LUCKY
Goddamn, I missed her.
When Leo called me, I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t believe it until I heard her on the other end of the line. Even then I was still so shocked I could barely fight the emotions seeing her name on my screen brought out of me, and I could hardly speak.
But I knew I had to go to her.
It didn’t matter why she called or even if it was an accident, I needed to be where Leo was and come hell or high water, I was making it happen.
I grabbed my keys and flew out the door without even putting my shoes on, but the guys were over so Mark chased after me with my Chucks in hand, asking what the hell happened.
As soon as I said it was Leo, he told me to wait a second and put my damn sneakers on then he ran back in to get Norm and Pete.
I then proceeded to break about thirty different traffic laws while tearing through the city, and we got to her place in record time.
Ask me if I give a shit.
I don’t.
Squeezing Leo’s shoulders a little tighter, I watch her closely as she attempts to process our presence and I’m not going to lie, I breathe her in a little as I do.
She still smells the same, like everything warm and sweet, like cinnamon and vanilla with a hint of peppermint oil. Leo always smelled like Christmas and summertime all at once, and even after spending a bulk of our ten years together sharing space in some way or another, I could never figure out why. Doesn’t mean I’d change it though. That fucking scent became my safe haven—oursafe space, and the void going without it the last three years created has been massive.
Now that I’m standing here with our girl in my arms, breathing her in, seeing her in the flesh, I’m nothing but relieved.
I was never really sure how I’d handle seeing Leo again. I always knew I would, I knew fate would bring us back to her, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be angry or sad, maybe hurt or just heartbroken, and surprisingly enough I’m none of those things.
I’m justsofuckingrelieved.
A huge part of me—of all four of us—has been missing the last three years, and it comes wrapped in a five-foot-seven package of hell on wheels mixed with heaven on earth. Leo is the final piece of my soul, the other part of who I am and the simple joy I feel at having her back in my personal bubble is overwhelming, to say the least.
And I don’t plan on letting her put distance between us ever again.
The five of us were a unit, an impenetrable fortress, a fiercely loyal family and Leo was our unspoken leader. She and Ico-parentedas Norm always put it, the two of us running things as soon as she joined the band.
We were hesitant at first, unsure about adding a female into the mix but the first time Leo opened her mouth, I knew. Hell, let’s be real here, I knew the second I laid eyes on her that she was meant for us, but it wasn’t until Justine forced her to audition for our lead singer position that my gut feeling was reinforced, and from then on, nothing mattered but the five of us.
Leo brought balance to The Ravens.
She was a little unhinged, a little angry ball of energy with a hot temper and a fierce personality, but it balanced out the rest of us. Her random spurts of rationality worked with my regimented and routine ass, which is exactly how we kept things on track and were dubbed theparents. Leo is probably one of the only people who can both talk Pete off a ledge when he’s pissed, then make him laugh harder than he ever allows himself to. Mark was the one who got Leo to loosen up, who showed her it was ok to be relaxed and a little carefree while she showed him he had to wear hisbig boy work pantsat times. And Norm… he’s the one who got through to Leo’s softer side, and she stiffened his spine and gave him the strength he didn’t know he had.
Literal balance, and it was fucking perfect.
We had a solid, constant stream of love and support for ten fucking years. We were each other’s day in and day out, each other’s everything and nothing all at once, but Leo, she is the heart of us.
We all laughed together, cried together, we fought like cats and dogs, and we protected each other. What the five of us share is something more powerful than any of us anticipated, and it’s more intense than any of us have ever experienced. The night that changed that, changed all of us, something broke, and I was terrified we would never be able to fix it.
Being here now gives me a hell of a lot of hope, though.
I feel Leo’s head tilt and I look down to meet those black as night eyes, eyes that are taking in every inch of my battered face but instead of pity or disgust, I see straight-up guilt reflecting back at me. And I don’t want that, either.
“Don’t.” I shake my head as she opens her mouth to speak. “You don’t have to.”
Leo holds my stare, her guilt growing by the second. “I never asked about you. I never asked about any of you...” She turns and tries to break away from me but I don’t let her, I just hold her tighter while she looks at the ground and pulls another cigarette from her pack. “Not once in almost three years, I never asked about you.”
She inhales shakily, her fingers trembling so hard the hot falls off her smoke seconds after lighting it. “Justine told me about all of you. The trial, the time, the injuries. She told me every time one of you called or sent a text. Then one day it just stopped. She had nothing else to tell me and until right now, I was glad for that.”
“Leo, you don’t have to—" Pete starts but Leo cuts him off.
