Smother (18 page)

She had no response to that. Each time Leo shared something of himself with her, her heart was stabbed. She was slowly knowing him, and dying a little along the way. It was a painful, beautiful process. Learning about him made her understand things about herself. Reese settled back against the couch and found the channel.

“I don’t think it’s weird,” she finally told him. “Or—any weirder than anything I do or think,” she added.

“I’m not sure that makes me feel better.”

Reese looked at him, caught the faint smile on his face, and softly laughed. “It probably shouldn’t.”

It was hours later when she left, and only then because Leo was asleep on the couch and she was close to falling asleep herself. Reese stared down at his discolored face, seeing something she hadn’t seen before. She saw a man. He wasn’t something to run from or push away. Leo wasn’t her redemption or her downfall. He was just a man. Living, hurting, struggling. Enduring.

Reese gently brushed hair from his forehead, surprised by how soft it was, and turned to go. They barely exchanged words over the course of the night, and it didn’t even matter. She’d been there for him, something she’d never wanted nor thought possible before. Reese’s perception of Leo was changing, and she hoped maybe it was for herself as well. When she crawled into her own bed that night, she fell asleep faster than she had in months.

Reese grew up on macaroni and cheese, cooking it for herself, and when her sister was old enough to request it, for her as well. Their mom worked third shift and slept most of the day, so Reese and Morgan spent a lot of time together without parental supervision. It was her meal of choice Friday afternoon. It could even be deemed comfort food.

It was simple and tasted good, bringing happy memories with it instead of bad, like so many other connections to her childhood. Reese dumped the cooked noodles, milk, butter, and powdered cheese into a large bowl and added a spoon. She moved into the living room with it, stirring it around in the bowl as she sat down on the couch, the focus on inane action enough to settle her mind.

The quiet was broken only by the sounds of her chewing and the fork tapping against the bowl as she scooped up the cheesy noodles. It was halfway gone when someone knocked on the door. She froze with the spoon to her mouth, swallowing thickly and setting the spoon in the bowl. Reese wanted it to be Leo, and at the same time, hoped it wasn’t.

It wasn’t Leo.

She shifted her gaze from Amber to the two men she’d brought with her, trepidation tightening her mouth. The space between Reese and her visitors wasn’t enough, and shrank even more as she met their eyes. She could smell them, feel their body heat. The macaroni and cheese turned into a lump of lead in her stomach.

Amber’s expression was apologetic and she nervously twisted a ring on her finger even as she smiled. “Hi, Reese,” she greeted with false cheerfulness. “We were hanging out and decided to stop by, see what you were up to.”

Daniel hung back, looking bored, but Ryan stood next to Amber with keenness in his expression. He wanted to be here, and that worried her. She’d warned Amber about them, told her to stay away from them and to keep them away from Reese as well. She could tell by the way she was acting that Amber remembered that.

Reese met Ryan’s gaze and his satisfied smirk grew.

She looked at Daniel. He flashed her a mouth of teeth. He’d warned her.

Danger, danger, danger,
her brain screamed. The instinct to flee was powerful.

Reese dropped her eyes to where Ryan firmly held Amber’s bicep, his fingers locked in place around her flesh. She looked at Amber. “Can I talk to you a minute? Alone.” She gave Ryan and Daniel a pointed look, making it clear they were not included in the upcoming conversation.

“Don’t be rude, Reese. Invite us in,” Ryan coaxed.

She remembered the words he said to her that night, felt his hot breath on her skin. Her shoulders jerked at the memory of Daniel joining in. They were rough, intentionally painful—Daniel especially. Because she’d insulted him, because she’d made him feel less than. And because Ryan was in charge and Daniel resented that. He’d taken it all out on her. Her body had ached for days afterward, faint bruises scattered across her flesh in kisses of pain.

“No. I’m not inviting you in,” she told Ryan. “And I want to talk to Amber.”

