Chapter 37- Taunting Rescues

* WARNING: TRIGGERING SCENE AHEAD *

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[] L E O []

"...and then if the bacteria spreads, then the whole tank will be filled with-"

Before I could finish the last part of the chapter I had been reading in my textbook, my phone rang. I stopped and reached over for my phone, wondering who'd be calling me so late. To my surprise, Gemma's name flashed on the screen. I furrowed my brows in confusion, and recieved the call.

"Alright, lover boy," she greeted.

My confusion escalated.

"What are you talk-"

"Now, I can't believe I'm betraying my best friend for this, but here it goes," she sighed.

I wondered if she was drunk calling me.

"She's coming over to see you now."

At this, my eyes widened and my heart rate accelerated.

"What? Why?" I blabbered.

"Well that I can't tell you, but get this, if I get a call from her crying and saying you hurt her, then you're dead meat," she stated.

I sighed.

"Got it. Bye now."

"Oh wait! I didn't even tell you who was coming ove-"

And with that, I shut the call before she could finish speaking.

When I thought about what she said, a lazy grin crawled onto my lips. Of course, there's no one else I know of that's Gemma's best friend, other than Amelia.

I sighed and looked at the time on my phone. It was 9:35pm now, which was still pretty early for me. I quickly stood up, thinking I should at least clean up a bit before she comes over. Since I had been so busy with exams, I barely gave my apartment a second glance. Now I kind of regretted it.

I left my spare room, which I had converted into a small den with a loft bed, and went out into the living room. I quickly picked up the dirty dishes I had lying around and took them to the sink. Then I cleaned off the empty junk food bags and pop cans I had lying around aimlessly. Once I was done, I glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that twenty minutes had passed by.

I furrowed my brows, now slightly worried. I hadn't even asked Gemma how Amelia was arriving, whether it was by foot or by car. And with the weather outside, I hoped it was the latter. Not wanting Amelia to know that I knew she was coming over, I texted Gemma to ask how Amelia was coming. To my surprise, she called back right away. I picked up the call hesitantly.

"Amelia hasn't reached yet?" she asked, a hint of worry seeping into her voice.

"No. When did she leave? And how is she coming?" I asked now worried too.

"She left about 40 minutes ago. She was walking to your place."

At this, my heart sank to my stomach.

Something told me that this wasn't okay. Something wasn't adding up, causing my worry to increase.

Quickly ending the call with Gemma, I made a beeline for the front door, grabbing my jacket from the coat rack on my way out. I ran towards the stairs, not patient enough to wait for the elevator, and nearly tripped on my way down. Once downstairs, I pushed open the doors leading to the outside and ran.

I needed to find her. I absolutely needed to make sure she was safe.

I took a look around the perimeter, checking to see if she was just on her way. However, after minutes of searching, I still couldn't see anyone. The streets were dead.

My heart sank faster by the second, and I turned to my phone. I immediately dialed Amelia's number, not worried about her knowing anymore, and waited for her to pick up.

It was a cold night. Cold enough that I could see puffs of air leaving me as I breathed out. And amidst this silent, freezing night, I heard a ring. And then, a scream.

For a second, I was frozen with fear.

Every part of my body came to a stop.

I slowly brought my phone down from my ear and stared at it. Then, I pressed the end button. And just as I feared, the ringing in the distance, stopped as well.

Then I rung once more.

And then I ran.

I followed the ringtone and was terrified to see that it was leading towards the alleyway between two apartment buildings. It was darker here. Only one street light dimly lit up the alley, and my heart was exploding with fear.

I ran there as fast as I could, the sound of my breathing barely overpowering the sound of my heartbeats. I came to a stop in front the alley, hoping, praying that it wasn't what I thought it was.

However, my fear turned out to be correct. Because just as I entered the alley, all I saw was red.

Someone was grabbing the back of Amelia's hair and roughly tugging at it. At the same time, he pressed his grimy body against her, all the while a hand clasped tightly at her mouth. Then, he leaned in closer, his disgusting mouth aiming towards her neck.

And that was the last thing I saw before I charged.

A loud growl left me as I ran up to the guy and ripped him off of her. He fell to the ground with a thud, yelling a "What the fuck, man?"

But I wasn't done with him.

I don't think I'll ever be.

As he fell, his hand left Amelia's hair roughly, and instead fell to the ground beneath him for support. And then, I lunged towards him. I bent down to him, grabbed him by his collar and threw a sickening punch across his face. And then another. And another. And I kept going until I was satisfied.

But I never was.

Because he dared to touch Amelia.

He hurt her.

