Page 103 of Rookie Move
At that she left the room and slammed the door with a bang.
THIRTY-TWO
Leo lay on the table, irritated with everyone and everything. He closed his eyes and tried to relax.
Who knew that losing your shit was so exhausting? He closed his eyes for a moment. But when he next opened them, he realized he’d nodded off. Leo sat up fast, his heart hammering. What the hell time was it? His watch said 3:30. He let out a breath. There were still four hours until the puck dropped. That wasn’t so bad.
Someone was tapping on his door, too. As his heart rate descended, he realized that the knocking had probably woken him up. “Come in,” he croaked.
The door opened to reveal Georgia, her soft face looking in at him with concern in her eyes.Shit. The last time he’d seen Georgia, he’d watched someone drop her to the ground... Again, his stomach rolled.
“Hi,” she said softly. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah. Of course you can.” He sat up a little straighter, knocking the blanket aside. He hated how weak he’d looked today. A man wasn’t supposed to have trouble keeping his shit together, no matter what.
But then Georgia was standing in front of him, her sweet eyes taking him in, her expression cautious. “Hey,” he said, his voice cracking. Because even though she wasperfectly fine, he was too raw inside to believe it. He could still see her body tilt off center, overpowered by an unseen attacker... His eyes were suddenly, uncomfortably hot. It didn’t make a lick of sense that he’d associate it with a crime from years ago that he’d never seen and couldn’t have prevented.
Breathe, Leo ordered himself.
“Honey,” Georgia said softly. She stepped up between his knees, put both her hands on his face.
There was nowhere to run. He closed his eyes, a new tremor rippling through his chest. The fact that someone had once hurt her was like a knife through his heart. His precious girl. She had been vulnerable to a fucking psychopath, and there wasn’t a fucking thing he could do about it.
Leo reached for her, pulling Georgia to his chest. He took a deep breath, but it hitched on the way in. And the sound escaping him was way too much like a sob.
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed while Leo fought for control. And lost. He buried his face in her neck while his eyes sprouted faucets. “I’m sorry,” he choked. “I’m just...”Losing my fucking mind.
“I love you so much,” Georgia whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.”
There were no guarantees, though. He’d learned the hard way already that he could bust his ass all day and all night until he was the strongest, most competent punk on the planet and it could all go to hell in a hot second. The more you had, the more there was to lose. He’d spent the last six years trying to forget that. But the truth hurt like a bitch.
He’d never stop trying, though. He’d do whatever it took to keep her safe and happy. If it could be done, he’d do it.
Georgia climbed uninvited onto the exam table, the paper crinkling under her. She sat beside Leo and turned to pull him into her arms. “I’m sorry you’re upset. But what happened before was upsetting. I don’t think I ever realized how it affected you.”
Leo took a deep breath and let it out. “You’re the one who really suffered,” he said.
“That’s not true.” She shook her head. “My dad did, too. And you. But I didn’t have any room in my head to understand it at the time. I was too busy being angry.”
He clamped his arms around her and sighed. “I’m okay, Gigi. I swear.”
“You,” she said, kissing the place just under his ear, “are everything to me. I didn’t say so when I should have, so I hope it’s not too late to say so now.”
The warmth of her body against his was starting to calm him down. “I love you, baby. Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t.”
He stroked her hair. “You did six years ago, and I still don’t understand why.”
“I was panicked,” she said in a low voice. “I’d suddenly lost my faith in everything, all at once. And I thought you were just sticking with me because you felt guilty.”
“No—”
“Shh,” she chided. “I was so full of shame and so scared. I thought that would never go away. The funny thing is that graduation was only two months after it happened. When I was eighteen those two months seemed like a lifetime of waiting to feel better. But they weren’t. Just a few lousy weeks. I didn’t know, though. I didn’t understand that time heals.”
Leo had seen some evidence today that time doesn’t always get the job done. But even so, he understood. “I would have waited a hell of a lot longer.”
She sighed against him. “I didn’t trust it, because I didn’t remember how it felt to be happy. I didn’t believe I’d get that back.”
