Page 48 of Love Bleeds Red
Finally, when their laughter grows louder and their words more aggressive, the scarred guard appears at my side.
“Time to go,” he says quietly.
“Where?”
He ignores my question and grabs my wrist to pull me up. My eyes meet Katie’s and try to convey a silent message. It’ll be okay. I’m still here.
The last thing I see before he shoves me into the hallway, is the man with the rings stumbling toward Katie. Tears stream down my face.Please let her come out of this in one piece.
He leads me down the dim hotel hallway to another room. It’s standard size, just a bed, a bathroom, a chair in the corner,and heavy curtains drawn tight. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand, but I can’t stop the tears from sliding down my cheeks.
“Wait here,” he says, then locks the door behind him.
I could try to run. Try to get help. But there’s no chance in hell he left me unguarded. Instead, I search the room for a phone, and only find a cord hanging from the bedside table. There’s nothing useful in here. They made sure of that.
The soft bed pulls me in. I’m so exhausted, so done with this life. I curl up on top of the comforter and wrap the edge around my exposed legs. My puffy eyelids droop and in seconds sleep pulls under.
I wake to the sound of the door closing. It could have been hours later, or minutes. I’m too disorientated to tell. Sweeper walks across the room and drags the curtains open, letting soft light into the room. I squint against it, rubbing my swollen eyes.
“You’re one of the lucky ones,” he says without turning around. “Time to go.”
BAILEY - JUNE 28TH
Sneaking around is harder than I thought it would be. It would be easy if we were only avoiding Jasper, but we’re avoiding Damon, Mom, and Dad too. Leon is fine with everyone knowing. He said so in that easy, no-nonsense way of his. It’s me that’s holding back. I don’t even really know why. The guys might be pissed for a while… might try and kick Leon’s ass, but what can they do to stop us? We’re both adults. I don’t know… Everyone’s happy right now. I don’t want to mess up the peace.
But God, the sneaking around is kind of thrilling too? Like yesterday, I was downstairs helping Mom with laundry and Leon came up behind me in the laundry room. Just pressed himself against my back and kissed my neck while I was pouring detergent in the slot. I almost dropped the full bottle. “Someone could see,” I whispered. The laundry room is right next to thebro-tel, but honestly I didn’t want him to stop. Not that he did. He just hummed against my skin and said, “Let them.”
And being at dinner together… it’s so hard to act like a normal person! Last night, Dad was asking Leon about his programming project and I’m sitting there trying not to stare at his mouth, that lip ring. At his hands as he gripped his glass of iced tea. Remembering how they felt tangled in my hair. Jasper kept looking between us like he knew something was up, which made me panic and start babbling about work until Mom told me to slow down and actually chew my chicken.
Then there was this morning. I got up early to make pancakes for everyone (okay, fine, I was hoping Leon would come up and we’d have a repeat of the banana bread date). He didn’t disappoint. I heard his footsteps behind me at six, while I was whisking batter. We had maybe ten minutes alone before Damon came up for his run.
But it was such an amazing ten minutes.
Ten minutes of Leon pressing me against the counter, whispering things in my ear that made it hard for me to breathe normally. Ten minutes of him kissing up my neck, along my jaw line, until he finally claimed my lips.
When we heard Damon walking in, Leon stepped back so fast and started pouring coffee like nothing happened. I probablylooked guilty as hell, but Damon just grunted a good morning and grabbed his water bottle.
I keep catching myself smiling at random times. Mom asked me yesterday if I was feeling okay because I was “glowing.” GLOWING. I wanted to die. But also... maybe I am glowing? Is that what being happy feels like? I’ve been missing out.
I know we can’t keep this up much longer. Someone’s going to figure it out. Part of me wants them to, just so we can stop pretending. So we can touch and kiss and talk the way we want to all the time.
But the other part of me loves having him all to myself, even if it’s just quick moments in empty hallways and text messages late at night.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll tell him I’m ready. Or maybe I’ll just see how long we can keep getting away with it. This bubble is too amazing to pop.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BAILEY - BEFORE
I changein the back of an expensive SUV—clean leggings and a long-sleeved henley. He even provided a stick of deodorant and hairbrush in the bag. At this point, I’m happy for the small comforts. He’s having a quiet conversation with someone on the other end of his Bluetooth earbuds—friendly, almost normal sounding conversation. That doesn’t last long though. The moment he ends the call, he’s back to scowling.
It’s a long drive, weaving through city traffic. I must be making a face that shows how nauseated I feel, because he speaks up. “Don’t vomit in my car.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see soon enough.” He stops short and I lurch forward, smacking my head into the seat. The movement doesn’t help the nausea. His eyes meet mine in the rearview, and he rolls the back window down a crack.
“Thank you,” I say quietly.