I suddenly reached for my phone, keeping a tight hold on him. I immediately started dialling 911, the man struggling beneath me.  Just as I was about to hit the call button, a voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Leo."

I froze, my body immediately sagging.

"Don't stop me, Moonie," I growled out, one hand on the phone and the other nearly choking the man by his collar.

I heard her whimper then, making me lose all sense of my sanity.

"Leo, please. Please don't."

That was it. I growled again and stuffed my phone into my pocket in frustration. I didn't miss the wicked grin on the man's face, even despite his bruised and bloody face. With a scowl, I grabbed his collar by both hands and roughly pulled him up to face me, hoping it was the same amount of pain that Amelia felt when he grabbed her hair. The grin was smacked off his face in an instant, a bit of fear now shining in his eyes. I pulled him closer so that we were eye to eye.

"If I see you near my Amelia again, then I won't spare you like I did today," I growled in his face.

At this, his eyes widened. Then regretffully, I let him go. I roughly shoved him to the ground and stood up. I watched as he slowly got up, spitting blood of out his mouth. Then he grabbed onto the wall for support, and faced me, the ugly grin back on his face. Then, he fucking looked to what was hising behind me all this time. He smirked evilly, and I heard Amelia take in a sharp intake of breath. My fists clenched tighter by my side and I took a threatening step towards the man again. To my frustration, he let out a chuckle and held his hands up in surrender.

"See you around, Amelia," he said before he limped out of the alley.

I wanted to throw up. The name sounded like venom coming from a disgusting piece of shit like him. He then completely left, causing my tensed shoulders to loosen just a bit.

I took a deep breath and stayed silent for a few moments. I had to control myself before I faced her. When I felt I was ready enough as to not scare her off, I slowly turned around.

As I predicted, the sight before me had me falling. A shaky breath escaped me as I stared at Amelia. She was looking down, her hands at her sides, and she was shaking in her boots.

And it wasn't due to the cold. It was out of pure fear.

That made me want to hunt out that bastard again and make him suffer. However, one more look at Amelia, and all of the anger dispersed from me. I took a step closer to her and came to a stop in front of her.

I didn't know what to do. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to hold her and tell her that I'm here. And as long as I'm here, she's safe.

However, I couldn't do that now.

So instead, I slowly reached up and placed a hand on her cheek. As soon as I did that, it was as if a switch flicked in her mind. She immediately snapped out of the trance she was in, and her terror-filled eyes came in contact with my own. Once she saw that it was me, her eyes softened.

"L-Leo," she shakily whispered.

I nodded and held onto her cheek tighter.

"Yes Moonie. I'm here. I've got you," I simply replied.

At this, a single, lone tear trailed down her cheek. And that's when I couldn't hold back anymore. I hesitantly reached forward and put my arms around her. To my surprise, she didn't push me away. Instead, she shakily fell into my arms, her own coming up to rest on my chest.

We stayed like that for a while. Her and I simply trying to calm ourselves down.

She pulled away after what felt like an eternity and her eyes stayed downcast. Without another word, I slowly grabbed her hand in mine and started guiding her towards my apartment. She didn't disagree, and I took that as a sign that it was alright and quickly lead her to my apartment to save us both from the cold. She was wearing a hoodie, and I wondered if she was only wearing this the whole time, or if her jacket was taken at some point.

My mind boiled at the thought, and I simply held her hand tighter and quickened my pace.

We made our way inside hand in hand, and I slowly lead her up the stairs, not once letting go of her hand. She quietly followed behind me, her thoughts elsewhere as I guided her. Once inside the apartment, I turned on all the lights to make it brighter in here. After setting Amelia down at the dining table, I finally dropped her hand, already missing the warmth it provided. I quickly ran to the sink to fill up a glass of water for her, then made my way back to where she sat. I gave the glass to her and she silently drank its contents.

I watched her the whole time, my eyes not once straying from her. I didn't want to creep her out, but at the same time, I was worried for her. She hadn't said a word yet, and I was afraid that if I spoke first, I'd say something stupid.

To save us both, I decided to head to my room to get her a spare change of clothes. She seemed uncomfortable in her current ones, but too shy to ask me about it.

Once I pulled out a decent pair of sweatpants and a shirt, I brought them out for her. She was in the same place I had left her at the table. Her hands covered the glass of water on the table, and she simply stared ahead at nothing in particular. I walked up to her and held out the clothes for her.

She snapped out of her trance and turned to me surprised.

"Here. Go change," I simply said.

Her eyes narrowed in gratefulness and she shyly took the clothes from me. Without another word, she headed for the bathroom.

It was then that I finally came to my senses.

