Page 20 of Dangerous Obsession

Iawaken to the bed shaking. Leo sits on the side of the bed putting his boots on. He’s dressed. I never even heard him wake up or put his clothes on. His hair is damp too, which means he showered and I slept right through that as well. He smells nice, like aftershave or cologne. I turn to lie on my side facing him and lightly touch his back. He glances at me over his shoulder as he ties his boot strings.

“I’m getting food, and then I’m getting us out of here.” As he stands he picks up his weapon and shoves it into the waistband of his pants in back. “You need to stay here.”

Just having woken up, I feel groggy and I’m not sure I heard him correctly. “Me stay here while you leave?” I yawn and for a second I forget where I’m at. Me waiting for breakfast in bed sounds like a treat, until it all comes rushing back to me. The argument, the way his father ordered him to get rid of me. “Leo, I can’t stay here alone.”

Sitting up, I stretch and slip my legs over the edge of the bed. I’m going to get dressed and go with him because if I stay here, I’m afraid of what his father will do. I pick up the shorts I’ve been wearing and my panties, but he says, “What are you doing?”

I turn to face him. He’s buttoning his shirt and tucking it in. “Going with you. I’m not staying here without you.”

“Yes, you are. Just have a shower and I’ll bring you food.” His stern tone is threatening, but I know he’ll never hurt me. That’s the mistake he made when he said they’d never touch a hair on my head. I know he won’t either.

“I’m going,” I say again in just as firm of a tone as the one he uses. I bend and shake my panties out to put them on and he rounds the end of the bed and opens the door, standing in it open.

“You’re staying, even if I have to tie you up and lock this door. Now have a shower. That’s an order.”

“You think you can just order me around like one of your men? I’m going with you, Leonid.” I yank the panties up and glare at him. My heart is pounding. Even with the room fully illuminated it’s still just as scary as the second I walked in. The man who threatened to kill me years ago slept in this room, and he sleeps upstairs in this same house right now. Not to mention he threatened me last night too.

He walks over to me and puffs his chest out, looking down his nose at me. “You think because you feel all lovey dovey toward me that I’m just going to let you walk all over me? In case you forgot, you are incapable of defending yourself against the people who want to kill you.”

“And some of them are right upstairs.” My nostrils flare and I cross my arms over my chest, hiding my tits from his view.

“So I should make good on my threat to tie you up?” He isn’t backing down and I’m sure an argument will only draw attention to my presence. Maybe if I just hide away everyone will forget I’m here and leave me alone. It’s not likely, but apparently I can’t go with him where it’s actually safe. “The Italians can’t get to you here.”

“Your father can.”

“Stay in this room. I’ll be back.” Leo retreats, shutting the door behind him after he leaves and I am alone to brood over my own anxiety and inability to control the circumstance. My hands shake with fear and anger. I drop the shorts and have to wipe my sweaty palms on the fronts of my thighs.

“Bastard,” I mumble as my eyes dart around the room. There is no source of safety in this room, no comfort. It’s just a bed, two nightstands, a dresser, a television and a window. Even if there were a gun here, I’m not sure I know how to use one.

Leo was right. I do need a shower; it's been days since I felt clean even though I showered only two days ago. But that brown water at the safe house was so gross I feel like I am dirtier after having the shower than before I got in. And don't get me started on how I don't have any clothing that fits me properly. I will have to put on the same filthy panties, shorts, and t-shirt after my shower, but I want one.

I walk into the bathroom, and I peel the panties off and leave them lying on the floor. The room is still steamy from Leo's shower, the mirror fogged. It feels awkward to shower in someone's house when you are a guest, but showering in my enemy's house is frightening. Just being naked and alone here is frightening.

I turned the water on and I only have to wait a few seconds for it to be warmed up. I step into the flow of water and shut the glass door behind me. In moments I am soaked and starting to feel relaxed. In the shower is where I do my best to thinking. As the tiny droplets hit my skin it's like sensory overload and it allows me to stay grounded in the moment where my conscious thoughts can be directed toward the problems I'm facing and help me find a solution.

