Leo, Kiss Often (Iron Orchids Book 4)

by Danielle Norman

  “Stay here.” I ordered as we got to the front of the hospital. I dashed through the parking lot to get my car and pull it up to the curb for her. “Your chariot.” Helping her in, it hurt me to see how sore she was just by her movements. “What pharmacy do you use?” I wanted to make sure to get her prescriptions filled before they closed.

  “Walgreens.”

  “Babe, I know you feel like shit, but I’m glad nothing worse happened.”

  “You aren’t going to give me a lecture about how dangerous motorcycles are?”

  “God no, riding makes you happy. I’d never want to take away something that puts a smile on your face. I’ve seen the way you and your friends are when you’re together and on your bikes. I’m just happy that you didn’t get seriously injured.”

  “Thanks.”

  I pulled into the Walgreens near my house. “Stay in here. I’ll get your medicine. You need gauze?” I scanned the piece of paper with her hospital instructions. “Anything else? Is there anything you like to drink?”

  “Can you grab a thing of lemonade mix?”

  “Like that Old Time or whatever it’s called?”

  “Country Time, yeah.”

  “You got it. Be right back.”

  Twenty minutes later, I was filling my trunk with everything Leo needed plus stuff she didn’t and then stuff we might want to munch on, and stuff...well, I’d move the condoms to my bedroom before she saw them.

  “Thank you, Ian.” Her soft hand reached over and touched mine as I shifted gears.

  “No problem.” I turned onto Pente Loop, which was for all intents and purposes my family’s private road, and then pulled into my driveway.

  “Aren’t you taking me to Sophie’s?”

  “No. They have the three girls. It is just me. I can take care of you.”

  “But—”

  “Let me take care of you.” I got out of the car then moved around the front of the hood. Opening Leo’s door, I lifted her out then positioned her in my arms to carry her inside.

  “I can walk.” She tried to wiggle out of my hold, but it was kind of a pathetic effort since she was injured.

  “I didn’t ask if you could, did I?” I smiled as she threw her head back as if she was totally fed up with my antics.

  “Oh my God. How are you?” Sophie said as she yanked the front door open before I could reach for the doorknob. I would have made a comment about why she was in my house, but I let it slide. This was Sophie, after all.

  Leo waved off Sophie’s concern. “I’m fine. A little banged up, but I’ll be okay.”

  I set Leo onto my couch and left her with Sophie so I could unload the trunk, making sure to take a side trip to my bedroom.

  “Are either of you hungry?”

  “Starved,” Leo said as she patted her stomach while Sophie shook her head.

  “I just put some chicken in your fridge,” Sophie said. “There’s a container of tzatziki and feta in there as well. I stuck the pita bread on top of your fridge.”

  “You are awesome, Soph, thank you.”

  I got out the ingredients and threw together some chicken gyros before making a pitcher of lemonade and bringing them out to Leo.

  Sophie was telling Leo that her bike was at my family’s construction company. They put it in the lumberyard area until Leo decided what to do.

  “I’m going to let you get some rest. Throttle is at my house, I figured that I could keep her for a few days. The last thing you need is her jumping on you or worrying about her. Take care of you. Oh, I also put some of your clothes and bathroom items in the first guest bedroom on the left.”

  After Sophie left, I stood in my open doorway, watching her walk down the block so I made sure she made it home safely. When her front door opened, she turned toward me and waved, so I turned around and locked up before making my way back to Leo.

  “Let me put all of this away.” I took our plates to the kitchen. “Do you want anything else?”

  “No. Just want to chill.”

  Leo and I did just that.

  We chilled until she fell asleep, which was about fifteen minutes into London Has Fallen. Sweeping her into my arms, I carried her back to the bedroom that Sophie had claimed as hers and set her down.

  “Leo...” I let my words trail off because I didn’t know what to say. But I was feeling something for Leo and I needed to analyze it before I said anything.

