AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You called me Little Bird. I thought I was losing it when you did it before, but this time I know you said it. You called me a Little Bird.”
Shit. I knew I slipped the day she was upset, but to do it again was going to be hard to explain.
“You’re hearing things,” I said, as I looked back at my computer and shrugged her off.
“No. I’m not. At least I don’t think I am.” She looked up at the ceiling before narrowing her eyes back on me. “You’d rather me think I’ve lost my mind than tell me, wouldn’t you?”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The last thing I needed was her mad at me over something as simple as a nickname, but I’d be showing my cards if I told her the truth.
Little Bird
Talia
Iwasjuststartingto like Leo, but now, as I stood there looking at him, I had an uncontrollable urge to gouge his eyes out. Did he really think he could just lie to me and I’d believe him? I guess he did. Actually, he had no reason to think I wouldn’t believe him. I had believed everything else he had told me so far.
“You know what? You aren’t any better than these men around here. All up there on your holier than thou high horse. Mr. ‘I don’t have any motivation to lie’. Well, I call bullshit on it. I call bullshit on all of this.”
I was so pissed, and it made no sense at all other than that my emotions were a damn freight train and Leo was standing right in the middle of the tracks. I had far surpassed the rollercoaster at this point, and he was the only one in my sights.
I pushed his laptop closed and nearly caught his fingers as he was trying to ignore me. I reached back to hit him, but failed miserably. Leo caught my wrist mid air and stood up with it still in his grip. Instead of pushing me away, he pulled my arm up, dragging my body closer to his. I took my other hand and jabbed at his side. I knew it was a bad choice, but rage was flowing through me and I wasn’t thinking straight. His other hand caught me as I pulled back and the fact that he didn’t even grunt when I made impact just made me more angry.
Before I knew what had happened, he pressed me against the wall. Both of my hands were in one of his and he bent down to look me in the eye.
“I said be careful. If you push me too far, I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”
“And what actions would those be? Are you going to kill me, Leo? Are you going to kill me real good?”
He smiled down at me and slowly shook his head. It was at that moment that I realized how much I had underestimated Leo Rand. The pain and pressure in my wrists where he held me brought a feeling of relief and the look in his eyes was deadly. Not in the way I would worry he’d kill me, but in the way that I’d be worried he’d fuck me to death and I’d be none the wiser. I felt the warmth of his finger as he ran it along the skin at my waist right before he spoke.
“Oh, I’m not going to kill you, Talia. I’m going to teach you.”
I gasped at his touch and the feel of his breath on my neck. “Teach me what?”
“Pleasure, pain. I’ll even teach you how to kill if you ask nicely.”
“Why ‘Little Bird’?” I asked again.
“Because the first time Beckett showed me your picture, all I could think of was how you looked like a feisty Little Bird. I’ve never liked birds until you. Noisy little things that steal from others and flap around, but Talia, when you flap around and squawk, I can’t seem to get enough of it.”
I closed my eyes and let my mind disappear into a world of fantasy. One where I wasn’t being held captive by some asshole who bought me, but instead my life was my own and I shared it with Leo.
He stepped back and let go of my hands. The cool air between us was an unwelcome wash of what reality really was. When I opened my eyes, he was sitting back in front of his computer as if nothing had even happened. My heart dropped into my stomach when I worried that just maybe this was all another dream. I pinched my arm and when I found I was awake; I walked back to my spot in bed and crawled back under the covers.
“I don’t want to go,” I said, without looking back at Leo.
“I know, but you have to.”
We spent the rest of the afternoon in silence. I had nothing to do other than stare off into space and overthink everything Leo told me. He was busy on his computer and making about a million calls to all sorts of people. It seemed Leo’s work reached far beyond security detail for a crazy chick, but I had already suspected as much. It wasn’t until he was on the phone with his brother Noah that I really started paying attention. Someone named Ares Sabino had done some work for the two of them as a favor. If I was piecing everything together correctly, then the work he had done was for my benefit.
“Talia, are you awake?”
I rolled over and faced him.
“I know you don’t want to go next week, but we both know you don’t have a choice. I will work things out with Carter so that I will be with you. As your security detail, it would only make sense that I attend. I am working on something to make things better, but until I can move on it, you will need to continue to comply as best you can.”
“What are you working on?”
Without moving his head, his eyes moved in the camera’s direction in the room’s corner and I let it go.
