BEAST
“Why can’t you go home?” Allison asked as she took her sweet-ass time parallel parking in front of the sketchy-looking apartment building.
“Another long story.” No way was he getting into the fact that there might already be a price on his head. He’d wait until he heard back from O to explain. “You sure about this guy?” Leo asked, looking up at the building.
“Trust me. This guy probably has about as much to hide as you do.” Allison glanced at him as she finally put the car in park. “Yeah, he’s shady, but if my best friend says he can be trusted, I believe her. I just caught him too, so he’s waiting for us because he said he was on his way out. But he’s in a rush, so he asked me to hurry.”
They got out of the car, and Leo took off the shirt he’d worn over his wife beater and tried to clean his hands and arms a little. The blood had seeped onto the white shirt underneath, but at least it wasn’t as bad as the top layer. Flinging the bloodier shirt over his shoulder, he followed Allison. “I think it’s this one,” she said as they neared one of the doors on the lower level.
“You think?”
“Well, I’ve never been here. I just know this guy’s in desperate need of a roommate, so I figured he’d agree to putting you up for the night if we offered some cash.”
Leo pressed his lips together, glad now he’d pulled out more cash than he needed tonight when he’d put money on his brother’s books. Allison hadn’t even knocked on the door when it flew open. Instantly, they were assaulted with the overwhelming smell of weed and smoke that spilled out of the open door. Two guys walked out. The first one took Allison in and nodded in a silent greeting. The other one, who was fiddling with some keys, did a double take when he looked up at Allison.
“Holy shit.” The guy’s eyes went wide. “Little Ali?”
He made a show of looking her up and down slowly, shamelessly, as Leo stood there behind her, gulping hard, and didn’t even attempt to hide his glare. Allison nodded. “Hey, Ron. Yep, it’s me. Been a while, right?”
“A long while, I guess,” he said, smiling big. “Damn girl, you grew up good.”
You grew up good? What the fuck did that even mean? This was the idiot he was going to be staying with? Leo’s head was already working on who else’s place he could crash at for a few days because Ron was already getting on his nerves and he hadn’t even met the guy.
Allison introduced them, and, as promised, without asking a single question about their situation, Ron handed Allison a key. “Just make sure you lock it up if you guys leave.”
Leo pulled out a fifty and handed it to him. Ron glanced at the bill. “How long you staying?”
“Hopefully, just the night.”
Ron laughed. “Dude, look around. This ain’t the Four Seasons. This oughtta cover you at least for the week.”
He didn’t give Leo a chance to respond because he turned to Allison, blatantly taking her in from top to bottom again. “Aiight, mama. I’d stay and catch up with your grownup hot self, but I gots to be gone. You can have some of my pizza; just leave me some. Pizza man don’t deliver round these parts, so I had to go pick that shit up myself.”
“We’re good,” Allison said as Ron and his friend began walking off. “Thanks again.”
“No, thank you.” He turned around and walked backwards, holding up the fifty with a big smile. “I’m about to have me a real good time.”
Leo followed Allison into the small apartment. “Okay.” She glanced around, and Leo closed the door behind him. “Let’s take a quick tour. This is the front room, I guess.” They walked through it in less than two seconds since it was so small, and Allison walked into the small kitchen, turning on the light. “And this is—oh my God!” she screeched, spinning around and running right into Leo’s chest.
Pulling her behind him, Leo caught the tail end of the rodent she was screeching about scurrying under the fridge. Relieved that it wasn’t anything else, like someone else in the apartment Ron might’ve failed to mention, Leo turned back to look at her. “A mouse?” Allison was still holding two fists at her mouth, looking very disgusted. “That’s what you’re screaming about?”
He chuckled and shook his head, walking through the kitchen to the door at the end of it that led into a short hallway. “Oh, wait. You probably don’t know what that was.” He turned on the light to another room that turned out to be the bathroom. “That was a little bitty mouse, who I can guarantee is more afraid of you. Some people just have to share their home with them.”
“I know what a mouse is,” she said, stepping into the small space between them in the bathroom, still looking skittish. “I just don’t like them, okay?”
“They’re harmless.” Leo glanced up from the sink where he was washing his hands.