  “Leo. Hey, babe. Can you look at me for a second?” She rolled over, and the groan that escaped her lips made me ache for her. “I’m running in to work. I’m going to cut out early, but I might have a government meeting, which is one of those things that I don’t always know until the last minute. I put a glass of lemonade and a bottle of water right here on the nightstand along with the ibuprofen and your antibiotic. Your bag of bandages and the cream is in the drawer next to the bed. My cell phone is here along with the office number so you can reach me if you need anything. I plugged in your cell. Sophie said that she’d be over in a little while. Okay?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Just rest.” I leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving. It was strange, I liked having her in my house; although, I wished it would had been my bedroom. “Make yourself at home. My place is your place, okay?”

  I got another mumbled response before her breathing settled back into the easy in and out of sleep.

  Leo

  I think they lied. I think the car had made impact with my body and I just didn’t remember. Good God, I hurt. I lay in bed for a few minutes after Ian left and stared up at his ceiling, not thinking about anything but more remembering...all the times I’d come over to his parents’ house as a kid with Sophie. I was mesmerized by him, his deep dark eyes, the way he could concentrate on something, it didn’t matter what it was, but he could get lost tinkering on something for hours or just researching on the internet. Unfortunately, that was usually when he caught me and would stick out his tongue.

  Letting out a loud moan, I rolled over and snagged my phone. Trying to focus on the numbers that seemed five times smaller than normal, I dialed my boss. I hated having to ask for a few days off—it would kill my bank account—but there was no way I could work like this.

  I had just disconnected and was forcing myself to sit up when I heard the front door open.

  “Leo, it’s just me.”

  “I’m still in bed, Soph.”

  “No worries,” she said, pushing open the bedroom door. “Christine sent you breakfast.” Sophie held up a small container of what looked like custard. “Galatopita.”

  “Yummm.” The one thing I never had to worry about when I was around my friends was going hungry.

  Sophie handed me the container with a spoon. “I’ll go make you some coffee while you eat.”

  Already shoving one spoonful into my mouth I mumbled my okay. Christine usually made this honey perfection as a dessert, but she had also served it for breakfast when I was a kid and would visit. I always thought it was her way of doing something special for me because she knew how drab my home situation was, and I loved the woman for remembering.

  “Here.” Sophie handed me a mug. “Now, where are your meds?”

  I tilted my head to the nightstand as I continued to shovel in the custard. I was starving.

  The doorbell rang, and I rolled my eyes.

  “Stay, I’ll get it.”

  But Sophie didn’t have to leave because we heard the familiar, “Yoo hoo, you in here?”

  “Back here, Stella!”

  “Hey, crash,” she said as she strode into the bedroom.

  “Fuck you,” was my only retort. I wasn’t feeling very original.

  “I just got off work and came by to see how you were and if you needed help with anything. I also brought supplies in case you needed any.” Stella held up a bag.

  Okay, I felt bad. She had to be tired after working a long shift at the hospital, and the first thing she did was come here to nurse me. Yep, I was a
sucky friend.

  “Can I check your scrape? Sophie said you got a gnarly road rash.” I handed the empty container and spoon back to Sophie and then shimmied my sweatpants down so Stella could see my thigh, which was covered with gauze. She gently pulled it away and grimaced. “Mmm, lovely. Not as bad as I was envisioning. You aren’t going to have a scar at all. It’ll scab, come off, and you should be good.”

  I let out a chuckle.

  “Okay, okay, a really big scab, but I’m glad that is all that happened. You’re probably more sore from the fall.”

  “God, I ache all over.”

  “Well, let me change the bandaging while you kick back and relax.” Stella reached into her bag.

  “Grand Central Station,” Sophie announced when the doorbell rang again. “I’ll be right back.”

  I winced as Stella spread the ointment on the scrape. But my ears perked up at the sound of male voices. “Hurry up, someone’s here and it isn’t the norm.”

  Stella hastily covered my scrape and removed her latex gloves as Sophie came back into the bedroom.

