𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡

𝟐𝟑 | 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭

Where could he possibly hide it, I asked myself, going through Leo's stuff.

After yesterday's secret mission, I began to plan how to get to Mina's headquarters because I assumed that was the place they were holding my mom. First, I needed to arm myself, change my identity – in case anyone has decided to look for me, and then find a suitable vehicle for traveling to Las Vegas.

My first stop was at my father's private armory, which was not far outside the city. After an unexpected encounter with David, I had no intention of leaving Leo's house unarmed, so I thought I could take David's gun, which Leo confiscated from me. Either that or I'll steal the first weapon I can get my hands on, at least until I take my father's things.

"Are you looking for something?" the person I was thinking of asked behind me. Leo. Meanwhile, as I was looking for a needle in a haystack, somehow, he has managed to get out of the shower, only tangled in the towel from his waist down.

I froze. All the air has escaped my lungs, and it took me a while to inhale and finally speak.

"Hmm," I mumbled, trying to hide my guilty expression before Leo's eyes shining like two lanterns. Water ran down his tousled hair, falling to his bare chest with a silent sound. I looked closely at the wet drops sliding through his body, drawing around his athletic figure while his muscles were stretched out like ropes. Holy fucking hell. I gave myself an imaginary slap because I was behaving like some horny teenager.

I blinked a few times to stop staring at him.

"It's not easy to look away if you like what you see," he said in a hoarse voice. What an idiot. "At least you know how it felt to see you in a towel before." What? Did he say what I think he said? A hint of a smile crossed Leo's face, causing my stomach to turn. I didn't know how to answer but also didn't want him to think that what I saw threw me off (even it did), so I said the first thing that came to mind.

"I came here for a T-shirt," I muttered, glancing at the drawer, with nothing but the underwear. O'Donnell, I praise the choice. Leo had to see that of all sorts of things, you chose to go through his boxers. Leo walked over to me slowly, raising his eyebrows.

"One wasn't enough? Do you want to take another as a souvenir?" I encouraged my brain to think faster.

"That shirt is supposed to be for Otto," I added in a firm voice, staring into his eyes golden as the lion's ones.

Leo sneered. It was clear he didn't believe me, but I didn't care. What I said made sense. I didn't reveal myself by desperate murmuring or interruption of our eye contact. At least something.

"Then, this drawer is not the right place you should look into," he replied in such a calm voice that I was about to lose my temper. He turned his back sharply, and my heart started to beat faster. I had to try hard not to touch his perfect honey skin, which was alluring me. If I could see his face right now, I would bet he was smiling.

"That should be enough," he said, tossing me a plain gray T-shirt, and leaving me slightly disappointed because I hoped our hands would touch each other if he had given it to me. I didn't exactly know why, but I longed to feel an electrifying charge running from my shoulders to my fingertips. I waited, wanting him to tell me something else. "Is there anything else the princess wants?" My face frowned. That's not how I imagined our conversation. There was a great deal of irony in his voice, and I couldn't unhear it. The word princess made me want to punch him in his mouth.

I stayed silent.

"Are you planning anything today?" Leo continued in the conversation. I didn't understand where he was heading with this question until he opened his mouth again. "Of course, you don't. You will stay here and do as I tell you." My breath got stuck in my chest. Are we back where we were? Was I stupid to believe that relations between us would improve? That we will be more open? That Leo will no longer perceive me as his duty? Why did Leo act as if we weren't having a conversation reaching somewhere deeper inside us? He wanted to trust me. He said we are alike... He was trying to understand me. And even though he gave me that stupid gift he had originally bought for one of his mistresses, I was hoping it was just a joke and that tomorrow could be... different.

I guess I was wrong.

Leo was like my father. He hid his feelings so well from the others that he hid them from himself. And that won't ever change.

I decided to be defensive because I couldn't blindly hold on to something that might not even exist.

"I'm sorry if I burst your bubble, but Otto has his first football practice today and I'll be there even if you had to straitjacket me," I said with the voice was as sharp as ice, waiting for him to protest.

This time, Leo remained silent, and he stayed that way as I turned angrily on my heel, rushing out of the room. I don't have a gun, but that doesn't mean I've lost everything else, I thought. On the way to the kitchen, I came across the keys to his BMW. It was as if they had fallen from the sky into my lap. And no matter what, I didn't intend to reject this offer.

"Otto, move, we're going to school," I said to a friend and pulled the hood of his sweatshirt, under which he hid the bloody T-shirt. Otto started to choke on the cereal that he was eating. I took a cup from the kitchen counter, poured some water into it, and slid it under his nose.

"Thanks," he growled as his cough subsided. "But even then, it doesn't justify your actions. Last time you had interrupted me while flirting with a really hot piece and now you're interrupting me while eating? Do you think it's something friends do?"

"Unless you stop talking about that girl as some kind of property, I'll bath your head in the milk," I threatened, gently poking him in the head. That's what real friends would do, I thought to myself, twisting the corners of my mouth up.

"I guess you're right," Otto agreed, shoving a spoonful of chocolate balls into his mouth. I twisted a circle of the keys around my finger, making Otto's mouth open wide.

"Get moving if you don't want to go walking," I suggested.

"Are these..."

"Uhm," I nodded.

"And Leo..."

"Eh," I shook my head.

"But how did you...," he kept asking.

"It doesn't matter how. The only thing that should bother you is that if you don't move right now, Leo will come down, and you can forget about driving in his amazing car," I said bluntly. That was enough for Otto to be standing at the garage door a few seconds later, watching out, in case the real owner of the black BMW i8 would appear.

"Leo will kill us both when he finds out what we did," Otto said as I started the engine. If only he had known that I would be long gone by this time. I will persecute those whom justice has forgotten. Luckily, I didn't forget. And I'll make sure they get what they deserve.