She reached for Amber and Daniel swung around the pair and intercepted her, pushing her back into the apartment and following. Amber let out a gasp. Reese struggled against him. Even though his frame lacked bulk, he was still stronger than her. She was so stupid. Daniel had purposely seemed disinterested to put her off guard. It had all been an act, a preconceived plan.

Daniel grinned as he dropped his hold on her, the bored look replaced with a predatory one. His blond good looks were ugly to her, blackened by his cruelty. “Told you I’d be seeing you again. I’ve missed you,” he said in a dark, quiet voice. “Missed showing you I’m man enough for you.”

He lifted a hand to touch her face and she slapped it away. Daniel’s smile deepened. “I like the ones that fight, Reese. You should have figured that out from last time. Come on, tell me all the things you think I don’t want to hear.”

“Get out,” she told him in a voice that quaked.

“Make me.”

“You had your fun. It isn’t happening again.”

The door closed and she whipped her head toward the sound, fear punching her heart at the sight of Ryan locking the door, the click of it an undeniable sentence of her doom. He rubbed his jaw as he approached, the look in his blue eyes promising harm.

“Where’s Amber?”

“In the car, waiting like a good girl, probably high as a kite by now.”

“Be my good girl, Reese, and I’ll get you that pretty blue dress you want.”
She recoiled at the memory, stiffening into stone as all of her seized up. This wasn’t going to happen, not again, not with them. Never. She would fight this time. She would fight and fight and never stop fighting.

“Amber needs drugs. Nasty habit she’s formed,” Ryan continued. “We told her we needed your apartment number.” He shrugged. “We just had to promise her we wouldn’t hurt you. And we won’t—not until you beg us to.”

Reese stared them down as they crept closer, her hands tightened into fists. She didn’t blame Amber. She probably would have done the same if she were her. They weren’t friends. They had no loyalty to one another.

“I like that look in your eyes,” Daniel cooed. “All afraid and trying not to be. You’re going to try to hurt us, I can see it in your face, but don’t worry, it won’t compare to what we do to you.”

“We have a proposition for you, Reese,” Ryan said as he stopped a few feet from her. “We liked you so much the first time, we want to keep you. We’ll supply you with drugs and you’ll supply us with you.”

Her stomach clenched. “You’re sick.”

Ryan’s eyes lightened with amusement. “Maybe. But you like men like that. I can tell. You want to be hurt.”

Reese bowed her head. That wasn’t it. She didn’t want to be hurt, but she felt like she deserved it. Those were two extremely different things.

“You need the drugs, need them to feel better. We can make you feel better, take the pain away,” Ryan told her in a persuasive tone.

She looked up. If she was weaker, even just a smidge more so, she would eat his words up and do whatever he told her she should. She would take the drugs. She would let them use her and hurt her, treat her like she wasn’t human—if she was one sliver less than what she was.

Reese had one finger left hanging on to the image of a better her, and because of that, she tightened that hold, grabbed more of that stronger person within her grasp, and refused to let go. She didn’t want to be this person anymore.

“I’m not taking your drugs. If you don’t go now, you’ll regret it.” Her cell phone, her only means of calling for help, was in the bedroom. Reese could run for it, but she wouldn’t get to it before they got to her. She would have to scream and pray someone heard her.

Daniel lunged for her, grabbed her arms from behind, and pulled them back and up. She gasped at the wrenching sensation and the muscles cried with the need to relax. Daniel nuzzled the side of her neck with his face, nausea blooming inside Reese at his movements. His breath was warm, stagnant. Trapped, her chest heaved as she struggled to inhale and exhale. Each time she moved, her arms protested. She stopped fighting and the discomfort lessened.

The will to survive was leaving her, so easily taken away by two men who brought helplessness to her door.

Ryan strolled forward, trailing a finger down her nose and lips. Reese averted her face and he grabbed it roughly, forcing her to look at him. His fingers dug into her throat, little stabs of agony against her skin.