  “What’s happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” I pushed myself up, forgetting about my pain for a moment.

  “There are two deputies in the living room. They want to talk to you.”

  “Maybe they found the twat who ran her off the road,” Stella announced as she put her supplies away.

  “No. That was Florida Highway Patrol.” Sophie reached out and grabbed my hand.

  “Let me go to the bathroom, tell them I’ll be right there.” I waddled off, feeling every muscle in my body at that moment. While I was in there, I also brushed my teeth and combed my hair before heading out to the living room where Stella stood arms crossed, and Sophie was on her cell phone. The two deputies who had come into Harley were standing in Ian’s foyer.

  “Mrs. Lang, there is no reason to call your husband, this does not concern him,” Chewbacca said, sounding aggravated. He shouldn’t have bothered since Sophie clearly didn’t care what he had to say about her calling Carter.

  “I’m sorry I took so long.” I held out my hand. “Hi, we met yesterday. I’m Leo Scarvoni. I’m sorry, I had a fall on my bike.”

  “We heard when we spoke to Deputy Lang this morning, he told us where to find you.”

  I cut my eyes over to Sophie, who still had her phone to her ear.

  “Miss Scarvoni, we need to ask you a few more questions about the night of the wedding.”

  Sophie and Stella had matching expressions of bewilderment etched across their faces since I hadn’t had a moment to tell them about my visit at work.

  “Miss Scarvoni, you’ll need to come down to the station with us.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m not in the habit of repeating myself. Miss Scarvoni...”

  “Whoa. Wait a minute.” Stella moved to stand next to me.

  “Both of you need to step away. Miss Scarvoni is not being arrested. She is only being questioned.”

  “Then you can’t take her. You want to know where she was the night of the wedding? That’s ridiculous. She was at a wedding! Sophie and Carter will tell you the same thing since they were both there. In fact,” Stella ranted, her voice growing louder as she continued, “there are about two hundred people—half of whom are police officers—who can tell you exactly where she was. So, no, you can’t take her down to the station.”

  I loved her, but sometimes she took things too far. Did she not realize that yelling at cops was a terrible idea?

  “Ma’am, we know the law. It is up to us whether or not we escort her or have her meet us there. We’ve chosen to escort her.”

  “She has rights.” Stella stomped her foot.

  She was going to get me hauled away in cuffs. I looked to Sophie for help but she had her back to us and was furiously whispering into the phone.

  “Of course she does, and she will be informed of those rights in the event she needs to be.”

  “I’m so confused. I was a bridesmaid in Kayson and Ariel’s wedding. I wasn’t working on the bikes.” I shoved my fingers into my hair.

  “No, you were not working on the bikes, you are just being questioned about the tampering of the bike. A bike that just so happened to cause an accident and injure one of our deputies early Sunday morning after he left the Christakos wedding. We have a witness who places you in proximity of his motorcycle that night. The witness recognized you and identified you by name.”

  “Of course I was by his motorcycle. I was at the same wedding he was and all the motorcycles were parked together. That doesn’t mean I tampered with it.”

  “Which is why we are questioning you and not arresting you.” Chewbacca was livid.

  Fuck.

  “Do you have an alibi?” Han Solo asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you will be fine. As we’ve mentioned several times, this is just questioning.”

  “Did you look at the surveillance tapes in the hotel? You had to have seen exactly where I was every second of Saturday night.”

  “We will, but for now, we need to take you in for some more questions. Miss Scarvoni, I’m at the end of my patience.”

  “Here.” Sophie shoved her phone into my hand. I looked at the deputies as I lifted it to my ear.

  “Just listen to me, okay?” Carter’s voice was soothing over the line.

  “Okay.”

  “If you say no to going with them for questioning one of two things will happen depending on the amount of evidence they have. They will either walk away or they will turn it into a felony arrest. Unfortunately, I don’t know what they think they have. But remember that they are not under an oath when they question you, so they can lie, they just can’t manipulate, but I didn’t tell you that.”

