Page 36 of End Game

Leo nodded. “Of course. You can use the bathroom in here, and I’ll work on gathering some clothes for you to sleep in.” He swallowed, his jaw clenching as we made our way through the threshold of his bedroom. Reflexively, my eyes jumped to the large bed. “Will you be okay in there on your own?”

A flush crawled up my neck. “Yes.”

“Okay.” He nodded again, though his brow was wrinkled in thought. “Take as long as you need . . . but I’m going to check in on you every few minutes, okay? If the heat from the water makes you dizzy, just call out for help. Try not to push yourself.”

Worry was evident in his expressive eyes as he looked down at me—they were like windows right into his thoughts. It made my heart clench. “I’m okay, Leo,” I said on a shaky breath.

He hummed, though he looked unconvinced. “Would it be okay if . . .” He paused, sighing through his nose as he looked at the floor before his eyes lifted back up to mine. “. . . if I hugged you?”

Well, I definitely hadn’t been expecting that. “You want to hug me?”

“I just . . .” He seemed to struggle to form the words, his deep, rumbling voice catching somewhere in his throat. “I feel like you could use a hug after . . . everything. And if it’s all right, I’d really like to give you one.”

There was a subtle mark of vulnerability in the way his lips pressed together, hidden under a much more obvious layer of determination. Something about it pierced me in my lungs, making it harder to breathe. “Okay,” was all I could think to say back.

He moved toward me with a single, tentative step until his chin was mere inches from the top of my head. And then his broad shoulders flexed as he lifted his arms, slowly wrapping them around my much smaller frame. He held me with a gentle, careful pressure that made me feel like I was floating up and into him. Like we might be hovering right off the floor. I was so shocked by the entire encounter that I never even moved my own arms to return his embrace. Before I knew what was happening, he was releasing me, jostling my nerve endings with the loss of his warmth.

“Are you mad at me?” I blurted. I couldn’t help it—I wasn’t sorry for what I’d done, and I hated the thought of caring about what he thought, but truthfully I did.

His jaw tensed and his eyes hardened. “No, Mara. I’m not mad at you.” Still, something wicked swirled beneath the surface of his gaze. A lock of dark hair fell against his brow as he dipped his head once. “I’ll give you some privacy . . . but I’m right here if you need anything at all.” And then he turned to walk out of his bedroom, leaving me alone with a new frenzy of thoughts.

I kept the shower relatively quick. It had taken me a while to be comfortable closing my eyes for long periods of time—it became the perfect opportunity for unwanted thoughts to creep in years ago when I was neck-deep in my fear and anxiety issues. Tonight’s events brought some of those fears back to the surface, and while the hot spray felt like heaven on my skin, the time alone in my head made me nauseous with unease.

Of course—that might have also been the concussion. Either way, I didn’t think staying under the water for too long was a good idea.

After slipping out of the shower and finding a fresh towel, I heard Leo at the door, his voice calm and controlled. “Mara, are you doing okay?”

“Yep!” I called out, cringing at how cheery I sounded.

“Okay, I’m leaving some clothes out here on the bed. I’ll shut the door and wait in the living room while you get dressed. Will you meet me out there when you’re done?”

I stared at my blurred form through the steamed mirror. “Sure, no problem!”

Quiet footsteps sounded, followed by the muffled click of a door latching. I turned the cool metal handle and peeked out into the bedroom, finding it empty. Leo had turned one lamp on in the corner so I could see better, but hadn’t turned on the main light of the room. Eyeing the floor-to-ceiling window on the other side of the bed, I figured it was his way of offering some privacy. I wondered if it might also be because he knew my head was aching, and that a bright light would only add to it.

Making quick work of letting the towel drop to the floor and pulling on the gray sweats and sweater set Leo left out, I tried to ignore the warmth in my chest for all he was doing for me. I already knew Leo had a way of knocking right past my defenses, but nothing good ever came from giving away my softer parts. I was more than certain that at his core, Leo was a good man. But even still, that wouldn’t stop me from holding tight to my vulnerability.

After picking up the towel off the floor, I made my way out and down the hallway to find Leo seated on his couch. He was still wearing his dress clothes, and the creases around his eyes looked etched in stone as he stared at the turned-off television screen. The lights in this room were dim as well, and I knew it for what it was—he was trying to keep me as comfortable as possible.

He heard my footsteps and looked up, his gaze meeting mine with a look of intensity that nearly sent me to my knees. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly as he stood up.

I honestly wasn’t sure how to answer that. My head still pounded, but I knew that physically, I was fine. Mentally, the logistics of what happened tonight were clear and I could objectively keep the facts straight—the attack had nothing to do with me. I wasn’t the intended victim; I’d merely jumped into a bad situation before it could get worse.

Emotionally, though, I felt like I was skating on pretty thin ice.

My chest felt like a vise, like it might rupture at any moment.

“All things considered, I’m okay.” It was as honest as I could get.

He looked at me for a long moment before his eyes moved to my temple. “Your head?”

I shrugged. “I’ve had worse.”

I’d meant it as a joke, as a way to lighten the tension in the room. But I could see from Leo’s face that I’d accomplished the opposite. “Fucking hell,” he mumbled, shaking his head as he walked toward me. When he reached me, he lifted his hand as if to check it himself, but then paused. “May I?”

I nodded, and he carefully brushed my hair away from my temple to get a better look at where my skin had ripped open. The paramedics hadn’t bandaged it, instead giving instructions to Leo on how to care for it after I’d gotten cleaned up.

He sucked in a quiet breath as he looked it over. “I’ve got some ointment we should probably put on it.”

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