Bracing herself, Allison waited for a response because Leonardo didn’t say anything for a moment.
“This next week isn’t good for me. It’s why I was hoping we could knock this out today.”
“When is good for you? I’ll wait until I have to.”
His eyes swept up and down her slowly; then oddly he closed them for a second and took a deep breath. “I’ll respond to the questions you sent me when I can get to them.”
“But I have more,” she said before he could dismiss her because it felt like he was about to do just that.
It wasn’t the first time she’d seen him work his jaw, but just like the other times she’d seen him do it, it did something to her. She should feel bad. Clearly, it was a sign that he was agitated. Instead, it excited her because, despite the agitation and her initial fear that he was dismissing her, he still hadn’t.
This was another thing she’d begun to pick up on about him. He wasn’t nearly as hard as the first impression she’d had of him, not nearly as hard as it appeared he may want her to think he was, which only made his strange behavior all the more curious to her. His sticking around to make sure she was okay and seeing the genuine remorse about her reaction to the energy drink debacle had given way to a hint of a softer side he hid well. Though not well enough.
His body language screamed he was done with the interview, done with any more questions, and done with her. But if she was right about his softer side, he wouldn’t be dismissing her just yet.
“Send them over,” he said gruffly. “I’ll get to them when I can.”
Like when he let a smile escape then quickly snuffed it, Allison did the same with the huge smile that spread across her face as soon as she caught it. She wasn’t sure what his reason was for doing so, but in her case, she didn’t want him to know she was on to him.
“Thank you.” She bit her lower lip to hide how smug she felt.
Her journalism professor would be proud. Most would shy away from being so persistent with such a daunting and seemingly unapproachable source. Yet Allison had managed to get him to agree to answer all her questions more than once now.
Despite the mortifying incident that interrupted their interview, Allison walked away feeling triumphant.
Eight
BEAST
“Why hadn’t you told me?” Kit demanded as she eyed Leo while climbing into the passenger side of his truck. “You’re Beast? You’re La Fiera?
Well, shit.
“Not sure what you’re talking about.”
“Cut the BS! I knew you’d try to deny it or play dumb. I did my research, mister! This is huge and you kept it from me.”
“For good reason,” he said, squeezing the steering wheel and gulping hard as he stared straight ahead.
“But why?” Her uncharacteristically hard demeanor waned to a near whine that almost had him smiling. “I thought we were friends. I wanna go see you—”
“No.” He turned to her with a purpose, and any chance of smiling was long gone. “That’ll never happen.”
The window behind Kit shattered loudly, and she screamed—
With a sharp flinch, Leo jerked awake. It took a minute to figure it out as he lay there, breathing hard and feeling his heart thud against his chest. But when he did, he nearly growled. It was happening again and he knew exactly why.
He hadn’t agonized about this, much less dreamed about it in a very long time. Not until . . .
Something had to give. This was fucking ridiculous. Why couldn’t he just say no to her? Why couldn’t he put his foot down the way he normally would? What the hell was his problem?
Tapping his phone screen on his nightstand, he yawned with a frown when he saw it was only two a.m. The bottle of Nyquil next to the phone was a reminder of how shitty he’d been feeling when he hit the hay, and he wasn’t feeling much better now.
He rolled onto his side, tucking his pillow tightly against him and instantly feeling the heavy slumber sink in fast. Good. Closing his eyes, he did his best to think of work. His training. Anything else but her and that damn dream that woke him.
Despite his body being so ready to just give in, it took him a while to finally succumb to the exhaustion.
“I hear you’re into virgin pussy now?” Orlando asked as Leo walked into the shop. “What’s the matter? Threesomes with your groupies ain’t cutting it for you anymore?”
Unwilling to fuel his inane comments, Leo ignored them and asked about what he was there for. “Did we get the delivery?”
“Yeah, in the safe.” Orlando leaned back into the engine of the Mustang he was working on. “Seriously, man, Bones said he saw that same girl getting in your truck again. Is that who you’ve been with all night? Why you’re late?”
“Nope. Just gave her a ride.”
It was all he’d give him. What Leo did on his down time was his own damn business. He started to work the safe open.
“Yeah, but it’s not the first time, right? And—”
“She’s a kid, O,” Leo said, trying not to sound as annoyed as this line of questioning was beginning to make him feel. “I’ve had plenty of virgin pussy, but I don’t do kids.”
“C’mon. I don’t care how young she is. Any girl who goes by Clit is just asking to get laid.”
“It’s Kit, you idiot.” Leo swung the safe door open and pulled out the package of cocaine. “Did you inspect this?” he asked because he was done talking about Kit.
Orlando was quiet for a second then cracked up. “Bones is an asshole. He swore up and down it was Clit. He even said she—”
Leo didn’t bother looking up or giving him the satisfaction of appearing the least bit interested in what he didn’t finish saying. Instead, he started to inspect the bag of drugs.
“You lost, sweetheart?”
Leo pushed the stash back into the safe at the sound of Orlando’s question. They got street whores in there all the time, looking to suck dick for a hit. Leo couldn’t—
“Beast?”
