Everyone was charmed by Leo's bright smile but behind it all, he could barely keep it together inside. From taking care of his sick mother to suffering mental and physical abuse from his father to keeping up his perfect grades in school.
King was th...
"What the hell are you doing?" Kiki yelled as I threw the car into drive and stomped on the gas.
She was thrown to the window as I turned sharply out of the parking lot. Something was wrong. Something happened to Leo. There was no way the house phone would be disconnected. No way in hell. His dad called every night at nine to check in, or sometimes at ten if he had a late lunch break. No way in hell would he disconnect the phone line in case something happened with Leo's mom. They needed a way to call for help with her illness.
"King! King! Red light! Red light!" Kiki screamed. "Slow down before you fucken kill us!" She ducked her head and grabbed the door as I turned onto the next street.
I couldn't slow down. Leo was in trouble. I needed to get there. Why the fuck did I leave him alone? Where the hell was Olivia's watch?
Kiki punched my arm hard, making me swerve, but I recovered quickly. "Don't fucken hit me when I'm driving!" I snapped, seeing red.
"Listen to me then!" Kiki yelled. "Slow down before you get into an accident or get pulled over. We'll never make it to Leo's house tonight if either of those happens!"
I peeked over at her and saw the fear in her eyes. I couldn't help taking my foot off the gas. "Something is wrong," I told her. My eyes started to burn as tears filled the rims. "He would never disconnect the house phone, Kiki. Not with his mom so sick."
Her hands gripped my arm tight, and that's when I felt how badly I was shaking. "We will make it there but only if you slow down and drive safely. Driving like this will not get us there in time. Calm down, cuz. I'm right here with you all the way. If you want, pull over, and I'll drive. You too messed up right now." I could hear the shaking in her voice.
"I'm not pulling this car over for anything until we get to his house," I told her as I gripped the wheel tighter, my eyes focused on the road.
She didn't let go of my arm as I drove, but I kept an eye out for cops as I sped up where I could. I needed to get there as fast as I could, but she was also right. We would never get there in time if we ran into another car or if one hit us because I ran a red light or stop sign. Fuck, I hope we weren't too late. It's been nearly an hour since his last text. So much time had passed, and I knew that so much could happen in that small amount of time. I just hoped I was wrong, and he was sleeping safely upstairs next to his mom, and the phone company was just messing with the phone lines. I would take whatever punishment my uncle gave and let everyone beat the shit out of me as long as Leo was safe.
I regret leaving him alone to chase after some prick I didn't care about anymore. I didn't care that he was right in front of me, I didn't care what my uncle had planned to do to him tonight, and I sure as hell didn't care about the repercussions of leaving him at that bar.
The drive was taking too long, it felt like it took hours before his street came into view, and I sped the car up to get there faster. No cops that I could see. Pulling up to the house, the lights were off in the living room, but a light was on in the back of the house where the kitchen was. The car screeched loudly to a halt as I almost ran into the fence around the front yard.
I jumped out without turning off the car. Hell, I don't even remember throwing it into Park. I didn't even care.
Kiki quickly grabbed my arm. "Don't kick down the front just yet. Let's look around first, just in case," she whispered, making me thankful I had someone with me that had a brain because I planned to just kick down the damn door.
She pulled out her gun and cocked it back, but kept it lowered as we walked closer to the first door. It didn't look touched as I carefully walked up. I slowly tried the knob, but it was locked. Kiki tilted her head to the back as I looked at the windows, finding them all untouched and the blinds still down so I couldn't see inside.
Sneaking off the deck, I followed Kiki down the ally, noticing no one from Olivia's group was parked around. Why the hell didn't she send someone here?
We peeked at the windows, finding them all intact, but Kiki stopped in her tracks when she walked into the backyard, raising her gun. My eyes grew wide as I hurried over to her. She used her free hand to point to her eyes and then at the back door.
It was easy to see the broken glass in the window with the glowing curtain behind it. My heart was pounding even harder. Something did happen. Was I too late already? Was Leo hurt already? Was he alive? It was too quiet.
I should have driven faster, called sooner. Whatever was waiting for me inside that house was all my fault. This couldn't be the end when we just started letting our feeling out to each other.
"Focus," Kiki whispered, looking dead into my eyes, and snapped out of my dark thoughts.
I nodded, shaking my trembling hands to get some kind of feeling in them and watching the windows as she started walking first toward the door.
It was all too quick. She pushed the door open as quickly as she could, keeping her eyes and gun pointed forward. The dim light from the kitchen flooded the dark backyard.
As I was stepping inside the door, I could hear it. A muffled sobbing, sounded like it was coming from the living room. I knew I should have kicked down the fucken door. My legs jolted to run in there, but Kiki held her hand up to stop me. The gun in her hand moved with her eyes as she waved to the hallway that led to Leo's room before quickly pointing me to the living room.
I had to remember that someone else could still be in the house, making me wish I didn't leave my gun in the car as I took slow steps toward the living room. I needed to be ready for whatever I saw and whoever I saw.
The muffled crying only got louder, and I had to fight against every urge to run in there. Leo. It was Leo. I knew it, but nothing prepared me for what I saw when I rounded the corner.
My eyes quickly scanned the room only to find Leo, curled on the ground, hands tied to the TV stand, a white cloth tied across his mouth. My blood ran cold seeing his pants down around his ankles. Bruises, scratches, and red marks covered his legs, and blood stained the floor around him.
I dove over him so fast I didn't feel my body move. "Leo," my voice came out like shattered glass as it creaked with my choking breath. As soon as my trembling hands touched him, he curled into himself, screaming into the cloth, his already closed eyes clenched tighter.
"Shh, Leo. It's me. I'm here. I'm here, baby," I choked through my tears as I reached for what tied his hands under the entertainment center.
"Holy fucken shit," I heard Kiki say behind me, but I didn't look behind me. My eyes ran over Leo's terrified and broken form. I'd never forget it for the rest of my life, and it killed me to know it was my fault.
Leo only cried louder. I could hear him trying to speak, but the words were caught in the cloth, so instead of trying to get his hands free from whatever the fuck was under the stand, I grabbed the cloth.
"It's okay. I got you. Your safe," I told him as I freed his mouth.
The words flew from his mouth before I could get the cloth passed his chin in a raspy, worn voice. "He's still here! Charlie!"
Before I could look behind me, a gun fired behind me. I hurled myself over Leo to protect him and quickly looked behind me to see what happened, only to see Charlie drive a knife into Kiki's stomach.
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