24. Mark

24

MARK

W ith a shake of my head, I punch the code into the new keypad on the front door of Leo’s building. It’s the first of two I’ll have to enter before I actually get to her place and while I’m definitely glad people can’t stroll in off the street anymore, I have to wonder if we went a little overboard.

It’s not some huge inconvenience to enter three different security codes just to get home, but it is kind of annoying. More the remembering part than anything else. Give me words—lyrics—or notes, directions, plans and a schedule, I’ll recite that shit back to you word for word twenty years down the line. Hell, I can remember my childhood phone number and street address from when I still lived with my mom but you give me three sequences of numbers that have to be entered within thirty seconds of the first being pressed, and I’m fucked. I’ve gotten locked out of the building twice already and the system has only been up and running for five days.

Thank god this shit isn’t connected to some kind of nuclear weapon.

“Hi, Mr. Mark.”

I smile as I close the lobby door behind me then immediately crouch to Carson’s level. “Hey, bud. What’s shakin’?”

“Playing cars.” He shrugs one shoulder and sighs long and loud. “While I wait for my dad to call.”

“He supposed to call today?”

“Mom said he is but I’ve been waiting like, a million hours.”

My brows lift as I fight a laugh. “That’s a pretty long time.”

Carson nods and goes into the bucket at his side, slowly pulling out little matchbox cars and lining them up on the tile floor.

My heart hurts for this kid.

Him and his mom, and it always has.

Adam is a good dude and he’s serving our country which probably makes him better than good but it’s hard seeing Jesse and Carson miss him the way they do.

Especially as it gets closer to the holidays, and they aren’t sure if Adam will be home or not.

“He’s probably just running behind, I’m sure he’ll call soon.”

When all I get is another halfhearted shrug, I open my mouth to say something stupid to make this kid laugh but my jaw snaps shut when he pulls out what is definitely Pete’s GTO.

I’d know it anywhere, I’ve seen it thousands of times.

“Hey, that’s pretty cool.” But weird as fuck because we couldn’t find that when we were packing up Pete and Lucky’s condo. And believe me when I say, we looked everywhere for it. Luck’s OCD wasn’t going to leave it behind, and honestly, neither was Pete but we gave up when the place was cleaned out.

Seeing Carson play with it in the lobby doesn’t make any sense.

He looks up at me with a big smile now, holding the blue sports car out for me to take. “Mr. Pete gave it to me.”

“He did…”

“Yep. Well, not Mr. Pete, really .”

I frown at Carson and turn the model over in my hand. “Really?”

“Yeah, it was someone else.”

“Someone else?” My heart drops right down to my balls but I have to keep my shit together for this kid. “Was it Mr. Norman?”

Carson shakes his head.

“Mr. Lucky?”

Another shake.

“Miss Leo, maybe?”

“No, it was a man. He had a deep voice, and he was tall like you.”

Tall like me. Ha.

If I wasn’t starting to panic, I’d laugh at that because at six foot and three quarters, I’m the shortest of the four of us. But I guess that’s tall to a six year old.

Knowing whoever gave that toy to Carson is about my height is a step in the right direction, though. “You’re sure it wasn’t Mr. Norman, then? He’s kind of tall like me.”

Car shakes his head. “He wasn’t skinny like that. He was tall and big, and he wore lots of black clothes.” I open my mouth to ask about Luck again but the boy beats me to it. “And a black hood with sunglasses, and a thing covering his mouth. He even had gloves on.”

Fuck .

That is not good, it’s not good for about four million reasons but the two that are blinking neon red at the top of that list are Leo’s stalker broke into Pete’s place and stole the model GTO and the fucker came here and gave it to Carson to make a point.

A sick and terrifying point.

The bastard wants us to know he’s everywhere, and I don’t fucking like it.

But I still need to play it cool for Carson because the worried expression he’s giving me has me feeling like a dickhead.

“Huh,” I hand him the blue sports car and nonchalantly pick up another one, spinning the wheels with my finger. “So, it was like some secret spy gave it to you?”

“I guess.”

“Do you remember anything else about him?”

Carson shrugs.

“Nothing at all?” I don’t want to pressure or scare him but if he remembers anything about the day he got that car it could be helpful for us. “You’re telling me a super smart, super cool kid like you can’t remember anything about that sneaky spy who gave that to you?”

“No.” He giggles a little and sets the GTO down before he pauses. “His boots made a weird sound when he left and I laughed because I thought he farted.”

