Leo(A Sign of Love Novel)(22)

"One day the woman needed to get away from the ogre because his ugly personality and his ugly face became too much for her to bear, and as it turned out, even hollow people can only take so much ugliness."

"She walked and walked until she came upon a quiet meadow and she lay down in the middle of that meadow, soaking in the stillness of the night. What she didn't know was that there was a great beast lurking nearby; A massive lion, with a mane of gold and the thunderous roar of a hundred lions."

"As the beautiful but hollow woman lay in the field, this beast approached her quietly and when she opened her eyes and spied him, she was spellbound because the sight of him was like nothing she had ever seen. He held the woman down with one massive paw, although, strangely, she wasn't scared, only curious. When dawn broke, the beauty awoke and thought that the night before had been only a dream. But the woman was now carrying a child, a son. And this beautiful boy would have the gifts of both his parents, the beauty of his mother and the heart of his father, the heart of a lion."

We're both quiet for several long moments.

Then Leo rolls towards me and he is looking at me with fire in his eyes. "I love you, Evie," he whispers.

"I love you, too, my Leo," I whisper back.





CHAPTER 12



Landon gives me a ride home. He asks me repeatedly if I want to go out for late night drinks but I really just want to crawl into my bed and shut out the world.

I never did see Jake again after the caviar incident but it's for the best as far as I’m concerned. Watching him with Gwen would just have been even more painful and humiliating.

As Landon drops me off, he gives me a hug and tells me to call him tomorrow. "I have layers of dust all over my apartment and loads of laundry to do but if you need any company, I will drop all that excitement in a heartbeat." He smiles and I smile back. "Love you girl," he says quietly.

"Love you, Lan," I say as I get out.

I unlock the front building door and of course my mind goes straight to Jake. Thinking about what him and Gwen are doing right about now just makes me cringe.

I let myself in to my apartment and take a quick shower. Then I brush my teeth, pull on an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts and climb into bed.

I should have known that a man like Jake Madsen who can have any girl he wants would not choose a girl like me.

I curl around my pillow and finally let myself cry.





**********





I wake up early the next morning, and again drag myself out of bed. I shower, pull on my Hilton uniform and dry my hair before putting it up in a ponytail. I put on a minimal amount of makeup and leave my apartment to catch the bus.

My shift goes by quickly as it usually does, and by noon, my mood has improved. I was fine before Jake Madsen interrupted my life and I'll be fine after. I've lived through worse, much worse.

I exit through the employee door and am walking down the block towards the bus stop when a dark silver BMW pulls up next to me. I look over and there's Jake, smiling out at me and leaning across the passenger seat. "Want a ride little girl?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Funny. No, Jake. I'm good with the bus." I keep walking.

"Evie, we need to talk," he says but I keep walking.

Is he high?

"No, Jake, we don't," I say without looking in his direction and because there are cars parked along the street from this point forward, Jake would be forced to pull to the side and get out of his car in order to keep talking to me. Which he does. Damn.

I sit down at the bus stop and Jake jogs up to me. "Evie," he frowns. "Listen, Evie, last night was not what you think it was."

"Jake," I interrupt him from going any further. "It's been a long day. I'm really asking you to just leave this, okay? You should have told me you have a girlfriend. You didn't. It's done. Walk away." With that I turn around. The bus is coming.

"Gwen is not my girlfriend, Evie. I hope you'd think more of me than that after the time we've spent together."

Okay, girlfriend, f*ck buddy, whatever. I'm just really not up for this. "Jake, again, walk away."

"I'm not gonna do that, Evie," he says quietly from behind me.

And now I'm just angry. I'm so damned tired, and just angry. I've spent the day cleaning up after slobs who think they can be just as disgusting as they please because someone lower than them will be there to wipe up their mess and I am just so. Damned. Tired. Just the fact that Jake Madsen ever darkened my doorway suddenly has me seething. I was doing FINE! And now here he is in his stupid Beemer, in his stupid suit with his stupid girlfriend/f*ck buddy, whatever, in her $1400 shoes! And what the hell does he want from me exactly? Because the thing is, I'm done wondering. I'm done with Jake Madsen.

I stand up and get right up in his face, because suddenly I am furious. "Clue in, Jake," I hiss, "You don't know me. You think you do, but you don't. You think you know what type of person I am, but you have no idea. And so, you don't get to do this. You don't get to interrupt my life over and over again and then think that I will be grateful to you for gracing my life with your very presence. After last night, I think it's perfectly clear that there is no reason for you to be here. So I am asking you again if we can have this conversation another time like never?"