Chapter 14
Leo
I ’d returned early from my meeting with some of my uncle’s men.
As I approach the apartment I know something is wrong.
The light is on in Nora’s bedroom, but she isn’t there.
As I enter, I see her front door is wide open, a boot mark under the knob where someone has kicked it in.
Running inside, I see the asshole from the library with his hands around her throat.
Instinct takes over as I drag him off Nora.
My fists rain down furiously with the deadly precision of a boxer.
I forget I’m supposed to be Max the friendly neighbor, and instead my years of training as a Bratva lieutenant come to the forefront.
Mike is unable to defend himself from my blows as he lies on the floor beneath me.
There’s a sickening crunch as I break his nose, but still I can’t stop.
“Max, that’s enough!” Nora’s voice cuts through the red mist. But she sounds like she’s miles away. “Max, please, stop! You’re going to kill him!”
My fist continues to rain blows on him as anger consumes me. “Max, stop!” Nora is standing in front of me. Finally, I stop at her command, Mike is a bloody mess on the floor. She grabs my face and stares at me like she doesn’t know who I am.
“Come back to me, Max,” Her voice is soft. Max… who is Max? I wonder for a moment, then I remember. It’s me.
I breathe deeply, trying to find myself, trying to push Leo away.
My gaze goes to my hands, now covered in blood, and to Mike lying on the floor gasping.
I realize I don’t have my contact lenses in, the ones I wear when I’m Max and I hope she’s too distraught to notice.
After a few moments I have full control again.
I stand, leaving Mike forgotten on the floor as he moans and cries.
“Are you hurt?” I ask Nora, as I study her for injury, my anger bubbles to the surface when I see the angry red fingerprints on her neck.
“I’m okay, thanks to you,” she says.
“You broke my fucking nose!” Mike whines.
I’m grateful that the fact he’s talking means he isn’t as badly injured as I’d feared. While I have no problems whatsoever with violence, Nora does not need to see that part of me. Mike doesn’t realize it, but his days are numbered. I’ll deal with him later. Right now, Nora needs me. Needs Max.
“If you don’t get the fuck out of here right now, I’ll break every bone in your fucking body,” I growl.
Mike senses that I’m deadly serious and quickly rushes to the door. “I’m sorry, Nora, I wouldn’t have hurt you,” he says.
Nora’s hand goes up to her neck, touching the marks he left. He already hurt her. If I hadn’t come when I did then I dread to think what would have happened.
“Leave,” I say. My voice a low threat.
Mike finally does the first smart thing he’s done all evening and goes. He’s a dead man walking.
I stand there rigid, outwardly calm, inwardly raging, as I control my breathing. I want to chase after Mike, but when Nora walks over and looks up at me, all I want is to be with her.
“Max, how did you know I was in trouble?” she asks curiously.
“I didn’t. My buddies left early, and I decided to come home.”
“I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn’t,” Nora says, her voice shaking.
For the first time I take a look at her apartment, it’s been ransacked. “Did he do this?”
She shakes my head. “No, there was a break-in.”
I suck in a breath. I’m here protecting her and something like this happened. My eyes scan the room, landing on the television. “They didn’t take anything?”
“Not that I can tell.”
“Then why did they break in?” I ask. I don’t like the sound of this. I know about Nora’s past, but she’s distanced herself from Quinn.
“Max, I don’t want to make you more agitated,” she says warily.
“It’ll help distract me from going after that prick,” I answer tightly.
“Okay, but will you come and sit down, please?”
“I should make you tea, for the shock,” I mutter. Starting to feel a bit more like myself. At least the part of me that I can be when I’m Max.
“Tea would be nice,” she agrees.
I head to her kitchen and switch on the kettle. The small act of making the tea helps diffuse some of my nervous energy and by the time I return to the living room I’m a lot calmer.
“So, do you know who might have a reason to break into your apartment?” I ask carefully as I hand her the steaming mug of sweet tea.
She nods nervously. “I don’t know how to…” she pauses, then looks at me. “You’ll probably run for the hills when I tell you this,” she gives a nervous laugh.
“Nothing you could say would make me run from you. I told you, you’re mine. I’m not ever letting you go.”
Nora takes a deep breath before speaking. “I lied to you before, when I said that the masked man you saw was just a customer. He’s been stalking me.”
I’d been secretly pleased that she hadn’t told ‘Max’ about my nighttime visits. It made me feel like there was something special between us. Was she going to confess now? I keep my voice steady as I ask, “You think he did this?”
She shrugs. “Maybe. Honestly, I don’t know. If he’s been following me, then he knew I wasn’t home. Unless he wanted to take something of mine, something of little value as a kind of creepy talisman?”
“Could it have been anyone else?”
I see something flash across Nora’s face, and she bites her lip nervously.
“You can trust me, Nora,” I encourage her. I’ve been watching her for weeks, researching her since my uncle told me of his plans. I saw nothing to suggest that she was being targeted by anyone.
“My father. Or at least, his men. My father is a dangerous man. I ran away from him five years ago. I think maybe he’s found me,” she admits.
Eamonn Quinn. The bastard turns up like a bad penny. “Do you think he wants to hurt you?”
“He already has. If he’s found me, it won’t be long until he comes for me. He’ll either kill me or sell me to the highest bidder,” she says gravely.
“Nora, look at me. I promise that as long as I’m with you, I’ll never let him or anyone else hurt you, do you hear me?” I tell her. She doesn’t realize how far I would go to keep Quinn away from her. After what he did to my family I’d happily send him to meet his maker.
