21. LEO

I woke in his warm embrace, his hands wrapped around my back. And between us, his cock was already hard, poking me in the belly. He was sound asleep. A buzzing vibrated against the bedside table. That was what had woken me.

The dark LED colour lights continued to change colour around me, I thought for a moment everything had turned violet purple. I rolled off his body to see his dick in all its glory and the rest of his body, I wanted to sleep on him again.

The phone vibrated once more, reminding me someone was trying to reach him.

I nudged him gently. The sudden fear of him freaking out about being woke from a nap almost stopped me. "Your phone is buzzing," I whispered.

"Aw," he mumbled. "Come back to sleep." He pawed at his chest, sleepily. "Come on." He wrapped his arms around me and turned on his side. "Shhhh, let's sleep."

"It's your phone," I said, although I didn't want him to stop cuddling me like this. His cock against my back was getting me all excited.

He let go. "Fuck."

"What?"

Reaching over me, his chest on my face as I slipped down the bed. He grabbed his phone. "I told Preston to call if it was important," he said.

"Is it—is it important?" I asked, inhaling his scent from his body being pressed against me.

"Five missed calls," he said in a heavy sigh before slumping beside me in the bed. "We slept for three hours." He smiled. "Go put some clothes on, we'll need to head out." He gave my bum a squeeze. "As much as I'd like to see you without anything on, I don't want everyone else seeing you like that."

I scurried off to change and tell Tuffy about what had happened. I heard him on the phone from my room, speaking loud to his cousin, almost shouting.

"He's nice, actually," I whispered to Tuffy as I looked through the underwear drawer. I was feeling the stripes today, rainbow-striped briefs. "I mean, I know he might sound mean and sometimes look mean, but I promise, he's actually really warm and nice." I carried Tuffy and sat him on top of the drawers. "I think we knew that though, because he didn't hurt me, he gave me this room, he bought me all the things I like to eat, and stuff like that."

I knew Tuffy couldn't talk, but he was my secret keeper. He would never tell anyone anything I ever told anyone. And if he did, then I'd be shocked because the last time I remembered, Tuffy could only talk back to me when I was all cuddled up in little space, and only to me.

Putting on the colourful shirt and the trousers, I was looking professional. I admired the change in the mirror. Daddy probably liked to see that too, when I was in the shirt, I was his assistant, and then when I was naked or in a onesie, I was little Leo, looking for someone to cuddle and kiss, as well as other things. I was also looking to draw and host tea parties, but I only had Tuffy, and I'd spilled a lot of tea on him, he might not last another soaking.

He came to the bedroom door, only dressed in a pair of navy-blue suit trousers with a belt tight around his waist. The hair up from his belly button and chest transfixed my gaze on him.

"I want you to wait here," he said. "My cousin thinks he found his father." He looked me over and pulled my head to his, kissing my forehead. "It's dangerous out there. I don't want you to answer the door to anyone. And if someone knocks, I want you to take a knife and prepare yourself."

I could see that he didn't want to tell me that, he didn't want to turn me into a killer, even if that was self-defence. "Wouldn't—wouldn't it be easier and better if I came with you?"

"As dangerous as it is, it's much safer for you in here," he said, walking back to finish getting dressed. "I don't want to leave you either, but I have to. Keep your phone charged and keep it with you, I don't know how long I'll be."

"Wait, wait, no, I should tell you to keep your phone charged," I said, standing at the bedroom door and watching him stare inside his closet. It was filled with garment bags. "I don't—I don't want you to do anything dangerous."

"Come here," he said.

I stood beside and clung to his body, wrapping my arms around his waist. I squeezed tight. "You'll be safe, right?"

"I've just had incredible sex, there's no way I'm not going to give that up," he said. "But remember, you must listen to me. I know what I'm doing."

I nodded.

"What were my instructions?"

"Phone on and charged. Don't answer the door. And have a knife."

"See, I told you I'd teach you something," he chuckled, ruffling his hands through my hair. "I'll bring you something nice home to eat as well. So, that's my promise not to be home too late."

My belly was already rumbling, and I knew he heard it too.

"There's food in, if you're hungry now."

It was nicer now he wasn't angry at me, but I realise that his anger probably came from his inability to tell me how he felt or what he'd seen with me being on the app. "Ok," I said. "And what if I need you for something, should I text you?"

"If you need me, sure," he said. "But it must be an emergency. My cousin is a bit of an ass, no, he's a full ass, and if he has anything to do with this, it's going to be all hands-on deck. So, try not to need me for anything."

I sighed, letting go of him so he could finish getting dressed. "But I need you now."

"Fine," he chuckled. "If you feel like you're in danger, then you can call. Oh. There's a wooden wedge you can use, when I leave, put it under the front door."

My anxiety was climbing. Perhaps it was because he'd mentioned someone might come to the flat, and if I was alone when someone started banging like they had earlier, it would send me into a spiral. I'd dealt with that enough as a child, I didn't want to go back there.

He left me in the living room with the TV on, giving me a kiss on the forehead and telling me not to worry. But it was hard not to worry when you'd seen what he was capable of. Half of me wanting to call Susie and tell her to come over, and the other half knew he wouldn't like that.

