Chapter 20 #2
Honestly, I’m not surprised that men are scared of her.
I’m a little scared of her. Her hair, tattoos, and lipstick are the only color she has.
Her clothes are all black, from her black latex crop top to her skin-tight black leather pants and sky-high black leather pumps. Even her fingernails are painted black.
BJ’s wasn’t the type of place that put much thought into the costumes. The only theme the club had was almost naked and fully naked. But Leo looks a little like a more badass version of Dita Von Teese, the burlesque dancer.
She’s terrifyingly sexy, and honestly, I feel incredibly dull in comparison.
After I’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes, I start to regret coming here.
Octy has been nice to me so far, but we barely know each other, and once she hears what I’ve done, I doubt she’ll be interested in helping the woman who has hurt her husband’s friend.
“I should go,” I say, pushing off of the couch.
“I’m pretty good at advice. Why don’t you tell me what you planned on telling Octy, and maybe I can help,” Leo offers.
“Oh…I,” I mumble.
“Hey, we’re strangers, so there’s no judgment here, and if I do get judgy, well, then we probably won’t ever see each other again unless you decide to get a tattoo or something pierced.”
Chuckling weakly, I shrug. “I guess that’s true.”
“So…”
“I met a guy.”
“Always fun.”
“He helped me when I really needed help, and we fell for each other,” I start.
“I’m sensing there’s going to be a but,” Leo says with a soft smile.
“He asked me to marry him.”
“That’s the but?” she questions.
“Sort of. He told me he loved me and asked me to marry him. He takes care of me in a way no one ever has before. But it all feels one-sided.”
“One-sided how?” she asks, leaning forward toward me.
“I live in his house and eat his food. He got me a card for his bank account.”
“Okay.” She elongates the word.
“I told him I had an interview for a job, but he doesn’t want me to work because he works long hours and he’s worried that if I’m working too, we won’t have time to spend together.
So we got into an argument, and I…” Swallowing thickly, I close my eyes and cringe at the memory of what I said to him.
“I said that if I don’t find some way to contribute, that he’s basically buying me, that he’s paying me for sex with a nice house and food. ”
“Oh…wow…” Leo says, her perfectly curved eyebrows rising in surprise.
“I know,” I groan, burying my face in my hands. “I’m an asshole.”
“What did he say after you accused him of trying to buy you?” she asks.
“He made me breakfast, then drove me to my interview, and then afterward he dropped me off at an apartment. He rented it for me and offered to pay for it until I get my salary and can pay for it myself. He told me that he didn’t expect anything in return, and if I wanted to pay him back, I should just donate the money to charity,” I admit.
“Fuck,” she hisses.
“I ruined everything. I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried calling him, and I left him a voice message, but I think he blocked me, and I just want to go home because I love him,” I blurt, my voice thickening as tears stream down my face.
“Did you mean it? Do you feel like he’s been buying you?” she asks bluntly.
“At first, it all seemed too good to be true. I mean, who finds someone who needs help and just helps them without expecting something in return? But then after we…figured out the attraction between us, I felt like maybe I was using him. I worried that I was only attracted to him because he was giving me so much.”
“But?”
“But then I realized that I just liked him and I had sex with him because I love him and he makes me feel things I didn’t even know I could feel.
He asked me to marry him, and I told him I couldn’t because I didn’t want to feel like I was just taking from him.
When I told him about the job interview, I thought he’d be happy.
I was excited to be able to contribute, to feel like I was his equal, and not just a mooch, but then he told me he didn’t want me to work and that he could take care of me.
So I got mad, and I said all the stuff about him buying me.
I didn’t mean it, but now it’s over, and I don’t know what to do or how to fix this. ”
For a minute, Leo looks stunned. “Wow, that’s a lot to process. How long have you been together?”
“Less than two weeks.”
Blinking comically, she screws up her face, then smooths her expression again. “A dude you’ve known for a week asked you to marry him, and you were thinking about saying yes?”
I nod. “It’s insane. I know it’s insane, but apparently this town is crazy, and the men are crazy, and two weeks isn’t even close to being the fastest relationship that’s ended in marriage,” I ramble. “Ask Betty and Octy.”
