by Marian Tee
Seeing that, Bobby asked seriously, “Can’t you guys just move on?” Sometimes, it seemed to her that Valerie had woken up one day wanting to hate on another person, and she had randomly chosen Bobby, who wasn’t even in the same school as her.
“This isn’t high school anymore, Valerie. We’re already in college, for heaven’s sake---”
“It doesn’t matter where we are. It doesn’t matter when. I’ll always hate you---”
“And that’s what I don’t get,” Bobby interrupted her quietly. “You already had Blaine make me think he was in love with me and then dump me on the day of prom. What else do you want?”
“That you realize you’re never meant to fall in love,” Valerie snarled.
The other girl unlocked the door and threw her door open, forcing Bobby to jump back before she was thrown to the sidewalk. Valerie pointed one furious finger at her. “You never learn, do you? No guy will ever like you. You like being thought of as one of the boys, don’t you? Well, you are that – a boy! So if you think new clothes will turn you into a girl, it’s not going to happen. It just makes you some queer in drag---”
Bobby couldn’t even work up the smallest amount of anger at the other girl’s words. “Even if it does make me a member of the LGBT community, what is it to you?”
Her reasonable question only seemed to piss Valerie off even more.
Valerie’s hand snaked out, clearly intending to scratch Bobby’s eyes out.
Bobby gasped, too shocked to even think of hitting back. She raised her arms to cover her face, but nothing happened.
When she opened her eyes, all she could see was a man’s lean hard back.
Leandro.
She could feel the tension vibrating from him as he said coldly, “You don’t get to be within a ten mile radius of Bobby from now on. If you do, I’m going to get you expelled from this school and nothing in this world can take that out of your record. The moment you try to hurt her again, you’ll ruin your life forever. Do you understand?” His voice was thickly accented, his every word spit out in rigid syllables like it was all he could do not to fly into a rage.
“Leandro---” Bobby tried to move, but Leandro suddenly held her hand from behind. Stay.
And so she was forced to stay behind him. She tiptoed but couldn’t see much, and she ended up making a little jump to see what was happening. Blaine was also out of the car holding a thrashing Valerie, who was still keen to get to her.
“Let me get to her,” Valerie screamed.
It was hard to jump when Leandro was still keeping her imprisoned with his grip, but Bobby managed to catch a glimpse of Valerie’s face and it was not…nice. If she was not trying to be nice herself, Bobby would have to say that Valerie had gone crazy because that was how she looked.
“Why are you protecting her?” Valerie demanded. “You dumped her already---”
Color stained Leandro’s cheeks at the barb. “I did not dump her, but I do not owe you – or anyone else – any other explanation. Only Bobby knows the truth---”
Valerie laughed unpleasantly. “Oh, that’s rich,” she said in a singsong voice, “You’re being played again, Booooobby. Can’t you see? He’s explaining it to you, just you, because he’s got your number. Pretty boys can get you to swallow anything---”
“That’s enough.” Leandro took out his phone. “I’m calling school security and reporting you for causing a disturbance. If you don’t leave in five minutes, you will be cited for a major disciplinary offense.”
“Go ahead,” Valerie screamed. “She’s already ruined my life!”
“I didn’t ruin your life,” Bobby protested, now even more confused and feeling more than a little pity for the other girl. Why had she failed to notice how unbalanced Valerie was?
“I barely even know you---”
“I will never forgive you for stealing him away from me!”
Bobby gave up trying to understand Valerie. She had clearly lost it. That was the only explanation since she had no idea what the other girl was talking about. How could Bobby have stolen Blaine when he had always been on Valerie’s side?
Leandro looked contemptuously at Blaine, who was pathetic in his attempt to control the crazy bitch in his hands. “You will be part of the report if you don’t get her out of here.”
Blaine blanched at the threat. “Shit, babe, we need to leave---”
“No! I want to teach that bitch a lesson! She needs to know that she’s never going to be happy! She doesn’t deserve to be happy! She took my love away from me. That’s why I taught her to love you, so you could leave her and make her feel my pain.”