His head jerked around at the sound of Kit’s voice because she should not be there. But his breath caught when his eyes met Allison’s eyes instead. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
His head was spinning now. It was Allison standing at the door of the shop, but it was Kit’s voice he was hearing. He glanced around to make sure Kit really wasn’t there and he wasn’t just confusing things. He had taken a hit earlier. That had to be it. He wasn’t losing his mind.
“I just wanted to talk to you.” The tears began trailing down her face.
“What do you mean?” His heart started to pound with an unreasonable ache, but he was frozen to the spot because there was no doubt about it now.
It was Kit’s voice she was speaking in. Only then did he realize she was clutching her chest and there was blood spreading around the fabric under her hand. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
Leo shook his head, still not understanding. “She said she just wanted to talk to you, man,” Orlando explained.
“No.” The sound of his voice was barely audible because he understood now and something was squeezing his windpipe.
“She said to tell you—”
“No!” Surprised that his voice was working loud and clear again, he said it again even louder. “No!”
“She wanted me to tell you—”
“Shut the fuck up!”
The door was shoved open just seconds after Leo’s eyes shot open. He still wasn’t even fully awake when the glare of his bedroom light hit his eyes, making him squint in reaction.
“What the fuck?” Orlando asked, holding a bat over his head.
Nine, his other roommate, was right behind him, holding a wrench. The moment it hit Leo that he’d just woken from a nightmare screaming like a little bitch, he was frowning in annoyance, despite his still pounding heart.
“I think I took too many meds.” Leo sat up on the side of the bed.
From the screen of his phone that lit up the moment he touched it
, he could see it was almost six now. He was done trying to sleep.
“What?” Nine asked, as exasperated as this was beginning to make Leo feel. “You were fucking dreaming?”
“I guess.” Leo shrugged. “I don’t know.” He stood up, trying desperately to squelch the ache in his heart.
“What the hell were you dreaming about?” Nine asked.
“I don’t remember.”
One glance in Orlando’s direction, and Leo knew his best friend knew the truth. “Almost time to get up anyway,” Orlando said.
“Bullshit, it’s still dark,” Nine said, walking back out the door. “I’m going back to bed. Try and keep your shit down,” he added loudly.
Orlando stopped at the door. “You okay?” Leo nodded, feeling stupid but didn’t say more. “Need to talk about anything?”
“Nope.”
His friend knew him too well to keep pushing, so he didn’t. “I’m making breakfast, you want some?” he asked as he walked out the door.
“Yeah.” Leo walked toward his bathroom, still feeling shook up as fuck, not to mention even more congested than he had last night. It was a wonder he’d slept at all. “I’ll be out after I shower.”
He stopped before walking in and went back to his phone. Sure enough, there it was when he checked: a text from Allison. Without even reading it, he hit delete. If he’d suspected it before, the morning’s rude awakening was just further proof. For whatever reason, this random girl was beginning to fuck with his head—making him see and feel things he’d vowed to let go. If everything he’d started to feel already just from being around her a few times hadn’t done it, the dreams had. He was done dealing with the little reporter. For good this time.
Nine
Allison
Apparently, she’d jumped the gun. Smug had never been Allison’s thing, and now she felt stupid for feeling even the least bit the day Leonardo agreed to stay in touch, even though he’d ignored all her previous texts and calls. It’d been almost two weeks since she’d had any contact with him again. At first, she thought maybe he was just avoiding her since he was obviously back to not returning her texts or calls.
After several days of not seeing him at the gym, she’d finally broken down and asked Gio as casually about Leonardo as she could. He’d at least confirmed that Allison had been wrong about what she’d begun to suspect: that Leonardo was ducking behind punching bags or diving under boxing rings to avoid being seen by her because she hadn’t seen him at all in days. He’d been sick. Bronchitis to be exact. Bad enough that the doctor had signed off on him taking the week off.
But after coming in this past Monday just to see him and he still wasn’t back, she’d given up on him. At least for now. She had too much going on this week with work, a paper with a looming due date, and Leonardo’s wasn’t the only story she was working on. On top of it all, she’d also had her hands full in the last couple of weeks getting settled into her new home. Lila had finally agreed to just take the plunge and move in with Sonny, but only after Allison had been accosted by the paparazzi outside their apartment building more than once. They’d do anything to get the story on her increasingly famous boxing sensation sister and her superstar baseball-player boyfriend.
So, Allison had gone from living in the projects in a rundown neighborhood to a mansion in Los Feliz, surrounded by other mansions owned by equally rich and even famous homeowners. Despite everything else going on in her life, Leonardo had constantly plagued her mind.
But she’d just have to set trying to get that interview with him aside until she could catch up on all her other assignments. It was Thursday now, and since she didn’t have Leonardo’s story ready, she’d have to push up the other one she’d been neglecting.
“How we doing with that connection of yours?” Allison asked as she sat down next to Jen in the computer lab.
“I’m waiting on a call. But get this. I mentioned you interviewing the work-release guys over at the gym to Marcelo, and he said that was a good place to start for this story.”