Forcing a chuckle because that didn’t really help, I ruffle Car’s hair and get to my feet. “Fart boots, got it. Have fun, kiddo, and say hi to your dad for me when you talk later.”

My heart is racing right now, pounding so fast and so hard I’m not sure I’ll successfully make it up the stairs without passing out, but the need to get to Leo’s place is strong. Strong and overwhelming, and that grows when I’m about halfway up and Carson calls for me.

“What’s up, dude?”

I watch him get to his feet and slowly walk to the bottom of the stairs, a little hesitance in his movements. “He said to tell Miss Leo that he’d be seeing her soon, and she better be ready to lose their game.”

Straight up fucking ice shoots down my spine but I just thank Carson, tell him I’ll pass on the message then wave before I turn and eat the steps two at a time.

“Fuck,” I grunt as I enter the code on Leo’s door for a second time, the keypad blinking red because it’s wrong .

This is not the time.

I need to get in this goddamn apartment and I need to do it now.

Lucky is home, I know that much because Norm text and said he and Pete were grocery shopping, but our gentle giant is a big enough dick that he’ll ignore me so I can learn how to do this myself.

Which he’ll regret when I break down this door and start to strangle him.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and try to calm down, gathering my wits so I can remember the goddamn numbers that’ll let me inside.

This system was clearly a necessity, I know it, I agree with it, especially now. And once Franc told us Alexander Collinsworth is a trust fund baby with a history of having death follow him around pretty closely, it sent Luck into overdrive.

None of us like the douchebag or the unwanted attention he’s still giving Leonor, but even without that, the guy’s a creep with a curse.

Parents died in a freak helicopter accident. Grandparents were supposedly offed by the Irish mob. His brother and sister were lost at fucking sea . Going back further I guess Franc saw ties between the Collinsworth’s and all kinds of shit; mafia, mobs, dirty cops and politicians, and most of it ended with a trail of bodies. Collinsworths are powerful, I guess, but always used someone else to get their shit handled.

It’s all just morbidly bizarre, very unsettling, especially for us Louisiana boys who grew up with tons of folklore and ghost stories about curses and bloodlines.

And Lex is the last of his family line, so that amped up his creep factor for sure, but aside from that the guy seems harmless.

We do need to be careful no matter how much of a pussy anyone seems to be, though.

Colin Hastings was a quiet, wiry weirdo, and look what he managed to do.

So, state of the art security system it is.

It has to be.

Between the pictures and notes, all the shit Leo has been finding for months, and now learning that the twisted fuck following her has actually talked to one of the only other people who live here? Yeah, we needed all the cameras and locks and shit.

It isn’t supposed to keep me out, though.

I open my eyes and stare down at the keypad, trying in vain to remember the pattern my fingers took this morning and just when I’m pretty sure the first number is eleven, the door swings open.

“Wait, what happened?” Lucky asks into the phone as he grabs the front of my shirt and yanks me into the loft. “Hold on, baby. Say it again.”

He looks at the screen, presses a button, then sets the device on the island after dragging me over to it.

“I ran back into the main house because I left my AirPods in bedroom number four,” Leo says, now on speaker. “And by the time I got back to my car, all four tires were flat. Which they were not when I realized I didn’t have my AirPods.”

I frown as I listen intently, not just to what our girl is saying but what’s going on around her too.

She’s outside, I can hear the gravel driveway under her boots, the breeze I know is blowing. Then Leo huffs into the phone, which means she’s on the ground looking at her tires, most likely for the second or third time because she’s probably pissed.

Turning toward Lucky, my frown deepens when I see he’s searching high and low for his keys, and my eyes roll when he asks his next question.

“All four of them?” he grunts as he starts fighting with his shoes. “Does it look like they’re just low, or are they totally flat?”

“Lucky, I’m not an idiot.”

I chuckle a little even though my pulse is still racing.

Feisty little thing, our girl.

She sounds calm though.

Annoyed but calm.

“I’m not saying you are, baby, I’m just trying to understand how your tires were perfectly fine this morning when you left but are now completely flat. Did you drive through something when you went to your appointment?”

I hate that Leo went to a doctor appointment without anyone. I absolutely hate it. Almost as much as I hate the fact that it meant she had to drive herself to work this morning instead of the normal ride in with one of us. But apparently the planets did not align for this one.

