Page 14 of Salacious

“Yes,” Leo breathed. Ross gently tugged Leo’s shirt down his body, freeing his injured arm.

“They got you good,” Ross said. He poured the disinfectant on the wound, quickly putting the towel back in place to put pressure on the affected area. Leo was still bleeding, and would probably need a few stitches. “Looks like the bullet went straight through, so that’s good news.”

Leo barked out his laugh and groaned. “Don’t make me laugh. Nothing about what has happened to me should be considered good news, Ross.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you that night,” Leo whispered. Ross looked into his eyes, and he knew that his guy was being honest with him.

“I believe you, but it did hurt me that you could so easily throw us away,” he said. “I told you that I loved you and you still walked away.”

“To keep you safe,” Leo breathed. “I was told to come alone, or they would kill me and everyone with me. I couldn’t put you at risk, Ross. You mean too much to me.” Ross didn’t want to get his hopes up, but everything that Leo said did just that.

“What does that mean, Leo?” he asked.

“It means that once I clear this mess up with my father, I’m hoping that you’ll give me another chance,” Leo admitted.

“No,” Ross growled. “You’re not going to clean up this mess with your father alone again. You did that once, and it didn’t work out for you,” Ross said, nodding to Leo’s shoulder. “If you want another chance, we do everything together from now on—got it?” he asked.

Leo looked him over and Ross wondered if he was going to give in to his demands. After what felt like hours, not seconds, Leo nodded his head and Ross let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Thank you for that,” Ross said. “I’ll call my doctor friend to come over here and patch you up. Then, you can fill me in on everything you can remember about this week. I want to know where you were held, how you got away, and everything your father said to you.”

“I got away because one of the guys he sent to kill me wasn’t completely loyal to my father. We grew up together and he couldn’t seem to do what my father asked him to do. Joe shot me in the shoulder and after I fell to the ground, he stood over my body and whispered for me to stay down. I did as he asked, hoping that he was truly trying to help me. Joe told his partner that I was dead, and they left me there, in the middle of nowhere, bleeding like a son of a bitch. I don’t remember every second of my trip back to you—I was pretty out of it. What I do recall was a white pickup truck stopping on the side of the road where I was walking, and asked if I needed a ride. I told him that I’d appreciate it and made sure to keep my shoulder covered with my jacket. I didn’t want to scare him off if he saw the gunshot wound.”

“Smart,” Ross praised. “Did he bring you here?”

“He did, and I never even caught the guy’s name,” Leo said. “As for the rest of your questions, I don’t want to recap his homophobic comments. In a nutshell, he told me that he had a suspicion that I was gay the whole time and that he’d never leave his company to his gay son.” Tony was never one of Ross’s favorite people, but after what he did to Leo, he wanted to kill the fucker.

“That’s bullshit,” Ross growled. “I can’t believe he said that to you. I’d like five minutes in the same room with your father.”

“Taking him out won’t do either of us any good. If I killed my father, his men would never follow my orders. They would vote someone else in as the head of the family and I’ll never take over the company,” Leo said.

“I thought that you didn’t want the company. I mean, you’ve always said that you didn’t want to inherit the family business from your father. Why the change of heart?” Ross asked.

Leo shrugged his bad shoulder and moaned in pain. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I guess being locked up this week in one of my father’s safe houses, I had some time to think. I like the idea of you, Zane, and me taking over the families and making them into something that we can be proud of. I think that we can make a difference in how things are done, but I can’t do that if we make my father a martyr.” Leo was right. Killing Tony would piss off the Capo family and diminish Leo’s chances of taking over the business.

“We will come up with something, babe,” Ross promised, “together.” Leo agreed and Ross just hoped like hell that this time, he’d keep his promise to him.

Leo

Leo wasn’t sure if Ross’s plan would work, but he was out of ideas. The doctor showed up at Ross’s place to stitch him up and then he slept for what felt like days. He had to admit, he liked sleeping in the same bed as Ross again. He missed his guy and telling him that wasn’t enough. Leo needed to give him the words he deserved. He was ready to say those three little words, but for some reason, they just wouldn’t spill out of Leo’s mouth. He knew that sooner or later, he’d be able to say that he loved Ross, but for now, just being close to him was enough.

Ross walked into the bathroom while Leo was shaving and pulled him in for a quick kiss. “How’s the shoulder today?” he asked. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but Leo knew that telling him so would only have Ross demanding that he sit out their mission to take Tony down. Leo needed to be there. He needed to confront his father to show him that he was alive, well, and ready to fight for the family business. Once the rest of the guys saw that he had both his Uncle Bobby’s backing as well as Ross’s family backing him, there was no way that he’d lose to his father.

“Good,” he lied. Ross smirked as though he could see right through him. He both loved and hated the fact that his guy could read him so well.

“Okay, I’ll let that one slide,” Ross teased.

“Have you contacted my father to meet with you and Bobby?” Leo asked. Ross’s plan entailed calling Tony to tell him that they needed to meet about the future of their families working together. He knew that his father would never give up the chance to meet about such an important matter. In fact, he wouldn’t ever let anyone else go in his place since that would be a sign of weakness in his father’s eyes. Leo was going to be Ross’s ace in the hole. He was supposed to show up about ten minutes into the meeting with the documents that his mother had signed, saying that his father was incompetent to lead the family and that she and Leo were voting his father out and putting Leo in his place. It was a move that he never thought that he’d actually make, but his father had left him no choice. He wasn’t going to stop coming for Leo and he had made it very clear that he'd never allow his son to be the head of the family. He seemed disgusted by his gay son and Leo wasn’t sure how to feel about that. He was sad for his father that he was so narrow-minded that he would give up everything because of his stubbornness.

“I’m leaving now to pick up the paperwork from my lawyer. He texted about thirty minutes ago to let me know that my mother signed the forms that I’ll need to oust my father and take his place,” Leo said.

“I know that this is hard for you, babe. I wish I could figure out another way, but this is the best that Bobby and I could come up with,” Ross promised. While Leo was recovering, Ross had met a few times with Bobby and Zane, trying to come up with a way to keep Leo safe. Sooner or later, his father would figure out that he was still alive, and there was no telling who his dad would send to finish the job this time. Leo appreciated everything that Bobby, Zane, and Ross were doing for him, but a part of him worried that he was putting the three of them in danger, and if anything happened to any of them, he’d never forgive himself.

“I know that the three of you did your best to come up with the best plan, Ross,” Leo assured. “I wish that there was another way too, but my father won’t stop coming for me or you, once he finds out that I’m still alive. I’m just sorry that I’ve dragged you into this mess. If I could fix it myself, I would.”

Ross carefully grabbed Leo’s good hand and pulled him into his body. “I’ve told you this before, babe,” Ross breathed. “I’m in love with you and whether you want to hear this or not, we’re a team now. Your trouble is my trouble.”

Leo nodded, trying to think through what he wanted to say next. If he didn’t give Ross the words now, and things went sideways with his father, he’d never forgive himself. “I love you too, Ross,” Leo almost whispered. He could feel Ross’s body still and he knew that his guy was trying to figure out if he had heard what Leo had just said to him.

“In case you are trying to figure it out, I actually did just tell you that I love you,” Leo said. “I just wanted you to know how I feel about you before we go toe to toe with my old man.”

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