Dark Truths

Chapter 24

Zacks POV

I stare at the bartop, so tired I might actually fall asleep standing.

"You okay Zack?" Shauna asks, and I hum. It's just after twelve, and we're finishing closing up. "I'll lock up. Tell everyone else to leave" I mumble, and she nods.

In the next five minutes, I get a total of four goodbyes, to which I groan in response to. Finally, they're all gone, and I lock the door behind them.

I walk straight over to the password-protected door, and thirty seconds later and I'm opening the door to Leo's office.

I don't say a word to him. I just collapse on the black couch he has in his office.

I hear him chuckle, and the faint sound of footsteps before I peek open my eyes and see him standing above me. Smiling, he bends down and kisses my forehead.

"Tired?" He asks, amused. "Fuck...off" I groan. Leo turns to walk away but I grab his hand and pull him towards me.

He stops, turns his head and raises his eyebrows. I tug at his arm again, while glaring. Leo smiles as he lies down on the couch, and I lie half on top of him, since it's a pretty small couch.

His arms go around me and hug me close, while I rest my face in the crook of his neck. "Not a word" I warn him, and he just laughs. I smile at the sound.

He takes out his phone from his pocket, and I watch tiredly as he pressed some buttons, before the lights in his office dim, making it dark. He then puts his phone away, wraps his arm back around me and pulls me closer to him.

"I'm really fucking tired" I mumble, closing my eyes. I could definitely fall asleep like this. In fact, I'm going to.

"I'm really fucking tired too" Leo whispers, and I grin. "We're a perfect match," I say jokingly, and he hums.

"That's what I've been saying" Leo mumbles, and the last thing I remember is a hand combing through my hair before I drift off to sleep.

***

When I wake up, I immediately notice how I'm no longer lying on a body. Meaning Leo left. Which is odd since he's always waffling on about how I'm never getting rid of him.

Slowly opening my eyes, I see the room is still pretty dark. The lights are on but are dimmed to one of the lowest settings.

The digital clock Leo has hung on his wall reads 4.18. Fuck my life, I should be asleep. I blame Leo for waking me up. Even though he's nowhere to be seen. That's the problem.

One look around the room and I spot Leo.

On the ground, his back leaned against the one-sided glass wall, with his head in his hands and his knees tucked to his chest.

I'm immediately awake, the tiredness vanishing completely.

I sit up, watching him concerned. I hear his breaths that are oddly fast- why the fuck is he out of breath at four in the morning?

Ignoring it, I quietly walk over to him.

I place a hand on his shoulder, and he fucking flinches. His head shoots up out of his hands, and he looks at me surprised. It only lasts a second however, until his whole expression changes, and a smile is formed on his lips.

"Rise and shine darling," Leo says jokingly, standing up of the ground. "Leo, are you okay?" I mumble, confused as to what's going on. He's still in his suit from earlier on, only the first few buttons are undone and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. I then notice he looks like he's sweating.

What the actual fuck is happening?

"Of course I am" Leo chuckles, before placing a kiss on my temple. He goes to walk away to his desk, but I grab his arm. He turns and faces me. "Leo," I say.

"Darling," He says back, his amused smile making an appearance. I don't get how he can act like this when he clearly wasn't okay one minute ago.

"What's happening? What's wrong?" I ask, and he chuckles. "What's wrong is that you won't let me walk to my desk. My legs are tired you know?" He says, and I begin to get angry.

"Quit the bullshit Leo, what's going on?" I mutter, and he shrugs. "Nothing".

Glaring at him, I hug him.

He feels tense, but slowly he seems to relax. He lets out a breath before hugging me back. Tightly. Like..really fucking tightly. I don't comment on it.

"You can talk to me you know?" I mumble, and he hums. "I know" He whispers. Again, he sounds different. Pained, almost. Which leads me to believe that whole smiling-'Im fine' bullshit was in fact bullshit. It also has me wondering how many times he's faked that funny-non-caring attitude, and people believed it.

I pull away from him, seeing him staring at me with a small frown. Sometimes bothering him, I've gathered that.

Now that I think of it, he's been a bit distant over the last week. For starters, he hasn't come down to the bar at all this week. I'm always the one going up to him after my shift. But he doesn't seem like he's going to tell me what's wrong.

Cupping his face in my hands, I lean up and gently press a kiss to his lips.

One of his hands wraps around my waist while the other holds my cheek gently. We pull away shortly after, and I lean my forehead to his.

He has a small smile on his face that's slowly growing, one that I believe is real this time.

"Come on, it's late. Let me drive you home" Leo says, and I nod. Simply because I'm tired, and I do not plan on going back to sleep on a couch when I could have my bed.

"Only if you stay," I say, and he grins, slowly nodding his head. "To sleep" I specify, since this is Leo after all. He lets out a laugh.

"To sleep" He nods his smile back. "Good" I nod my head too.

"Oh and Leo?" I say, and he hums. "Not a word about this" I warn, shooting him a playful glare while he grins.

"Not a word".