AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. Please.” She pulls a mug from the cupboard and hands it to me. “What time did you get in last night?”
“I’m not sure. It was late.” I hand her the hot cup. “By the time I showered and crashed, it was a little after three.”
“That’s late. I never heard you come in.”
I’m not sure how to respond. A part of me wants to suggest she was too busy with Felix, but like I told her earlier, anger can be wasted energy. Before I even go there, I need to hear her out.
“I tried to be quiet. Is Felix here?”
She flushes and her expression sobers. “Tom, I need to ex—”
“I sure am.” The man in question strolls into the room in a suit. I bristle at his appearance, and he frowns when he lays eyes on Leighton. “You aren’t dressed.”
Nothing gets past this guy.
Once again, the urge to leave them wraps around me like a vise. I don’t like being around them. Before his arrival, Leighton and I were building something…a friendship. And now, I’m not so sure.
I push from the counter. “I’m going to shower.”
But I only get to the mouth of the hallway when I remember August’s request. He has enough to deal with right now. This is the least I can do to help him.
Turning around is like a gut punch. Felix and Leighton are close, so close that all I can see is his back. I try to banish the clench to my stomach. Jealousy is a bastard.
Something fires deep in my belly when Leighton pushes him away, unaware that I’m there. “Felix, leave.”
The heat and fierce need to do something only grows when he does the opposite and crowds her space. I clear my throat, hackles on alert. “What’s going on here?”
Felix peers over his shoulder at me, hands still gripping Leighton’s arms, and it takes everything in me not to rip them off her.
“Tom—” she starts but the man towering over her interjects, “Nothing. This is between us.”
I lean to one side to capture her gaze. “Leighton, are you okay?”
She doesn’t return the gaze. Eyes narrowed and set on the man in front of her, she pushes his chest. “Felix is leaving. Now.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you.” He shifts so he can see both of us but doesn’t loosen his hold on her.
“Let her go. The lady asked you to leave politely. If you need some help, I’m more than happy to oblige.”
He winces. “This isn’t any of your business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Leighton’s my business, and she wants you gone.” I step closer to him. “So what’s it going to be?”
Immediately, he drops his hold on her and huffs. “Leighton, you’ll regret this.” Then he lowers his voice, deeper and more menacing, and the next words out of his mouth suggest he’s talking about much more than this moment. “If you do this, you’ll be all alone. You’re making a terrible mistake.”
I wedge in next to Leighton, and my intrusion forces Felix to move. My hand wraps around hers. “She isn’t alone. She has me.”
13
LEIGHTON
Tom’s hold on my hand, strong and reassuring, helps to stop my nerves from sparking and knees from shaking. I didn’t know I needed this.
Felix mashes his mouth into a thin line and holds my gaze for a beat but eventually storms out of the room.
Only once the front door shuts do I relax and shift my gaze to Tom. “Why would you do that?”
His knitted brows smooth. “What? Didn’t you want him to leave?”
