“I’ll quit,” I said softly. “Before you can tell anyone.”
“You think I’m going to the dean?” His laugh was ugly. “Honey, I’m going to the police to report you for fucking an underage teen four years ago, and then I’m going to the news.”
“It’s not true!” I yelled.
“Does it really matter?” He looked around. “It’s true now.”
“I wouldn’t,” Leo said in a deathly cold voice.
“Do you have any idea who I am?” Chadwick said in the haughty tone I was so used to.
Leo actually smiled. “Do you… know who I am?”
Chadwick snorted. “A punk kid who wants an easy piece of ass.”
“She’s anything but easy. You should know, bet she wouldn’t even fuck you when you begged,” Leo snapped and then shot me an apologetic look.
“I’m leaving, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer, but most likely you’ll see it on TV before anything else. I hope they arrest your ass.”
My body swayed. This couldn’t be happening.
Not now.
Not when everything was perfect.
Tears blurred my line of vision. “Chadwick, you can’t do this, you can’t!
He looked between Leo and me and then sighed. “Agree to come to the wedding, and I’ll think about it.”
“Fine,” I said quickly.
“No,” Leo interrupted. “This ends right now. No more manipulating.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Leo, please…”
“Walk away.” Chadwick sneered at Leo. “She doesn’t want you here anyway. Can’t you tell she’s upset? What sort of magic dick do you have that you’d take a married woman anyway?”
Leo’s eyes flashed with hatred. “Kora—”
“Go Leo, let me handle this.”
He shook his head slowly. “You’re not safe. I’m not going to just leave you alone with him.”
“Please.” Chadwick rolled his eyes. “She’s my wife. I would never hurt her.”
Pain lanced through my chest. “Separated, and you agreed to sign the papers if I went to the wedding.”
“That was before I found out about this little…” He looked to Leo. “Problem.”
“Leo…” I was ready to get down on my hands and knees; he was just going to make it worse, other people being involved always made it worse. “Just go.”
“Yeah, let the grownups talk.” Chadwick crossed his arms.
“Kora, think about this.” Leo pleaded. “Really think.”
“I am.” I clenched my fists. “You need to leave. Now.”
I’d never witnessed someone’s heart break in front of my eyes. I had felt it more times than I’d ever admit, but to actually see it happen… never.
I wondered in that moment, as Leo’s face fell, as he went completely rigid and with jerky movements grabbed his shirt off the floor, his keys, his cell phone.
Was it more painful to experience it? Or to be the reason it was happening to someone else?
I was protecting him.
He had to see that!
This was my choice.
My mistake.
He had a future.
A bright one.
One that didn’t include baggage and threats.
One that didn’t include a man who could ruin him.
I only hoped one day he’d understand that I was doing everything I could to make sure he was safe, even if it hurt me.
Even if it made me want to vomit.
Even if it killed me.
Leo Blackwood, my savior, would be safe.
Leo shoved past Chadwick, knocking him back a step.
“Mature.” Chadwick snorted.
“I tripped.” Leo shrugged and then stopped in front of me, his eyes saying more than his words ever would as he stepped around me and actually left.
I wanted to crumple to the shiny hardwood floor in tears.
I wanted to pound my fists into Chadwick’s face for taking away something so good for making me choose.
Instead, I kept my posture stiff as he dangled the Tiffany’s bag like he had countless times before and smiled. “I think we should match for the wedding, don’t you?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“When all else fails. You fight until the bitter end. And when pigs do actually fly—you call Dad.” — Leo Blackwood
Leo
I didn’t leave.
I wasn’t an idiot.
I stayed in the parking lot with my cell gripped in my hand, waiting to see if I needed to call the cops. I was going to give him twenty minutes and then I was going back up there to make sure she was safe.
Leave? Her? With an abusive husband?
Was she insane?
And what the hell sort of person did she think I was?
I wanted to believe she thought she was doing the right thing.
That I wasn’t just some boy toy she needed in order to let off some steam, or worse, some guy who made her feel good.
It was more than that. Deeper.
Hell, I was her boyfriend, right?
Or so I thought.
If that piece of shit thought he could mess with her or with me, he was sorely mistaken.
Besides, he seemed to think he was above the law because he had money, he had no idea that my family had more.
That I probably had more than he did.
Nor was he aware of who my family was.
I smiled. Soon he’d be the one shitting himself, and I’d find great joy in being the one to deliver the final blow.
An agonizing few minutes later, he left the apartment. His clothes weren’t in disarray, and he looked happy as he got on his cell phone. I was just getting ready to go back up when she followed and dialed something on her phone then waited.
An Uber showed up minutes later.
She was wearing dark sunglasses and clothes that, while beautiful, were all black like she was in mourning.
She didn’t even look up to see if I’d stayed.
I was about to get out of the car and announce myself, but she was already leaving, gone.
Just like that.
With a sigh, I drummed my fingertips against the steering wheel, then grabbed my cell and dialed.