Blaine managed to get Valerie into the car. He slammed the door shut and pressed the button to automatically lock it.
Valerie rocked the car, trying to get the door open and when it didn’t, she let out a scream of thwarted rage. “You’ll soon find out that he doesn’t really want you! No one will ever want you! He’s playing you for a fool! You’ll see!”
Even though Leandro knew there was no way for Valerie to know how true her words were, it still struck home and he struggled to keep his guilt from showing. As Blaine drove off, Leandro remained standing with his back to Bobby.
He was so tense, Bobby realized with a frown. She wriggled her wrist and his fingers released her, allowing Bobby to go around so she could see his expression.
Their gazes met. “You’re wearing glasses.” It was the first thing he noticed about her. When he had gotten here, the only thing that registered in his mind was that some bitch was about to hit Bobby. He had reacted instinctively, inserting himself between her and the other girl.
And then he saw her clothes.
She held her breath when she saw Leandro’s eyes widen almost imperceptibly. “D-do you like it? I thought I should dress appropriately for the occasion.”
“Hot biker chick on a hunt?” He was teasing, but his voice was thick with sexual tension.
She pretended to consider it. “Well, maybe hot nerdy biker chick on a hunt because of the glasses?” When he didn’t say anything, she said nervously, “Leandro?”
He said simply, “You’re so beautiful right now you take my breath away. And,” he said solemnly, “---you should know I have a very strong pair of lungs.”
The words had Bobby swallowing convulsively. No one – not even Blaine at his fakest – had ever said anything so beautiful to her. “You just want to see me blush,” she tried to complain, glaring at him so she wouldn’t accidentally cry and let him know how much those words meant to her.
“I mean it.” And he did. Only when he was sure he had his emotions – and most importantly his guilt – in check did Leandro reach out to carefully adjust the pair of glasses on her nose. “I didn’t know you wore glasses…too.” He added the last word belatedly, and the sense of guilt rose inside him again.
A guilty expression crossed her face. “I try not to wear it in public. It just makes me look dorkier. But earlier, I accidentally tore my contacts. So...I really don’t have any choice tonight.” Bobby deliberately didn’t explain that it was because she had been so nervous about tonight that she hadn’t noticed that she had ripped the flimsy film of her contact lens until it was too late.
“You don’t need to worry about anything. You look beautiful with or without it.”
“Well, I hope you don’t worry your glasses in public.”
He raised a brow. “Why not?”
She said grudgingly, “You look too cute with it.”
And so Priscilla was right. Bobby Granger had a fetish for men with glasses. Leandro vowed to himself then and there to ban every single man in his employ under age forty to wear a pair of glasses.
“I promise I’ll only wear it for you,” he said with complete honesty. She was, after all, the only reason he wore them.
“Good.” She gazed at him searchingly. “Are you okay now? You looked really tense a while ago.” She hesitated then--- “If you’re worried I believed all the nonsense Valerie s
pouted, you don’t have to be. I misjudged you once. I won’t do it again.”
The truth was stuck in his throat. A part of him wanted to confess everything to her. That she had not misjudged him then. That she had been right. But if he did? Would he risk losing her?
The thought of losing Bobby when she wasn’t even his yet was terrifying. He needed to make her his, to possess her body so she would crave his touch again and again and never think of leaving his side. He didn’t care to understand why he felt so strongly about this. He only knew that he needed Bobby to belong to him completely.
Priscilla’s words came back to him.
Tell Bobby that you’re in love with her…
And the words were out before he knew it.
Bobby had turned completely white.
Fuck. Had he really said it? Had he really fucking said it?
Leandro gazed down at Bobby, and the stricken expression on her face told him yes. He had fucking said it.
“Say something,” he demanded grittily.
