EMBRACE winrina

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

For a brief moment, it felt as if time had stopped. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, and it felt like my world was coming down around me. Though it might've been only a few seconds before I moved from the spot I'd been frozen in, it felt like I spent an eternity in thought. It was as if I couldn't understand why someone even as rotten as Leo would want to hurt someone like Karina. My mind could only think that one simple thought over and over and over again as I took in the alarm in her eyes: Karina.

When I finally realized that my legs did in fact work, I had never moved so fast in my entire life. In less than a second I had reached the man that I'd come to hate and raised my foot in between his legs, driving him to immediately release the brunette and fall to his knees. I kicked him again, this time in the stomach, and I was about to try for a third when Karina's hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me back. "Stop," she whispered in my ear. "That's not you."

Leo groaned and got to his feet, fury in his eyes as he held his stomach and coughed up a little bit of blood. "You piece of shit--"

I shook Karina off of me, stepping forward and pushing my finger into his chest. "Putting your filthy hands on me is one thing Leo, but if you even think about touching this woman again, I will single handedly make sure you rot in hell."

"I wouldn't have gotten anywhere near her if she'd have told me the truth about where you were. I just want to talk, Winter, god damn!"

"Well I don't want to talk to you, and I suggest you get the fuck out of this building before I pick up the phone and call the police."

"You won't," he said calmly, brushing off his pants as if he hadn't just been strangling another human being.

I couldn't control my anger. "Yeah? Fucking watch me!"

I turned and dropped my bag off of my back, opening it hastily and searching for my phone. I couldn't tell what Leo was doing but I was too angry to care. Karina's arms wrapped around me again before I found my phone and pulled me up, turning me around so that she could place both of her hands on my cheeks. "Win, relax, okay? Please? You're not calling the police. Stop acting and take a minute to think."

I stared at her with wide eyes and barely whispered, "How can you say that?"

She looked calm now. When Leo's hands were wrapped around her neck, there was plenty of alarm in her eyes, worry even, but no fear, and I wondered how that could be. Before she had the chance to answer, Leo stepped forward. "Winter, we actually need to talk. I'm sorry for putting my hands on your friend."

I took my eyes off of Karina briefly to look at him, my anger resurfacing. "Yeah you fucking better be. I don't want to talk to you Leo, I don't care what you think we need to do."

"I know, but you care about being sent back into the system, which is what I'm trying to prevent."

"Is that right? By giving me an assortment of different colored bruises all over my body?"

Karina could tell I was furious with him right now, and she put her hands on my shoulders from behind to try and relax me. Leo spoke, ignoring me. "You need to come home. Your social worker stopped by yesterday. She's stopping by again in the next few days but I don't know when, and you know as well as I do that not being there the second time will raise a hell of a lot of suspicion."

I knew Leo was telling the truth because he had never lied to me, and I was due for a visit from my social worker. My heart practically fell out of my chest. I did need to go back.

"Yeah, whatever, leave."

"Winter--"

"I asked you to leave."