Leo quickly taped up her hands and then grabbed a mat. She easily jumped into the ring, unlike her first attempt, and got into the position he taught her with her legs spread apart and her chest and neck protected by her arms. He walked around her, studying her body. His warm hands readjusted her hips, squaring them towards where he would stand. And he lifted her chin a bit with the crook of his fingers as he asked her, “Are you ready?”
With all that she could muster, she answered, “Yes.” Bailey ran through the drills that Leo had taught her. She nailed each routine and combination that he shouted. Her punches grew heavier and tighter as the hour passed. Instead of growing more and more tired, she began to burn with fire. Leo watched as she gritted her teeth and stared directly into the mat as if it were her sworn worst enemy.
“Combination 4! Come on, now! Get it! Square the shoulder down!” He noticed her slowing. “Don’t stop now, Bailey. Think of this mat as Joe. What do you want to show him?”
Bailey punched as hard as she could before landing a jab. “I’m stronger than him!” She shouted it out of the blue as answer to his question.
Leo returned, “Who are you, Bailey? What do you want?”
“I want to win.” Another powerful blow as she returned back to her starting position. “I want to WIN! I want to teach that son of a bitch who he's messing with!”
“Are you the old Bailey who took his abuse?” Leo knew he had hit on a nerve.
“NO! I’M NOT!” Her whole body shook as she began the combination again.
“That’s right. You’re Bailey fuckin’ Reed and you’re not only strong, you’re powerful.” He shouted it at her, knowing she would believe him.
She did a jab followed by a cross, “I’m powerful!”
“Scream it!”
“I’M POWERFUL” She landed a left uppercross.
“MEAN IT, BAILEY! MEAN IT LIKE I MEAN IT! YOU’RE STRONG! YOU’RE BRAVE! YOU’RE POWERFUL!” He took two steps closer to her, giving her the impression he was about to attack.
“I’M BAILEY AND I’M POWERFUL!” She landed her final cross and right hand as she dropped her hands and her gloves. A glazed over look came over her face as she slumped, whispering to herself, “I’m powerful…I’m powerful…I’m powerful…”
Leo left the mat on the floor as he ran to her side. He cradled her into his arms and bare chest as he ran his hands through her sweaty hair. “Hey! Hey! Kid, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”
“I’m not powerful, Leo. I left her. I left her! I left her because I couldn’t provide for her.” She began to sob as the realization hit her like a wave.
“You didn’t leave her. You saved her. You put her in a home where she would be fed and taken care of. You didn’t have another option. Joe took that away from you. And we’re going to get her back. As soon as we can, we’re going to get Lily back.” A thought occurred to Leo as he stared down at the red glove on the ring’s floor. “Look. What is the best way to win a match?”
“I – I don’t know…” Bailey hugged him closer, not wanting to let his protection go.
“The best way to win is to present a good offense. We’re not being aggressive here. We need to get to Joe before he gets to her. We need to study him, know his faults. That’s what you do before a big match. We need to study his tapes.”
Bailey thought about what Leo had proposed. She had wanted nothing to do with him, let alone learn about the kind of life he had been living. Yet, he made a point. If she could be one step ahead of the maniac, she could outwit him. And with Leo by her side, there would be no way he would ever make an attempt on her or her daughter either.
“I don’t know how I could ever even begin to thank you for this.” Bailey used her free arm to gesture to the expansive space around and above her.
“What are you talking about?”
“This, Leo. You’ve given me a chance at a new life. And as soon as I can find a place for Lily and I, we’ll get out of your hair. But you will always be a part of our story. I don’t know how I'm going to ever thank you for that.” Bailey looked up at him as tears continued to pool in her eyes.
Leo found the words forming at his mouth before he could stop them, “Then don’t go.”
“What?” Bailey knew she wasn’t hearing him right.
“Then don’t go. Stay here. You and Lily. Stay here.” He meant every word of it. There was no place in his former heart for a kept woman, let alone a child. But the thought of Bailey leaving him again was enough to melt him to his core. She had to stay.
Suddenly, Bailey reached up to Leo’s face and pulled it to her own. She kissed him hard, with everything that she had. He leaned his weight into her own as his arms twisted around her body, forcing her to walk backwards into the ring’s edge. Their mouths continued to twist and turn over each other’s soft lips. She bit, he sucked. Their tongues chased one another from one end to the next.
Leo’s hands traced over the curves of her body. She wore only a sports bra and a pair of gym shorts giving him the ability to feel every inch of her soft skin. His hands grabbed the roundness of her backside and squeezed it tightly so she further pressed into him. Bailey could feel his member growing and pulsating up against her stomach. Her hand dove its way down his golden colored shorts to where it awaited.
