Page 123 of Petite Fleur

I just want a life outside of the walls of his home, with him.

Crap, I think I love him...

Chapter 48

Leon Aldon

I need to get the guys in the basement before they wake up, but Maeve is my priority.

I know she’s upset about being on a leash today. I know I humiliated her and broke what little trust I’d earned, but I also know she’s feeling torn about our guests of honor currently hogtied in the back of my SUV.

I know she has to be debating if this life is worth it, but we’re too far in now.

She can refrain from the killing and I could go our entire lives without telling her about my little hobby, but she’d still be involved.

She’d still be sleeping with a killer and I know that has to confuse her more than she’ll ever admit.

When we get home, I help Maeve inside and she moves as if she’s on autopilot. She walks in the door without looking around or uttering a word, just stripping her clothes the second she reaches the bedroom and stepping into the shower mindlessly.

At least that gives me a few minutes to rush and load these guys into the basement; then I can focus on my girl for the night.

It’s not as hard as it sounds to haul football giants down a flight of steps, they make it down pretty quickly when you kick them and watch them roll and crash to the bottom.

Mark’s face is already swelling, his nose is broken and turning black and blue, but I take a tremendous amount of joy in watching him face plant at the bottom of the steps again.

This time, however, I see a few teeth fly across the room and blood to stain my floors.

I would be pissed, but that’s what they’re for.

He’s going to have a fun time when he wakes up in a few hours with a busted face and missing teeth.

Good.

Once the guys are downstairs, strapped in, and ready to wait for the morning, I head back upstairs to check on my girl.

I need to make sure that she’s feeling alright and that she’s able to rest; tomorrow will be a long day for us.

I wait patiently on the bed for her, ready to help her when she comes out. I even sat some pajamas on the sink for her since she seemed to have forgotten to grab them. As soon as she opens the bathroom door, she looks very torn on how she is feeling. Like she's not sure how she should feel, I get it.

I open my arms for her, offering her to walk into my embrace, surprising the heck out of me when she does. She walks up to me until she's standing between my legs, letting me pull her flush into my chest and wrap my arms around her. "You feeling okay, ma fleur?" I ask calmly.

I rub my hands along her back as I hold onto her, basking in the feeling of her arms tightly around my shoulders and her face tucked into my neck. "I don't know." She says quietly.

My poor girl.

I kiss her temple and rest my head against hers. "It's okay, petite fleur. I know this is confusing, but we're okay." I promise her.

She keeps her face tucked into my neck, and honestly I'm loving that she's seeking me out for comfort. "How do you know you're not going to get caught?" She asks me quietly.

"I've been doing this for a very long time, 16 years to be exact. I can promise you, we're safe, but you don't have to get involved in any of this. I just needed you to know who I am." I explain. I'msomehow even more nervous about this than I was about my leg and my chest.

Maeve picks her head up from my neck, holding onto my shoulders as she stares at me. "I want to help. I think. They're bad men. They don't deserve the chance to do this to anyone else." She tells me.

Frankly, I'm caught off guard.

I figured at most, she'd sit back and ignore what I do, not that she'd willingly participate, but I'm sure that will change when she sees the first sight of gore.

Hell, I vomited the first time I killed, when I felt the crunch of my mothers neck in my hands. The police chalked it up to a teenager being traumatized to come home and find their mother’s neck broken.

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