“They are not. They’re disgusting and carry all kinds of diseases.”
He was about to address that when she flinched, making another yelping noise. They both looked down at whatever made her jump even closer to him and saw the culprit. She’d stepped on Ron’s rolled up dirty drawers on the floor.
Allison lowered her foot back on the ground, glancing back at Leo sheepishly. “Ron’s chonies.”
Her statement and her face instantly reddening would’ve had Leo laughing in any other instance, but right then, she was too close. So close he could smell the delicate feminine scent that was all Allison. A sweet scent he’d picked up from day one and would not be forgetting anytime soon. A smile couldn’t be helped though. She was just too damn adorable.
He knew this was dangerous. Judging by how closely behind she followed him down that hall and into the bathroom, she wouldn’t be far enough away from him to resist any sudden urges while she was in this shit hole with him.
He turned back to the sink, shaking his head. “Look. I know this isn’t what you’re used to—”
“How do you know what I’m used to?”
Leo dried his hands on the questionable-looking towel hanging from the towel rack and turned back to her. “I’m just saying I know this is no mansion in Los Feliz. You don’t have to hang around anymore. I got it from here.”
Her uncomfortable expression went a little blank, and he knew she was wondering how he knew where she lived. But if she really thought about it, that was public knowledge these days. Though Leo had done a little of his homework since the day he found out about Scar using his name. The blank expression morphed into a somewhat annoyed one. “You think I’ve always lived in a mansion?”
“No, but you’re obviously not comfortable in a place like this.”
“I just don’t like disgusting mice and rats and creepy crawlies. It has nothing to do with what I’m used to. I could live in a rat-infested place my whole life, and I’d never get used to them.”
He was done washing up, and she still hadn’t budged from where she was standing. Clearly, she wasn’t looking to make a move anywhere else in that place unless he was with her. Despite how pleasant the thought of having her stay that close to him was, he needed to get her out of there as soon as possible.
“Can I get by here?” he asked, and not surprising, she moved aside, letting him by first rather than walking out before him.
Leo shook his head again, unable to refrain from smirking. “You really should get going. It’s late, and this is no area for a girl like you to be alone at night.”
“A girl like me?” she asked, and for all the protesting she seemed to be doing about his comments, he’d been right.
She’d stayed so close behind him the moment he slowed she ran into him from behind. For the second time tonight, he’d gotten to feel the warm softness of her breasts pressed against him. “Sorry,” she said, pulling her body away from his back. “I was looking the other . . .”
“A nice girl is all I meant,” he said before she could embarrass herself again and start the exasperatingly sweet blushing again.
He walked into the small front room again. Just as he turned, something rattled in the kitchen behind Allison, and she took two quick steps toward Leo.
“Look,” he said, feeling the frustration mount because being all alone in this place with her was a big enough risk.
Her continually flocking to him in a way that screamed hold me, I’m scared, was just too damn tempting. “You’ve been through a lot tonight.” He looked over in the direction of the kitchen, which she kept glancing at apprehensively. “You still are. I appreciate you getting me a place to crash tonight, but I’m good now. You should go.”
“But you can’t leave.” She looked genuinely concerned. “What about your motorcycle?
“I already have someone picking it up.”
“Are they bringing it to you?”
“Hell no,” he scoffed. “I’m not parking my bike in this neighborhood overnight. You should get your car out of here too before you walk out there and it’s on cinder blocks. I’m telling you the neighborhoods in this area—”
“I know plenty about.” She lifted that stubborn little chin. “For the first six years of my life, I lived just a few blocks from here. After that, I stayed in and around this area, a few years here and a few years there. It wasn’t even until a few months ago that Lila and I moved out of the projects and moved in with Sonny. And for your information, most of those places I lived in were infested with mice, roaches, and in one case”—she cringed, making a face— “big ole nasty rats.”
Leo tried not to smirk. “Okay, so you’re used to living with vermin. But they’re the least of your worries in this area. It’s a good thing you had a sister like Lila looking after you because out there alone you don’t stand a chance.”
Her brows suddenly pinched, as if that last comment had touched a nerve. He was watching her so closely he caught the barely there shake of her head. Then her hand was on her waist and that chin went up again. “You called me a bitch tonight and pointed that loaded gun at me. I almost forgot about that.”
