Leo Maddox (13 page)

Clara pressed her palms against my chest. “Wait a minute. Does that mean you were sober when I hit you with the golf cart?”

I almost laughed, but I couldn’t tell if she was angry with me or not. “Yes,” I answered.

“I carried your heavy ass up to your room and you were perfectly fine?”

“Yes.”

And then the girl bit me. She flat out bit me. I can’t believe she had the guts to do such a thing. Sure I’d nipped her before when we were making out in the doorway, but she full on bit me. I think hard enough to leave a mark too. Oh, now this was war. I flipped her onto her back, easily pinning both her small hands above her head with my larger one, and used my free hand to tickle the shit out of her. She squealed in fun, obviously not really mad about my ‘fake drunk’ thing.

I didn’t even care if I woke up Stephany and whoever else might live in this little apartment, I continued tickling Clara until she cried for me to stop. Our tickling war ended with me on top and straddling her waist, still pinning her hands above her head. I was so much stronger than her, she never stood a chance against me. I stared down at her small body under me, my chest repeatedly rising and falling hard.

This was totally something Clara and I would do.

“Say you're sorry, killer,” I muttered as I bent over to press wet kisses all over her face.

She squirmed under me. “Never.”

“Fine.” Instead of continuing our game, I instead pressed my lips lightly against hers. Getting to kiss her was my new favorite thing. Our tongues met and came together in a way that sent a shiver straight to my already hard cock. Shit. I pulled off of her, shifting us around so that I lay beside her rather than on top.

“We should go to sleep before I break all the boundaries I'm trying to keep with you,” I explained, planting one more kiss on her forehead.

“One more thing,” she whispered. “Tell me why you fake the drinking thing. Please.”

I sighed, but proceeded to tell her without filter. “I used to get shitfaced like it was my job. In high school mostly. Then I stopped because drinking would always take me down a very dark rabbit hole. I did a lot of stuff I'm not proud of. Stuff that would make your skin crawl. Stuff that's hard to live with now. I hated myself and I guess I needed an alternative...” I paused for a moment, thinking over exactly how to explain this.

“People still expect me to act a certain way, and I keep up the act because it's easier to pretend. Or maybe I just like messing with people. I don't know.”

“Does Maggie know this?” she asked.

“She doesn't.”

“I won't tell. But Leo...why did you just tell me? You didn't have to.”

“You asked.” One of my hands moved to cup her face. “I don't know why, but I always have to be honest with you. You bring it out in me somehow. It's a very scary but liberating feeling. There's no pressure to be anyone but myself when I'm with you. And getting to spend so much time with you over the last couple days...well, I've never felt so free in my life. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, Clara. Just tell me we won't ever go back to where we were three days ago.”

“We won't,” she confirmed, emotion thick in her voice.

“Good,” I answered quickly before I had the chance to get emotional here too. “We can talk more tomorrow. Let's go to sleep now, killer.”

So we did.

CHAPTER 12:

W
hispers woke me. I’d fallen asleep with Clara in my arms and happiness exploded in my heart when I found her still in my arms.

“I told you,” someone whispered, probably Stephany. “I told you he wouldn't be able to stay away from you long. I knew he was crazy about you. Now you owe me twenty bucks.”

Keeping my eyes pinned shut, not wanting either girl to know I was awake and listening just yet, I stayed perfectly still, waiting to see if Clara would say anything in response to her friend’s comments. She said nothing. Instead I felt her nestle a little closer into my chest.

“Anyway,” Stephany whispered. “I need to finish getting ready. You should get up soon unless you want my roommates drooling all over Leo. And who knew he was so religious? It's hot.”

I heard the sound of heels walking away on the hardwood floor, so I knew Stephany had left us. She’d called me religious because of my tattoos. Most of the ones covering my chest, back, and shoulders had some sort of religious undertone to them. The ironic part was, I wasn’t really all that religious. I just liked what I liked.

“I'm not
that
religious,” I muttered, my voice rough with sleep. My eyes were still closed tight and part of me was afraid to open them. What if Clara didn’t look at me the same way she had last night? What if in the few hours we’d been asleep, she’d come to her senses and realized she wanted nothing to do with me?

Finally, I stopped being a pussy about this whole situation, and just opened my damn eyes. My worries were instantly put at ease. Clara’s bare legs were tangled with mine, her hands were curled up under her face, and her gray eyes were big and staring straight into mine. At our eye contact, her cheeks flushed pink. I felt that flush all over my entire body.

Now
that
was an image I wanted to wake up to every morning. I was about to tell her how beautiful she was in the morning but she spoke first.

“Um, you look good,” she mumbled. And then, as if her words had embarrassed her, the girl who never let anything affect her, immediately buried her face into the cushions of the couch.

She was so damn adorable.

I cupped her face in my hands and forced her to look at me. The biggest smile came to my lips. I couldn’t really help myself. “Don't get shy on me,” I whispered and rocked my hips into her hips, showing her how very
not
shy I was at that moment.

Not giving a rat’s ass about anything or anyone but us, I pressed my lips to hers and stole a kiss. And then another. Then another. My fingers moved to her waist, tracing along the edge of her panties, tempting and teasing us both. I really wanted to touch her more and I was having the hardest time not giving in to all my urges.

“Why is there a naked man on my couch?” came a voice from across the room.

At hyper-speed, Clara pulled away from my grip and scrambled off the couch. I sighed at the cold rush of air I felt in her absence. Another girl, who I assumed was a roommate to Stephany, had her eyes narrowed at Clara. She needed to calm down. It’s not like we’d been screwing on her couch. And besides, I was far from naked. I still had on my shoes.

“This is Leo,” Clara told the other girl. “I hope it's okay that he stayed over. We're gonna leave as soon as Steph is ready for work.”