I let out an angry breath and ran a hand through my hair. I couldn't help but think of the guy from the alley. Who was he? And why didn't Amelia let me call the cops on him?

And the way he fucking said her name.

I paced around the dining room, trying to calm myself down. However, nothing was working. It was as if my body had turned into some rage-mode. Every time I somewhat calmed down, I thought of Amelia's shaking form, and my anger resurfaced.

After a few minutes, I heard the bathroom door open. I turned around to face her, ready to ask her what happened, but one look at her caused my entire throat to clog up.

She was just coming out from behind the wall, her head still downcast. However, she was now wearing my sweatshirt and sweatpants. I wish I had thought this through, but of course I didn't.

Because I was at least two sizes bigger than her, my shirt fell to her mid-thighs. My sweatpants were too long for her, and she had them folded at the bottoms a few times. She had pulled her hair into a high ponytail, exposing her neck. It was the same hair the man just grabbed, the same neck he was about to attack. But for some reason, I couldn't think about all of that in this moment. I could only think about how perfect she looked in my clothes.

Somehow, I couldn't stare at her for more than a few seconds. I looked away from her, awkwardly coughing as I did so. She came up to me then, nervously pulling at her sleeve.

It was like she was trying to give me a heart attack.

I held my breath as she came to a stop in front of me, and it took me a few moments before I looked over to her. I rose my brow at her, silently asking her what she needed.

"Is it... is it okay if I spend the night here?" she quietly asked.

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head as I stared at her in disbelief. I shifted closer to her then, enough so that I was a breath away from her. Her eyes were downcast as she spoke and I tilted her chin up so that she was facing me. Her wide, innocent eyes came in contact with my own and it was then that the last of my anger diminished, and now turned into something much more vile.

Now, I wanted to find that bastard and kill him.

Amelia's brow furrowed in confusion, and I quickly snapped out of my thoughts to answer her question.

"Moonie, you don't even have to ask. You're always welcome here," I simply said.

At this, her eyes softened even further. I stared at her for the longest time, trying to tell her that everything was okay. At last, I sighed and dropped my finger from underneath her chin.

"Thank you Leo. For everything."

She didn't look away this time, and instead, she held my gaze until I finally nodded at her. I then lead her to the spare room, since my own room was not the cleanest place in the house. We came to a stop in front of the door and I opened the knob for her to go in. She turned to me then, an uncomfortable smile on her face.

"Thanks Leo. Goodnight," she said.

She spoke with such lightness, as if we were some strangers that just met, and this caused a pang of disappointment to course through me. But we weren't strangers. We were much, much more than that. And I wish I stopped her then and told her that.

That she didn't need to hide in front of me. She didn't have to feel embarrassed for what the bastard did.

That she didn't need to blame herself.

But before I could say anything, she went into the room, softly closing the door behind her. I stayed there for a few moments, breathing heavily by the door. Finally, I started retreating to my own room.

However, just as I reached my door, I had a sudden realization.

And that was that I couldn't let it end like this. There was no way that I could let Amelia get away with hiding what she was feeling from me.

I whipped around and with a few determined steps, I was at her doorstep again. This time, I went straight in.

From here, I could see her silhouette lying on the bed. I saw her shifting so that she was facing me, but she didn't move from her spot.

"Leo?" she mumbled in the darkness.

Before I could think too much of it, I stormed up to the bed and joined her under the covers. With one last push, I reached forward and pulled her into my arms, causing her to squeak in surprise.

At first, we were both frozen.

My arms stayed still where they came around her arms to rest on her back. I had pulled her so hard, that her head came crashing into my chest, and my chin came to a rest on her head. Her arms were caught between our chests, the only barrier between me and her.

And I couldn't get enough.

I wanted her closer. So close that I could feel her in every part of me.

She had already occupied my heart and mind, but now? Now, my hands ached to hold hers, my lips tingled every time she bit her own, and my ears longed to hear her laugh.

I held onto her tighter, unable to control my feelings.

She hadn't pushed me away yet. For now, this was enough.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe. I waited for her to make the next move, to do anything, but she was just as still as I was.

After a few moments, she suddenly pulled her head away from my chest and looked up at me, her eyes wide in worry.

"Leo, your hands," she said.

My brows furrowed in confusion and I brought my hand towards my face to inspect it. It took me a moment to realize that she was talking about my bloody knuckles. I sighed and faced her.

"Don't worry about them Moonie. I'll fix them up later," I said.

Her eyes watered.

"But you're hurt."

