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A pause. “Are you in a relationship with her?”
Throwing a pair of pants down on the bed with force, I turned and marched toward him. “Just stop, Leo. We aren’t going to do this, okay? I appreciate you looking out for me last night, and I understand what’s expected of me for the next week. But please don’t get it twisted—you aren’t my boyfriend, and my personal life has nothing to do with you. Okay?”
Leo smoldered as he rose from the couch. “You put yourself in serious danger! Someone should know about it. If I hadn’t gotten there—when I saw that you were hurt, it was like I couldn’t breathe, Mara. It makes me crazy to think about the danger you were in. How is that not just as devastating to you?”
Whatever you need so that the fire doesn’t eat you alive—let it out with me, sweetheart.
My eyes welled with tears again. “It is, of course it is. I let my guard down. You know it was the same guy who bailed on his tab? I told you he was a ‘generally-safe’ kind of creep . . . I’m so stupid.” I scoffed, shaking my head. “You were right to be concerned—the cameras, the extra security, you were right to bring it all in. After bartending for so long, it’s like I’ve come to expect bad behavior. I’ve gotten numb to the fact that they’re still everywhere, and it’s not okay! That pisses me off more, because what gives? What’s it going to take to ensure everyone who steps into the club can feel safe?”
Leo’s fist closed, his fingers squeezing together. “I don’t know. But you’re not stupid, Mara. And you’re not alone in figuring it out, okay? Don’t take on this kind of pain alone. I’m here, and I’m going to help you figure it out. I promise you that.”
I could tell he meant it, that last night had rocked him in a way that made him want to fight, too. And it jarred me, a little. Maybe having his support could help. “Thank you,” I murmured from where I still stood.
He glanced briefly at the duffle bag on my bed. “One battle at a time. Let’s get you packed and settled at my place. We still need to give statements to the police about what happened.” He blew out a breath and rolled his jaw. “And then, we have to face my parents.”
Chapter Sixteen
We dropped my things off at Leo’s apartment, then took his car down to the police station to give our statements. The officers took pictures of the bruising on the side of my face, on my hands, as well as the marks on Leo’s knuckles to document our injuries in support of our statements. While it was more than obvious what had happened last night, they’d explained that detailed documentation was needed in case the man—Benjamin Carroll—fought the charges against him.
It turned out there were charges stacked against him—going back farther than his visits to Larkspur. After his arrest last night, the fingerprints Benjamin had given during his booking tied him to an armed robbery that had occurred at a known drug dealer’s house in a nearby town earlier in the week. His description also matched multiple reports from assault victims across the city who’d come forward to describe how they’d been forced into nightclub bathrooms and aggressively groped during their struggle to escape.
All things considered, the officers in the department repeatedly shared that it was very lucky no one had gotten more injured and that, by all accounts, Leo and I were to thank for his apprehension.
I was more upset than anything to learn that he’d hurt other women—but, as Leo gently reminded me, he’d been caught. Now we just needed to hone our efforts on safety resources at the club. Benjamin Carroll caught us during a perfect storm when a large fight had broken out on the dance floor. Frank and the rest of the security team were so focused on getting the fighters—all seven of them—out of the club, so no one noticed anything else was wrong until Leo spotted me jumping over the bar.
“Trust me when I say the executive security team I’m bringing on will be paramount to our success,” he said as we drove back to his place. “They’re practiced in identifying and neutralizing any risk that might present itself.”
“You make them sound like a SWAT team,” I muttered, keeping my gaze out the car window.
“It’s a private company comprised of ex-Special Forces. Their contracts typically focus on protection services for a single party, but I put enough money behind a deal with the owner to ensure we get a handful of their best guys to use their skills in ways that will serve Larkspur.”
I had to admit, I was impressed Leo had pushed for this even before last night. “All this because I told you a customer was creepy?” I looked at where he sat behind the steering wheel of his Bentley.
His eyes dimmed as he adjusted in his seat. “That was enough,” was all he said.
I looked out my window. “What time do your parents get in?”
“Sometime this afternoon. I asked for a more concrete timeframe, but I think my father prefers I sweat in anticipation.”
“Are you really that nervous to see them?”
Leo scrubbed a hand over his face. “Not normally. My father has always enjoyed any opportunity to intimidate me, but for the most part, I stopped being scared of him when I was a teenager. I just don’t enjoy him—he’s a brutal man, in business and in his personal life. And it’s been a year since I’ve seen either of my parents. I’m expecting a near-vicious level of scrutiny after my little disappearing act . . . which is why I wanted to bring you in.”
I considered his words. “Yesterday morning, when you asked me to do this, you said it would help explain your absence.”
Leo looked at me briefly before his eyes were back on the road. “Yes,” he confirmed, though there was a slight hesitation in his tone.
“You bought Larkspur less than a week ago. What have you been doing in Denver for a whole year?”
“Oh. Well . . . I attempted to get back to the basics. I mean . . .” He gripped the steering wheel tight, the skin of his knuckles going white. “I realized I didn’t know what to do, exactly. So I spent some time on that, on myself.”
“A whole year?” I asked. “Just . . . getting to know yourself?”
He flashed his eyes at me again, quick as a whip. “Mm-hm.” There was definitely more that he wasn’t telling me, but I didn’t want to press.
Not yet, anyway.
Leo pulled his Bentley into his designated parking space and trailed close behind me as we made our way up to my new home. All things considered, I felt good. Granted, it was possible that in response to the roller coaster ride that my life had turned into, I’d finally become delusional enough to enter into a state of blind acceptance.
