by Lana Davison
“Hey, arsehole, where do you think you’re going?” one of the guys shouted.
“Just keep walking,” Leo told me.
“Hey, arsehole, I’m talking to you.”
We kept on walking, we didn’t need any trouble. The three guys ran over to us, reasoning that we were easy targets; after all there was three of them and only two of us. They made us stop when they stood directly in front of us. I noticed two black guys and one Caucasian; the Caucasian guy seemed to do most of the talking. The two black guys looked like they might be brothers, one of them decidedly younger than the other, while the Caucasian and the other black man looked to be about the same age, perhaps in their early twenties. All of them wore black jeans, black hoodies and black jackets. The white guy chewed continuously as if he were high on something.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” the white guy spoke directly to Leo.
“Look we don’t want any trouble. We’ll just be on our way all right,” Leo said, pushing us through.
All three of them stood blocking our way forward.
“What do you want?” Leo asked, his fuse shortening.
“We want her.”
Leo looked at me and then back to them. “Well you can’t have her.”
“Who says?”
“I say,” he said confidently.
“You and who’s army?” The white guy laughed and pulled out a knife.
“I wouldn’t try and use that if I were you,” Leo said.
“But you’re not me, are you? So give us the girl, we’ll give her back when we’re done.” The three of them laughed, although I noticed the young black guy didn’t seem too happy with the situation. He was only laughing to follow the others.
“You’re not having her so move out of our way,” Leo said as he unexpectedly released me and pushed one of his hands onto the white guy and took the knife out of his hands with the other. Leo held the knife in his hands. “Now look who’s got the knife?” he said dropping it on the ground. “Now move out of our way.”
The white guy picked up the knife and took a step back, as did the other, “No. We’re not going to let you go away just like that. We weren’t ready before. You won’t get another chance to try that move on me again. Give us the girl.” he said looking at his friends for added support.
“Yeah,” said the older black guy, while the younger one just nodded.
“I will hurt you if I have to,” Leo warned.
“I’ve got the knife,” the white guy said.
“You do, but if you remember I had it a minute ago and I can get it right back, so move out of our way. I won’t ask you again.”
“Whoa... Thinks he’s a bit of a tough boy. We don’t like people who think they are better than us.”
Leo rolled his eyes, was this guy ever going to let up?
The white guy got hold of my hair and pulled it, yanking my head and me with it and took the opportunity to grab me around the neck with one of his arms and held the knife at my throat with the other. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid, I was. This night had started out so well and now look at us. I looked at Leo pleadingly, my eyes sorrowful, sorry that we were in this situation, sorry that this moment could ruin our lives forever.
“Holly, don’t be afraid.” Leo told me. “I will never let anything happen to you.”
“Now don’t be stupid.” Leo said one last time to the guy, but he knew the bargaining, reasoning, negotiating was over. No more games.
Leo used speed and strength as he punched the white guy in the head and simultaneously grabbed the knife out of his hands. The white guy instantly released me due to the blow to his head and realised he had done so, and grabbed my hair again, jerking my head back. I screamed. Leo chopped down once on his arm and smacked him in the mouth. The creep had no choice but to release his grip from my hair.
“Grab her,” he told the other two while holding onto his jaw. The older of the two black guys caught me around the waist. The whole fight was getting messy but at least Leo was winning it.
“Let her go,” Leo shouted, “NOW.”
“You broke my jaw, you fucking broke my jaw!” the white guy said shocked.
“You’re lucky that’s all I broke. Now let her go, right now,” he demanded.
“No,” the black guy said getting his free arm around my throat like the white guy had done before. The white guy still lay on the ground in pain barking out instructions.
The black guy started to laugh as he humped me through his jeans. “Oh this is going to be good,” he said taking a whiff of my hair.
“Fools never learn,” Leo remarked and smacked the guy in the throat, where he fell to the ground, winded.
Leo pulled me back to his embrace, holding me around the waist with one arm.
“Are you all right?” he looked into my eyes, while remaining totally aware of our surroundings.
“Yes, I am now.”
He kissed my forehead and made sure the guys remained wounded and out of our way. “They’ll be all right,” he said making a remark about the two guys on the ground, one of them gasping for air. The third guy fled the scene.
“We’ll find you. We know what you look like.”
“Sure you will. Good luck with that. Can’t wait to kick your arse again,” Leo voiced back at them as we walked away from the scene. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
My body began to shake. I was going into shock but I nodded yes because I didn’t want Leo to worry.
He stopped pulled my chin up to face him and looked into my eyes. “You’re not all right, I can see that,” he said taking me in his arms.
I began to cry and my cries turned into sobs. Leo let me cry it out all the while rubbing my back and kissing the top of my hair. He freed one of his arms from our embrace and pulled his mobile phone from his back pocket and called Ryan to pick us up immediately. We walked a little further towards the taxi rank where Ryan would collect us. We had to walk past a brick wall and Leo punched it with his fist as if to get rid of his frustration. I turned my head slightly to see what had happened to the brick wall, he had made a hole in it. I took his hand and looked it over. There were no marks. How could he just punch a wall and not feel anything?