“I don’t know what to say.” She sounded resentful and panicky at the same time. “Do you even mean it? Maybe you said it as a joke?”
There was his opening to take it back, to make things less worse. But he just couldn’t.
Tell Bobby that you’re in love with her. Priscilla’s words echoed in his mind.
And she’ll be yours forever, he thought.
“Yes. I mean it.”
Chapter 11
“You okay all by yourself here?”
The words shook Bobby from her thoughts. She couldn’t believe she had zoned out in the middle of a darn party – and one that seemed to have all of the state’s hottest bikers present. When she looked up, it was to find Kellion looking at her in concern.
She said hastily, “I’m okay.” And she absolutely went still when Kellion, instead of leaving, took a seat on the couch across her and gazed at Bobby with interest.
This biker family – club, association, or whatever they called it – of Leandro was unlike anything she imagined. The bikers in her mind were something like the ones in Sons of Anarchy, with everyone rugged-looking and totally violent. But the men in Leandro’s group were all clean cut and extremely good-looking. They looked more like models for Rolex than Harley, and she knew for a fact that they were all rich enough to buy tens of each without even blinking at the cost.
Kellion was smiling mysteriously at her now, making Bobby ask self-consciously, “What is it?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering how you and Leandro get along.”
“We’re okay.”
“I doubt it’s as mundane as that between the two of you. For instance, I heard him call you mégaira---”
“You understand Greek?”
He said apologetically, “We’re all Greek. Well, I’m half-Greek, but most of the other guys here are 100% Greek.”
And the jerk still called her mégaira in front of them?
“I’m going to kill him,” Kellion heard the girl mutter under her breath. He smiled. “See? No other girl but you would probably say that.”
She said darkly, “That’s because he wouldn’t have called any other girl mégaira like it’s a stupid compliment or something. And it’s not.” She paused then added emphatically, “And it’s not true, too.” Bobby crossed her fingers behind her back.
Kellion laughed. “I’m sure it’s not.”
“Try to sound more convincing and I might believe you.”
He looked at her admiringly. “All the girls I know that Leandro has dated have limited vocabulary.” He mimicked, “Yes, Leandro. Whatever you want, Leandro. Oh, Leandro.”
She grinned.
“So you’re a refreshing change. Surprising, too – I wonder what you did to catch his attention.”
Bobby said cheekily, “I kicked him.”
The sound of Kellion’s laughter – which had been the second one in such a short time – had Leandro frowning as he looked at Bobby. He trusted Kellion, but Kellion was also the biggest flirt in their club.
“You’re jealous.” Helios, the leader of the club, remarked with amusement. Tall and olive-skinned like Leandro, he was the only man in the club who had golden hair instead of dark. They liked to tease him as “Mr. Sunshine” about it even though they knew that Helios’ temperament was more like a solar eclipse than anything else.
Leandro flushed. “I’m not. I’m just worried he might say something about me that Bobby’s better off not knowing.” Uncomfortable with talking about Bobby, he changed the subject. “Thank you again for your family’s support for my father’s candidacy.”
“You know we will always be behind you.” Leandro knew it was all Helios would say about the subject. The other man, although not as hot-tempered as he tended to be, was even more mercurial, his silent ways hiding a ruthless streak that few ever glimpsed.
Helios suddenly looked distracted, and when Leandro followed the other man’s gaze, he saw the club’s official photographer, the tomboyish MJ, taking snapshots of the newest member, Yuri.
“Is Yuri giving you trouble?” Leandro would be frankly surprised if Helios said yes since he knew Yuri, and the younger man was well-known for being courteous, like a throwback from the golden days of knighthood.
Helios said reluctantly, “No. It’s MJ. She’s monopolizing too much of Yuri’s time. She might become a distraction for him.”
Leandro smirked. As far as he could see, little MJ was becoming more of a distraction for their fearless leader than anyone else. “We all know why she joined the club, Helios.”
