2 One last night

Zemira

In school, I had taken up woodworking classes for two weeks, trying to make a toolbox. The instructions were simple – to act with patience, evaluate the rough edges and trim off the excess while shaping the log into form.

Ignoring them all, I expedited the process and simply patched things that seemed glueable.

As I travelled up the elevator, I recalled the mess that was my teacher’s table when the toolbox fell apart.

Was I doing it again, making another bad decision?

The elevator doors chimed open into the restricted rooftop area. After a quick scan down the empty hallway, Leonardo swiped a card and pushed the door open onto the rooftop.

A cold draft caught my sweat-slicked skin, easing off my panicky state. While on our way up, I texted Gabe, asking him to verify the man’s identity.

I expected Gabe to turn on his brotherly mode, telling me he was coming to my rescue. Against my expectation, he delivered a smiling emoji, a thumbs up, and a one-liner. They don’t make men like him anymore.

“Were you able to verify my ID?” Leonardo asked, viewing the majestic skyline ahead of us. “It’s old but I’m sure it’s still valid.”

“Genuine IDs’ prove nothin. Ted Bundy had genninne IDs too.”

“Are you one of those obsessed fangirls who’d bring him up in every conversation?” His eyes glistened when he smiled as if his face wasn’t used to it.

“I’m being cactocius about this.”

“You mean cautions? He laid my heels on the floor and moved away, giving me space. “You can leave if you want. “

The reason for travelling up to the roof was a question that taunted me for an answer. If I walked away, I would always wonder.

“Why are we here, Leonardo? And how I get you to get to me to sober?” Not that I was drunk anymore.

On any normal day, I would have left. But this wasn’t a normal day. From tomorrow, my life would be dictated as a routine until I turned old and gray and nobody would recognize me. This night was my escape. My last night of freedom.

From where I stood, the rooftop pool appeared even more stunning. It lit from all corners beneath the dark blanket of the skies, the dancing water formed rippling shadows around me.

“Getting you sober is going to be fun but you’ll have to trust me.” The ocean behind his eyes widened. There was something about him that rendered an assurance about my safety. “Decide what you want to do. Feet first, or dive?”

“Dive.”

And we dove.

Coldwater pricked my skin, jolting my senses. Whatever doubts I had dissolved in the rippling water. I had never acted like this before. After tonight, I might never again. But in the limbo that was today, I was living.

“Feeling better now?” Leonardo asked, swimming closer when we resurfaced.

“Yes.” I gasped for air. “So much better!”

I dived under again, uncaring of falling sick or someone finding out about my midnight adventure. I stayed in the water for so long, my fingers pruned, and my limbs grew numb. Leonardo swam to the edge, perched on the outer rim and watched me circle the pool.

My chest burned up residual air, begging me to stop. When I swam to the edge and climbed out, the tricky part began. My long trail georgette dress had turned into a mop, drinking up half the pool. Any attempt to squeeze it off failed.

“What kind of dress is this?” Leonardo asked, wrangling my trail into a tight knot. His white shirt was now a translucent parchment, revealing his overworked, taut muscles.

“It’s Organza,” I protested. “I’m sure all you’ve ever worn is cotton and polyester.” I pointed towards his shirt, watching him crinkle his face and squeeze the trail harder. “Hey, be careful!”

“Why? You’ve got somewhere to be, wearing this?” he asked. “Why on earth is this abomination not draining?”

I watched him as he knelt, attempting to rid my gown of excess water.

“Try harder. Work those diceps.”

“A dicep! I think you meant biceps.” Leo chucked. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I give up. We need experts for this.”

Bunched in a leaky ball, we walked inside the elevator, securing the lower half of my gown with both our hands. Every time his fingers slid over mine, I fumbled for words. For air. Even a brief staring contest set my heart racing. I peered at his clenched jaw, his perfect side profile, praying that he couldn’t read my deranged thoughts.

When his earthy scent inflicted my senses, goosebumps trailed over my skin. I looked up, only to find him smiling down at me.

“You’re cold, aren’t you?” Even with pursed lips, he couldn’t hold back his smile. “Don’t worry. We’re almost there.”

“Almost where?”

The elevator opened into a luxurious suite.

The room was well-lit and immaculate. The only thing marring perfection was a pillow and a comforter, both lying on the carpeted floor instead of the bed at the far end.

A neatly packed olive green bag with a nametag — Sergeant Leonardo Brenton, narrated Leo’s truth. Publicity loving Brentons wouldn’t miss cashing in on anything, much less a veteran son’s homecoming.

Leonardo Brenton would have made front-page news had he been part of the Brenton family.

“Washroom is that way.” Leo pointed towards a door, lending me a robe. “You can give me your dress. I’ll have it dried for you.”

Stalking away, he lent me privacy.

I shut the washroom door on his retreating form, peeling off my sodden attire and sliding into a toasty sheath of white velvet robe. When I reentered the open space, I faced Leo’s shirtless back near the balcony.

Crimson-scarred lines trailed over his skin. His upper left arm was inked, with three thick bands and four thin ones overlapping them. When he looked up at the sky, something stirred inside my chest.

“Leo.”

He moved inside, wordlessly took the damp gown out of my hands and shoved it into a laundry bag. He slipped out of the front door and re-emerged seconds later.

“You want something to eat?” he said.

“I think I should leave. I was being…”

“Stupid! Yes, you were.” He nodded, a sardonic grin on his face. “But now that you’re back to your senses, you can wait for that horrendous dress to return.”