Norm was helping his parents figure out giving their house to Adam and Jesse. The Nodines jumped at it when their baby boy brought it up, which is great, but it’s also why I wasn’t around this morning either.

Nanny Vee is back home because the nursing facility couldn’t get rid of her fast enough and since Max and Andrea aren’t quite living at her house yet, I’m the one wandering in limbo.

I love my grandmother, more than I can properly express but the woman drives me batshit crazy, and since she still acts like she’s in her fifties and ready to whoop ass, taking care of her doesn’t always go well. This morning included. Thankfully Norm’s parents came over as soon as they were done, which is when I was free to come here, and our sweet boy let me know about the groceries.

Lucky and Pete didn’t go with Leo because we have officially started construction across the hall and today they had every tradesman thinkable here for estimates. Most notably, Dirt Sack Danny, who they grilled about the shit at the mansion the night Leonor twisted her ankle.

So, we were all busy and since our girl is feeling more like herself, she decided she could handle this appointment alone.

I think she was full of shit.

In all the time knowing her, Leo has never gone to an appointment alone, never. And that means she either didn’t go to the appointment and did something else, which would be weird since she still has social anxiety, or this appointment is related to shit she doesn’t want us to know.

My money is on the latter.

“No, I know how to avoid the construction crew’s bullshit, and they were fine when I was out here a half hour ago. Honestly, it looks like someone slashed my tires.”

I make eye contact with Luck the second the words are out of her mouth and they stay there as I repeat what Leo just said. “It looks like someone slashed all four tires?”

Leonor sighs. “I thought that was you I could feel frowning at the phone. How’s Nanny?”

“She’s a pain in the ass. Tell me about your tires.”

“What is there to tell? Full of air, forgot my shit, flat and possibly slashed. I can’t be sure because they’re so flat I can’t really see anything, but it doesn’t look like they were just leaking or something.” She huffs and grunts, definitely back on the ground poking around under her car. “Besides, you just took my car in for routine shit. If there was a problem with my tires, wouldn’t they have noticed that?”

“Yes,” I grind out. This is not sitting right with me at all . “Is anyone else there with you? Justine or Pierre?”

“They left for the day. The crew is gone since Dan was at our place, Chase is at lunch. I’m pretty sure it’s only me now.”

I snatch Lucky’s phone off the counter as he holds up his keys, the two of us marching to the door on mission retrieve Leo.

“Do me a favor, baby, and just sit in your car with the doors locked until we get there, ok?” Luck locks up and we’re basically running toward the parking structure. “Mark and I are on our way now, we’ll be there in twenty.”

“Lucky, love, I’ll be fine. I want to see if I can figure out?—"

“Leonor, just get in your car. Please.”

“Ok, fine.” She sighs but I can hear her smile, and it doesn’t really make me feel any better, but it shows she’s not afraid and I’ll take that after everything else today.

“Thank you. Sit tight, baby, we’re on our way.”

“Ok, see you—shit!” Then the line goes dead.

“Leo? Leonor, are you there?” Lucky looks at the screen and tries calling her again as we both jump into the beast but it goes right to voicemail. “Shit.”

He chucks his phone on the dash and guns it out of the parking lot and starts flying down the road.

I pull my cell out and try calling Leo. “Maybe her phone died. You know she never charges it.”

Which is true. Leo is terrible about making sure her phone stays charged, she always has been. Our girl even carries around two, yes two chargers for the damn thing but can’t seem to remember to plug the fucker in.

“She doesn’t, but I do. I always make sure it goes on the charger by midnight so she’s got full power in the morning.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course. Sorry, forgot who you were for a minute.”

Ignoring my lighthearted dig, Lucky keeps going. “And last night I probably checked the fucking thing at least five times to make sure it was charging because I knew she was driving herself to work and had that damn appointment. Which she did not call to tell me about like I asked.”

Me either.

I doubt Leo called any of us like we asked, and that’s not normal either.

More evidence that she was doing something she didn’t want us to know about.

Which is a load of shit to be honest because she knew what the five of us getting back together was going to mean—she’d have all four of us on her ass over her medical shit, and more protective than ever. Especially since she’s actively dating the three of them. Everything is different now, and if Leo really wants us to be in this shit together, she needs to meet us halfway.

“She should have called.” I turn to look out the window as the scenery flies by. “At least one of us.”