I don't want Leo to be a problem. I'm not sure I want Leo to be anything in all honesty. A week ago I would have told you that Leo meant nothing to me, that his absence from my life didn't affect me in any way. And that would have been true. My life was perfect. Or at least I thought it was. I graduated from Juilliard, got my own studio, and I am running a successful art business making money off of my paintings and sculptures. At least I'm supposed to be.

Life isn't supposed to be this way. I'm not supposed to be on the run from men who want to kill me. I left that life behind twelve years ago. And even back then it wasn't like this, not running from one house to another with gun fights and car chases. It was a simple matter of a father who didn't want me around his son, and an agreement that I leave or there would be dire consequences. Leaving that situation was the hardest thing I'd ever had to do because I was so in love with Leo. I would have told Alexsi to fuck off and leave me alone and totally passed on his “offer” but then Leo dumped me.

I reach for the shampoo bottle, squirt some in my hand, and lather my hair up. As I massage my scalp I feel the ache in my shoulders and arms from carrying bags full of groceries and water during that narrow escape from death. Maybe we shouldn't have left that safe house, but at least the water in this home is potable. I want to relax. I want to trust that Leo really has my best interest at heart and that he actually really will protect me even from his own family. But the past is coming back to haunt me now, and I not only fear for my own life, but for my father's. He doesn't even know I'm still alive, and my presence in this home is a very threat to his life.

Turning in the water, I let the flow rinse the shampoo suds out of my hair. It feels good to be clean. But I still don't feel safe. I use a bar of soap to wash my body, cleaning all the nooks and crannies. I remember how Leo washed me last night before sleep, and as I gently touch my soft folds to suds them up and wash them I remember how it felt too. No one has ever touched me the way he touched me. I never had a chance for them to touch me that way. He kept them all away from me, all so he could have me to himself.

I'm not really sure what to think of that either. Is it one of the most romantic gestures of all time? Or should I be infuriated that he micromanaged my life and kept me from really living? Because if I'm hours or days away from dying right now, and I could have lived my life to its fullest, but he prevented that from happening, then maybe I should be upset with him, and not falling in love with him all over again.

Finally clean and feeling a bit more refreshed I turn the water off and step out of the shower. I glance around the bathroom in search of a towel, but the only one I see is Leo's used towel draped over the towel bar. I could spend time rifling through cupboards to find one, but the air conditioning chills my body making my nipples hard. It's too cold to fuck around. I grab the used towel and dry my body then my hair, and wrap it around my torso tucking it into itself. I stare down at my dirty panties and feel completely repulsed by the idea of putting them back on. So I leave them lay there in a heap and open the bathroom door, prepared to go commando.

“Fuck, Leo said you were hot. I just didn't know you were that hot.” A man's voice startles me and I freeze. I glance around the room and notice a man who looks similar to Leo, though slightly younger, leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. He uses a pocket knife to clean the dirt from under his fingernails. His dark wavy hair hangs across his stormy eyes, and his leather jacket buckles in the front, slightly too large for him.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Adrenaline shoots through my chest and down into my limbs, I’m ready to fight him for my life or run out of here even if I have to do so butt naked.

“Whoa, slow down, woman. What are you so jumpy for?” The man stares at me through slitted eyes and closes his pocket knife before sliding it into his pocket. He pushes off the wall, crosses his arms over his chest, and stares at me.

“Answer my question. Did Leo send you in here to watch me?” I wouldn't put it past him to have done such a thing, but I’m more afraid that he didn't send this man. That this man was sent by Alexsi to kill me. I hover by the bathroom door shivering and shaking from fear.

“Leo has no idea I'm here.”

His words confirm my greatest fear. Someone has sent this man to kill me while Leo is out of the house. And when he comes back he's going to find a bloodbath and I'm going to be dead. I stepped back into the bathroom and shut the door, but quickly realized the folly of my choice to do so. There is no window in the bathroom, and there is no lock on the bathroom door. So when the man tries to open the door from the outside and I put all of my body weight against it to hold it shut, he easily pushes it inward and we are trapped together in the tiny space.

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