Page 27 of Come Back To Me
Ten
Riley
Leo passes the basement door, his footsteps causing the floor to creak as he walks in the same place over and over. My eyes are heavy, my body fitting too perfectly against the one in front of me to want to pull away. I have to, though. Leo can’t see what I have down here. He can’t see what is supposed to be the man we said bye to weeks ago.
“Ry-Ry. If you really don’t want to go, we won’t. We can stay here. I can crawl into that bed behind you if you want me to.” His voice drifts further away. He’s moving toward my room. My ears hang onto his footsteps until I lose track of them.
“I have to get up,” I say.
“Okay.” Gareth leans back, stroking my face. “Let me help you up.”
With his hands steadying me, I lower my feet to the floor. Swaying a little, I grab onto him, and he laughs, kissing my nose.It’s such a Gareth thing to do. “Easy. You’re alright. You need a little more time to familiarize your feet with the ground is all.”
“Yeah.” I wrap my arms around his neck as he stretches out to lift my pants up.
Leo calls for me again and I lower my hands between us, fumbling with the front of my pants. I get my button fastened after the second attempt and he beats me to my zipper. “There you go. I held back this time. It was hard, but I did it.”
“Held back from what?” My voice shakes.
“From tasting you again.”
A chill dances along my spine. “I . . . I gotta go. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Please stay in the house. And don’t come out of the basement until we leave.”
“Okay. I’ll do my best.” His lips turn up into a smirk.
“I hope you do.” I shove at his chest, moving around him. I don’t have all the feeling back in my legs yet, but I drag one foot in front of the other as quickly I can anyway. Holding on to the rail, I jump faster up the stairs and close the door as soon as I reach the other side without looking back. I press my back to it, my eyes pausing on the lock. Chest lifting and dipping lower with each breath, I twist it until I hear a click.
“There you are.” Leo’s voice catches me off guard and I jolt in front of the door.
“Yeah, sorry. I had to take care of something in the basement.”
“Like what?” His eyes hook on mine.
“Just making sure the pipes weren’t freezing up again down there. Happens sometimes when I have the air on too low all day.”
“Oh. Well, you could have told me. I was wandering around your house like a crazy person. It didn’t even dawn on me to check the basement.”
Good. That’s one blessing in all this mess. “Sorry. I didn’t think it’d take that long, but then I noticed the traps had some mice caught in them that needed releasing,” I lie again.
His face scrunches up. “Yeah, glad you didn’t ask for my help with that one.”
I laugh, adding more of a smile to my lips to make it more believable. “Don’t worry. I know how squeamish you get with those sorts of things.”
“Yeah. Especially with mice.”
“And spiders, and crickets, and—”
“Yes, I’m scared of a lot of things. I get it.”
I pat him on the shoulder. “For someone who’s scared of so much, you sure do love Halloween and slasher films.”
“I didn’t say I made sense, okay?”
We both laugh and he follows me to the door. He keeps looking at me as we walk to his car, and it becomes clear why once I’m in the passenger seat in front of the open visor. My cheeks are pink and my eyes are bloodshot.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asks as he studies me more closely.
“Yeah.” I shut the mirror, offering him a comforting smile. “Just my allergies getting to me. There’s so much dust in that basement.”