“Leo? Are you okay?”
“Hey, Dad.” I sighed. “It’s a very, very long story.”
“Lunch?”
I exhaled in relief. “I was thinking more a late breakfast where they serve alcohol, but sure…”
He cursed. “Are you safe?”
“I’m safe. I’m fine. It’s not me, it’s my…” I let out another long sigh. “It’s my girlfriend.”
He was dead silent and then. “It’s not the same—”
“No, no.” I shook my head as if he could see me. “God, no. This woman… she’s my girlfriend, and I love—” Whoa, where did that come from? “I like her, love her, I don’t know, Dad. She’s important to me, and I know she’s in trouble. This asshat Chadwick Robinson is—”
“Robinson, you say?” He chuckled.
“His last name isn’t that funny.”
“Oh no, but the situation is. I’ll tell you at lunch, I’m sure this is about to get very interesting.”
“I just hope you can help.”
“They don’t call me Magic Mel for nothing!”
I groaned. “Dad, enough with the nicknames.”
“The reporters love it!”
“Mom hates it.”
“Sometimes, I make her call me that when—”
“La la la la I can’t hear you, and YES your children are all painfully aware of the times you make her do that. In fact, my ears are still bleeding. Where do you want to meet?” I checked the time. “University Village, we can get pasta or some shit.”
“Hmm, tough choice.”
“Dad,” I groaned.
“See you in fifteen?”
“Perfect.”
I hung up, feeling a bit better, mainly because my dad was a fucking badass that put
the fear of God in most people—and because he was the wisest man I knew.
It also helped that he golfed with the mayor.
And that he was the newly elected, as of last year, Washington State Governor.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Absence just pisses the heart the hell off.”— Leo Blackwood
Kora
Leo wasn’t in class.
I hated it.
Hated that I didn’t see his smiling face.
The wedding was this upcoming weekend, which meant I wouldn’t see him until after I went with Chadwick, if I went. I still prayed I would find a way out of it.
I taught three classes with thick tears getting stuck in the back of my throat. It hurt to even smile.
And I hated that.
I hated that I let someone take that power from me, so I had to keep telling myself it was for the best.
I was saving Leo.
I was making sure he had a future that didn’t include a possible lawsuit or other legal action over something that never even happened.
Besides, he was eighteen when I transferred to that school!
I knew it.
He knew it.
But speculation was everything, and I knew how easily Chadwick could spin things. Besides, he had the money to do whatever he wanted, and his father doted on him like he was the next messiah; at least that’s what I’d always seen on the surface.
My final class ended, and still no texts from Leo even though I’d sent him a text letting him know I was safe and had taken an Uber to my car.
I followed that one with, “I’m sorry, let’s talk later.”
And he still didn’t say anything.
I’d hurt him.
In his eyes, I had probably chosen my abusive ex over him, which was so far from the truth that I wanted to scream.
Maybe this was why we never should have gotten involved.
Both of us were hurt over different situations in our pasts, and maybe he was too young to get it. He’d never been married before, he didn’t understand.
With a sigh, I grabbed my stuff, and in one last-ditch effort, made the trek to the dorm hoping to get a chance to talk with him.
I took the stairs and all too soon I was in front of their room.
I knocked once.
The door flew open.
Slater grinned down at me. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
I opened my mouth to say something—anything really. And burst into tears.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Slater pulled me into his arms and shut the door so quickly my head spun.
More arms wrapped around me until I was in a Finn and Slater sandwich.
These guys.
I sniffled suddenly hot. “I’m s-sorry.”
“This about Leo?” Finn asked in a curious voice.
I looked up at him. “Is he here? Can I talk to him?”
“Sorry.” Finn looked apologetic but weird, like he was hiding something.
“Can I wait here until he gets out of class?”
Finn and Slater shared a look.
Slater spoke first. “He’s out of all the classes. He’s going to test out of his final communications class, and he somehow managed to convince the Dean of the Business Department to bypass his Senior Seminar credit based on his experience with Wingmen.”
My stomach dropped. “So, he’s… not in school.”
“Technically, he’s done,” Slater said slowly. “His last year was kind of a fun year, and he was toying with the idea of taking on another minor but never got around to it since we lost one of our other Wingmen to graduation. We’ve been training some replacements, but they aren’t ready yet.”
My head was about to explode as I moved around them and sat on the couch, tears in my eyes, my heart heavy. “So, he’s gone… h-he left?”
“School. Not the planet,” Finn said with a smile. “He said he had a lot of things to get done today and then something about murder, which I’m hoping had nothing to do with you, but other than that, he just seemed… determined… not upset…” Finn gulped. “I’m guessing you’re upset because of this morning?”
“He told you?”
“He punched a hole in our wall,” Slater said in a factual voice. “So, we kind of had to know why he was destroying school property, yeah.”
A lone tear ran down my cheek. “He doesn’t see it now, but I’m trying to protect him. My ex, he isn’t a nice man, and he said some things, made some accusations.”