“Did you forget to take your rude control pills?”

Leonardo chuckled, crossing his arms across his toned body. “No. But I may have overindulged on the truth-telling pills.”

“I’ll have you know that dress was custom made for the Maid of Honor.”

“If by custom made you mean the bride selected it to make pretty ones like you look horrible, then I’d say the mission was accomplished.”

“It’s my best friend you’re accusing.” I had no clue why I felt the need to justify Kiera’s fixation on lavender to a stranger. “And she never intended to make me look ugly.”

“Her intentions were quite clear with the selection and the color.” He smirked and unclasped his hands, moving closer. “I’m sure she’d stand out in all the photos.”

“Gosh… You know what? I am hungry. Can we please order something?”

“I already did.”

“What did you order?”

A weird rumbling inside my stomach had convinced me to not be picky with whatever would arrive. But I didn’t want Leonardo to have the pleasure of knowing it yet.

“Pizza. Beer.”

“Throw in Fries too and we’ll hit the unhealthy food trifecta.”

“Good idea,” he said as he moved toward the phone on the other side of the room. “You want anything else.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

Leo turned around, smirking. He knew what I meant. And he liked riling me up.

When the food arrived, Leo grabbed a beer can and popped it open as he sat across from me. Like a hungry bird, I stuffed my mouth with a big slice of pizza that was a little too thin crusted for my taste.

“Why are you staying at a hotel? I asked. “Do you stay far from here?”

With hooded eyes, he gazed at me, sipping his drink and nodding. “I wanted a day just for myself. Before meeting with my family.”

“Why? Are they that bad?”

“For a person who has yet to tell me her name, you ask a lot of questions.”

“Sorry.” I raised my arms in the air. “I didn’t know it was a touchy subject.”

Walking away and standing at the balcony’s threshold, he peered into the night. An arm rested over the frame while another nursed his drink.

Trying to diffuse the awkwardness that had crept in, I walked over to his side. Offering him a slice of Pizza didn’t work, so I decided to talk.

“Sorry for prying. And I didn’t tell you my name because you didn’t ask. It’s Kiera.”

“Hello, Kiera. It’s nice to meet you.” He turned around, holding out his hand.

“Likewise…” I shook it. A smile crept up from the corners of my lips.

After a moment of silence, Leo turned around to face the night sky in front of us. “To answer you, I’d love to meet my mother. The rest of my family.” He shrugged. “They are the ones I’m staying away from.”

“Your mother must be very happy to see you.”

My chest felt an ache. Every time someone talked about their mother, it reminded me of mine.

“She’s the best amongst us.”

“I can imagine.”

He walked towards the balcony. Though I tried staying behind, I felt a tug inside my chest, nudging me to walk over.

Leaning over the boundary of the balcony, Leonardo crossed a leg over another, his outstretched arms resting parallel to the wall.

“Can I ask you something?” His voice appeared softer than before. Upon my nod, he began. “Were you drinking so much to…forget about someone?”

Somewhere deep in my gut, something stirred. His question began nudging me to rethink Antonio’s proposal.

Had I been drinking, I would have passed out by now. This night would have been erased from my memory long enough for me to sleep peacefully.

Thanks to Leonardo, I’d sobered up. And with that came the dreading realization. I still had to make a decision.

“You’re asking a very personal question,” I said. “And not everyone drinks to forget about people.”

Looking up at Leo and his stoic expressions, I felt it was rude on my part to leave him hanging for an answer. Especially since all he did was help me.

“What I mean to say is there are a few things in my life that I was trying to sort out. And alcohol helped.”

“You mean to say they are sorted?”

“They will.” Soon after I leave this room, I’ll call up Antonio. “In due time.”

“Good, because I have a busy schedule to help you get sober every time you go on a bender.”

“Hey…” I looked around the place. Anything to toss at his smug face. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“You remember breaking something?” he asked. “Or does that feel like a scene from some movie?”

“I remember breaking a few empty beer bottles. That’s all. And had you not challenged me, those bottles would have survived long enough to be recycled.”

“For your information, there were almost twenty bottles. And the same number of glasses. But sure, blame it on me.”

I slid off the chair where I had sat, moving towards Leonardo. The way he accused me, tilting his head and smiling while his eyes sparkled in the dim lights of our surroundings, I wanted to win this round of argument.

“Why won’t I blame you? You riled me up. Don’t you know you shouldn’t challenge someone at a bar?”

Our distance was reduced to inches, our bodies faced each other. I could feel the warmth radiating from his body as he ran his hand into the back of his neck, gently placing the empty beer on the wall.

If I could read him, I would say he was readying himself for a verbal fight.

“I’ve challenged a lot of people in a lot of bars.” His body towered over. “And I’ve won them all.”

“You lost it with me. You’d asked me to walk in a straight line. I did.”

Trying to match his height, I looked up. Almost to the point of having to tiptoe.

“Kiera, when you crashed and didn’t finish the walk, you lost.”

The intensity with which his icy blue eyes peered at me, I felt as if he could read my thoughts.

With his calm demeanor, Leonardo held out a mirror that reflected my scared, anxious state of mind. The way we stared down at me and smiled, or the way he questioned me, made me feel pangs of vulnerability inside my chest.

I felt the need to confess to the lie about my fake name. To make him understand why I got defensive or to talk to him about the decision I was to embark upon.

Most of all, I wanted to hold onto what was left of this night.

~

Earlier Zem and Leo’s interaction was confined to one chapter. The chemistry seemed botched up so I split it into three. Do you like this?