Her Instinct: His Game

Chapter 5 - Numbers

The deed was done; not a dream nor a fantasy, it actually happened. His body pressed against my back, the heat between us simmering like cooling embers in a fireplace. I palmed the cool sheet of his bed, trying to make sense of this new reality.

Mr. Leto grazed his smooth chin against my shoulder. "You feel okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied as convincingly as possible. Honestly, I was a bit worn out, but I'll mask it.

I looked up at Mr. Leto. The faint light from the lamps at his bedside outlined his features. My eyes traced the shape of his face. If I had to give an award to his best feature, it'd have to be his eyes. They were absolutely radiant.

"You said that you wanted this..." I began, looking up at him. "Since when?"

"Oh I don't know when exactly, but I knew it would happen." he ran his fingers down by arm, absentmindedly.

"How?" I asked. I couldn't help myself, I just needed to know.

He shifted on the bed next to me, propped up on his arm. His eyes focused in on a spot on the bed as he mused over it. 

"The day I took you and Allegra to the Museum of Science," he finally looked up at me.

"The science museum?" I stared in disbelief. "What was so special about that?" This happened a while back. We're talking months ago.

"Your eyes."

"What?" I asked surprised.

"It was when Allegra showed you the biology exhibit. Remember?"

I shook my head.

Mr. Leto continued, "You were so happy to learn and discover the exhibit. Your eyes were so curious. You get this twinkle in them when you learn something new," he trailed off, thinking. "And ever since that day at the museum, I knew I wanted to show you something."

My stomach lurched. There he goes again.

I laughed nervously. I tried to take my mind back to that day. I remembered Mr. Leto was there but I was so caught up in the museum, I forgot he existed. That was my relationship with science. Around it, nothing else mattered - especially forensic sci-.

"Wait!" I shot a look to Mr. Leto. "It wasn't the biology exhibit. It was the forensic science exhibit." 

He squinted his eyes as he pondered it. "You're actually right, it was that one!"

"Yeah. I love learning about forensics. I get so focused around it, I don't even think about you-" I bit my lip to cut myself off instantly, hoping he didn't catch that.

Mr. Leto cracked a smile. "Guess I wasn't a factor then?" he joked, letting out a roaring laugh. Gosh, even his teeth glowed in the night. Who was he, Edward Cullen? Next, his body will shimmer in sunlight. This man was so perfect.

"I –I'm sorry for that." I apologized as I covered my face in shame at my slip. I wasn't quite sure what I was sorry for.

He moved my hand away "Kerri, what is it?" His tone was concerned.

"I just - you know..." I gesture to him, hoping he'd just nod in agreement. "I feel...awkward...about the situation. Guilty even." I blurted out.

"More like feeling guilty, but not guilty, right?" he cocked his eyebrow.

I coughed out a laughed as I sat up on my arm.

"Kerri," he grinned, "age is just a number." He could see I wasn't buying it and continued. "If you switch the numbers in our age, you'd get 61 and 04. And look at that, that's over 50 years apart! Which is way worse than our age gap. So what's the difference?" he asked.

Our age gap was 24 years apart. 24 years!!

"Well, technically, I'm almost 17, so it'd be 71 and 04" I added.

"Even worse!" he stated in satisfaction.

"But, Mr. Leto, I'm not 71 and you're not 4 years old..." I said. His logic was nonsense.

"Numbers, Kerri. They're just numbers. It's like the houses I sell as a realtor. Some of houses I sold were dilapidated, even condemned months before a showing. The buyers would never have believed me if I told them!" I shook my head in wonderment of his logic. "Age is just a way to keep us apart, sweetie."

"They're simply numbers, Kerri," He yawned as he stretched his arms wide making every muscle in his back flex in a vivid display.

"Only meaningless digits," he repeated, slowly emphasizing the word. He took my arms and pulled me to his chest. His hands glided back and forth along my shoulder. It was as if he was rubbing all my concerns and worries away. The more I thought about his logic, oddly, it started to make sense.

"Numbers..." his voice was faint. "They can be added...taken away...erased..." he trailed off.

"Erased?" I asked. There was something chilling in that word, almost unnerving in a way. I looked to Mr. Leto for a response, but his eyes were closed and he was fast asleep. 

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~ Cade