Page 30 of Justice

Typical Leo. He never liked to own up to nice gestures like this one. When I’d tried to thank him for the table, he’d pretended he’d found it somewhere, which I might’ve believed if he hadn’t had several plasters on his hands and yellow paint up his arm.

I sent him several kissy emojis before flicking back over to my music app. I needed something upbeat and peppy while I did some experimenting with my new makeup.

“Shake it Off” filled the air as I reached for the primer.

Leo’s kindness was just what I needed to put last night’s disastrous date behind me. Sebastian’s words floated back to me as I picked up my sponge.

“You are perfect, just the way you are.”

Perfect was a stretch. But I’d cling onto the hope anyway.

The hope that, maybe one day, I’d find a man who could accept me for who I truly was.

Saturday rolled around and I found myself at a loose end. We’d been given an extra bank holiday this year to celebrate some silly royal milestone. Great for everyone else, but it meant I had three long, empty days ahead of me.

Everyone else was taking advantage of the extra day off to be with their partners. Ethan was going to visit his boyfriend’s family. Lucky had been whisked away for an impromptu weekend in Paris with his partners, while Ferry and Leo were going to Scotland. They’d invited me along, but I didn’t want to be the third wheel.

Even Riley was busy. We had a major essay due on Tuesday. Ethan and I had finished it weeks ago, but Riley being Riley had left it until the last possible minute. I’d offered several times to help him with it, but he’d declined. Riley might have seemed flighty at times, but he was also incredibly stubborn.

I might’ve dealt with being alone easier if it hadn’t been for the news that morning. I didn’t even watch the news, but this story had been plastered all over social media.

Local man brutally murdered in own home.

That in itself was shocking, but that wasn’t what had me feeling out of sorts.

No, it was the fact that I recognised the house in the photo accompanying the headlines.

It was the house Leo had rescued me from months ago.

Colin’s house.

What disturbed me was my reaction to the news. I wasn’t sickened or scared.

No, I was…relieved.

Whether Colin had finally got his comeuppance or fallen foul of something else didn’t really matter. The end result was the same.

He was dead.

I shouldn’t have felt like a weight had been lifted off me. I shouldn’t have been rejoicing that someone was no longer living.

But I couldn’t help myself. Even though I’d known the odds of him getting his hands on me again were slim, they weren’t zero. Now though?

Now, I could finally breathe.

Without Leo or Ferry around though, I was processing this alone. My usual loneliness felt amplified, the silence in the flat almost deafening.

I had to do something. Anything to distract me from the fact that I wasn’t upset when society said I should be.

I started my morning by baking up a storm. But by the time I’d finished icing my coffee cake and taken the lemon shortbread out of the oven, it was still only 11.30 a.m.

Picking up my phone, I FaceTimed Mum. She and Dad had retired to the South of France when I’d moved in with Leo. I missed them something fierce, but it was nice being able to escape to their house in the summer for a super cheap holiday.

Ferry had accompanied us during our last visit. If my parents had been taken aback by Leo’s choice of partner, they hadn’t shown it. Thanks to me, Leo had known he didn’t need to worry about how they’d react to him coming out as bi.

So long as we were happy, they were happy.

It was at the back of my mind to tell my mum the news about Colin, but how could I explain it? They didn’t know the first thing about the situation.

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