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Her voice is like a warm blanket being pulled over my soul. For the first time in years, maybe since Mom died. I feel at peace.
Well, not completely at peace.
As Sophia continues to read, my heart twists and turns and kicks and screams until there’s no more bile or hate or stubborn pride left in it.
When it settles, a soft realization replaces it.
A soft, but intensely heavy realization.
Just like that, I know it’s true. What I feel for Sophia, it’s not just possessiveness, or an obsession.
It’s love.
33
Sophia
I’m woken up by an all-too familiar buzzing sound.
Leo’s phone.
It tears his arms off of me as he rolls over to pick it up, still half asleep.
Immediately, I know that he’ll be leaving, and fast. The moment he answers, I can hear someone shouting on the other end of the line. I can’t make out the words, but I can hear the frenetic energy in the voice.
There’s work to do. Important work. And in our world, that usually has something to do with death and violence. There’s no time to lay in bed with the girl who read to you last night.
… Have my rogue soldiers blown up another library?
A heavy stone rolls into my gut as Leo sits up in bed and wipes the sleep from his eyes.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he grumbles. “Don’t do anything stupid without me.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask, sitting up in bed next to him after he hangs up.
“Another bomb threat,” Leo sighs, shaking his head. “But this one isn’t targeting innocent people.”
“… Then who is it targeting?”
“Politicians.”
I grab his hand and the boulder twisting my gut is crushed ever so slightly. But Leo and I both know he can’t stick around for long.
“They’re going after another government building?” I ask.
“No. The senator, the mayor and their cronies are apparently having a fundraiser brunch on the empty field at Yankee stadium. Ray just called, he said that Roman got a credible tip that the Greeks are planning to massacre the whole lot… or at least, that’s what I think he was saying. I was still half-asleep, and it sounded like the Irish bastard was in the middle of a car chase or something.”
Even though I know there’s no way Leo will let me come with him, I still slip out of bed and get dressed while he tugs on a pair of pants and slips a t-shirt over his muscular body.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes…” Leo replies, unexpectedly. But when he turns back to face me, I can see that he hadn’t exactly thought that answer through.
“How?” I ask, staring deeply into those bright blue eyes while they search for something to say.
“… You can think of how we’re going to get these Greek terrorist fucks to stop this madness. They’ve been relatively quiet for the past week or so, but this would be crossing yet another fucking line. Hell, if we can’t stop them…” The true gravity of what might just be about to happen seems to finally sink in. “Fuck. I need to hurry. Why the hell am I always the last to hear about these fucking things?”
We both know the answer to that. It’s because Leo has locked himself away here with me. And when we’re here together, the outside world is lost.