I see Luck nod in agreement out of the corner of my eye. “She was supposed to, she promised, but I’m sure Leonor got caught up in something and forgot. Which is also hopefully why she isn’t answering her goddamn phone now.”

“Was this the appointment about the thing?”

“I don’t think so, but she’s been weird about this one so maybe it is about the thing.”

The thing we’re referring to is Leo’s uterus.

One of the supposed many secrets our girl still has was revealed to me by accident when I got the mail and opened the reminder for an upcoming appointment. I immediately went to Leonor with it so she didn’t think I was snooping but I saw part of what it said before I handed it over.

Her doctor found a mass on her uterus during her last PAP smear. Ultrasounds are a standard part for her now since she had so many complications from the attack, and the appointment was to talk about what to do next.

Leo still doesn’t know I know that, or that I told the guys, but I’m trying to find the balance between letting her come to us with things, and freaking the fuck out over all of it. I know it was wrong, we all do, but Jesus, a fucking mass isn’t something to hide from the people who love you, not when it’s clearly something Leonor has known about for quite some time.

Sure, there is a better than likely possibility it’s just scar tissue but they don’t know for sure so this appointment was super important, and we’ve been waiting on bated breath for our girl to tell us anything about it. Except, in classic Leo fashion, she did not call a single soul, and we’ve been on pins and needles for hours.

Hours .

Even though I can almost guarantee Leonor still won’t tell us shit.

“I’m sure it went fine. Probably just gonna do a scan, maybe a biopsy. It’s probably just scar tissue,” I say, unsure if it’s because I need to hear it or Lucky does.

This kind of shit hits way too close to home.

Pete’s mom passed when we were in high school from ovarian cancer and the older of his sisters, Sara and her husband have had multiple miscarriages due to some issues with her body, and that led to two emergency c-sections when they were finally able to carry to term.

We were there for all of that, Pete’s mom while she was sick, Sara while she mourned their babies. It was hard as hell watching so many people I cared about hurt, watching my chosen family go through so much pain. I think it was almost harder to watch Lucky and Pete go through that than I realized it would be because of what they are to each other, and to me.

They’ve been best friends since they were three, they started the band when they were in the sixth grade, and Peter’s mama was the only one Luck and I had for a while.

Not discrediting Nanny Vee for what she did, for how she raised me, but she always was and always will be my grandmother.

Our sweet boy joined those two when they were in seventh grade, which is when Norm started middle school. He’s a couple years younger but was only a grade below the three of us because he skipped fifth grade, and none of that matter once Pete saved him during lunch.

I wasn’t around yet but I guess there was a group of eighth graders who were trying to pants Norman in front of a bunch of girls after knocking his books and papers all over the hall, and breaking his glasses. Lucky says Pete went all ninja badass on the bigger kids, then helped Norm get his shit together before basically telling him he was their friend now.

Which tracks.

When they found out he could fucking shred the guitar and was basically a musical prodigy—a lot like Leo—they immediately made Norm their third member. So, he joined The Ravens, grew out his hair, ditched the glasses for contacts, and really came into his own from the confidence it gave him. We still needed to keep the bigger kids away from him for a while, mainly until Norman started using his confidence instead of trying to be humble all the time, but he was always right there telling them to fuck off while the three of us kicked their asses.

I transferred to their school in eighth grade when my mom left me at Nanny’s house the summer before and never came back to pick me up. She got popped on multiple warrants, cried the blues to the cops about her baby boy and when they came knocking on Nanny Ves’s door she told them to give her guardianship or fuck off. Surprisingly, they did, and my mom gave up any parental rights she had a few months later.

But coming to New Orleans was the best thing to happen to me.

I met Lucky the second day of school while I was trying to lug the piano from the choir room to the back parking lot. When all he did was ask if I needed help, didn’t question why the fuck I was doing what I was doing or snitch on me for it, I told him we were going to be the best of friends and they asked me to join their band. They had no idea I knew how to play an instrument or sing, but trying to steal a piano from school was my in. And when they found out my grandpa—Grampy Gee because that’s how they roll—was the conductor of an orchestra back in the fifties and sixties who taught me to read music and play damn near every brass and string instrument ever created, my place was set in stone.

You combine our natural god given talents, mine and Lucky’s musical backgrounds with Pete’s hard ass determination, well you get the first version of The Ravens that did ok locally for a while but didn’t quite have the direction needed to take things to the next level. Then we met our firecracker of a lead singer backstage at a show at Mother Love’s a few years after high school and the rest is history.

