I squeeze her a little tighter and start guiding her back to the doors. “It’s pretty late anyway, we should get you to bed. You’re headed back out to the mansion in a few hours.”
Staring at the space the sports car left has this feeling in the pit of my stomach growing with unease, and I want nothing more than to hurry Leo inside, lock the doors, and keep her safe.
“I’m not ready to go back in yet. And—shit...” She grunts as she runs a hand down her face. “Fuck me running.”
“What? What’s wrong? Did something happen at work?” I steer her toward the bench because I’m trying to play nice, and if Leo isn’t ready to go in, so be it. “Is everything ok?”
“That’s actually why I called you. There was something that happened, I mean, nothing crazy but I was so damn angry...”
Leo starts in about what happened with the douchebag funding the restoration at the mansion, how he lit into Justine because she had a tattooed and pierced artist cleaning up his paintings and before I know it, we’re talking shit about our days the way we used to.
I always lived for these moments. Moments when it was just Leo and I, talking about everything and nothing, the two of us connecting in a way so deep it was hard to tell where I began and she ended.
Moments like this are how it always should be.
This is the forever kind of shit we all need.
PETE
I scowl as I watch the stupid Lambo speed down the street, tires burning up the pavement, only streaks of smoking rubber left behind.
Totally killed my vibe, and my plans.
The one where I joined Luck and Leo on the balcony for a smoke before we did a little more catching up.
There wasn’t a lot of that happening while we ate, and we watched the older flicks to keep our girl calm sochattingwasn’t really on the table then either.
It was worth it, though.
Being in the same room, breathing the same air as Leo after we lost her? Yeah, it was fucking worth it to keep things surface and light just so we could do that, but I won’t let it last too long.
There’s way too much baggage following all of us around, and I’m not about to let it weigh anyone down much longer.
I was still going to wait, I’m not that big of a prick. Sharing a smoke with two of my favorite fucking people didn’t have to be heavy but I was hoping for more than the bullshit about Alfred Hitchcock and how many shrimp kabobs Mark and I could eat.
After that shit with the fancy ride flying down the street, the moment has passed. It scared the fuck out of Leo, I saw the way she jumped, and Luck is going to have to work a little harder to keep her on the level because of it.
That’s fine.
It was sort of an unspoken agreement between the four of us that Lucky be the one to ease our girl back into things. We all have our strong suits when it comes to Leonor, but he was the one who could bring her out of whatever unhinged lineof thinking she was following, and back to earth where she regained her reasoning abilities.
Considering she managed to ghost us for three years while we lived no more than fifteen miles apart, we need Lucky to work his magic.
Doesn’t mean I didn’t want in on it.
Because I really fucking do.
Hell, we all do, we want our girl back, and we want to fall into the same comfortable, safe, happy little bubble we floated around in for a decade.
It’ll happen, the secret optimist in me believes that, but it’s not going down tonight.
And that’s fine.
I look out the window a little longer, making sure that car is actually gone before I turn to my people sitting on that iron bench.
Leo looks calmer now, like she can finally take a breath, and judging by the smirk on Luck’s face, he’d agree. Which is good enough for me right now.
I tuck my cigarettes back into my pocket and turn to head toward the kitchen but jump right out of my skin when I come face to face with Norm.