Scoffing lightly, Leo nods. “Oh, I definitely will. But what was the plan? What are you hoping Octy will do?”
I shrug, because honestly, I don’t really have a plan. I was hoping that she would. “I don’t know. How do I fix this?”
“I mean…and don’t take this the wrong way, but is there a chance that this dude only helped you because he wanted to fuck you? I mean, look at you, you’re a walking wet dream, with your cute teenage butt and that innocent face. Maybe he’s acting butthurt now because you called him on it?” Leo asks.
“No.” I shake my head. “He’s just a good guy. I’m the asshole.”
“Okay. Well…sorry is usually a pretty good place to start if you’ve fucked up. There’s no guarantee that he’ll forgive you, but if he does actually love you and doesn’t just want to fuck you, then I’m fairly sure he will.”
“He won’t answer my calls.”
“So go and find him.”
“His house is halfway up the mountain. I don’t have a car, and there’s no buses that run that way.”
“I can drive you,” Leo says.
“What? Really?”
“Sure. I’m invested now, and I don’t have any more clients until tonight, so I can drive you to him. Plus, we’re friends now, and this is what you do for your friends.”
“We’re friends?” I question.
“Oh, fuck yeah, we are,” she says, smiling widely, her blood-red lipstick making her look equal parts terrifying and excited. “Leonora O’Gallagher, but don’t ever call me that,” she warns with a grin.
“Verity Sanders.”
“Come on then, let’s go get you your man,” Leo says excitedly, swinging her legs and sliding off the desk.
I stare up at her, then nod and follow her toward the door.
“I’m heading out for a bit. You’ll have to cope if there’s a walk-in,” Leo shouts to no one in particular.
“Okay,” someone calls back.
“Let’s go,” she says, taking my hand and towing me outside and toward a flashy-looking red Mustang convertible. “Get in,” she orders, sliding into the driver’s seat and staring at me expectantly until I climb into the other side.
The moment my seat belt is fastened, she starts the engine and guns the car away from the curb, speeding through town and toward the road that leads up the mountain.
“I’m assuming he lives up near the Barnetts’ place?”
“On the ranch next door,” I confirm, glad that she has some idea how to get there, because I’ve never really paid attention to where we were going when Warrick was driving.
We make it to the mountain in record time, because Leo drives like a maniac, singing along loudly to the radio and throwing her car around the tightly bending road like she’s a race car driver.
My fingers are white from holding onto the seat and the door, and I feel a little sick, but Leo seems completely oblivious as she turns to me. “Okay, so where am I going? That’s the turn-off for the Barnetts’,” she says as we zoom past.
“It’s the next turn on the right,” I tell her.
Gravel rips up behind us as she swings her car to the right and speeds past the sign for the Williams Ranch.
“Left here,” I say, seconds before she drifts to the left and into Jumpers Row, barely missing a car parked outside James and Buck’s house.
“Oh, this is cute,” she says. “Which house?”
I point to Warrick’s home, and she slams on her brakes, skidding to a stop outside.
“Give me your cell,” she demands.
I hand it over, and she quickly types in her number, then saves it under bestie in my contacts.
Calling herself from my cell, she just as quickly saves my number in her phone before she hands mine back to me.
“Okay, go get your man. I’ll wait fifteen minutes, then leave.
If you need me to come and pick you up, just give me a call. ”
“Why are you helping me?” I blurt.
“I’m new to town, and we’ve bonded over your trauma. I’m now your ride-or-die bestie,” she says with a grin.
I don’t know why, but her words make complete sense. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Once you’re done fucking and making up, call me, and we can make plans. Also, I’m going to need to give you some kind of piercing to cement our new bestieship, so ask your man if he’d rather you have your clit or your nipples pierced.”
“What?” I squeak.
“I have both. I recommend you get your clitoral hood; you’ll have to be careful with it for a while, but it’s a game changer.” She winks, then nods in the direction of his house. “Go get him. I’ll be here if it all goes to shit.”
“Thank you, Leo,” I say, leaning across the car to give her a one-armed hug before I climb out on shaky legs and make my way toward the front door.
The key he gave me is in my purse, but it feels wrong to let myself in when he basically kicked me out. Lifting my fist, I knock on the door, then take a step back and wait.