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She didn’t know if he was going to agree to come or not; she never found out. Just a moment later, the elevator doors swished open and a man and a woman walked in, the man so like Leandro—tall, dark with jet black eyes. Leandro stood, his frame instantly taut. Skye looked from one to the other, then to the woman.
“How did you?—,”
“Alec let us in,” the woman, with an American accent, spoke softly.
Leandro swore, and Skye moved closer to his side, wanting to protect him, even when she was pretty sure he could protect himself.
“You two need to talk.”
She felt Leandro stiffen.
“This is—my brother,” Leandro addressed Skye. “And my sister in law, Andie.”
“Hi,” Andie waved in Skye’s direction. Skye caught the flicker of a frown on Leandro’s face.
“This is a friend of mine, Skye.”
Skye jerked her gaze to his. A friend? Then again, how else was he supposed to introduce her? My convenient, part-time, temporary girlfriend? She looked away.
“And I was just leaving,” she said, offering a polite smile to each of them. Leandro walked her to the elevator. Skye pressed the button, finding it almost impossible not to look at him, but also fighting that.
“Skye—,” he spoke softly, for her ears only, but she shook her head. Oh, heck. Tears stung the backs of her eyes. She reached down and brushed his hand lightly but didn’t offer anything more. She couldn’t. She was confused. He obviously didn’t want his family knowing who she was to him—but then again, she didn’t even know who she was to him. An escape route. A distraction. Just like he’d said, again and again.
And now she knew the truth? She could no longer offer him escape—their worlds had collided, just as she’d always said he didn’t want them to.
“I have to go,” she reminded him. “I’ll see you soon.” She had no idea, as she stepped into the lift, if that was true or not.
“Okay, that’s it,” Andie said, bracing her palms on the counter. “I’ve had enough of this. It’s gone too far. Emme agrees with us too, Leo. This is an intervention.”
He cradled his scotch, staring at it belligerently, his gut tightening.
“Or are you just going to keep fighting with your family, huh?” she demanded. Andie was relatively new to his life, but he’d liked her instantly for how happy she’d made Max, and it didn’t occur to Leandro to find anything about her ultimatum strange. But he was angry. Angry, tired of running and hiding from the truth, tired of being blamed for his perfectly natural response of seeking space. And so he stood up and he opened up, all at once.
“But you’re not my family. Not really.”
And for the second time that night, he explained it all right from the beginning.
Afterwards, Max and Andie were silent for a long time. It was Max who spoke first. “Listen, bro. I get it. I’d be mad too. They should have told you, you’re right. But when you get over that, when you stop being mad, you’re going to see that it doesn’t change a damned thing. Who gives a shit who your birth parents were? You came to live with us when you were four weeks old, and I was two. Every memory I have has you in it. Remember your first day of school?”
Even then, a small smile tilted Leo’s lips. “Yeah.”
“What happened?” Andie looked from one brother to the other.
“Max spent the whole day walking me around, introducing me. This is my brother, he told everyone who’d listen.”
“I was so proud to have you there.”
Leandro’s eyes swept shut. “But it was all a lie.”
“Not that. Not the pride, not the love, man. That’s all real. As real as it gets.”
Leandro’s jaw tightened. He wanted to believe it was that simple. He wanted to believe that this wouldn’t change things. But how was that possible?
“Guys, I’m starving,” Andie said after a long beat of silence. “Can we order something in?”
“There’s food in the fridge,” Leandro surprised them both by saying.
Andie and Max looked at one another. “There is?”