Her lips pursed for a short moment. “Whatever.” She shrugged and went for the coffeemaker in the kitchen, mumbling, “You could at least put some pants on and stop showing off your boyfriend.”

Clara turned toward me, pretending like she hadn’t heard the other girl refer to me as her boyfriend. But whatever, either way, I liked the sound of that. It was far too soon to cross that bridge but maybe one day. I smiled. Yes, one day. It all seemed within reach now. I stood up, grabbed my shirt off the couch, and yanked it over my head in one quick motion.

Clara blatantly stared at me as I did this. She was checking me out. And if I wasn’t mistaken, she liked what was in front of her. Walking to her, I planted a kiss on her forehead. I said nothing as she stared up at me.

“I'm sorry I never noticed you before,” she suddenly blurted out, her voice shaky. “I'm sorry I was mean to you over the years. Because I was. You were meaner, but...I could have been nicer. And I'm sorry I ran away from you on the subway. That was just rude. And in high school—even when we only saw each other over holidays and summers—I knew you were in a dark place. I knew something was wrong with you and that all your fucked-up-ness was really just some giant plea for help.” Tears formed in her eyes. “I'm sorry because I knew and I looked the other way and—”

I stopped her words with a kiss.

She kept trying to talk. “Leo—”

“Stop it.” I circled my arms around her shoulders and squeezed her tight against my chest. She was so petite and felt so good pulled in close against me. I leaned into her, burying my face between her neck and shoulder, taking a very deep breath. She smelled like strawberries and summer… and home. “None of it matters. I'm better and you're here now. None of it matters,” I assured her.

I didn’t even know all that was true until I just now said it out loud. I
was
better. I wasn’t the same reckless kid I’d once been. I had the girl I’d always wanted in my arms and it made me feel invincible. Like that recklessness inside of me suddenly had purpose.

“Where are your pants?” I whispered after a few moments. “As much as I like you without them, I need you dressed so we can get out of here. Where's Stephany?”

“I'm here,” Steph said from behind us. “Sorry I keep barging in on your moments, but I really need to leave for work now or I'm going to be late."

Clara broke out of my grip, nodding briefly in Stephany's direction before hurrying from the living room.

“She’s a hot mess, that one,” Stephany muttered while Clara was gone. “I mean that in the best possible way. One hot mess and it’s all your fault. It might not seem like it on the surface, but that giant heart of hers…it’s all yours. Don’t mess it up now.”

My own heart thumped as I listened to Stephany and waited for Clara. I didn’t know how to respond to that. But I didn’t have to. A second later Clara rushed back into the living room—yesterday’s clothes on and ready to go. The three of us left the apartment and began walking down the street.

“I guess this is goodbye again,” Stephany told Clara as we neared my black town car. I noticed my driver sleeping in the front seat. I’d have to give him a big tip and possibly a raise after putting him through last night’s ordeal.

Stephany hugged Clara tight, muttering something in her ear. Then she surprised the hell out of me when she let go of Clara only to catch me in an equally big hug. She was tall and nearly my same height. Awkwardly, but forever thankful for her help this weekend, I returned her hug. Then she let go and set off down the street.

I think I had a new friend too. Imagine that.

I took a deep breath, took Clara’s hand in mine, and, without a single word, led her over to my town car, held the door for her, and followed her into the vehicle.

“JFK,” I told my driver. Then, still exhausted from barely sleeping last night, slumped way down into my seat, getting comfy. I motioned for Clara to come to me. And she did. She snuggled in close to my chest. She turned my right arm over and gently traced her fingers over my little scar. That loving quality about her—it was my absolute favorite thing on this earth. I’d seen it once when we were kids. But seeing it now… was something amazing.

“I'm flying home commercially,” she informed me.

This was news to me. That meant she’d had to have bought her own ticket. I tensed involuntarily, suddenly uneasy and questioning her loving touch. Her words and her touch didn’t match.

“I booked the ticket yesterday when I wasn’t so sure about us,” Clara continued on. “You came over and everything's different, but I still want to go home on my own. Maggie already agreed to pick me up from Roanoke, and I need the two-hour car ride with my sister to try to smooth things over with her. Or at least attempt to. For this thing—whatever is happening between us—to even have a shot at working out, then I need to be on better terms with your best friend. You get what I'm saying?”

My body automatically relaxed. I’d been mistaken. Her words and her touch matched perfectly. “You’d try to make peace with your sister for me?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then.” Wow. Seriously, wow. A life time battle between sisters and Clara was ready to call it quits all for me? Wow. Still—I wished she wasn’t flying commercially. “Can I at least walk you to your gate when we get to JFK?” I asked.

“Okay then,” she repeated, shifting in my arms to get a better look at me. “Um, how exactly are you going to get through security without a ticket?”

A grin spread over my lips. “I'm Leo Maddox. I'm pretty sure I can handle it.”

She laughed. “Whatever, you ass.”

I smiled wider. I liked how she always called me on my bullshit.

We reached the airport and my driver dropped us off at the curb. I popped open the trunk and pulled out Clara’s bag of stuff. We entered the airport. And while she printed her ticket from a kiosk, I bought a ticket to Boston on my phone. It didn’t matter where my ticket said I was going because I only needed to get through security to walk her to her gate. And, yes, I would spend five hundred dollars on a last minute ticket to do just that. After I finished, I glanced up to find Clara not-so-subtly staring at me. It made me smile. I was doing a lot of that today. I grabbed her hand, lacing our fingers together, and we walked in silence toward security.

After we made it through security and to her gate, we found they had already begun boarding the flight. This was why I hated commercial flights. They never took off when they were supposed to, except on the days you wished they wouldn’t.