Page 37 of Leo, My Partner

His frightened eyes lock on Leo’s, and he opens his mouth to let out a shrill scream. My hands fly to my ears, trying to drown it out. Of all the things to come out of his mouth, I didn’t expect a shriek.

Quick as a flash, Leo stops the scream a few seconds later with his hand tight on Michael’s throat. Choking noises replaces the high-pitched sound and I’m thankful. My ears ring even after he stops.

Leo leans close to his face and in a snarling voice says, “If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’ll slit your fucking throat.” Michael glances at him with wide eyes and nods frantically. Leo lets him go, then looks over at me. “Want to talk to him first, or can I have my fun?”

Michael visibly shakes as he tries to peer over at me. Since he can’t move his head, he can’t see me from where I’m standing. That doesn’t stop him from asking questions. “Hey! What’s this about? Talk to me about what?” When neither of us answers, Michael shrieks, “Please! Tell me what this is about. What have I done to you?”

Anger surging inside of me, I stride over to Michael so he can see me. His face doesn’t show recognition, but I’m sure my next sentence will bring it all back to him. “You remember Juliette Barner? Remember what you did to her?”

Michael goes chalk white as he tries to shake his head. Yeah, he remembers. Juliette and I sat beside each other at his trial, hoping and praying for a good outcome. Our prayers weren’t answered.

I slap a hand on Michael’s forehead much harder than necessary and hold him still so he can meet my eyes. “Fucking look at me! Look at me and tell me why! Why did you do it?”

“Do what? I didn’t do?—”

“You’re a fucking liar!” I roar and strike him. I punch him in the face repeatedly, wanting to vent my frustrations. Anger floods my body, the rage threatening to tear me apart. My hand repeatedly bashes into the soft flesh of his face, my fist warming with blood.

When my left arm gets tired, I switch to the right, pummeling Michael into the table.

Leo lets me go on until Michael’s face is bloody and swelling. He finally stops me when it looks as if Michael will pass out. I look up at Leo, chest heaving with blood running down my closed fist.

Smirking at me, Leo pulls me close to him—not worried about the blood that’s splashed on me—and kisses me deeply. “Fuck, I can watch you work all day. You’re fucking hot.”

Despite my irritation at the lie this fucking rapist told, I blossom under Leo’s lips and his words. I rub up against his hard dick, eager to get this kill over with so I can get Leo alone.

Michael groans pitifully behind us, but I pay him no mind. Leo’s kiss conveys that he’s here for me and he’ll handle everything from here.

I can’t wait to watch. But first, I have questions.

Breaking the kiss, I pull back from Leo, grabbing a cloth from his cleaning kit and change my gloves. Once done, I step back to the table and grab Michael’s face. He looks at me with swollen eyes, groaning as I grip his chin roughly. “Do you remember Juliette?”

“Yes,” he croaks, shaking his head to try to loosen my grip. I grab on tighter. “Fuck! Yes! I remember her. But I did my time. I paid my debt to society.”

“The fuck you did!” I shout, slapping him quickly across the face. “You did less than three months, and she fucking killed herself. You took away any kind of hope for her future. Why did you do it?”

“Tell the truth,” Leo mutters from behind me. “Tell the truth and we’ll let you go.”

Michael’s swollen eyes light up, and he nods as much as he can with my hand gripping his chin and his head tapped down. “Okay. I was her tutor. She flirted with me all the time, telling me if I helped her, she’d make it worth my while. When it came time to collect, she said no. But she fucking promised. She told me that?—”

My anger gets the best of me again, and I punch Michel in the nose. “She meant she’d pay you extra money, you dipshit. I saw the text messages.” Juliette messaged Michael about coming to help her for an extra hour her parents weren’t paying him for. She said she’d make it worth his while, and when Michael asked how, she said she’d pay him a hundred dollars for the hour so she could pass her algebra two final exam. “She didn’t want to have sex with you. You were old enough to know that.”

Michael groans, his hands twitching as if he wants to grab his nose. “I said sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

“Yes, you did,” Leo says behind me, his voice sounding soothing, as if trying to set Michael at ease. I give him a puzzled look, but he shakes his head slightly at me. I step back, letting Leo do this thing. He has more experience with this type of stuff than me. “You did mean it. And she’s not the only one, is she? What did you do to the others?”

Michael looks up at Leo, staring into his eyes. I’m not sure what’s going on here. It’s almost like Michael is under a trance, caught in the blue-green stare of Leo.

After he swallows roughly a few times, Michael says, “I killed them. I wasn’t going back to prison, but I couldn’t stop. I’m sick. I need professional help.”

My blood boils at his statement. It’s only sheer force of will that holds me in place from socking him in the jaw again.

Sounding like he’s proud of Michael for confessing, Leo says, “Good. Who are they?”

“Will you let me go if I tell you?”

Leo smiles as if Michael can trust him, but I see it. This smile is one of disgust and contempt, not the friendly nature that Michael thinks it is. I’ve learned to read Leo’s smirks and smiles and emotions over the past week we’ve spent together. This is not a friendly smile. “Of course.”

Michael gives us three names and where the girls are buried. He tells us he kept a trophy from each girl—earrings he snatched from their ears before he killed them.

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