falls’ first ever, very own police department, and it was taking up all her time. She was too young to be in charge of a whole town, according to basically every old white man she talked to about it, but she was doing it anyway.
‘I’m here, I’m here.’ She rushed out of the front door and ran straight to me. We weren’t used to spending this much time apart. ‘Our asshole brother kicked me out, so I was dropping off my stuff upstairs.’
‘You kicked her out?’ I glared at him, and he shrugged.
‘Zo, I need to get laid. I’m backing up.’
‘Too much information, dickhead.’ I punched his arm, and he clutched at it as Leo and Bree laughed. ‘What about you? We’re not cramping your style tonight?’ I directed at Leo, and he grinned.
‘I’m going to have not one but two beautiful women in my bed tonight. I can’t complain.’
‘You’re not going to be in the bed with them, asshole,’ Doug snapped as Leo put his arms around mine and Bree’s shoulders, and we started to walk away. ‘Hey, you’re not in the bed with them! Keep it in your pants. That’s my sisters you’re talking about.’
We laughed, all of us knowing Leo would be on the couch but also loving how it made Doug sweat.
‘Dance.’ Leo shouted over the loud music as he held out his hands for mine. He hadn’t left my side all night. That didn’t surprise me. I knew he still felt this obligation to take care of me, but I didn’t want to cramp his style. He was young and gorgeous. He should be out there meeting people.
‘I don’t want to dance,’ I called back, and he pulled me up and into his arms.
‘Bullshit,’ he was able to say quieter now I was closer. ‘You love to dance. Come on.’
Bree and Doug were at the bar doing shots with a couple he knew, so it was just me and Leo, and I couldn’t keep saying no.
He dragged me to the edge of the dance floor and pulled my body to his once more, then started to move us to the music.
‘Jesus, munch, relax. This is more like moving a refrigerator than dancing.’
I laughed. I always laughed with him.
Stepping back, I shook my shoulders and hands, then stepped back to him and brought one hand up to his shoulder, the other to his bicep. Hmm… had they always been so defined?
His tight gray T-shirt was folded up a little on his arms, and I noticed the way the fabric stretched across the muscle.
‘Do you work out?’ I asked absentmindedly, and he smirked.
‘Was that a line? You hittin’ on me, munch?’
I stepped back, my eyes widening. ‘No, what, no I…’
‘I’m kidding.’ He pulled me back. ‘Yes, I do work out. I don’t go crazy, but I like to stay in shape. It helps when you spend all day hunched over designs and working on clients to keep your body strong.’
That made sense. I relaxed in his arms as he moved us onto the dance floor a little more until we were in the thick of it.
As the time passed, I danced with Leo, and I danced with Bree. Doug spent a little time with us until he met a woman he wanted to take home and left, and we drank — a lot.
‘I need food.’ I groaned over the music, and Leo nodded, then reached out to tap Bree’s arm and get her attention from the guy she was talking to.
‘Food.’ he shouted, and she nodded yes, joining us as we got our things together and headed for the door.
‘My head hurts.’ Bree groaned next to me, and I pulled a pillow over my head. I knew Leo had changed the sheets yesterday for us, but I could still smell him on them. Maybe he took a nap, or maybe his scent was just ingrained in the fabric. Whatever it was, it settled me.
‘Up and at ‘em, ladies, coffee’s hot.’
Bree and I looked up to see Leo poking his head around his bedroom door, and I whined.
‘How are you so perky?’
He stepped into the room, and I felt Bree tense next to me as I did the same. He was shirtless, in just a pair of shorts, and, Jesus Christ, did he look good. He didn’t look like Luke. Luke had dark auburn hair and bright blue eyes, whereas Leo was dark with olive-toned skin he got from his mother. Not that I ever met her, but I saw pictures. Dark hair with an irresistible wave that caught the light and the most ridiculously green eyes — and the tattoos, sweet lord , the tattoos covering his arms, chest, and back were so … no, don’t even think it, Zoe.
‘I’m always perky.’ He winked, oh god . ‘Now come on, get up.’
He turned to leave the room, and Bree and I turned to look at each other.
‘Um, did he always look like that?’ she whispered.
‘Well, I mean, I don’t know. I guess I never really looked.’
‘He was always hot, but was he always so…’
‘Ripped?’ I breathed the word, and she giggled.
‘What are y’all gossiping about?’ he called out.
‘Never you mind. Fix my bacon,’ I called out quickly, afraid of him hearing us discussing him.
We climbed out of bed and straightened the linens, working together without a word.
‘Would you ever go there?’
‘With Leo?’ my voice was high, tight. ‘I… what… would you?’ Her question made me uncomfortable.
‘If you’d have asked me before, it would have been a hell fuckin’ no. Now, it’s a solid I don’t think I would, but …’
‘No, stop it. It’s Leo.’ I didn’t want her thinking of him, talking about him that way. It was Leo, my Leo.
‘I might just go and see if he needs any help in the kitchen.’ She waggled her eyebrows and stepped toward the door, and panic rushed out of me.
‘Bree, stop.’
Turning to me, she narrowed her gaze for just a second, then put her hand on my arm.
‘Relax. I’m just going to the bathroom.’ She started to walk away, then turned back to me. ‘Maybe you should go see if he needs help, though.’
And I stood still for a moment, watching her walk away, wondering what she meant by her tone and the look in her eyes before doing exactly as she said.