“Whatever I want, I get, and right now, I want you,” he said in a cold voice. “Daniel told me your message. About fucking off? I don’t think so. You have no idea who I am, and what I can do to those that piss me off.”

He reached into his pocket, withdrew three pills from it, and held them out to her. “You’re going to take these, and you’re going to do whatever we want. Do you know why?” He grinned. “Because you’re going to be so fucking out of your mind on drugs that you’re not going to care what we do to you.”

Reese’s pulse careened with such dizzying speed that she felt faint. Perspiration formed on her skin and her heart fiercely pounded. This couldn’t be happening. Only it was. It was her fault. She’d known eventually her despicable deeds would catch up to her. She’d made the wrong choice one too many times and finally encountered the kind of people she couldn’t walk away from.

Ryan grabbed for her mouth and she bit the side of his hand, tasting salt and blood. With a yelp, he extracted his hand, the other immediately raised to slap her hard. Her head snapped to the side with the force of it, the imprint of fingers stinging her flesh. Behind her, Daniel’s breaths picked up. He pressed closer to her with a body that should be unfamiliar to her and wasn’t. The traumatized little girl inside Reese told her to give up. She couldn’t win against them. She shouldn’t try.

Ryan pointed a shaking finger at Daniel. “Don’t let her go,” he warned, eyes flashing as they went back to Reese. “You just decided how things are going to go.”

When he moved for her again, she kicked out her legs, screaming as fire shot through her arm sockets. Her weight pulled her down, and Daniel went with her. She landed a good kick to Ryan’s right kneecap and he staggered back with a curse. Brown hair disheveled and face twisted with rage, Ryan lunged for her, but Reese managed to evade him.

She wasn’t so lucky with Daniel. His intent was to incapacitate her again and Reese was determined to not let that happen. She hit at him and dodged his grip, knowing if she went down again, she wouldn’t be getting back up. She’d pissed them both off to the point where this wouldn’t end well for her.

Daniel got ahold of her just as something hit the door and it rumbled in response, three pairs of eyes lifting to it. Once, twice more, and the door exploded inward, pieces of the frame spraying over them in a wooden waterfall. Leo stood in the doorway, hands clenched at his sides, jaw hard as granite. He didn’t breathe—he
fumed.
Even as she stared at him, his eyes flitted over the top of her without really seeing her.

“Fucking-A,” Daniel said softly and released her arms. “Not you again.”

The sound of his voice pulled Leo’s gaze his way and four long strides brought Leo to Daniel. He reached down, grabbed the front of his maroon shirt, and lifted him off the ground. “Did you just have your hands on her?” His tone was measured, his words low.

Daniel smiled, but there was a sick cast to it. “That and more.”

Leo’s elbow snapped up and connected with his eye. Daniel cried out in pain. Leo shoved him back and he crumpled to the floor like a rag doll.

“Who the fuck invited the Hulk?” Ryan demanded, straightening his black buttoned-down shirt as he limped toward Leo. He had Reese to thank for that injured leg and she was glad of it.

A sound from the door drew Reese’s attention to it. Amber huddled there, arms hugging herself. She was pale and shivering. Reese stared at her as her chest tightened with feeling. She’d never been so thankful to see her before.

“Amber,” Ryan growled. He slowly made his way to her, retribution promised in his blue eyes. “You got this guy?”

Amber shrank back, face contorted with fear.

Leo’s palm shot out and slammed into Ryan’s chest to send him stumbling back. “Touch either one of them and have me to answer to.”

“Do you know who I am?” Ryan snarled, swiping a hand through his hair. “Ryan Michaelson,” he said slowly. “You should be afraid.”

“You don’t know who I am,” Leo retorted. “Or you would be afraid.”

Two angry, dangerous men stared one another down. Reese hadn’t moved yet, still on the floor. She struggled to inhale as she watched the scene play out, slowly standing on legs that trembled.

Daniel carefully made his way to Ryan. “Let’s go. We can pick up where we left off another time.”

Leo growled low in his throat.