Among the Echoes(57)

I laugh at her. If there is one thing I have learned, it’s that they need me. They won’t let me go. "But then who would you use as bait?" I throw the phone at Dave and storm back to my room, slamming the door behind me.

I’m lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling when Dave casually opens the door to my room. "That was some serious attitude."

"I’m sick of it. I hate this f*cking life. I finally found someone who makes me feel like me again and they want to take him away from me too." I don't even bother looking up.

"Damn it, Riley. I shouldn’t have let this happen. I should have taken you far away from here before you ever had the chance to get to know him, but the night that I walked in and saw you holding his arm, a part of me was freed."

"What?" I roll over, and the expression on his face shocks me. I always knew the events from that night had affected him too, but this? I never expected this level of devastation.

"When I walked in that first night, you were sound asleep but gripping his arm as if your life depended on it. Then, when he first got back, you ran right past me and into his arms. God, it was liberating watching you come alive again."

"Leo, I…" I fade off, and he painfully closes his eyes at the sound of his name.

He puts a finger to his mouth, signaling me to be quiet. "Erica, I have relived your screams while I stood outside your door all those years ago for too long. And when I saw just the tiniest flash of hope that you really could be a person again, I wanted you to take it. I told you once that I never thought you would be okay again, but that doesn’t mean I’ve ever stopped hoping you would." His voice catches in his throat and his brown eyes fill with tears as he tries to fight back the emotions.

He clears his throat and continues. "Then I found out who he was and realized that he not only had the time, money, and resources to protect you, but that he could give you something I never could. He could repair you from the inside out. I've always made sure you were safe, be he can truly fix things for you—give you back all the things I stole."

The tears are streaming down my face as I whimper, "You didn’t steal anything from me. You saved me."

"I love you, but I hope, one day, he fixes that mentality too."

"Leo, you did the best you could."

"I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I just wanted to tell you I’ll figure it out. You talk to Slate. Make him stop searching or we will have no choice but to leave. We may have to move. I’m not really sure what to do at this point, but I won’t make you give him up. Just make him stop asking questions." He gives me a weak smile.

"Okay."

He turns to walk away and pauses at the door. "When’s Slate getting back?"

"Couple of hours."

"Is it cool if I take off for a bit? I need a drink and I think you need some privacy."

"Yeah. Privacy sounds good." I try to dry my eyes, but the tears won’t stop flowing. Leo James is an amazing man. What I wouldn't give to have met him under different circumstances. I can only imagine how incredible it would be to have a friendship with him that wasn't based on guilt and pain.

"See ya later, babe."

"Night, Leo." I purposely use his name once again. He needs to hear it as much as I need to say it.





Fucking weather. My flight was delayed for two hours, and worse than that, Riley isn’t answering her phone. It’s killing me not being able to get back to her and away from the craziness of Slate The Silent Storm Andrews yet.

I announced my official retirement a few days ago, and you would have thought the world had imploded. I know it was unexpected. I was at the top of my game, and a rematch was already in the works, but I’m done. The media went nuts, and it took a lot longer than I’d thought it would to escape the attention. My plan is to see if I can convince Riley to go on an extended vacation with me. Get away for a while, somewhere we can escape until the attention dies down. Maybe even see if I can get her to open up and stop hiding.

I learned quite a bit about Riley while I was gone. The biggest part being that her real name is Jessica Lynn. I had a sneaking suspicion for a while that Riley wasn’t really her name, mainly because she insists that I call her beautiful in bed. But also because, if she is reading late at night or watching TV, she never answers you immediately when you call her. And then there is the whole Dave/Leo thing from when I first met them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that something is going on with them.