Chapter Twenty-Two
The door to the room closed softly, and I narrowed my eyes on Leo. “What the hell just happened?”
“Told you I was only going to say it once,” he answered, his voice low and dangerous.
I huffed and headed for the door. “I need to leave.”
His large body moved surprisingly swift as he positioned himself in my path. One of his hands went to my waist, and he began to walk me back until my lower back bumped into the large table in the center of the room.
“Leo, stop,” I told him even as I failed to fight back, my body seeming to disagree with my mind. “I need to get out of here before more people get hurt.”
Or maybe it was my heart ruling. I would have thought my mind was a little smarter than this.
“You go out there, he’s either going to trap you in a lifestyle that you’d rather die than be in, or he’s going to kill you.” His voice was harsh and honest.
I placed my hands on his chest, attempting to force some space between us. “You think I don’t know that!”
“Then what the fuck are you thinking?” he growled, his eyes blazing.
“I’m thinking about you!” I cried, my voice catching. “I’m trying to protect you. I’m trying to protect Macy! And this whole damn MC!”
He squeezed his hand on my hip. “And you think throwing yourself to the sharks is going to make us all feel a little better?”
Water filled the bottom of my eyes, threatening to spill over the edges if I didn’t calm myself down. “I didn’t come here thinking I’d find friends and people I cared about. I never thought I’d find someone like you, who stole my breath every time you came near. Or a little girl who filled my heart with smiles and laughter.”
“But you did.”
I nodded, the movement causing the tears to drip onto my cheeks. “You’ve already been through so much pain, Leo. I don’t want to be the one to add to that by hurting the people you love.”
“And you think that watching you walk away would be easy for me? Knowing that it might be the last time I saw you breathing, the last time I saw you smile?”
His words choked me. I wasn’t sure before if Leo was feeling the same thing I was. We both felt the connection between us. It was like a game of tug of war, and what I felt for him was strong, pulling me in. I was just waiting for the moment where I would land face first in a pile of mud and broken hearts.
But it seemed like that wasn’t the case.
The pull was even.
He felt it too.
“You’re not leaving,” he answered, his other hand coming to my hip. He lifted me, placing me on the edge of the table and forcing my legs to the side so he could move his body in closer.
Whenever he was this close, I began to feel dizzy, the only thing on my mind was touching him and feeling him against me.
I didn’t doubt that he knew this was the case too.
I needed to fight it.
“What did you mean before?” I asked softly, tilting my head back to look up at him, my chest pressed against his. “About claiming me?”
“It means you’re mine,” he answered, the deep vibrations in his voice moving through me. “It means the club will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, whether you walk out that door or not. You leave, I’ll have a man on you twenty-four-seven. Because as far as the club is concerned… you’re mine. And we protect our own.”
“We’ve known each other all of a few weeks,” I whispered. I couldn’t make sense of how I was feeling. I wanted to be excited. I wanted to be his. No more other guys, just him. But I was scared. I thought I was doing the right thing, trying to walk away. And now he was saying that even if I did, he’d follow.
“You know how long Kit knew Harmony before he claimed her?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
“No.”
“Two days.”