“Damn it. Those shit heads know how to ruin a perfectly good evening,” Leo said as we waited for Ryan, all the while holding me tight to his chest. I wanted to stay right there.
Ryan was with us in a flash. I hopped into the back seat of the car and let Leo relay what happened to Ryan. It occurred to me how un-phased Leo was by the whole scenario with those thugs, I would ask him how he felt so confident when all I felt was fear.
As soon as we got home, I went upstairs, had a warm shower and got changed into my pyjamas. I felt much better after my shower, and also very tired. I brushed my teeth and went to Leo’s bedroom, but he wasn’t there.
I walked towards the stairs and could hear two voices talking; Leo and Ryan, I decided to stay where I was and eavesdrop. I could barely hear their words, only scarcely making out what they were saying.
“You have to be more careful, Leo. No one is supposed to know.”
“I don’t think she suspects anything.”
“I hope not. It will be difficult to explain.”
“She would understand.”
“But you can’t tell her.”
“I’m not planning to.”
“And when you said you were bringing a friend home, I had no idea you meant you were bringing a girl, and this is the second time. I think she’s great but what would your parents say? They have trusted me to look after you. You are supposed to be with someone else.”
“Well that’s not going to happen,” I heard Leo say.
I gulped, could I really be hearing this right? Perhaps I was having difficulty with the clarity of the words. Was I making some of it up in my head? Was Leo with someone else? What was that all about?
I rushed back to the spare bedroom, got into the bed and waited for Leo. I
lay down on the bed, a million questions in my head, but with the drama of the evening’s events finally taking its toll on me, I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
Placing my arms up above my head and pushing my legs as far away from my body as possible, I stretched right out. I yawned loudly and opened my eyes, realising I was still at Leo’s house. I thought about the night before, about the guys that had tried to hurt me, how Leo had not been scared, the way that he comforted me, and the discussion between Leo and Ryan I had overheard. I had so many questions swimming around in my head and now I was cross, thinking the worst, as if something deceitful was going on. I touched my heart, closed my eyes and took a deep breath and hoped Leo hadn’t deceived me. Had I been so blinded by his choice of words and unbelievably handsome looks? I thought about packing up my things right then and there, calling Sara and leaving Leo and Ryan alone with their lies and secrets, but I couldn’t. If I did Sara would know I had lied about my whereabouts.
I looked at my watch, it was still early. Leo was most likely asleep, and I wasn’t planning on visiting his room again, not after the conversation I had overheard last night. I thought about how Henry didn’t trust Leo and I had so quickly dismissed his view because I was besotted with him.
I opened my weekender and fetched Leo’s present. I had bought him engraved cufflinks, the best I could do on my limited budget. It was Leo’s birthday today and I would give him his gift but that’s all he was getting, at least until I got some answers. Leo, with someone else! The sentence kept going off in my head like a broken record.
I showered and put on some fresh, clean clothes. I heard some noises outside the bathroom door and instinctively opened the door. Leo walked past me, wearing his pyjama bottoms, no top again and it took everything I had not to look at his fit body.
“Morning.” He walked over and kissed me. “Are you feeling better this morning? There really was nothing to worry about last night. You never have anything to worry about when you’re with me.”
There he goes again, trying to distract me with his words.. I thought carefully about how to approach my many questions. Should I just come out and ask who this other person he was supposed to be with was?
“Holly, you’re very quiet. Are you still thinking about last night?”
I stepped back and walked into my room, my back towards him. I collected his present and gave it to him.
“For me? I told you, I didn’t want anything.”
I said nothing. He took the wrapping off and opened the velvet blue box and saw the cufflinks, pulling one of them out and giving it a once over.
“Thank you, Holly. I will treasure them forever.”
I said nothing.
“What is it?” he said walking over to me. He took my face in his hands. “What’s the matter?”
“Morning.” Ryan said, standing at the bedroom door.
I removed Leo’s hands from my face and faced Ryan. “Morning,” I replied.
“You have another present, Leo, from your parents.”
Leo’s eyes lit up. “How did they get something to me here?”
A brief exchange between the two of them made me wonder what else I was missing. I looked at each of them trying to read their faces.
“Because they got me to get it for you.”
Perhaps I was being overly suspicious; I still had to get to the bottom of what I really wanted to ask.
“Come on, it’s downstairs,” Ryan said.
Leo took my hand and led me downstairs. I released my hand as we continued down the stairs, but Leo didn’t clock it. Ryan opened the garage door. Leo walked in and turned on the light.
“That is freakin’ awesome,” he shouted out.
Curiously I followed Leo through to see what the excitement was all about. A motorcycle with a large blue bow stood right in front of me.
“It’s a BMW K 1300 S Sports, Hol,” Leo said with his eyes wide open. He circled the bike like it was prey his hand feeling the leather seat. He hopped on, straddling the bike and moved the handles as if he were riding it.
“Cool, right?” Ryan entered the garage holding a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Understatement.”