Allison peered at her, not quite understanding. Marcelo was Jen’s older brother. He’d been in and out of trouble for years until he finally did what Jen had thought was the smartest thing he could do and enlisted in the Army. He’d since completed his tour and hadn’t reenlisted. Now it seemed he was reconnecting with the wrong crowd again. It was why they’d asked him about the drug dealing on campus, a story Allison and Jen had been chasing for weeks.
Remembering Gio’s speech about the strict criteria they had for the work-release contenders, hearing what Marcelo had suggested was a little disappointing. “He thinks Leonardo or Rodney are involved in this?”
Jen smiled, shaking her head. She explained how Marcelo thought guys like Rodney and Leo, who’ve done time, might know more about the top guys running the show on the outside, since, on the inside, guys with heavy sentences feel like they have nothing to lose and do a lot of talking. “You think you can get another interview with them and slip in the questions—off the record?”
Allison frowned, remembering her failing efforts to get in touch with Leonardo again. “I might with Rodney. But I’d have to go down there and find him. I don’t have his phone number like I do Leonardo’s. That guy hasn’t returned any of my calls or texts in over a week, and before you ask, yes, I’ve been persistent.”
“Well, you did say he was the more reserved of the two. Oh!” Jen’s eyes went wide with excitement. “You said Rodney flirted obnoxiously, right?” Jen fluttered her lashes with a smirk. “Remember, if it takes a little flirting to get your story, so be it. Maybe Leonardo will give Rodney your contact info so he’ll call you if Leonardo thinks it’ll stop you hounding him.”
“Hmm.” Allison thought about that then pulled her phone out of her backpack. “Maybe.”
After all the other texts Leonardo had ignored, she refused to put too much thought into this one. He’d likely be ignoring it too. But Jen had a point. He just might respond if he thought it’d get her off his back. Tapping away at her screen, she put a quick text together then read it back silently.
Hi, Leonardo. Can you please give Rodney my number and ask him to call or text me? I never got his number. Thanks!
She hit send without giving it another thought. In spite of her heartbeat speeding up because this was the first text she’d allowed herself to send him in days, she wouldn’t be holding her breath or getting her hopes up. She felt ridiculous now for thinking, even for a second, that she’d begun to read more into the way he looked at her.
The very thought had a flush of heat shooting up her neck and onto her face. That such a complicated, mysterious man like Leonardo would have the time or inclination to even look at her with anything else but professional interest was so absurd it embarrassed her.
Pretending to dig in her back pack and glad Jen was busy typing something on her computer keyboard, Allison took her time, willing the flush to pass. Last thing she wanted was for Jen to notice her reddened face.
Jen caught her up on some more of what Marcelo had told her, which wasn’t a whole lot. Allison logged onto the computer and typed up some of the notes she’d taken in her notebook.
An hour later she still hadn’t heard back from Leonardo when she saw Carson enter the lab.
“Shit,” she muttered.
“What?” Jen glanced up.
“Hunker down,” Allison said, doing just that, and Jen followed suit.
“Why?”
“It’s Carson. I was hoping to avoid him until I had to see him in class in a few days. He’s gonna ask about the story again, and I still don’t have anything new to add.”
“Leo didn’t respond?” Jen asked.
“No,” Allison said, shaking her head with a frown.
Then she had an idea. This was around the time Drew worked out at the gym. She pulled out her phone and tapped away again, asking her if she was there. Drew’s response was immediate. Yes.
This time Allison put a little more t
hought into her text. Lila was close with most of the wives of the 5th Street owners—her bosses. But Charlee, Drew’s best friend, was one she spoke least of since she wasn’t at the gym most days like some of the other wives. Still, Allison wasn’t sure just how close Charlee was to the other women. She had to be close to Nellie since they were sisters-in-law. She wasn’t ready to ask Drew just yet to keep this from getting back to Lila. For all she knew, she’d never get another moment alone with Leonardo. So, calling attention to her interest in speaking to him—secretly—would probably raise more brows than not.
Can you tell me if the guys I interviewed are there today? The ones I pointed out to you before?
Allison continued to hunker, hoping not to be seen by Carson. He’d since sat down on the other side of the room, seemingly oblivious of her presence. She waited a few minutes this time for Drew’s response. It made her wonder if Drew wasn’t walking around looking for them or, worse, asking someone about them and telling them why.
Only good thing was Lila wasn’t at the gym today. So at least Allison was sure Drew wouldn’t ask her. Finally, Drew responded again, and Allison read it quickly.
Yep, they just walked in a few minutes ago and ROWR! The one you said was hot is looking fine as wine.
Of course, that had Allison’s insides stirring, but it also made her frown in disappointment. She’d assumed maybe he was in training when she’d sent the text over an hour ago. That it was why he hadn’t responded. Now she knew that wasn’t the case. As obnoxiously flirty as Rodney had been, she thought he would’ve called or texted her as soon as Leonardo gave him her number. Again, assuming Leonardo had bothered to even read her text.
Another text popped up on her screen, making Allison’s heart thud. But she was back to frowning when she saw it was just Drew again.
Well, shit. Now I’m craving a glass of wine, but I can’t unless I skip dinner for that ONE glass since that’ll tap me out on my calorie allowance for today. THANK YOU, ALLISON! >