“I had to,” he said, frowning when he remembered how hurt she’d looked.
“What do you mean you had to?”
“I told you it’s a long story.”
“I have time.” She cautiously took a seat on the chair next to her and crossed her arms in front of her defiantly. “In this case, I think I deserve an explanation. But if my getting attacked and having this guy with a gun following me does have to do with you, then I think you need to explain all of this to me. Long story or not.”
Leo took a deep breath. Well fuck. Obviously, she wasn’t going anywhere until she got answers. Not that he blamed her, but he really wasn’t in the mood to get into this, and he had phone calls to make, damn it.
“I’ll give you the short version.”
“I want all of it.”
“You’ll get all of it. I’ll just spare you some of the details.”
“Okay, start with why you called me a bitch and why the hell you pointed that gun at me.”
Of course, this is where she’d want him to start: the part he wanted to explain the least. He wouldn’t remind her of how he slipped and called her babe twice tonight too. He had no idea where that’d come from. but it’d just come so naturally. He was certain she hadn’t missed it, but unless she asked, he sure as hell wasn’t addressing it.
“This guy was sent to scare you just like Scar telling his chick to use my name was all to send a message. It’s this long complicated shit that goes way back to my brother and his ties with the Mexican cartel. He’s doing hard time in prison, has been for years. This is how they settle things and keep their power on the inside. For a very long time, we’ve managed to keep the fact that I’m his brother under wraps so they couldn’t use me or his fear of them sending someone to hurt me as leverage or power over him. Tonight was the first time I’ve seen my brother in years because he’s never even wanted me to visit him. Even that can out me as his brother and make me a target. But Scar’s stupid message was loud and clear. I was already outed. I just needed confirmation. This was the first time I’ve talked to my brother in months. He doesn’t call often, and I had no idea when I’d hear from him again, so I just took the chance to go see him. Our conversations in the prison visiting area, just like when he calls, are all monitored. So, he couldn’t tell me what’s going on with him and his enemies, but he was able to confirm Scar’s thing and those thugs getting arrested outside your place were likely because of him. Someone’s obviously seen us hanging out. They think you’re important to me, so they figured fucking with you would get a response from me. I called you a bitch so maybe that asshole tonight will mention that and the fact that I was willing to point a gun at you to whoever he’ll be reporting back to. I knew what I was about to do . . .”
Leo paused, pissed that he’d said so much. What the hell happened to the short version?
“What?”
Shaking his head, he glanced around the room, unwilling to look her in the eyes anymore. “I just thought it best not to be too nice to you in front of him.”
He made the mistake of glancing up at her. Seeing the strange almost endearing way she was staring at him had him glancing away fast. “What were you going to say?” she asked.
“About what?” He read the text from Orlando to keep his eyes off her.
“About you knowing what you were about to do. But you didn’t finish.”
He always thought it annoying as fuck when someone was messing with his phone when he was trying to talk to him. But now, he was desperate, so he started to respond to Orlando even as he shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Yes, you do.”
Fuck.
With no other choice, he looked up at her. She seemed . . . amused? “I just,” he started to say as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I knew what I was about to do to him would completely contradict what I was trying to make him think by speaking to you that way. It’s why I had to point the gun at you too.”
She seemed to ponder that for a moment. “Do to him? You mean nearly kill him?”
Leo nodded again, trying his best to keep his eyes on his phone, hoping she’d let it go. He responded to Orlando again.
“And what were you trying to make him think?”
God damn it, this girl. Was there anything she ever let go? With a deep breath, he looked her in the eyes and just said it. “That they’re targeting you for no reason because you’re not anyone I care about.”
It sounded harsher than he intended, but this was frustrating as shit. For a moment, she seemed hurt, but then she smirked. “So, you’re saying you beating him the way you did completely contradicts that statement?” What had begun to resemble a wicked smirk turned into curious peering. “Have you ever murdered anyone, Leonardo?”
Leo pressed his lips together. There may have been a lot of things in his past he was ashamed of, but as bad as the answer to this one was, it certainly wasn’t one of them. Leo had always known, if he had to do over again, he would in a heartbeat.
“What do you think, Jelly?”