Page 72 of Breakaway
My words trail off. If he killed her, I'm going to hate myself for the rest of my life. Sure, she was doing her job, and that meant there was a risk to her safety because we all knew I had a stalker who was getting more and more unhinged. But I never wanted anyone to die while protecting me.
"She's fine," Leo says, his fingers brushing across my cheek.
I jerk away from his touch, startled by it since I'd been lost in my own thoughts of losing my friend. His smile falls, but his hand doesn't. If anything, he grabs my face harder than the soft stroke he was going to give me. His thumb is under my chin, his fingers splayed across my cheek and around my jaw.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"Please," I whimper, tears pricking at my lower lashes. It's the right thing to say, because his grip softens, his anger fading into something akin to what might be sympathy if it were given by anyone other than the man who kidnapped me.
"It's okay," he murmurs, his fingers gently wiping away my tears. "You're still learning. You've been allowed to do whateveryou've wanted for so long, but we'll fix that." His smile is genuine as he pats my cheek. "Give you some structure and you'll be the perfect woman."
I swallow hard, tears still slowly falling down my face. If he expects an answer, he doesn't push for it. No, he just strokes my cheek once more while staring at me, and then drops his hand from my face before turning and walking to the ship's navigation dashboard.
I look around again, realizing that this ship is small, almost as small as the private ship Zill has attached to the much larger one. If that's true, then the door Leo came in from could lead right back out onto the port docking area.
A plan is slowly starting to form. If I can get close enough to the door with him, hopefully, the ship will see his biometrics and open. He doesn't seem stupid, which means he's probably locked it to anyone but himself.
"Where are we going?" I ask, hesitating to move towards him even though I know I need to be closer to him to make this work.
He looks over his shoulder toward me, and I freeze. There's still a strange happiness about him, but it's terrifying. I might want to move toward him for the plan to succeed, but the animal part of me is screaming danger and willing me to stay rooted in place.
"Well, we'll need to hide out in deep space for a little while until the Sombrans stop looking for you," Leo says, turning back around.
I let out a long breath, his eyes leaving me, making me feel like I can breathe again. With his attention off of me, I manage to lift my foot and slide it a few inches forward, forcing my body to shuffle closer to him even though it feels like I'm moving through mud.
"Were you and the Sombran actually together?" Leo asks, all of a sudden, facing me again. His smile is gone, his arms are nowcrossed over his chest, and he's looking at me as if there is one correct answer and a lot of answers that will end with me not liking the outcome.
I shake my head immediately, the self-protection instinct strong enough to override the pride I have in calling Zill mine. "Fake. It was fake. Mauve, my agent, she said. Fake. I promise, it was fake." I'm stammering and blubbering, and there are more tears.
Leo, thinking he's the one I need comfort from, abandons whatever it is he's doing at the navigation controls and is in front of me in the blink of an eye, his arms banding around me. They feel like chains, but I do my best to let him hold me as more tears fall and my shoulders shake. I'm stiff, I know I'm stiff, but he doesn't seem to take that as a rejection.
"Shh, it's okay," Leo says in a whisper. "I knew you wouldn't ever betray me like that. I know."
I cry harder because he's so going to kill me if he finds out. Granted, he's probably going to end up killing me at some point if he does get me off Earth. And that thought seems to be what breaks my scared animal brain mind out of being frozen. I wrap my arms around him, stumbling us backward a few feet toward the door. Leo curses under his breath, but when he realizes I'm clinging to him as if for comfort, he settles back into cooing and trying to soothe me.
"I'm so glad I have you now," Leo says to the top of my head. His breath is warm in stark contrast to the overwhelming ice that feels like it's filling my veins. "I'll keep you safe and sound with me forever. Doesn't that sound nice?"
I shake some more, but he either thinks I'm still just emotional from before or he thinks I'm nodding my head in acceptance. It doesn't matter to me as long as he thinks I'm not a threat or flight risk.
"When are we leaving?" I ask.
He loosens his hold first, and I cling to him for a moment longer, letting him think I'm still in need of his comfort. Guys like that kind of thing, right? He stalked me, so I think he wants me to be clingy. He smiles down at me as though I'm a plaything rather than a person.
"As soon as I get approval to leave, we'll be gone," he tells me, cupping my face again, and this time I force myself not to pull away.
Much to my own disgust, I nuzzle into his hand. He narrows his eyes on me almost suspiciously, but his own delusions are working in my favor because he pulls me to him and presses a kiss to my forehead. It's vile, but at least it's just on my forehead and not on my lips.
"It won't be long, and then you don't have to worry about any of this Earth stuff anymore. It'll just be the two of us."
I can think of nothing I want less than to be trapped in the middle of nowhere space with this man. Which is what leads me to do the only thing I can think of doing to get him the few more feet over to the door. Something I was just grateful to get out of when he pressed his lips to my forehead.
I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss. He's stiff at first, and I use that to push him closer to the exit. He's ignorant of where he's going or maybe too lost in what he's apparently been wanting for so long. Then something shifts, he pushes away from me just enough so he can look down at me, his hand on my hips holding me back.
"Stop, Empress, you don't have to be like this with me," he says, as if he's saving me from… what? Kissing? "I know you always pretended to be easy, but you're not like that. Not really."
Oh. He's one of those.
I might have been up on stage singing about how much I enjoy being with men and dancing provocatively, but of course,I'm not like that in real life. I'm a sweet, untouched, perfect girl. Or that's at least the fantasy Leo must've spun for himself.
