He waved a hand, like it didn’t matter. “Why wait? You’re here. He’s here. Let’s do this.”
We approached a small cottage with some kind of utility vehicle parked outside. The landscaping was tidy and the paint looked fresh. It had a large window in front, but the blinds were closed.
“Leo lives here,” Cooper said.
“Are you sure he’s home?” I asked. “It looks dark.”
“Oh yeah, he’s home,” he said. “He’s almost always home.”
A wave of anxiety poured through me. “I think this is a mistake.”
“Sweetheart, trust me,” he said. “It’s going to be fine.”
“No, Cooper—”
He rapped on the door, looking back over his shoulder with that big grin plastered on his face.
Oh god.
“Oh, Leo,” Cooper called through the door. “Open up, bro.”
The door opened and I gasped.
It was him. Not him, as in Badger—I didn’t know what Badger looked like. It was the guy from the wedding. The guy who’d practically made my heart stop with just a glance.
Holy shit.
He stood in the open doorway, dressed in a t-shirt and sweats, staring at me, wide-eyed.
Cooper stepped back. “Leo, this is Hannah. Hannah, Leo. But I think you guys already know each other. Have fun.” He smiled again and walked off, back the way we’d come.
Leo shifted his body, angling his face to one side.
“Badger?” I asked.
He nodded.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, my words coming out in a rush. “It’s me, Gigz. I saw your cat, and your brother called her Gigz and I thought wow, what are the chances? And then I kind of hacked into your firewall and traced the data packets so I saw that someone here was gaming. I figured it had to be you. And then I talked to him, and he said I should come with him and now I’m standing here and this is crazy.”
“You hacked into my firewall?” he asked.
I paused, because I couldn’t tell if he was angry, or impressed.
“I did, and I’m really sorry.” I pressed my lips together so I’d stop the rambling apologies. “Look, I’ll go. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
“No,” he said, reaching a hand out. “No, don’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Don’t leave.” He gripped the door frame so tight his knuckles were white. “Hannah.”
Oh god, hearing that voice I knew so well say my real name gave me swirly feelings in my belly. “Yeah, Hannah Tate.”
“Leo Miles,” he said. “Do you want to come in?”
“Sure, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting company, though.”
“No, of course you weren’t. I won’t be any trouble.”
“I know.”
He met my eyes and there was that sensation again. Heat pooled between my legs and I felt my cheeks flush.
His thick beard obscured the lower part of his face and long dark hair hung loose past his shoulders. Scars were partially hidden by his facial hair, but I caught a glimpse of more trailing down his neck. He had tattoos on his left hand that disappeared beneath his sleeve, but the skin looked scarred there, too. I wondered how he’d been injured, and how bad the scars were under his clothes.
Crap, I was staring. I tore my gaze away and he moved aside so I could go in.
He closed the door behind me, and I got close enough to catch a whiff of him. He smelled fresh and clean, like soap, with a hint of something warm and woodsy. It was deeply masculine—almost irresistible. For a second, I imagined burying my face in his neck. Running my fingers through his beard and hair.
God, what was I doing? I was glad the lights were dim because my face was on fire.
“Can I take your bag or something?” Leo asked.
“Sure.” I handed him my laptop bag and he set it near the door.
Part of the space was taken up by a home gym—a squat rack, bench, weights. There was a couch pushed up against the wall, almost like an afterthought. The other half was his gaming setup.
“Holy shit, this is where you game?” I asked, gazing at the desk with multiple monitors and sleek red and black office chair. “I’m insanely jealous right now.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
I walked to his desk to get a closer look. “Pretty cool? Are you kidding? This is amazing. I have a couch and a laptop.”
“Thanks. I, um… sorry, I’m not great at this. I don’t really have people over. Ever. Except my family, but they just sort of show up. Do you want anything?”
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done this to you. I was going to message you first, but then I ran into your brother.”
“It’s okay. Cooper… he does that. It’s hard to say no to him.”
“I bet.”
I gazed at him. Badger. No, this was Leo. The mystery man with the universe behind his eyes.
And I was standing in his house? Maybe I’d get to see who he was after all.
Ten
Leo
Gigz was in my house, and I had no idea what to do with that.
Hannah. I turned her name over in my mind, reconciling it with the woman I’d been listening to for the last several years. The name fit. Knowing it now, it made perfect sense. Hannah Tate. This was her.
When I’d seen her the other day, she’d been dressed up. This woman, dressed in a black t-shirt and ripped jeans, seemed more like the Gigz I knew. Petite, with thick light brown hair. She had it up in a ponytail, showing a tattoo on the back of her neck, right on her hairline. More tattoos snaked down her left arm, a pattern of vines and flowers. My gaze strayed to her ripped jeans, and I wondered where else she had ink.
She was even more beautiful than I remembered. I wasn’t sure what to do with that, either. I looked away. A woman like this wasn’t for a guy like me.
“I guess we should stop standing here awkwardly,” I said, gesturing toward the couch. “You sure you aren’t hungry or anything?”