She moves closer to me, and I can feel the heat of her skin.
Despite everything that’s happened tonight, I have the overwhelming urge to kiss her.
But I’m afraid she’ll pull away. Or maybe she won’t.
When Nora has me, I want it to be me, and not Max.
I’ve seen the way her body responds when she feels my eyes on her.
I want her to crave me, to desire me with a need almost bordering on insanity.
I think she would accept Max tonight, but I don’t want him to have her.
“I think I just want to go to bed,” Nora says softly, looking utterly defeated.
“Look, Nora, I know you’re probably freaked out about the break-in and what that bastard did to you, but there’s no way I’m letting you sleep alone here with a busted door.
Why don’t you stay the night at my place?
I can sleep on the couch, and I’ll fix the door first thing when the hardware stores are open,” I offer, going into protector mode.
She shakes her head. “I’m not leaving Josef.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. He can come with you.” I sense her hesitation and add, “I’m not taking no for an answer here. I have a hammer and nails, so we can rig the door shut to stop opportunistic junkies from breaking into the place, but there’s no way I’m letting you sleep here tonight.”
“Alright,” she finally agrees, too exhausted to argue.
While Nora takes a shower, I gather everything she and her cat might need and then try and straighten up her apartment.
I’m still fighting the urge to hurt someone.
Mike is first on my list—and then whoever did this.
But I push it down, my father always said that revenge was a meal best served cold.
While that is true, sometimes it’s good to just go and kill the bastards.
“Wow, I’m impressed,” she says as she emerges from the bathroom. She’s dressed in an oversized sweater and a pair of loose yoga pants.
I’d put everything back in its rightful place, well, near enough.
The number of times I’ve been in her house when she’s not at home means that I probably know the layout as well as she does.
But not wanting to draw attention to that, I intentionally put a few items in the wrong place.
Now the only sign of the break-in is the splintered door.
I grin at her, “Well, I have been called a domestic god before. Ready?”
She nods, as she calls for Josef and gathers him up in her arms. I notice she’s looking around nervously, especially toward the bedroom. I wonder if she’s thinking of her watcher. Whether he’s standing in the shadows. What he would think if he saw she was with me.
Once again, I’m struck by the strange situation I’ve found myself in. Maybe it would be easier if I just stepped aside and let my uncle have her. But I can’t do that. Not now that I’ve got to know her, that’s where Max and I agree. She will be mine.
Leo’s.
My apartment is orderly and masculine, a bit spartan and unlived in given the lack of homey touches.
The sort of place a person like Max would live in.
While I would have liked to have added a few items from my own home, I need to keep both identities separate or I risk slipping up.
Already, I sometimes find that my carefully constructed facade starts to crack.
I almost lost it earlier when I couldn’t keep Leo under control.
I almost forgot the careful speech I use as Max, hiding all traces of my Russian accent.
I can speak accentless English, years of training honed it into me, but when I let down my guard, I’m not so careful.
I show Nora to my bedroom and excusing myself, I quickly go to the bathroom and slip in my brown contact lenses.
Now that she’s calmed down, she might notice.
When I return, she’s standing looking around at my room.
At the unopened boxes stacked neatly in the corner, the king-size bed with crisp white linen.
We stand there awkwardly for a moment, both uncertain of what to do or say. Luckily, Josef breaks the tension by hopping out of Nora’s arms and onto my bed, making himself comfortable.
“Rub it in why don’t you, Josef,” I chuckle. “I get it, you get to share a bed with the beautiful Nora, and I don’t. You win.”
Nora looks down at her feet and then meets my eyes. “I mean, this is more than big enough, and I’d feel bad kicking you out of your own bed. Why don’t we just share?”
I feel my cock twitch at that suggestion. But no matter how much I want her, when I finally have her, it will be as Leo and not Max. I joke, “I’m not sure I’d be able to lie next to you all night and keep my hands to myself or get any sleep.”
“Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” she asks in a small voice.
I can’t resist her. “Of course.”
Nora pulls off her sweater and climbs under the covers, she’s wearing a white tank that clings to her small breasts, and I can see the shadows of her nipples through it.
I lie on the bed on top of the covers, arms folded across my chest. I’m worried if I don’t, then the urge to reach out and touch her will be too great.
“Tell me something,” she says.
“What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about what you were like as a kid. You never mention your parents or family.”
“My parents died when I was young, my younger sister too,” I reply. That’s my truth not Max’s.
“I’m so sorry, Max,” she says. I can hear the sadness in her voice. .
“It was a long time ago. My uncle raised me after that.”
“What’s he like?”
I search for the words. “He’s… difficult, stubborn, a strong, powerful man, but I believe he has the family’s interests at heart, he wants me to make my family proud.”
“After what you did for me tonight, I know they’re so proud of you. Thank you, Max, for saving me tonight. You make me feel safe,” Nora says with a smile.
“You should get some rest. You’ll feel better for it,” I mutter.
I’d love to talk to her all night, but it’s too dangerous.
Already I’m close to the surface. It’s getting harder being Max around her.
I need her so badly, I need to see her wet for me.
The way she pleasured herself when my eyes were on her.
I want her to call out my name when she comes.
I thought she was about to protest, to say that she wasn’t tired, but then a yawn escapes, and I turn off the light. I must have lain in the darkness for a few minutes when I hear her breathing slow down, and soon she’s asleep.
Once I’m sure she’s deeply asleep, I quietly get out of the bed. I have business to deal with. She’ll be safe here in my absence.