Chapter Eleven
Mac
My hands fly off of her so quickly that I practically fly back, and quickly pull up my boxers and jeans. Forcing my voice to remain calm and strong, I drop to my knees in front of her and quickly take her wrists out of the restraint.
“Lelonie. Hey, you’re okay. It’s okay, Beautiful.”
Her eyes are wild as she searches me for… I don’t know what.
“Lee? What are you looking for?” The command in my voice has her eyes snapping to mine.
“I didn’t consent to knife play, Mac. This was a mistake. I’ve got to get going.” Grabbing her leggings that are still tangled at her ankles, she tries to force them up. She’s finally got them in place and standing when I fully register what she just said.
“I don’t have a knife. Not only do I not have one in my hand, but I don’t even have one on me. I have a gun in the holster at my back, that’s it.” Moving slowly, I stand before stepping in front of her and hold my hands out to either side. “Check me.”
Her frantic eyes are huge as she shakes her head. “N- no. It’s fine. I just want to leave.”
My stomach turns and threatens to empty at the fear in her voice. “You can, you can go home. Just please. Check me first. I won’t move. I swear.”
Her shaking hands start at my shoulders, and slowly she pats me down. She makes her way to my ankles then searches once more on her way back up. As she goes, her hands stop trembling as much. Once she’s satisfied that I don’t have a knife on me, her eyes cloud with confusion once more.
“What was that then? I felt metal on my neck.” With my arms still stretched out on both sides, my eyes go to my father’s gold wedding band that I wear on my right middle finger. It glints in the dim light.
Her exhale is heavy, like she’s allowing all the panic to subside. “It was a ring? You were telling the truth.”
A small smile graces her lips, causing one to tug at my own, “Yeah, Beautiful. You’ll learn to trust me. I’ll always tell you the truth.”
“Always?”
“Always. Even when it’s uncomfortable. All I ask is that you do the same.” Letting my hands drop to my sides, they hit my jeaned thighs with a smack.
“Okay, if you can promise me to tell the truth always, then I can do the same in return.”
She steps into my space, and my arms circle around her waist, pulling her in tight. My nose goes to the top of her head as I breathe her in. She still has that hint of Riley that has always made me dizzy.
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t ask before freaking out.”
God, she’s got me all knotted up. Her presence alone makes me want to be a better man. I’m not good enough for her, and I probably never will be. But I want to be, she makes me want to change my entire life around just so I’m worthy of being in her presence.
“Never apologize for that. It’s my job to make you feel so safe that you don’t have to question it.”
Before she can answer, her phone begins to ring out in the dimly lit room. She picks it up off the shelf and reads the screen before mumbling “fuck.” She answers the phone, “Hello?”
It’s quiet enough on the other end so that I can hear whoever he is, “Kostbarkeit, where are you?”
“I’m leaving ‘Primetime’ now. I’ll be home soon.” Her wide eyes stare into mine.
“Why the fuck are you at a bar? Have you been drinking?”
“No, of course not. Don’t be dense, Jakob.” The annoyance rings strong through her voice.
“How are you feeling? I should probably come get you. Annie will be here soon.”
“No, you won’t. I’m leaving now. See you in fifteen at the latest. Ich liebe dich.” She says with a sing-song tone.
“Ich liebe dich. You’re going to drive me to drink, I swear. I’ll have gray hairs from you before long.”
“No, you won’t. You know how I feel about people who drink excessively. I’ll be home soon. Bye, big brother.” She hangs up and looks at me smiling. I have to pretend that the feeling of being punched in the solar plexus is from her smile alone and not from her talking about people who drink.
“Let me walk you home?” I reach out and twine our fingers together. I’ll do anything to just spend ten more minutes with her.
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll be okay.”
“I don’t feel like I have to. I want to.” My thumb rubs along the back of her hand while she thinks it over.
“Okay. Let me just tell Nix.”
I fish my phone out of my pocket and hit my brother’s name, pulling the phone up to my ear. I widen my eyes at her and smile to ease the lingering nerves left in the air. Her giggle tells me that it did the trick.
“Where the fuck are you?” Kieran’s voice comes out loud and no nonsense. Partially because of the music in the background and partially because he was too preoccupied with Pigeon to see me walk off earlier.
“Well… I’m in a storage closet. Listen, that’s not important. I’m going to walk Lelonie home, her brother just called her. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“M? I don’t know if-.”