It’s exactly why we have always been insanely protective of Leonor.

You find your missing pieces, you don’t let any fucking thing happen to them.

“Who the fuck is that asshole?”

I snap out of my walk down memory lane as we pull around the back of the carriage house and see some big, bearded motherfucker caging Leo against the side of her car, an arm on either side of her head while he towers over her.

Narrowing my eyes, I clench my jaw and grunt, “Let’s go find the fuck out.”

The van barely stops moving before I’m throwing my door open and all but running at Leo. More like charging because the closer I get, I can tell that she’s pissed off but she’s also scared. Her hands are rolled into fists at her sides and her black eyes are narrowed on this asshat’s face but her chest is pumping so hard you’d think she just ran a marathon while smoking a pack of cigarettes.

“I just want to help you, Leonor. I think you could really benefit from letting someone like me into your life.” He lifts his hand from the Prius and fingers a loose strand of hair that’s fallen from the knot on Leo’s head. “Let me help you.”

“Hey!” I bark out because I’m too fucking mad to articulate my thoughts. “Hey, asshole!”

Leo’s eyes shoot my way and I almost stumble when I see tears.

Goddamn tears.

Our girl never lets anyone see those.

This motherfucker is toast.

“Can I help you gentleman? The plantation isn’t open to the public just yet, so perhaps you’re lost?” The dude that is still holding Leo’s hair swings his eyes my way without moving.

Shrewd, ice blue, cold and dead.

And when they flick to Lucky, I don’t fucking like the way he looks at him.

“Not lost,” Luck snaps, jogging next to me because I guess I’m kind of running. “We’re picking up our girl.”

This gets the asshole's attention as those creepy eyes move between me and Luck before they turn back to Leo for a second.

“Oh I see.” He straightens up and takes two steps backward. “You must be these boys I keep hearing about, the ones Justine drones on about.”

I plow passed the smarmy fuck and go right for Leo, cupping her face while I immediately start checking her over. “Are you ok, sugar?”

Jesus, she’s shaking like a leaf.

And even though she’s that fucking terrified, I keep the distance between us so I can do a complete body check before I ask her again.

“Are you ok? Nothing’s wrong?”

“I’m ok, teddy. Just ready to go home.” My heart pinches at the nickname, one she hasn’t used even since we’ve been back, and when Leo looks up at me and nods again, I can’t help but lean forward and kiss her forehead.

I wrap my arms around Leonor as she buries her face in my chest, her fingers digging into my back as soon as she’s hugging me.

I really don’t like this. “You sure you’re ok?”

She nods and holds me tighter. “He just got here, I’m fine.”

We stand like that for a few moments, long enough for Leo to stop shaking and when I force myself to let go so we can get the fuck out of here, we turn to find Lucky planted firmly between us and that douche canoe like a brick wall.

“I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot.” He sticks his hand out toward Luck, who just stares at his face with his arms crossed against his chest. “Alexander Collinsworth, but my friends call me Lex.”

Ah, so this is the guy.

Lucky cocks his head to the side and I know if I could see his face he’d be smirking. “Why were you standing there like that?”

“I was simply trying to help Leonor.” Collinsworth finally drops his hand then moves to fixing the collar of his shirt. “I was upstairs in the museum going over a few things and heard her say something about her tires to someone on the phone.”

“Us. Him. Me,” I finally blurt as I step next to my best friend and keep Leo behind us.

I’m so fucking mad I can’t even talk right.

Me Tarzan. You asshole. No touch our Jane. Ugh.

“And you are?” Collinsworth arches a brow and smiles smugly.

“I’m Markus, you mother?—”

“Leo’s boyfriend,” Lucky says with a grin.

Dick.

I’m the only one not dating Leonor, and that shit stings a little because of it, but whatever. Making sure she’s good and getting the hell out of here are the priorities.

The asshole looks between us in confusion, his smile falling off his pointy face in favor of a frown. “But I thought…”

He motions to Lucky, who puffs his chest out proudly as he says, “You thought right, fuckface. I’m Leonor’s boyfriend, too. Same for Pete and Norman so suck on that for a minute.”

Well, that shut him up.

Collinsworth’s jaw goes a little slack, the preverbal gears in his head turning, and that’s the exact second Leo snorts into the back of my shirt.