A faint grimace twisted Helios’ face, which – Leandro acknowledged in amusement – was almost as pretty as a girl if not for the extremely hard angles of his cheeks and jaw. Leandro knew that Helios was also remembering the day they held screenings for vacancies in their club. MJ had been the last to be interviewed – and the one who blurted out that it was because she was in love with a member of the club that she was applying for a position – any position.
“Yuri could be her mysterious crush.”
Helios shrugged. “I don’t give a damn as long as she does her job.” When he looked at Leandro and saw the gleam of amusement in his friend’s eyes, Helios knew that he wasn’t fooling Leandro one bit. He said seriously, “Tell this to anyone and I’ll kill you, friend or not.”
“Even if you are not her secret crush, you can always steal her away.”
“We will never talk about this again either.” He stopped then added reluctantly, “Not in public at least.” Helios realized at that moment that he did need someone to talk to about the damn brat, if only so he could hear someone tell him he was just going to make a fool of himself. He and MJ had nothing in common. Worse, MJ was scared to death of motorcycles. That was normally a major turn off for Helios, but in MJ’s case, it only made him irritable. What the hell was so scary about bikes? They were just bikes.
Leandro said with a grin, “Understood.”
Helios glanced at the girl Leandro had brought with him. Two could play this game, he thought. “And what about your delightful Bobby? Are you ready for the whole world to fantasize about her the moment they discover her connection to you?”
The words wiped the amusement from Leandro’s face completely. Helios was unfortunately not exaggerating. The way she looked now – ‘hot nerdy biker chick on the hunt’ was apt indeed – with almost half of her glorious breasts on display by that ridiculously tight silk top, Leandro was sure Sports Illustrated would be knocking on her door the moment he introduced her as his girlfriend.
“She won’t pose for any magazine,” he said curtly.
“Even if she wants to?”
“She won’t pose.” He was going to buy the fucking magazine before he’d let Bobby pose.
Helios said quietly, “She truly means something to you then? I admit to being skeptical when I heard that you were dating a girl in your school and she wasn’t…your usual type.”
Everyone, Leandro thought grimly,
seemed to have a fucking easy time correctly guessing how he and Bobby came to be. How long before it was Bobby figuring out the truth as well?
When Leandro didn’t answer, Helios knew that it was an answer in itself, and one that he didn’t welcome. He could see that Bobby Granger was a nice girl, someone who did not deserve to be a political pawn.
“The polls back home show that your father’s slowly gaining public favor again. The local media has also been faithfully following your “courtship” of Bobby. They love how she was voted Philanthropist of the Year, and though she is as rich as anyone here, she doesn’t act like it. They think of her as a possible princess championing the poor. Does she know that?”
“No.”
“And you have no desire to tell her?”
“I will tell her…when she needs to know.” In the back of his mind, he knew that he was making the same mistake again, protecting himself at the cost of Bobby. But he just could not help doing it. The same unspoken fear was inside Leandro, protecting a small part of him to make sure it survived if the people he loved did not end up loving him back.
The ride back home was spent in tense silence even though Leandro kept her close, their fingers entwined on his lap, her head against his chest and his arm around hers. All the while, she wondered why he wasn’t trying to kiss her.
When Leandro’s chauffeur-driven car parked in front of her dorm, she blurted out, “Leandro, about what you said---”
His lips covered hers.
There was the kiss she was waiting for, but before she could think about what it meant, the kiss was already over, Leandro lifting his head to tell her quietly, “I don’t want you to feel pressured about returning the words. I just want you to know that I find you beautiful in every way.”
Chapter 12
The crowd was wild and uncontrollable, a monster consisting of hundreds of heartbeats that craved the excitement of a forbidden race.
Leandro had invited her yesterday to accompany him as his date to tonight’s event but Bobby refused, knowing there was something else she had to do. She felt so guilty and unfair about Leandro having said the words and her not saying it back. She wanted to. How she wanted to, but Bobby had to be sure it was the real thing this time.