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.