My eyes go wide and my jaw drops. “Five years?”
She nods and smiles nervously.
“I thought you said you were looking into buyingnow?” Jesus how many secrets can one person still have? Pussy piercings, millions of dollars, floorboards that open to reveal remodel plans. What’s next?
“I said I was looking into how to make it work, not buying it.” Leo pulls herself up and sits on the bed before she starts picking at her nails. “I originally intended on doing this as an anniversary present. I know it’s super mushy and not like me at all, but I wanted to surprise you guys.”
Holy shit.
Leonor actually chose toshowushow much she loved us. It’s not words, not silent hugs or loaded smiles. Leo bought a whole fucking apartment building to show us how much she cares. And that was well before we were all in love and having sex so it almost means more because of that.
“I don’t know, it was going to be kind of like athank youfor putting up with me for a decade. No one has ever done that before, no one except the four of you, and Justine and Pierre. I did’t have anyone before I had you, and I wanted to show you what you mean to me.”
Leo pushes her bright red waves behind her ears and drops her eyes to the papers between us, avoiding my most likely blank stare the best she can. “From the first time I met you guys that’s all I heard, how great having a studio would be, how much freedom that would give us. It made sense, and we all wanted it, so I started saving. When I had what I needed to pay off my place and buy the other two, I went for it. I wasn’t going to tell you until the after party at our tenth anniversary show but shit went south and it got scrapped.”
When I say nothing still, Leo shrugs to herself then reaches into her pocket and pulls out her lighter. I keep staring at herin stunned silence, renovation plans starting to run through my mind as she flips it open and closed, open and closed.
She really is our goddamn soulmate, our missing piece. Leonor truly is the heart of us, and this is an incredible way for her to reinforce it.
“Look, if you don’t think it’ll work I can sell. Jesse and Adam sold to me right before the show but part of the agreement was for them to stay until they found a place, and since my plan never happened they stayed so it won’t be hard to take care of that.”
She clicks her lighter, the flint sparking before it stays lit, Leo lifting her fingers to pinch the top of the flame. “If you don’t think it’s a good idea then just forget I said anything. We don’t even have to tell the boys, we can just torch the blueprints and pretend this never happened.”
Leo gets to her feet, ready to head to the balcony and while I know it’s because she’s taking my silence as a bad thing, I can’t seem to get any words out.
After everything else that’s happened, everything that’s gone on since she called, this is a lot to swallow but not in a bad way. This is possibly the best thing that’s happened to us and our band since this beautiful and slightly unbalanced woman joined it, and I need to get my shit together so I can tell her that.
“It was stupid to bring it up. Just... just forget it, ok? It was too much, too soon, and I…”
I grab Leo’s hand as she goes to walk by me, yanking her down onto the bed before I roll so I’m on top of her, trapping her in place with my body. “You’re back?”
She frowns and her nose scrunches. “What?”
“You’re back.”
“From where?”
“Hell.”
“You don’t have to be a dick, Norm.” Leo scowls in my face and tries to wiggle out from under me. “I’m confused as fuck, but that felt like an insult and?—“
And Leo doesn’t get to finish her comment because I’m too busy kissing her.
Frantically, feverishly. I’m kissing Leonor like she’s the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.
Because she is.
“I love you,” I say against her lips, smiling when my girl whimpers a little. “Ireallylove you, Leonor.”
“I love you, my sweet boy.”
“This can totally work.”
Leo lifts a brow as she brings her hands up to smooth my hair back. “Yeah?”
I nod. “Absolutely. We might have to adjust some things based on wiring and plumbing, and Lucky’s OCD, but this building caneasilybe converted into our studio and home.”
“And you think they’ll go for it?”
