One // Leigh-Anne Pinnock

Chapter Thirty-Three

Andre came home from football practice and met Leigh in the same position as she was when the anxiety attack had begun to subside. He saw her sitting on the floor with her back against the wall as if she were backed into it and her feet were laid out straight ahead of her. Combined with her hunched over and tense shoulders and her unfocused eyes, he immediately knew something was wrong. Chloe was sitting right in front of her, obliviously drawing in her drawing book.

"Honeys, I'm home." He said softly, as not to spook them. Chloe looked up and her entire face lit up.

"Da", She screamed excitedly and raced to hug his legs. He picked her up and planted a fat kiss on her cheek. Leigh had yet to react. Andre wasn't even sure that she heard either of them.

"How are my ladies this evening."

"Great!" She pointed at the drawing book on the floor. He picked it up and looked at the most recent one. It was just a bunch of different colored lines and squiggles but for Chloe's sake he pretended that it was the most beautiful drawing he had ever seen. He kept one eye on Leigh and he noticed that she was just coming out of her daze but she was still very much shaken.

"Chloe, why don't you go find Kyro, mhm? I'm sure he's somewhere around causing trouble." He said placing her on her feet.

"Kay da." The little girl practically pranced from the room in search of the bigger dog.

When she was out of earshot, Andre squatted down in front of Leigh, and slowly and gently placed his hand on her knee. She slightly jumped but relaxed into his touch. She patted the space next to her and he eased into it.

"I had an anxiety attack today." She whispered. He wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her closer to him. When Leigh felt the wall of muscle against her and breathed in his scent, she immediately felt safe. Her body just melted into him, and all of the residual nervous energy dissipated. 

The two just sat there in silence, entangled in each other's arms. 

"Are you okay?" Andre asked. Leigh nodded against his chest. After a few moments she shook her head.

"Do you know what caused it?" He asked. Leigh nodded against his chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?" There was a few heartbeats of silence before Leigh spoke. 

"I don't but I think I have to. I'll tell you after Miss Thing goes to bed." Speaking of which, footsteps and paws were heard heading back in their direction. 

"Look! Kyro!" She said before toddling and plopping herself onto what she assumed was a family cuddle.

"Yes babygirl I see him. Good job." Andre said kissing the little girl at the crown of her head. She now had a full, thick head of juicy yet tight curls. She had a mixture of type 4a and type 4b hair, which was very unlike Leigh's type 3b/3c hair. This was unsurprising, considering both her parents were black, however, it was beautiful nonetheless. 

They stayed that way for a few more moments before Chloe's belly growled loudly. 

"I hungy", She said pointing to her stomach and looking at Andre.

"I can tell. Let's go find some food. How does Caribbean takeaway sound?"

"Sounds lovely babe." Leigh said kissing his cheek. Her finger lightly traced over the scar on his face and he shivered and closed his eyes under her touch.

"Thank you," She whispered. He offered a half smile and stood up with the little girl and walked out of the room. 

Leigh was left to pick up her pieces and put them back together. She was so grateful that Andre was here to help her with Chloe because she, evidently, was not in any state of mind to help the poor child.