“Had errands. And I needed to decompress before I go get Elliot.” Technically, not a lie.
Just not the whole truth.
It’s still early. I don’t have to be there for over an hour yet.
He waggles his eyebrows at me. “Care to join me?”
Smiling, I nod. “Absolutely, Daddy. I’ll be right there.” It gives me a moment to slow my breathing, but at least shower sex will give me a legit excuse for my elevated pulse and hopefully hide why I’m agitated.
I strip and step over his pile of dirty clothes to climb into the shower with him, where he kisses me. He must be tired to not put things in the hamper when he arrived home. He never drops his clothes on the bathroom floor like that.
A flash of guilt hits me. When I lived with him, I took care of all of that for him.
“Why’d you stop by earlier, baby boy? You weren’t here very long.”
This answer was one I struggled to come up with, knowing he’d probably ask. The simplicity of what I settled on can’t be beat, even if it is a lie. “I had to poop,” I mutter, like I’m a little embarrassed to admit it.
He bursts out laughing. “Hiked up three floors just to poop, huh?”
The hot water feels damned good. As I close my eyes and dunk my head under the spray, I force the memory of Grace’s dead face out of my mind. “I knew it’d be a clean bathroom.”
“Well, there is that.”
“And I might have wanted to sniff your pillow.” That is absolutely the truth, because I knew if this operation went sideways somehow, it might have been the last contact I ever had with Leo.
“Aww. I missed you, too, boy.” He makes love to me and I’m damned glad to have him distracting me right now, every hard thrust, every scrape of his nails along my back—all of it.
When we finish, we’ve both come and I’m barely vertical. Still, I need a moment. “I’ll be right out, Daddy. I’m just…” What am I? Really?
Relieved? Terrified? Nervous?
All of the above.
Leo thinks he knows. “Worn out?”
“Yeah.”
He leans in and kisses me. “Take as long as you need, baby boy. Glad to see you. I really have missed you.”
“Missed you, too, Daddy.”
“Love you.”
I steal one more kiss. “Love you, too, Daddy.”
Once I’m alone in the shower, I press my forehead against the tile and suck in sharp breaths to stave away my relieved tears.
Killing Grace wasn’t my preference, but I had to protect Elliot.
Now, I just have to make it through the next few days.
And pray harder than I ever have in my life.
Ironic, huh?