“Can you ride?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, I’ve been riding with my dad for years. It’s our thing. We often took the bikes out and rode around the track.”
“What track?”
Leo paused, looked at Ryan and then to me. The exchange alarmed me again. What were these two not telling me? It was like a puzzle I couldn’t answer. My brow furrowed as I tried to work it out, but no answers surfaced. I needed to speak to Leo alone.
Leo jogged back into the house and dashed upstairs, returning a minute later, wearing jeans, t-shirt and a leather biker’s jacket. He wheeled the bike over to the garage door and pressed a button on the wall to open it. Leo fastened a helmet to his head and hopped on the bike and took off like a bat out of hell.
“He’ll be gone for a little while, Holly. Want a cup of something?”
“No thanks,” I said walking outside through the garage door.
I looked around the street, it looked sleepy. It was a Sunday morning, many people would be sleeping in. I would be sleeping in if I was at home with Sara and Stuart. The fresh air was nice but the breeze made me shiver. I dashed upstairs, collected my coat and went back outside. I had been standing waiting for Leo to return for about fifteen minutes when I heard the roar of the bike from a distance. I walked to the edge of the pavement and saw Leo speeding around the corner; he lifted one of the wheels off the ground, as if to show me his skill in handling the bike.
He turned and went back to the top of the street, stopped for a moment and revved the bike up. He was heading towards me, his eyes fixed on me. He took off. I watched and noticed a car backing out of the drive. Leo was travelling way too fast for the car to notice him. I felt the impact of an accident waiting to happen, a concerned look coming over my face, when… crash! The bike and the car collided and Leo’s leg was crushed under the bike. The driver got out of the car. I ran over to Leo, all the anger diminished by my deep concern for his well-being.
“Leo!” I screamed.
The driver stood by my side as I lent down. I undid his helmet and noticed a small scratch on his face. Thank God for the helmet.
“I didn’t see him,” the driver defended. “You’ve got to believe me.”
I nodded; my concern with Leo and not with the driver.
“I’ll call an ambulance,” he said and took off towards his house.
“Leo?”
He moaned.
“Leo. Can you hear me?”
He moaned again.
I looked around to see who was around. Nobody. The driver was inside the house ringing an ambulance. Leo lay limp on the ground, still moaning, his leg crushed, his face bleeding. I took his hand in mine, closed my eyes and willed him to get up. My gift had worked a handful of times, and right now, I needed it to work more than ever. Come on Leo, I wished still holding onto his hand.
“Holly?”
“Leo, yes it’s me, are you…?” His eyes widened and he cleared his hand from my hold as he twisted his body around and perched up on his elbow for a moment. He pushed the heavy bike up easily with one hand and removed his previously crushed leg from underneath and got up.
“Did you just do something to me?”
“Pardon?” I blinked half a dozen times, realising that I had a secret too; one that I had not shared with Leo. Did we both have secrets?
“I couldn’t feel my leg a couple of minutes ago and then all of a sudden, I could feel my whole body perfectly, without injury. My leg was definitely crushed, wasn’t it?” he asked for clarification.
“Um, I don’t know.”
“Remember when that girl in the common room was choking and you…”
“I did nothing,” I finished off his sentence. “I am able to calm people down.”
The driver returned to the scene.
“I’ve called an ambulance.”
“No need mate,” Leo said as he got to his feet. “Look at me, I’m fine.”
“I…I, I am surprised. You looked in pain, like your leg was crushed.” The driver looked baffled by the developments.
“I know, but look at me. I’m good.”
“Yeah you are. Let me cancel that ambulance,” he said turning around and running back to the house.
Leo pulled me close to him. “Thank you for whatever you just did,” he said kissing my lips.
He didn’t ask any more questions but accepted my explanation. Now I felt pained that I had made assumptions about what I had overheard last night without giving him a chance to explain. I held him tightly; I could not bear to see him hurt. For now I was happy to see he was all right and safe. I would have to get answers to my questions later.
Leo talked to the driver of the vehicle and then wheeled the bike back to the garage. A few scratches on it which he said he could buff out later. I walked with him, still concerned by the accident I had seen. What would have happened if I wasn’t there? I touched my heart and felt grateful that I was.
We went inside and Leo told Ryan what happened, thankfully omitting the part where I had miraculously healed his leg.
“At least you’re safe,” Ryan said patting Leo on the shoulder. They both inspected the scratches and agreed a good buff and a bit of paint was probably all it needed.
Leo went to shower and change while I sat with Ryan in the kitchen sipping on a cup of hot chocolate and eating a piece of toast.
“I don’t like Leo riding that bike.”
“He’s a thrill nut. He likes a bit of danger when it comes to sport.”
“Well, that was a bit too close for my liking.”
“He’s all right. He can handle himself, let me tell you.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s not much Leo is afraid of, he’s a tough kid. He knows how to fight, he’s fast and he’s strong.”
“Are you referring to last night?”
“I’m referring to him in general. Holly, he’s a good guy.”
“I know.” In my heart of hearts I did know, but it didn’t change the fact that there was so much more to Leo that I didn’t know.