She slowly began massaging the shaft with the softness of her palm as he let out a low, deep moan. “Fuck, Bailey…” She yanked the shorts down, exposing him to her as she broke his grip on her body and sank to her knees. He gathered her long brown hair into a ponytail as he watched her in awe. She started with a few small licks with the tip of her pink tongue. It simply flickered against the shaft. But then, without warning, her mouth sucked in his entire length as her head rocked back and forth against the sensitive, stretched skin.
Leo arched his back up against the ropes. Every inch of her wet mouth was an area to be explored and she was giving him her own personal tour. She added small sucks and cool breaths to the mix as her pace quickened. Her hands gently tugged at his balls as they collected themselves.
As he grew close, dangerously close, he pulled her away by her hair, forcing her to fall to the ground. Bailey laid up out on the ring’s mat, waiting for him to pounce. But instead, he stood above her, watching her from his perch. His cock still stood at attention as he caught his breath. He studied the way her breasts formed mountains upon her tiny body and the indent of her hipbone pooling along her torso. She was all peaks and valleys.
He made his way down to the ground as he gently kissed her forehead. She smiled as he released. He then kissed her cheek, her shoulder, her hand. And then, in one impossibly swift motion, he turned her over, placing her on her hands and knees. His arm hooked around her stomach as the other tore at the fabrics of her biker shorts and panties. She couldn’t move if she dared, but she didn’t even try.
Before she knew it, he was in her with one sudden pound of his cock around and in her skin. He was relentless, not wanting to take it slow. He needed her, and he needed her now. He grabbed her hair again, using it as a prop to help him push into her even faster. She screamed at the shock, but the slapping of his hips into hers covered the noise.
Her pussy filled with the sticky liquid that dripped onto his raging cock. He reached down from under her to feel it for himself. She inhaled sharply as he began massaging at her clit. He fell down back on top of her as she struggled to hold his weight and hers with her two hands. His long body covered hers as he continued his assault over and over again, barely giving her the opportunity to breathe.
“Bailey,” he whispered in her ear between gasps, “Look at me.”
She couldn’t bear to turn her head. The sensation of his hard cock drilling her was too much. She looked down at her hands as she tried to concentrate on it.
“Look at me!” He screamed at her.
She turned her head slightly, catching his intense, focused gaze. His eyes darkened with longing as he heaved and then flipped her body over once more so she
laid on her back, completely exposed. She had no time to consider the movement before he was in her again, this time holding her legs straight up in the air around his hips as he pressed into her even farther than before.
“You’re not...going...anywhere…” He meant every word. “Stay…with me…”
She cried out as her body began to tremble. Her entire being shook with longing and an unspoken devotion.
“Say you’ll stay!”
Words failed to come out of her mouth as the intensity burrowed into her. Her back arched and turned as she pushed herself further into his hips.
“Say it!” he roared at her as his own body burst.
“I’ll stay! I’ll stay!” She shouted it out as every inch of her gave way and exploded into a hot pool of ecstasy upon the ring’s blue floors. He fell upon her as the last drop of him finally seeped out. Together, they laid there contemplating the promises they had made to one another. Him to protect her. Her to stay as long as he could. As long as his secrets remained kept.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Did you bring the letter with you?” Jonathan got right to his point as he watched Leo slither into his home office.
Leo handed him the tattered, handwritten letter as he took a seat on the small chocolate-colored loveseat. He was not sure what Jonathan had in mind in terms of getting the blackmailer off of his back, but he trusted him. He was the master at fixing issues like this. All he could do was trust the man.
Jonathan lounged back in his leather office chair as he turned his back and forth. His eyes remained fixed on the writing as if it would give him some kind of clue or lead on to who was behind this.
Leo coughed, hoping to break up the long, awkward silence. “I need you to do something else for me.”
“You don’t think this bullshit is enough, Leo? What do you want me to do now? Kill someone for ya?” Jonathan’s temper was raised that day. Getting his client out of a dangerous situation wasn’t exactly in his work description. Yet here he was, on his day off, trying to decide if he should call in the big guns on it.
Leo knew what he was about to say wasn’t going to be easily accepted, “It’s not for me. It’s for Bailey.”
Jonathan slammed his fist and the letter down on his desk and removed his glasses. “Are you crazy? You know how I feel about her. What crazy scheme does she supposedly need help with today? She planning on robbing you blind and need me to hold the bag for her while she does it?” Bailey was only supposed to be Leo’s employee and her stories had been all lies or secrets. He was still receiving phone calls from her great-aunt about a stolen pearl necklace. Yet when he broached the subject with Leo, he defended her, even going so far to say that she was his girlfriend now. To Jonathan, she was still the gold-digging liar.
“Will you hear me out?” Leo demanded over Jonathan’s sarcasm. “It’s her daughter—”
“Her daughter? Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Leo.” He pushed back in his leather chair, sending it flying towards the wall as he caught himself on the edge of the desk.