“No, I’m fine.” She took a seat.
I thought about sitting on the couch next to her, but she’d taken the left. I wasn’t about to sit with my left side facing her, so I turned my office chair around and scooted it closer.
Keeping the left side of my face angled away from people was habit. But right now, I was keenly aware of my position as I lowered myself into my chair. She watched me without any sign of revulsion. But it was dim in here.
“So, um, I guess I should probably just bring up the elephant in the room,” she said.
“What elephant is that?” I asked. My face. She was going to ask about my face.
“We’ve seen each other before. I was here last weekend for a wedding. We, um, saw each other. And then I told you all about it when we were gaming, but at the time, I didn’t know it was you.”
“Oh, that.” I cleared my throat. “Right, yeah, I was trying to tell you earlier, but…”
“What?”
I met her eyes. “I knew it was you, when you were here last weekend. I saw you, and… yeah, I knew.”
“How? You’d never seen me before. Had you?”
“No. I walked by and heard you talking. I knew your voice.”
She stared at me for a few seconds before replying. “You heard my voice? And you knew it was me?”
“We’ve been talking to each other for what, three years? Four?” I tapped my ear. “I’d know your voice anywhere.”
“Wait, that night when I was telling you about seeing the mystery Beast man, you knew I was talking about you?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t sure at first, but then you said long hair and beard, and I thought it was probably me.”
She covered her face with her hands. “Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed.”
“No, don’t be.”
“You ass.” She dropped her hands back in her lap. “You knew and you let me tell you about it, like you ha
d no idea?”
“I didn’t know what to say. I thought maybe I was finally going off the deep end completely, and I’d imagined you. What were the chances we’d run into each other in real life? The whole thing took me by surprise.”
Her expression softened. “You were trying to tell me last time we talked. But I had to go.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah. I felt bad about it, but I didn’t want to make it weird.”
“Is it weird now?”
I gazed at her for a few seconds, letting it sink in that she was here. In the real world. “No, not weird.”
She tucked her legs up beneath her. “It’s not, is it?”
I liked the way she looked, curled up in the corner of my couch. Little wisps of hair framed her face and she picked at her fingernails.
“Is everything okay?” I asked. “You logged off so fast earlier today, I wondered if your stove was on fire.”
She kept her eyes on her hands and opened and closed her mouth a few times, like she wasn’t sure what to say. “It was, um… I kind of got in a fight with my… with my boyfriend.”
Hearing her say my boyfriend made my back clench and I ground my teeth together. At least she hadn’t said husband.
“That sucks. Is everything all right?” Say no.
“No. No, everything isn’t all right.”
The hitch in her voice caught my attention. As did the red marks around her wrists. I’d been so shocked at seeing her here, I’d missed details. She had light bruising on her wrists. The finger-shaped marks on her cheeks were so subtle, they were hardly noticeable. But now that I was looking, I could see them. I couldn’t see any other signs of violence, but I didn’t know what she was hiding beneath her clothes.
“Did he do that to you?” I asked, gesturing to her wrists, trying to keep my voice calm.
“Yes,” she whispered.
I swallowed hard, keeping the white-hot rage under strict control. “What happened?”
A tear streaked down her cheek. “We were arguing and… he, um… he grabbed me and shoved me. He held my face and I cut the inside of my cheek. But mostly he was just yelling.”
“Does this happen a lot?”
“He yells a lot when he’s angry. And he’s grabbed or pushed me a few times. But today was worse than usual. He—”
Her voice broke and suddenly I was next to her, pulling her hands into mine, heedless of the way my scars looked against her fair skin.
“You can tell me.”
“I’ve been sleeping on the couch for months,” she said, her voice so soft. “I don’t know why he brought it up today. We’d been getting along so well all week. Anyway, he told me I had to start sleeping in the bedroom again and I said no. We were arguing—yelling at each other. He hauled me into the bedroom and… he was going to force me.”
I wanted to kill this fucker so bad, it was all I could do to stay still. I kept my grip on her hands gentle, burying my rage. Waiting for her to continue.
“Neighbors called the cops,” she said. “We were loud, and he’d thrown a plate against a wall.”
“So they arrested him?”
She shook her head. “No. Jace is a cop, too. I think they kind of gave him an out. Kept it unofficial to protect his job if he agreed to leave with them. He’s staying with one of them tonight to cool off.”
“Is that why you came out here?”
“Yeah. I don’t even know why, really. I didn’t know you were here. I just needed to get out of my apartment. Put some distance between me and Jace. It’s pretty out here, and I knew there was that big hotel, so I just drove.”
The feel of her hands in mine was oddly comfortable. I didn’t normally like being touched. It felt like being shocked—harsh and jarring. I hugged my mom sometimes because I knew she wanted me to. But other than that, I avoided touching people. Even shaking hands made me uncomfortable.
But Hannah’s skin didn’t feel like needles. It was soft and warm. I slid my thumbs along the insides of her wrists, wishing I could take the red marks away.
I wanted to tell her to leave him. Now. That I’d drive out to her apartment with her and help her pack. Help her get somewhere safe.
