Page 56 of Gilded Saint

“Leo?”

“You think you can walk if I help you?”

“Whyyy hmm your car?” She pushes up off the seat with a dazed expression.

“Come on. Let’s get you up to the guest room so you can sleep this off.”

She rubs her face and smacks her lips. I wait, one hand on the door, as she wakes and gets her bearings.

“I only had three drinks.”

Nick called at almost four. Three doesn’t sound too realistic for hours in a club, but if Dante values his life, he’s pieced together what really happened.

She wobbles on her heels, but with one arm draped over my shoulder, we make it into my apartment without incident.

At the top of the stairs, Willow meets us, her blonde waves flowing around her shoulders in an angelic veil and questioning blue eyes taking us in. Lina’s head is against my shoulder, one arm wrapped around my waist, and those blue eyes travel down.

Shit. Lina’s barely dressed. This can’t look good.

Chapter19

Willow

“Do you need help?” My words are gravel against my throat, but he’s safe, which is the most important thing. Horrible fears terrorized my brain for hours, thanks to stories from Scarlet and Orlando. Flashes of funerals and tear-soaked faces plagued me.

The woman Leo holds against him wears a skimpy dress that reveals every inch of her waif, model-like form; the fabric so tight there’s no room for imagination to play. She’s gorgeous, but she’s a hot mess. Mascara coats the skin below her eyes. Red lipstick stains the skin outside her lip line, although there’s little trace of it on her pale lips, and the whites of her eyes are bloodshot. She’s been through hell.

“The coffee’s hot. I put the kettle on when the elevator dinged. It should be ready in a minute if you’d prefer tea. I have biscuits, fresh bread. That should ease her stomach, absorb some alcohol.”

The woman draped against Leo lifts her head and her eyelashes flutter.

“Hello. I’m Willow. What can I get you? Are you thirsty? Hungry?” The stale smell of cigarette smoke, beer, and sweat wafts off the two of them.

“Is this the wifey?” the woman asks. “You really got married? And she’s what?” She pushes off his chest and wobbles on her stilettos. I hold out an arm, lest she come crashing forward, and Leo grips her elbow. “Are you even eighteen? Did you go and break the law, Leo?”

Her words are slow and slightly off. I haven’t spent a lot of time around partiers, but I’ve been to parties and seen those who imbibe. She seems like she’s still drunk or high. My experience is too limited to know which.

“I found your first aid kit. And the pain pills.” I glance back at the table where I have a mini-medical clinic prepared. “Do you want some water?”

She stumbles forward and pushes her index finger into my chest. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

“Ohhhh,” she drawls. “So legal.” She sways, and Leo swoops her up. Her head dangles over his arm.

“Is the bedroom ready?”

“Yes.” I push forward, speeding ahead of him to pull back the comforter.

He slows in the doorway, careful to enter so he doesn’t bang her head.

“Will you get Lina undressed?”

“Kinky,” she says with a grin.

“Her shoes, at least.” He pushes past me. “Lina, you need to go to sleep.”

“Should we be worried…” Leo pauses in the doorway to listen to me. He looks both exhausted and annoyed. “About vomit?”

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