I sent her a picture of the view and told her I had the day off.

—Let's meet up for coffee then, I need you to tell me everything. And I also want to make sure your face is ok. She messaged.

—Maybe another time. I'm watching some TV and I'm waiting for Sam to get back. He said it was a day off, but between me and you, I think he likes me.

—So that's why you took the job?

I could almost sense her laughing away as she typed that.

Maybe it helped me ease into the role.

I sent her a picture of my face just so she could make that it was healing. And then she reminded me that sleeping with your boss is never a good idea, especially when they also let you live at their place.

She didn't know what she was talking about though. It was different between us, he wasn't like a boss, he was in charge, but he was much more than that.

As I sat, watching the cartoon about the three bears, I ate all the chocolate mousses from the fridge. And I was still hungry, I wanted to eat my anxieties away. He promised he'd be back, and he promised he'd have food with him.

It was also getting darker, and my belly was rumbling louder.

The cupboards were mostly empty, except for the alcohol he stored in them, or the plates and bowls. There was an entire cupboard filled with wine glasses too. I knew he wasn't much of a cook, not like his mother.

That's when I found the tray of chocolate brownies, we'd got from her. It was under a tinfoil wrap over the tray on the bottom shelf of the fridge. I forget all about my worries and sat with the tray on my lap as I ate piece after piece of fudge brownie.

It had been four hours since he left. He hadn't called or texted. In fact, I wanted to text him because he hadn't updated me. But I didn't want to look like some clingy guy who he just had sex with and now wants to know his every move.

I waited and waited until my gut told me something wasn't right.

Before I could call him, three loud bangs came at the front door.

I froze. My hands shaking.

The handle wiggled as they whacked it.

"Open up." It was his voice.

It took a moment to understand what was going on. I rushed to the door, pulling out the wedge so I could open it.

At the door, his shirt and hands were bloody. Gasping out of breath, he stumbled inside. "I need you to clean the door and I need you to get the first-aid kit," he said, holding the back of a hand as blood dripped on the floor.

I shot into action, following behind him as he walked into the kitchen.

"What happened?" I asked.

He ran his hands under the water in the sink. "Listen, can you go downstairs and come back up, wiping any blood you see on the floor, the lift, the floor pad. Anything, I need you to clean it. There are some alcohol wipes under the counter."

Under the counter, following his orders, I grabbed the wipes and pulled the first-aid kit out. But I dealt with cleaning up the blood first, and there were lots of it, not large pools, but droplets, everywhere. He'd touched the buttons in the lift, and his prints were on the door in blood. I cleaned it all before going back to him, trying not to think about what had happened to him. I hoped that was all the damage.

Daddy Samuel continued to rinse his hands until I got back to him. He smiled, hopefully reassured I'd done a good job, and by the sight of all the blood-soaked wipes in my hand, I'd done well.

"What happened?" I asked again.

"My—my uncle, we didn't find him yet, but we found his phone," he said. "Things got pretty messy, we—we went to the place, asked what they knew, they didn't take us seriously. Then we had one guy run, so I had to go after him." He sighed. "People should tell the truth and not run; guilty people run."

I chewed on my lip as another question appeared on my tongue. "Did you kill him?"

He turned the tap off and presented his hands to me on the island counter, under the central spotlight, like I was in some type of hospital. There were cuts on his knuckles and they looked like they were swelling.

"Wow," I mumbled.

Chuckling, it clearly wasn't as painful as I imagined. "I usually use knives," he said. "Ok. What I'm gonna need you to do is get the antiseptic stuff, and put it on there, then there's a cream, I need you to coat it in that. Ok. I might look like it hurts, and it probably will, but you must do it."

Opening the first-aid kit, I didn't know if I was ready. He looked in my eyes, he trusted me to do this. "I don't want to hurt you," I said, organising the steps out on the counter.

"It's ok, I'll be fine, just be glad I don't think I need you to stitch anything," he said, laughing at the idea. I didn't find that super funny; it sent a shiver through me.

I followed his steps, cleaning the wound, creaming the wound, and then applying a bandage around both hands that extended around to his wrists, and some woolly substance on the cuts.

When I finished, he smiled at me and gave me a hug. "Your lip is bleeding," I said, looking up at him.

He licked at the cut. "Forgot about that," he said. "Think it will scar?"

I didn't want it to scar, but it would make his face look a little meaner even when he wasn't trying. "Maybe if I kiss better, it won't," I said, kissing his bottom lip.

"Fuck," he grumbled, clenching his freshly dressed hand into a fist. "I promised you food. I'm sorry. But I can see you ate that entire thing over there." He gestured to the tray baked brownie. "Are you hungry?"

My belly rumbled. So that was a yes.

"I'll order food," he said, kissing my forehead. "What do you like?"

"Hmm, burgers, chips, chicken nuggets," I began listing off until he got an idea of where I wanted to eat from.

He pulled his phone out of his suit pocket, showing me the smashed screen. "Where's your phone?"

In my pocket, right next to me, waiting for his text or call from earlier. He smiled, the cut in his lips appearing to grow wider. I just wanted to kiss all his wounds better like I knew he would to me.

But I was glad he hadn't taken on any more damage, there was only so much I knew how to do.