Probably because she peeked around to see what was going on in time to catch that stupid look and now she’s laughing. Hopefully, and not because she’s blowing her nose. Lucky will lose it if she’s using me as a tissue.

“I didn’t realize things were that… serious . I do apologize. If I’d have known…”

Leo moves around me so fast she headbutts my chin as soon as I snatch her around the waist. “Bullshit! You have known for months now that I’m in a serious relationship.” She tries to wiggle free so she can get in his face but I don’t let go of her and Lucky practically clothes lines her to my chest. “Just because I didn’t use that word or tell you I’m in love with four men doesn’t make my status any less unavailable. I thought you finally understood that but I guess I was wrong!”

Leo kicks her legs and keeps trying to get free, but I’m so hung up on her saying she’s in love with four men that I actually let her go.

Right into Lucky’s waiting arm, but still.

I let her lose because Leonor implied she’s in love with me, and if I didn’t know we were pretending just to keep this asshat away from her, I’d be fucking flying right now.

But we are pretending, and Leonor was just rolling with what Lucky said, so I need to get my head back in the game so we can get the fuck out of dodge.

It’s sad how hearing Leo say she’s in love with me in a bullshit kind of way has my heart beating a little faster.

Real fucking sad.

So much so I’m going to have to start looking for somewhere else to crash because it makes my heart all stupid and achy.

Fuck.

“Saw an opportunity to take advantage of a girl stranded on your property and jumped at it, huh, Lex ?” Leo yells, bringing me back to current events. “Hoping you could fill more than my tires, Lex ?”

“I truly am sorry for the misunderstanding. I simply thought since you were in trouble I could provide a little assistance, play the part of knight in shining armor so to speak.”

“What did you just say?” Now Lucky’s holding me back, his six six pushing hard against me because I’m seeing fucking red, white and all the colors. “You were trying to what with our girl?”

“Just trying to lend a helping hand.” Then this motherfucker has the audacity to look Leo up and down, his stare lingering on her ass because her back is to him while she’s trying to get me to look at her instead of him, and I know my head is about to explode.

“You did not just do that. Oh my god , tell me you did not just look at my girls ass right in front of me.”

Lucky doesn’t let up but he turns to look down at Leonor and grunts, “He did what now?”

“You stay the fuck away from her, you hear me? You come near Leo again, and I will fucking kick your smarmy ass all over this property then hang what’s left from the fucking flagpole. Keep your eyes and your fucking hands to yourself!”

“Mark, Teddy, let's go.” Leo shoves me off balance and starts walking me to the beast. “Let's just get out of here.”

Collinsworth starts laughing as Lucky joins us, the asshole now leaning against Leo’s car as he watches.

“If you change your mind, Leonor, you know how to reach me,” he calls after us. “I’d love to show you how good it could be to have a real man treat you right, a whole man. Unless, of course, circus freaks with scars or fat ass failing musicians are truly your kink.” Collinsworth grins. “I’m afraid I can’t compete with that.”

Leo stops dead in her tracks, Lucky and I stumble slightly from the lack of her hands tugging us away, and I see my nickname for her manifest right in front of us.

Murder flashes across those black as night eyes just before she spins on her heel and starts marching toward Collinsworth. And we’re too busy trying to figure out how she went from peacekeeper to this so fast we don’t realize exactly what she’s doing.

Until we do, and by then it’s too late.

Without speaking one word, Leo stops in front of him, cranks her arm back and punches Collinsworth right in the fucking nose as hard as I’ve ever seen her hit anyone. I mean, we can hear the thing break from ten feet away, not that it’s shocking because we’ve all been punched by Leo and she always hits fucking hard.

Oh, but that’s not all. Nope, our girl isn’t done, and I find my need to stop her very delayed.

As soon as Lex doubles over holding his face, Leo delivers an upper cut to his already very broken nose, then grabs his shoulder and knees him in the goddamn balls. Then , once Collinsworth falls completely to the ground, she kicks him in the nuts again.

“I fucking quit.” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the ring of keys for the property, throws them at him while he rolls around on the ground before she fucking spits on him.

Leo fucking spit on a multi-millionaire philanthropist for calling us something we’ve heard most of our lives.

Silently, almost eerily silent, Leo wipes her hands off on her jeans, walks back over to me and Luck, grabs each of us by the hand then leads us over to the van as if she didn’t do any of that.

And all I can think after watching it happen is, why can’t this fucking perfect woman really be in love with me, too?