Page 24 of Absolution

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Three hours later,the team had been and gone. While they’d worked, Connor had made a few phone calls, including one to Bridget to let her know I was fine and everything taken care of. Webber had interviewed me and left with the promise that the break-in would be reported. He advised Leo to bring me to the station for an official protective order. Now, I was alone with the one man I never thought I’d be alone with.

Just before Leo had arrived, I’d taken the bag Gideon had left and shoved it under my bathroom sink behind a package of toilet paper and a box of tampons. I should have flushed the damn things down the toilet, but I hadn’t. Now the thought of them being right there, taunting me, was causing even more anxious feelings to percolate inside me.

“I still need your work schedule.”

Leo’s words startled me. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m off Tuesdays and Sunday. Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays I go in at ten and work ‘til six. Thursday and Saturdays I go in at eight and work ‘til four.”

“Okay. And what about other activities?”

Fuck. No way was I telling him about my meetings or Sonia. I don’t care how much I needed to be going to them right now.

“The only other thing I do is see my therapist. I have an appointment tomorrow, in fact.”

“Just let me know when. I’ll be taking you to and from wherever you need to go.”

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t think you understand what a bodyguard is. Where you go, I go.”

“Fine.”

“Let me know when you want to go to Eden as well.”

Thoughts of being escorting into the club by Leo flashed through my mind. I’d yet to see him play publicly, but when he wasn’t working as a DM, I’d seen him escort more than a few submissives into a private room. A brief vision of him standing over me with a flogger caused my heart to race, but I squashed the thought.

I needed to get away from him for a bit. Plus, tonight’s ordeal was finally weighing on me, and I was exhausted.

“It’s really late, and I need to be going to bed. Feel free to sleep in the spare room tonight. Towels are in the hall linen closet.”

Leo sent me a weird look. “Thanks.”

Leaving him alone, I disappeared into my room. Not even bothering to undress, I collapsed into bed and though my eyes burned with the need to sleep, my brain wouldn’t stop thinking about what lay hidden only a few steps away.

Chapter 16

Leo

Even two yearsafter my discharge, I still got up before the sun rose. I headed out to the kitchen to make some coffee, and then with my mug in hand, I settled into the recliner in the living room, trying to get a feel for this woman I no longer knew.

She had tons of pictures of her and Bridget. My eyes stopped on one frame in particular. I picked up the picture and studied the couple, my fingertips running across the glass. In it was a slightly younger Gina, maybe twenty or twenty-one, and an older man. One who looked old enough to be her father. Only he most definitely wasn’t gazing at her like she was his daughter. His expression was far too… intimate.

I put the frame back where I found it just as Gina stepped out of her bedroom.

“Morning.”

She sent me a narrow-eyed look that said it definitely wasn’t a good one and stumbled into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. It was time for a few more answers. If I was going to protect her, I needed to know everything.

“Sit. Please.” I gently commanded when she moved back into the living room.

Reluctantly, she complied.

“I know you testified against Gideon, but I don’t know the details. What the hell happened?”

“After you left, he fell in with Lorenzo. Unlike you, he didn’t care about becoming a better person.”

“I still don’t understand how that involved you.”

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