“You got under my skin when I was eighteen and never left. When I was in the Army, you wrote me letters that made me laugh. You made me feel better about my parents not getting along, and you didn’t care that my uncle’s a felon. You encouraged me and took me down a peg when I thought I was hot shit. And it broke my heart when you got married. I knew I’d lost you. Which sucked. I mean, it was my own damn fault, but still.”
“Leo,” Cassidy whispered.
“It’s okay. I didn’t tell you so you’d feel guilty or say it back. I just need you to know. I’m not hanging out with you for a piece of ass. No offense, but I can get that with way less trouble than you and your son.” He smiled and winked to lessen the sting of his words. “I’m here because I want to be. Because you and Mario have made me smile more since I’ve known you than I have in years. Because you make me feel alive again.”
Cassidy wanted to tell him she loved him back. But she couldn’t get the words past the lump in her throat. She’d thought she loved Alfred, too, and look how that had turned out.
Leo wasn’t Alfred. Not even close. And she’d been a little bit in love with Leo for most of her life. Still, she was scared to death that if she admitted it out loud, she’d somehow lose him.
Luckily, Mario saved her from having to say anything. He burst back into the small living room, exclaiming, “I’m ready!”
Leo brought a hand up to her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb for a split second before he let go of her and turned to Mario. “Lookin’ good, Mar!”
Mario stuck out a leg and lifted his chin, posing for Leo. He’d put on a pair of bright-pink shorts and tucked in a yellow T-shirt. He had bright-white socks on with his sneakers and looked like he’d fallen into a vat of fluorescent paint.
“Kinda bright, Mario,” Cassidy said with a chuckle.
“I know! Isn’t it great?” Mario said, not caring what she thought of his outfit.
“It is, bud. I grabbed you some peanut butter crackers for a snack. As much as I love your mom’s cookies, athletes need protein to keep up their energy and strength too,” Leo said as he handed Mario a package that he’d grabbed off the counter.
Cassidy was grateful Leo thought about Mario’s well-being as much as she did. They’d had a talk about his nutrition, and while they agreed he needed to put on a few pounds, she was glad one of them made sure he did so in a healthy way and not just from eating junk. Cassidy wanted to pamper her son, give him all the things he’d been deprived of for so long; Leo made sure to balance out her motherly instincts.
He balanced both of them. They’d spent almost every evening together since she’d gotten to Indianapolis, and somehow Leo had become a part of her every waking thought. Mario’s too.
Leo had taken Mario under his wing and helped him blossom. Her son might be naturally positive, but a lot of his success in transitioning into a normal life here in the States was because of Leo. He hadn’t had a nightmare since they’d gotten to Indiana, and for that alone, Cassidy would have fallen for Leo.
Suddenly she wanted to blurt out that she loved him, but now wasn’t the time or place. Mario was impatient to get to the gym, and Cassidy wanted privacy when she told Leo for the first time how much she cared about him. She didn’t know when or where that might happen, but she knew it was coming. There was no way she could hold back her feelings for long. Leo deserved to know that she thought he was an amazing man. She wasn’t nearly good enough for him, but if he wanted her, she was going to hold on as hard as she could. She knew a good man when she saw one, and Leo was one of the best.
Chapter Fourteen
“Thank you all for coming with me today,” Cassidy told Skylar, Taylor, and Molly. They were sitting in the gym watching Mario’s cheerleading practice. He’d been in school for a week and was still loving it as much as he had the first day. This was his first Saturday practice, and it was two hours long instead of his usual one-hour sessions after school. Leo had planned on driving them and hanging out with her while they watched from the stands, but something had come up at work, and all the guys needed to spend some time in their safe room discussing it.
Cassidy hadn’t asked what it was. She knew. They were talking about the possibility of another mission. On one hand, she hated the idea, simply because she didn’t want any of the men she’d come to care about putting themselves in danger. But on the other hand, she couldn’t help but think about the situation she’d been in. If they hadn’t taken the risk to come after her, she and Mario would be in a very different place right now.
Tiana would’ve driven both her and Mario to the gym, but Molly had volunteered. And then Taylor and Skylar had said they wanted to come too. Before she knew it, the six of them, including baby Kevin, were packed into Molly’s Volvo SUV and on their way.
“I’ve been wanting to come watch this since you told me he was taking cheerleading classes,” Molly said, her eyes shining, one hand resting on her belly as she took in the goings-on in front of them.
“This is serious stuff, isn’t it?” Skylar observed. “I mean, I kinda thought it would just be a bunch of kids jumping up and down and clapping.”
“That’s what I thought at first too,” Cassidy said. “But I quickly found out how wrong I was.” Mario currently stood with other kids around his age, watching an older group of students demonstrate how to safely catch a flier, a girl who was thrown up in the air to do a flip or some other amazing acrobatic feat.
“It looks kind of dangerous,” Taylor said a little hesitatingly.
Cassidy nodded, although her opinion of what might be dangerous was a bit different from those of the women sitting next to her. Delivering drugs in the run-down parts of Kingston was dangerous. Cheerleading didn’t even come close.
“So . . . how’ve you been?” Taylor asked.
Cassidy smiled. It felt good to have someone to talk to. “Good,” she said.
“The apartment’s working out?” Skylar asked.
“Yes. Tiana, Maria, and everyone else have been very welcoming and helpful.”
“I know it’s not in the best neighborhood,” Skylar said with a small wince.
Cassidy couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously? We came from the lap of luxury in Jamaica, but it was a prison. We definitely weren’t safe, even though we lived behind a huge wall. I feel safer in that apartment than I ever did in Michael’s home.”
The women all knew her story, and knew what their men had done to save her. She’d been informed that most of the time, Silverstone didn’t divulge where they were going or where they’d been, but when they’d returned with her and Mario, they’d kind of had to explain to their wives.
“Do you think anyone’s gonna come after you?” Molly asked.
Cassidy sighed. “Honestly? I just don’t know. I’d like to say no, that we’re way too far away from Jamaica, but after everything I saw when I lived there, I have no idea what Michael’s lieutenants will do. They’ve got the money to come here, but would they? I don’t know.”
“Doesn’t that scare you?” Taylor asked. She seemed to hold Kevin a little tighter against her chest as she asked.