Page 107 of Last Chance Love

“Well,” he said, glancing over, “there’s generally only one way to settle the issue if someone is out for your ass or not.”

“What? Sit and wait?”

“Well, okay, I guess there’s two, but that one sucks, so we probably shouldn’t do that one. I was thinking more along the lines of going to find her and talking.”

“I think wasting our time hunting her down when our lunch break is almost over would be a good way to get in trouble.”

“Nah, she always takes this time to eat lunch with Mr. Isaiah most days. And if she’s not in there, he’ll know where she is.”

I grimaced at the thought of trying to get answers. On the one hand, he was right, going to find her would settle the entire thing. On the other hand, if it was settled in the way I feared, I’d just be accelerating whatever doom I felt was inevitably coming my way.

“I guess it would just be better to pull off the bandage and get this over with,” I admitted with a grimace. “The longer I wait, the more freaked out I’m going to get.”

“Well, then let’s go deal with the issue,” he said with a small smile. “And then once we do that, we can talk about what you and I are going to do about this little revelation of yours.”

“Oh boy,” I muttered with a roll of my eyes, only to grimace. “Sorry, you’re right. You deserve to be upset with me.”

“Upset would be the word, yeah. But that’s better than being pissed.”

“True. And I hear it’s better to be pissed off than pissed on. Not that I would know.”

Leon’s nose wrinkled. “Yeah.”

My eyes widened. “Wait a minute.”

“God, don’t.”

“Did you run afoul of someone who wanted to piss on you?”

He groaned, rubbing his forehead. “Yes. And without warning or even telling me they were into that sort of thing, alright? And all over my damn couch.”

“No!” I all but crowed. “Holy shit, that’s awful.”

“And yet you sound like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“I mean, it is pretty funny.”

“Let’s not piss me off any more than you already…don’t.”

I covered my mouth, taking a moment to compose myself, giving him a neutral expression when I pulled my hand away. “I wasn’t thinking of anything. Wasn’t going to say anything either.”

“Sure you weren’t,” he said, sliding his hands to his knees to push to his feet. “Right, let’s go find Mona and get this settled.”

His voice grew quiet, and I watched his eyes widen, forcing me to turn to find what he was staring at. My once calm heart began to beat furiously as I saw Mona standing just outside the dining hall door. She didn’t stand alone either. Mr. Isaiah was with her, but so were Dane and Max. The former looked somber, while the latter looked like he was prepared to knock my head off with the way he glared at me.

“What is this?” Leon asked, finding his voice as I struggled to find mine. It didn’t help that the sudden spike of fear inside me tightened my chest and throat, making it a chore to breathe. “Mona?”

“I cannot begin to say how much I wish I never had to say the words I’m about to say, but you’re going to have to come with us, Reed,” she said, her voice tight and thick with emotion. “And I don’t want you to cause too much trouble in the process.”

At her words, Max’s face somehow got even darker as Dane’s expression dropped, eyes landing on the floor rather than making eye contact. I looked between them, finding Mr. Isaiah watching us with a downward twist of his lips that had thinned considerably as Mona talked.

“Trouble?” I managed to get out.

“You still haven’t said what this is about,” Leon added, and I could feel him bristling beside me.

“I’ll explain after Reed has come with us,” Mona said in an even voice, but I could see her eyes watching us intently, but mostly Leon. She seemed to think that if either of us were going to be a problem, it would be Leon. From how tightly he was standing beside me, I couldn’t blame her. “And I’ll explain to him only. You return to your duties.”

“Like hell,” Leon snapped and I reached to lay a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. It wasn’t like him to lose his temper, but in the rare instances I’d seen it, it was explosive and uncompromising. “You can’t just roll up here and start making demands.”

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