I cut him off because I know she can hear him, “It’s fine, K. I’ll be back in twenty, and if I’m not, you can burn the city down.” I hang up before he can say anything else. “Okay, let’s go.”
* * *
Walking downtown with this stunning woman holding my hand and the lingering taste of her on my tongue, my life seriously couldn’t be any better. We haven’t talked much since leaving the bar, but we have about ten minutes left, and I have a question that’s been burning at the back of my mind.
“So your brothers seem pretty protective of you?” I decide to ask instead of what I really want to.
“Yeah, my parents and sister too. We’re all pretty protective of each other.”
“You know I tried to look you up after you told me to check your birth certificate. You know what’s strange? I can’t find anything. Not even a birth certificate.” She tries to bite back her smile.
“Yeah, you won’t. You’re good Mac, I’ll give you that.
You’re the only person who has been able to challenge my brain since we both started working.
I’m just better. You won’t find a single thing on me, my sister, or my Mama.
If you want to know something, you’re going to have to do it the old fashioned way. ”
She’s right, but she didn’t have to go in that hard. Talk about a hit to the ego. “The old fashioned way, huh? How is that fair when you can look up most things about me?”
Her laugh warms my entire body up. “I promise to pretend I know nothing from this point on. I’m just a girl walking downtown with a boy who has kind eyes and a breathtaking smile. Does that work?”
“You think my smile is breathtaking?” I tease her to break up some of the tension, but I can’t completely dismiss that she just gave me the in I’ve been looking for. She nudges me with her shoulder when I don’t answer how she wants. “Yeah, that works. But I propose one amendment.”
“What’s that?” Her eyes narrow.
“We have to tell the truth.”
She sighs before she pulls us to a stop and looks up into my eyes. Her emerald ones are so gorgeous it makes my soul ache. “Amendment accepted. The truth, always. But we reserve the right to veto any question we feel like we aren’t ready to share. No lies, just veto power.”
“Sounds fair to me, but we can’t keep the veto forever, just until we’re comfortable answering.
” I pull her into my arms, and when she subtly presses a little higher on her toes, I take her mouth with mine.
It’s a chaste kiss to seal a deal, but it lights me up all the same.
I pull away all too soon for my liking, but she wants to do this right, so we’re going to do this right.
“Okay, deal. So what’s your first question, Mac-attack?” She smiles up at me, her eyes dancing with mirth.
“First off, never call me that again. Especially when I still have the taste of your pussy on my tongue.” I waggle my eyebrows at her and flash her that smile she apparently loves.
She playfully pushes me before I grab her hand again and continue as we keep walking.
“Secondly, I heard your brother freak out about the possibility of you drinking tonight. Why?”
Her steps falter slightly. “I’m on medication that you can’t drink on.”
That catches my attention quickly.
“What medication? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” My voice rises with every word I speak. I can feel the panic wrapping around my heart and squeezing like a snake wrapped around its next victim.
She stops walking, forcing me to stop too or drag her.
Her hands grab my face tenderly and drag my face down until I’m looking into her eyes.
“I’m vetoing this question. Not forever, but for now.
I’m okay. But that’s a lot of loaded questions.
Let’s start with the lighter things before we move into the heavy. ”
I don’t like that answer. Not even a little bit.
That tells me there is something going on.
Is that why her family is so involved with her?
Is that why the mystery lady comes in and out of her apartment three times a week?
I feel like I’m going to throw up. At the same time, I know I have to take this at her pace.
Leaning my cheek into her palm, I give her a nod.
Straightening back up, we begin to walk again.
My brain is mush, but I’ll just have to dig where I can later.
“Is the reason you feel a certain way about people who drink a part of that veto?”
She nods, “Yeah, my reasoning is tied with my veto. I just feel like if you’re lucky enough to have a good, healthy body, why would you throw it away by filling it with junk?”
Before I can respond, she changes the subject.
“Okay, now it’s my turn to ask a question.”
“I’m an open book, sweetheart. Ask away.”
She turns my hand over in hers as we walk, “Who’s your favorite brother?”
My head whips to hers as I laugh in disbelief, “What?”
She laughs at my expression, “Come on, who’s your favorite?”
I really think about my response before I give it, “Declan.”
“Declan? I didn’t expect that one. I expected Rowan or Kieran.”