“Yeah, it’s her daughter, Lily. Bailey put her in an orphanage or something when she came to work for me. She didn’t have the money to take care of her and she got fired from that job at the hotel, so she left her there.” Leo stiffened his back as he sat forward on the couch cushion. Just thinking about how brave she must have been to do such a thing gave him the courage to fight harder for her. “Well, now her ex-husband’s been sending these letters to our home saying he’s going to take the daughter away.”
“Shit, let him. Obviously Bailey couldn’t handle the job.”
Leo shook his head, “No, that’s the thing. He’s dangerous. He beat the shit out of Bailey. She even told me how he threw her down the stairs when she was eight months pregnant and it made her go into labor. She got real roughed up from him and finally got a divorce. They had worked it out so he wasn’t allowed to see Lily if he got the house, the car, and their money. But now he’s back, and he’s trying to make a move for both of them.”
Jonathan massaged his temple in frustration. Bailey certainly brought along her own special set of baggage wherever she went. “So, what do you want your agent to do about it?”
“I want you to help us out. Can you get info on this guy? We just need to know where he’s living, what he’s doing, and if he’s got anything in his life we should be worried about. We’re going to get the girl out of the home as soon as we can. Bailey’s at home now talking to her counselor about getting to pick her up today or tomorrow instead of during her meeting next week. But just in case, we want to be ahead of the guy. You know, like see his fight tapes.”
Leo smiled. The plan was sounding more realistic and less dramatic. All they wanted was some basic information, nothing too hard. He knew Jonathan and his detective and PR friends could pull it off if he asked.
Jonathan sighed as he stood up, walked to the door, and opened it a crack. He turned back to Leo as he motioned him out. “I’ll see what I can do for you all. But I’m going to focus on your blackmail case first and foremost. This whole crazy ex is secondary. I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”
“Thanks, Jon. I really appreciate that.” Leo patted him on the back as he walked out of his office.
But before he could get too far, Jonathan grabbed him firm by his arm, pulling him back into the office’s doorway. With a lowered, urgent voice, he warned, “Don’t be stupid about this, Leo. You know what you’re on probation for. You know that if you do what you did to that kid in Vegas, you’ll be behind bars before they have a chance to find your size orange jumpsuit. Swear to me you’re gonna keep it in check—at least until your trial in two weeks.”
Leo looked him square in the eyes and nodded. He knew what was at risk if he so much as touched another man. But it did not stop him from leaving Jonathan’s office and home and having his driver bring him directly to the orphanage on the address of the letter he found the day before.
The Boys and Girls Halfway Home Center was just opening its doors for the day. The red brick building looked just like a barn with the flowers in the garden and the large dangling trees. Leo drove around the massive parking lot as he suspiciously eyed each and every car that pulled in. When the parking lot filled with employee’s cars, he left his running by the curb and walked the property’s ground.
Gates, wires, and cameras home surrounded most of the actual. But from a white, seven-foot tall picket fence, he stared into a small chip in the wooden planks. On the other side was a playground with several sized slides and tunnels along with a track for the children to race their bikes and cars around. Four girls played on the swing set nearest him. They giggled as they talked about one of the workers and her mismatched socks.
Leo struggled to get a good glimpse at them, but, from the corner of his eye, he could see the faintest bit of a small, child with wavy brown hair. Her eyes were jet blue, just like her mom’s. Leo had never met the child before, nor had Bailey shown him a picture. But something told him that the little girl who kicked her feet in the dust under the swing was hers. And it took everything in his power to not burst through the fence to save her from the life she was leading or the dangers that lurked.
When the girls were called inside, Leo returned slowly to his car, sinking behind trees and out of the view of the office windows. Bailey most likely alerted them to a strange man who may be out to get Lily. He certainly did not want the staff to think it was him they were to be afraid of.
As he drove away, something caught his eye. A brand new white truck pulled in the lot in the same spot along the curve he had just been on. A man in a baseball hat and a woman in a yellow sundress hopped out and walked slowly to the main doors. Leo noticed how the woman walked ten feet behind her, dragging her feet all the way.
He thought about the way that woman walked the rest of the drive home, but he could not put a finger on why it bothered him so much. It remained on his mind as he gave Bailey a kiss on her forehead.
Leo sank down into one of the bar stools along the dining area’s island seating. He smiled as he studied the way her bare legs flexed as she skipped towards him and how her ponytail bounced along her back. “Yeah, he’s going to help. He’s going to give me a call as soon as his guys turn up info on him.”
“Oh my goodness—thank—thank you!” She quickly set down the silver mixing bowl and spoon and threw her arms around his neck in gratitude. “You have no idea how much this all means to me. I got a hold of my caseworker and left her a message that we're picking up Lily tomorrow. That’s why I’m making cupcakes. But I still want to be protected in case he dares to come here.” She swatted Leo’s hand away as he dipped a finger into the batter. “I mean, I’ve been trying to get in touch with people who knew him all day, but I’m coming up with nothing.”
Possessive_Sons of Chaos MC Page 35