  “Okay.” I was shaking.

  “Also, as long as the questions are strictly about the accident and not pertaining to you then they don’t have to Mirandize you. Whatever they ask you odds are they already know the answer, they’re just testing you so stick to the truth.”

  “Got it.”

  “When they are done asking you questions they will bring you back to Ian’s, but if you want, Sophie will come get you, just call her. We love you. We know whatever it is that you are innocent.”

  “Okay.” I handed the phone back to Sophie and then turned to the deputies. “Let me put my shoes on. I’ll be right back.” Obvious relief washed over them, and their shoulders relaxed.

  “We will be waiting just outside the door. We will give you five minutes,” Chewbacca announced. The officers stepped out, leaving me as dumbfounded as Sophie and Stella. I could not believe what was going on, and it was as if I were in a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. I stood. This was a fucking joke. It has to be a fucking joke. One minute, I was at a wedding, and the next, everything was...different. Oh my God. My world was caving in. I moved back toward the bedroom that I had stayed in. Stella and Sophie on my heels.

  “What can we do? We’ll follow you.”

  I picked up my phone from the nightstand and dialed Ian, but he didn't answer. I called again, and again, he didn't answer. I sent him a text, he still didn’t answer. Grabbing the piece of paper he’d left, I entered his work number, the main receptionist transferred me to Ian’s office, but it wasn't Ian who picked up it was another familiar voice.

  “How may I help you?”

  “Hi, I need to speak with Ian.”

  “Who is calling?”

  “Leo.”

  “I’m sorry Ian is unavailable right now.”

  “It’s an emergency.” I could feel the rumble of anger and desperation mix in my chest and both fight to come out at the same time.

  “I understand that. But he’s busy.”

  “Taylor, I need to get ahold of him, it’s an emergency.” I lifted my eyes at the sound of Stella’s muffled “fucking twatwaffle.” She held out her hand for the phone, but I turned my body, I needed to keep control or I was going to break down and cry. I was
Leo, goddamn it, I needed to stop being a weak, sniveling little girl.

  “He’s in a meeting, and he cannot be interrupted.”

  “Well, he needs to be interrupted,” Sophie shouted.

  “What part of, he’s in a meeting, don’t you understand? In fact, I’m not even allowed to enter, so there’s no way I could get him. I’m sorry, you'll have to call back again another time.” I pulled my phone back from my face.

  “Holy shit, she hung up on me.”

  I pulled up the texts and sent him another one.

  Me: Please call me as soon as you get this. I need help. I’m headed to the sheriff’s station. They are questioning me for something I didn’t do.

  Powering off my phone, I sat and then slipped on the sneakers Sophie had brought me.

  “Don’t you worry, I’ll think of something. I’ll get back at that conniving bitch.”

  I nodded, unable to entertain Stella’s plotting right then. I had bigger, far more important things to worry about.

  Once I was outside, Han Solo turned to me. “We have to ask you a few questions.”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you have any weapons on you?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “Do you have anything illegal on your person?”

  “No.”

  “Do you care if we check?”

  “Go right ahead.” I held out my arms and allowed the other officer to pat me down. He took my phone and my small card case that I held in my hand and set them on the hood.

  He trailed the back of his hands up and back down my legs, arms, and torso.

  “Would you like to call an attorney and have them present before you are questioned?”

  “No. I don’t know what you’re talking about, so I’m not sure that I’ll be much help. No need to pay an attorney.”

  The officer leaned forward and opened the back door to his cruiser, with one hand on the back of my head, he pushed it down to ensure that I didn’t bump as I crawled in.

  Once we arrived at the station, something in me changed. The confusion had slipped to a rock of doom in my stomach. Walking between the deputies, I met the stares of several people I knew, officers who I had hung out with at Sixes—the bar that Vivian owned—or at Kayson’s, or Carter’s homes. Granted, I wasn’t in handcuffs, but there was no doubt that I wasn’t here for a casual chat.