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MJ explained earnestly, “You see, it’s all about being a family. I think...it was his way of protecting you while he couldn’t do it on his own.”
Bobby didn’t answer. She was too busy remembering the countless instances when club members had suddenly shown up and kept her company while she was out alone and struggling with depression. Most times it had been Kellion, but even the quiet Yuri had kept her company once, and there were times when she found herself sharing breakfast in the diner near her school with Helios himself.
When Bobby still didn’t speak, MJ said slowly, “I won’t pretend to know what really happened between the two of you, but that night when you broke up, he came here and...” Unable to find the right words to tell Bobby about what she had seen, MJ switched her camera on and quickly began swiping at the photos on the screen until she found the image she was looking for.
“Here...”
Bobby reluctantly took the camera from MJ, feeling like she had just been offered a forbidden fruit. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the photo on the screen.
It was Leandro, standing on the old club’s balcony. He hadn’t changed, still in his dirty shirt and jeans – the same clothes he had been wearing when he barged in on her dinner with her half-brother. He looked beautiful in the photo like he always did, but MJ had also captured something else on his face.
Grief.
Loss of the most excruciating kind was etched on the handsome planes of his face, and Bobby had to bite hard on her lip to keep it from trembling. She didn’t want to see this, didn’t want to start hoping again and think that maybe Leandro Christopoulos had loved her after all.
She returned the camera to MJ. “I don’t want to see any of his photos again.” Her voice came out harsher than she intended, and Bobby grimaced. “Sorry, I—-”
“It’s okay, I understand,” MJ reassured the other girl quickly. “I respect your wishes.”
Bobby made a frustrated sound. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I’m just...I just don’t want to have anything to do with him again. If the kids in the foundation weren’t so excited about this project, I would’ve canceled it. But they want this so...”
MJ impulsively reached out to squeeze Bobby’s hand. “I really understand, Bobby. There’s no need to apologize.”
Bobby managed a smile. “I know you meant well. But it’s just not—-” She stopped, the sound of the conference hall’s doors opening. Both she and MJ turned towards the sound just in time to see the club members file out one by one. Leandro was one of the last to come out, and he was talking to a girl wearing a tight leather dress and boots.
Bobby’s smile vanished completely as the other girl murmured something with a laugh and reached out to caress Leandro’s face.
Her heart went cold at the sight.
Some things never changed.
Leandro Christopoulos was still not a man to be trusted, and Bobby was still too naïve when it came to him.
Just then, Leandro looked up, his eyes unerringly finding her. Bobby quickly looked away, fumbling for her phone so she could once again call whoever to look busy, but it was too late. By the time she fished her iPhone out, Leandro was already standing across her.
“Hello, mégaira.” She looked unbelievably pretty...and hot. Leandro frowned, not liking the way her loose floral blouse, tucked into a too-tiny pair of denim shorts, had several buttons free. She was showing too much skin, and he hated it.
“Please don’t call me that.” She kept her voice low even though she knew that all the members of the club were too honorable to listen in on their conversation. She supposed she should be thankful that none of them were looking at them either, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Kellion drawing away the girl that Leandro had been flirting with.
The coldness in Bobby’s voice ignited his temper. It made him jealous as hell, too, and Leandro said abruptly, “You didn’t answer any of my calls last night.” Only the knowledge that he would create an even greater scandal and make Bobby a target of the press had kept Leandro from storming to her house. And so he had stayed at home, not sleeping a wink because he had wanted to be awake if she ever returned his call.
“I was busy.” And it was true. She had been busy crying on Sabastian’s shoulder, but he didn’t have to know that.
His jaw hardened at her words. “Busy doing what?” If she told him she had been busy with Gabris, Leandro knew nothing would stop him from killing the other man. He didn’t give a fuck that a year had passed since he and Bobby had broken up. Bobby washis.
“None of your business,” she answered right away. “Besides, I didn’t come here to talk about us. If you’ve forgotten, I’m here for the project you’re sponsoring—-” She stopped speaking when Leandro’s fingers suddenly went around her wrist. “Let go of me.”
“Not until you find the courage to look at me.” He knew he was deliberately goading her, and he didn’t care. He did not like this cold side of Bobby. His Bobby, the girl he had fallen in love with, was no cold fish. She had been fiery and passionate, the perfect match for someone as hot-blooded as he was.
Leandro’s words had her gasping and her head snapped up, her defiant gaze meeting his. “I’m not scared to look at you!”
“Then why haven’t you been looking at me? Why do you treat me like I’m a leper?” His voice was thick and guttural, his words sounding more Greek than English, and it betrayed the true state of his emotions.
Bobby was incredulous. “Are you seriously asking me that?” she hissed back. “After what you did?” She remembered the girl he had been talking to earlier and her heart shriveled even more. She had the strongest urge to cry, but she firmly held on to her resolve. Leandro didn’t deserve another one of her tears, not one freaking drop.
“I don’t know why you suddenly want to be back in my life, but I know whatever it is, it won’t be good for me. I’m done being a fool for you—-”
Leandro cut her off, gritting out, “I want you back because I love you!”