“You should know,” Finn said softly, “Leo waited outside your apartment to make sure you were safe. That doesn’t seem like the sort of guy who’s just giving up.”
“Text him,” Slater encouraged.
“I did.”
“Call him,” Finn added.
“It goes straight to voicemail.”
“Then, I guess you do what mere mortals are forced to do every time the person we love is hurting…”
My head snapped up.
Love?
Did I love him?
Damn tears!
I squeezed my eyes shut. “What’s that?”
Finn wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “You wait for him. You wait until he comes to you.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Should we show her the size of the hole? Just so she understands the passion and anger from our young Leo?” Slater joked. “Trust me, if a man punches a hole, he’s not going to be crying into his Cheerios. He’s out for blood.”
“Great, he’s going to get himself into trouble.”
“Doubtful,” Finn said with a sloppy grin. “You really should research your boyfriend more…”
I rolled my eyes. “I know. I know his dad. Best divorce lawyer, but this is beyond that now, guys. The things Chadwick said—”
“Eeew.” Slater made a face. “That’s Dickweed’s name? God, I bet he wears sweater vests.”
I didn’t have to answer. I’m sure my face said it all.
Both guys fell into fits of laughter.
And then Finn was getting up and pouring me a glass of wine.
“Oh no, that’s okay. I’m not a client anymore. I’m—”
“Our best friend’s girlfriend,” Slater finished. “So yes, we do have to wine you, it’s bro code. Now sit and decide if you want The Proposal or Sleepless in Seattle.”
“Damn, you’re good,” I muttered.
“We know,” they said in unison.
And that was how I found myself sitting between my boyfriend’s hot best friends, drinking wine and watching chick flicks, wondering when my phone was going to buzz, and where the hell the man I cared about was.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Always do it in person. Whatever it is. You owe it to the person you love, even if that person’s you—hey nothing wrong with having a solid pep talk in front of the mirror!” — Leo Blackwood
Leo
I saw the texts.
I saw the missed calls.
I listened to the voicemails with a tight chest and had to keep myself from calling and texting.
It had been two days.
Two days without sleep while I tried to get everything ready for her. Because the thing about Kora? She wanted to save me, to protect me, but when had anyone in her life ever done the same for her?
It was my turn.
And I wasn’t going to screw up my grand gesture just because my pride was a bit bruised right along with my ego.
What we had was special, it was different, and I wanted to keep it forever, which meant, I couldn’t tell her what I was doing. She’d tell me to stop, she’d get pissed, and she’d probably tell me I was being immature and rash. But I wasn’t.
“You ready?” My dad asked as we pulled up to Bell Harbor near Pier 66. It was a popular event center and was right on the water.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I tugged at the bowtie. I was in a head-to-toe black tux that cost more than some people’s rent. My dad had chosen black and white with a
red tie because he was out for blood—voters assumed it was because he was patriotic; then again, they didn’t know how ruthless a Blackwood could be.
They were about to find out.
I opened the door to the Rolls and got out while Dad tossed the keys to the valet and gave him a wide smile.
We walked in together.
I had the papers in a black leather portfolio, I was clutching them in my right hand. At this point, the wedding was over, and the reception was starting.
The lights were low as music pumped through the speaker system, Lizzo, perfect. The happy couple was already on the dance floor surrounded by friends and family as purple and white lights flashed like they were at a club.
Around twenty round tables had been placed about the room, and each one had an ice sculpture of the couple on it.
“A bit of overkill,” I muttered under my breath, earning a laugh from my dad.
I scanned the crowd again and saw her.
She was sitting alone at one of the tables. Where the hell was the jackass?
“Bingo.” Dad grinned. “Looks like he’s talking to Fred.”
“Fred?” I frowned. “Who the hell is Fred?”
“Oh sorry, Frederick, the DA. You know, Fred?”
I rolled my eyes. “I grew up calling him Uncle Freddie. How the hell would I know that you called him Fred outside the house?”
Dad grinned. “Go get the girl. I’ll join you shortly.”
“Right, just walk over there and get the girl, easy.” I took a deep breath.
“If necessary, just kiss her.” Dad nodded solemnly. “Worked on your mom.”
“Pretty sure I might get slapped.”
“I did.” He grinned. “Worth it.”
“I’m sure.” I patted him on the back then weaved my way through the crowd. I pulled out a chair and sat.
Kora didn’t look up for a few seconds. She was probably expecting a stranger, not her boyfriend.
At least I hoped I was still her boyfriend.
Finally, she gazed up. “You.”
“Me.” I grinned. “You don’t mind if I steal this?” I grabbed her wine and tossed it back then set the glass back on the table, empty.
“You sip that.” An eyebrow arched up.
God, even her eyebrows were perfect.
I was so gone, wasn’t I?
“Yeah well, I was nervous.” I leaned forward, still gripping the portfolio. “I’m sorry for not texting or calling back, but I was afraid you’d tell me not to get involved or not to drop out of school early.”
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