Page 36 of Sins of Leo

Said by the dream ghost of his child who never actually knew him. “I’m not a good man,” he murmured, not for the first time.

“You’re my daddy.” Words that arrowed his heart and almost sent him to his knees.

His voice emerged raspy. “How long before we’re together?” How long before he died and joined his baby girl?

“Soon. You’re going on a trip.”

“I am.” No point in asking how she knew. His dream, his mind.

“Don’t follow the lady into the forest. She’s not a nice lady. Follow the man with one eye.”

“Wouldn’t the lady let us meet sooner?” No point in delaying his demise.

“No. You have to follow the man. With one eye,” Olivia emphasized. “And don’t let the doctor lady have a bath by herself.”

Ruth? Before he could ask another question, Olivia glanced over her shoulder. “I have to go.”

“Go where?” he asked, again, not for the first time.

Olivia’s lips turned down. “Time for another visit to the bad place.”

Hearing that always tightened his stomach because he couldn’t help but think of Hell. Had Kylie somehow dragged their baby daughter to the Inferno? And, no, it wasn’t odd he believed in heaven and hell. After all, magic did exist and powers beyond anyone’s comprehension inhabited this galaxy.

“I wish I was there to protect you, baby girl.”

“Soon, Daddy. Soon we’ll be together forever.”

With that, she faded, leaving Leo broken.

CHAPTER 11

At first,Ruth couldn’t tell what woke her. Most likely the strange bed and locale. As she lay with her face pillowed, she heard a noise, though. Almost like a whimper.

Leo?

She rolled over and in the faint moonlight streaming through the window saw him in his bed, sprawled on his back, the sheet tangled around his waist and legs, leaving his upper body bare. Holy muscles.

And scars. She noted the white lines of them crisscrossing his body.

A noise emerged from him again, and she heard the raspy words, “Don’t go, baby girl.”

Talking in his sleep. Not surprising. He’d mentioned having nightmares in their brief session.

To her shock, he suddenly sat straight and bellowed, “Don’t make me wait. I can’t do this anymore. Take me with you.”

The anguish in his voice ripped at Ruth. The man suffered the loss of his child, and she feared, given how long ago the tragedy happened, that he might not ever recover. Most people resumed some semblance of normalcy within months to a year,maybe two. But some clung to their grief, kept it close, and fed it. Those people could be very hard to bring back from the edge.

Leo was one of those people.

He rolled, facing away from Ruth, and sat on the edge of the bed, hunched, shoulders shaking silently.

Many would have chosen to give him privacy as he dealt with his grief. Ruth believed in tackling it.

“It was just a dream.” She spoke aloud, softly, and yet he visibly startled.

He glanced at her over his bare shoulder. “I woke you. Sorry.”

“You can’t control what you do when you sleep.”

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