My brain fogged up as she said this. Her innocent eyes were enough to move mountains, so I was a mess by staring at them for this long. I slowly brought my hand up to the top of her head. She flinched, and I knew I had touched her in the same spot the bastard had grabbed her hair.

"You're more hurt Moonie. My pain is nothing comapred to yours," I said, softly rubbing at the spot on her head to ease her pain.

Amelia let out a soft whimper, her hands grabbing tightly at my chest. Without another thought, I slowly brought my hand up to the back of her head and guided it towards my chest again. Her arms came around my waist and she buried her face in my chest, getting comfortable this time. I brought one arm under her waist, while the other stayed on top of her head. Ever so slowly, I ran my fingers through her hair and she sighed in contentment.

We stayed like that for what felt like eternity. Me and Amelia.

Both trying to hold the other together.

It was quite bittersweet really. Here I was trying to console her, but somehow, her presence made me feel better. The anger I felt when I thought of the guy who tried to hurt her, was now replaced with the thought of trying make Amelia feel better.

Thinking now was a better time than ever, I finally asked the one question that had been floating in my mind all this time.

"Did you know him?" I whispered.

[] A M E L I A []

And there was the question I had been dreading. Somehow, it seemed as if Leo always asked the questions I feared the most.

I stiffened when he asked the question.

Memories of him clogged my mind, one after the other. All bad, all of them.

I didn't notice when a few tears escaped my eyes and landed on Leo's shirt. He noticed before I did and slowly pulled back to stare down at me. I kept my eyes trained on his chest, unable to handle his gaze.

"Leo, I..." I trailed off, unable to continue.

It was as if the brick wall around my heart was broken down more than halfway, and he was standing in front of it with a hammer, lightly knocking it down as time went by. But he needed to stop now. I've already given away more than I could bargain for. If he knew the last bits of what was hiding, then there was no going back.

Leo Kennedy would be aware of all of my parts.

I braced myself, begged myself to be stronger. To not let him break my walls down more than he already had.

"It isn't the end is it?" he asked putting hand on my head again, exactly where he had grabbed my hair.

However, Leo's hands were different. They soothed the pain that he had caused.

I closed my eyes in defeat and stayed frozen in my spot. I didn't look at him because I knew that one look at him, and I would probably spill out my deepest darkest secret to him.

"Amelia?" he whispered, squeezing my waist.

I only shook my head at him, tears falling down my cheeks unnecessarily.

"Drop it Leo. It's not important," I said.

Suddenly, Leo grabbed my shoulders and pushed me backwards, making my back hit the soft surface of the bed. I gasped as I saw Leo hovering above me, his hands resting on either side of my pillow to support his weight. My mind was spinning. I couldn't comprehend what was going on.

"If it's about you, then it's always important."

I froze at his words and looked up to see him already staring at me. He slowly reached up with one hand and raised it to rest on my cheek. I let out a sigh of content and melted in his touch.

And I tried.

I really tried to snap out of it. To let go of him before he broke down the last bit of the wall and came crashing into my heart.

But I was weak. I wasn't strong enough to hold him back. He was more determined to get to me, than I was to keep him out.

"Who was he, Moonie?" he asked, caressing my cheek.

I whimpered at his question and closed my eyes. His hand stopped caressing my cheek and stayed there, softly lulling me out of the nightmares I was living in.

"Amelia," he whispered.

He was closer now, his nose nearly touching mine.

"Tell me before I find that bastard and skin him alive."

I gasped at his words and snapped my eyes open, only to be met by Leo's cold ones.

I could see the promise in his eyes. The promise of hurting him.

My throat clogged up at the possibilities of what Leo might do to him, and in return, what he would do to Leo. The only difference is, that with both of the options, Leo won't come out alive.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly pushed him away, enough so that I could look him in the eyes as I spoke.

"You can't hurt him more than you did today Leo. Promise me that," I said, fear dripping in my words.

Leo let out a growl at my request.

"And why the hell not Amelia? He hurt you. You haven't stopped shaking and crying since we got up here, and you want me to leave the fucking guy who did this to you, alone?"

His breathing was uneven, his chest rising and falling dangerously close to mine. His hands were fisted by my head, and I nearly stopped breathing because of the lethal look in his eyes.

"Leo," I breathed out, slightly terrified by the look in his eyes.

At my voice, Leo snapped out of the trance he was in. He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. I watched him mesmerized, as he tried to control his anger. His brows were furrowed and his fisted hands finally loosened.

"Just tell me who he is, Amelia," he whispered helplessly.

It was in that moment that I hated myself. I hated that I told him. Because if I never told him, he would be okay.

"He's Jackson Crawford. Brittany's older brother."