But just the thought of leaving Salishan made the crippling panic threaten to overtake me. It felt like a weight had been dropped on my chest. I could barely breathe.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Deep breath. “Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“I was hoping a night away would give me some clarity.”
My phone buzzed and Hannah pulled her hands away. Damn it, I shouldn’t have touched her. I probably made her feel awkward. I got up and grabbed my phone off my desk. I had a text from Cooper.
Cooper: how’s it going?
Me: fine
Cooper: need anything?
Me: like what?
Cooper: condoms, food, cookies… condoms
Me: no
Cooper: u sure?
Cooper: I’ll make a store run
Cooper: it’s no problem
Me: yes, I’m sure
Cooper: how’s Hannah?
Me: she’s fine
Cooper: we really need to work on your communication skills
Cooper: “fine” is something women say when they’re not fine
Cooper: so do you mean actually fine, or not fine but you want me to keep digging for the truth?
Me: actually fine
Cooper: not sure if I believe you, but I’ll let you get back to your hot gamer girl
Cooper: I can say she’s hot because it’s just a statement of fact, not a reflection of my sexual attraction to her. I’m super monogamous now.
Me: good for you
Cooper: it IS good for me
Cooper: I’ve never been happier
Cooper: it’s good for my Cookie too
Cooper: are you SURE you don’t need condoms?
Cooper: you should really be safe, no matter how well you know her
Me: I’m sure. Stop texting.
“Everything okay?” Hannah asked.
I put my phone back on the desk. It buzzed again, but I ignored it. “Yeah, it’s just my brother being… himself.”
“Are you close to your family?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“It’s funny, I feel like I know you so well, but there’s so much I don’t know about you.”
I lowered myself into my office chair. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Okay, so… you have a brother…”
“Yeah, I have a bunch of siblings. Roland is older. He runs the winery. Cooper is the head grower and he’s… crazy. My younger sister is Brynn; she’s finishing school and she works in the tasting room. And then there’s my half-sister, Grace, and half-brother, Elijah. That’s… a long story.” I really didn’t want to get into details about my dad.
“Wow. Big family.”
“Yeah. What about you?”
“Only child.”
“Did you grow up in Seattle?”
“Nope. Army brat. I was born in Japan, but I don’t remember anything about it. We also lived in Germany and a bunch of places in the States. I moved to Seattle in college and just… never left.”
I wondered if her piece-of-shit boyfriend was the reason she’d stayed. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Of how he’d hurt her. And how little there was that I could do about it.
We talked until well after the sun went down. I ordered a pizza, and we kept talking as we ate. Our conversation turned to gaming. The games we’d played—the ones we loved, and hated. The old ones we missed. Dungeons, boss fights, loot. We spoke the same language, and even though we weren’t talking on headsets anymore, it felt the same.
Only better.
Eventually she pulled out her phone. “It’s getting late. I should get going. I still need to get a hotel room and—”
“You can stay here.” The words left my mouth before I thought them thr
ough.
“That’s really nice of you to offer, but I don’t want to impose.”
“You’re not.”
“I really am. I showed up here unannounced and took up your whole evening. I’ll get a hotel. It’s fine.”
“No.” I couldn’t do much for her, but I could give her a safe place to sleep tonight. And I desperately didn’t want her to leave. “It’s really fine. You can take my room, I’ll sleep out here.”
“Now I really can’t.”
God, what was I doing? She probably thought I was a serial killer planning to murder her in her sleep. She didn’t even know me.
“Hannah, I swear, you’re safe here.”
She stared at me for a few seconds, her lips parted. When she spoke, her voice was soft, almost breathy. “Okay.”
Relief washed over me. I had a few more hours with her, at least.
I stood. “I’ll go put clean sheets on the bed.”
“No, don’t, I can sleep on the couch. I’m used to it.”
“Not a chance, Gigz,” I said, already on my way to the bedroom.
I got her set up in my room. She thanked me a few more times until I told her to shut her face. We said a slightly awkward goodnight, and I went out to the other room.
My couch wasn’t bad, as far as couches went. It was comfortable enough. But I knew there was no way I was going to sleep. For the first time ever, there was a woman in my house. Not just a woman. My friend. Probably my best friend, although I doubted she knew that.
I lay there, wide awake, thinking about her. About those bruises on her wrists. The fear in her eyes when she’d talked about her boyfriend. And I wished there was something else I could do.
But I was too fucking broken to help her.
Eleven
Hannah
I stared at the ceiling, stuck somewhere between exhausted and wide awake. I’d been in bed—in Leo’s bed—for over an hour, and I wasn’t anywhere near falling asleep. My mind spun in circles—a never-ending whirl of thoughts and feelings. I couldn’t get my brain to turn off.
Normally when I had trouble sleeping, I’d get up and game for a while. Running a few quests with Badger always calmed me down—helped me relax. Now he was one room away—the real guy, in the flesh. And it was messing with my head.
Hidden Miles (The Miles Family Book 4) Page 7