Save Me (8 page)

Mily smiled at him, her heart fluttering.

"Hey," she whispered, "good morning."

She looked over at the blinking alarm clock. It was 6 am. An hour before check out time. Mily turned to face Leo, grazing her fingertips along his jawline.

Faint love bites covered his neck, left over sentiments from their tryst the night before

Mily stood to her feet, pulling on her clothing and entering the bathroom. She took in her appearance in the mirror. Mascara was running down her face and her lips were swollen from kissing. There were bags under her eyes and she appeared visibly exhausted, her curly hair matted and frizzy.

"Jesus," Mily said to herself, splashing water on her face as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail with an elastic.

She watched from a crack in the bathroom door as Leo lit up a cigarette, his dark curls falling into his chiseled face. His eyes glimmered in the sunlight. They were a tossup between green and brown, maybe hazel, but Mily couldn't entirely tell. His lips were turned upwards into a permanent smirk and she couldn't help but stare at his muscular chest.

“Are you alright?” Leo finally asked her, a thin ring of smoke escaping his mouth as he spoke.

Mily wasn't entirely sure. A million different emotions rushed through her body, making it impossible for her to vocalize what was on her mind.

“It’s not important,” she whispered, sitting on the end of the bed.

Leo nodded.

"Hey," he said, sliding up beside Mily and kissing her neck, 
"last night..."

"Was amazing," she finished for him.

Leo nodded again, tossing his cigarette bud into the ash tray that sat on the bedside table.

Mily didn't know what it was but suddenly, a sickening thought clawed its way into her conscious. She pulled away from Leo, looking around the hotel room for any sign of a condom. When she didn't find one, she turned around to look at him. There was a worried expression etched across her face.

Mily frantically paced towards Leo, pulling the pillow from beneath his head and hitting him with it.

"You stupid asshole!" she yelled, her face contorted in anger.

Leo knew he had fucked up. He sat up, searching the ground around the hot tub for his clothing. When he found it, he sat on the edge of the unmade bed, pulling on his jeans and boots.

He didn't say a word, not even as Mily's tiny fists found their way to his back. She delivered blow after blow to his flesh but Leo wasn't fazed by the assault.

"I'm not on birth control!" Mily yelled.

The reasons why were idiotic ones. She didn't want to deal with break outs or weight gain. But now, she was being faced with a different consequence entirely.

"Is this just what you do?" Mily yelled at Leo, "pick up unsuspecting women in bars and have sex with them without condoms?"

Leo felt a lump forming in his throat. There was nothing he could say to defend himself. He knew how it looked and it wasn't good.

There was a look of betrayal etched across Mily's face. She was upset but she tried her best not to show it.

“You are a piece of work!” she said to Leo, tossing him his leather cut. He pulled it on, stretching out his arms.

"I'm sorry," he said to her as he left the small hotel room. But Mily wasn't letting him off the hook that easily. She pulled on the rest of her clothing and grabbed her purse, following him out into the hallway.

"Where do you get off just leaving?" Mily yelled, following him into the elevator just as it started to close and pressing the big red button to stop it in mid-descent.

She guarded it, her eyes harsh against Leo's. She wasn't letting him go until he talked.

"Tell me," she said again.

She had been with a lot of men over the years but none of them had ever done something like this to her. Leo felt claustrophobic. He didn't know what to say to her.

“It was an accident..." he began.

“No!” Mily interjected, “I don't believe you."

Leo sighed. He didn’t understand why she wouldn't. He tried to reach past her for the buttons to the elevator but she wouldn't budge.

"Why not?" Leo finally asked, "why is it so hard for you to believe that I would forget to wear a rubber?"

Mily sighed.

"Whatever," she finally said, dejected. She pressed the big red button behind her and the elevator roared to life.

"Whatever?" Leo questioned, following her into the lobby, his eyes glimmering.

"Leave me alone," Mily yelled over her shoulder, waving at Louie behind the front desk as she passed him. She rotated on her feet, sticking a finger out at Leo.

"I mean it," she yelled, "back off. I never want to see you again!"

It was then that Louie took notice that something was wrong. He approached Mily, a worried look on his face.

"Is everything alright?" he asked her, his eyes glued to Leo.

There was a slight pause before Mily responded.

"Yes Louie," she said to him, 
"everything's fine I just...I have somewhere to be."

She pushed her way out the front doors of the hotel in a hurry.

“Have a nice life!” She called out to Leo, making her way into the parking lot where her car was.

“Wait!” Leo called out to her. Mily climbed into her red Toyota, turning to look at him. She shook her head, climbing inside and slamming the door shut behind herself.

Leo watched as she pulled out of the parking lot, her tires burning against the road.

She was out of his life as quickly as she had arrived.

LEAP OF FAITH

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

Present

L
eo pulled his leather backpack off of his broad shoulders. He cleared his throat, rummaging through it. Layla watched in silence as he pulled out one article of clothing after the next, setting them on her mattress.

Black skinny jeans, a white tank top, converse sneakers. Layla took it all in, looking up at Leo with a confused look in her eyes. He handed her a pair of large black sunglasses, zipping up the bag and pulling it over his arms.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" Layla asked.

"Put them on," Leo said, "all of it, actually." he added, nodding at the pile of clothing that sat near Layla's feet.

"Why?" she asked.

"Could you...oh I don't know...elaborate?"

Leo shook his head, reaching around to unhook the beeping machine beside her. Before another word could escape her lips, he pulled the IV from her arm.

"Hey!" Layla exclaimed as Leo peeked out the window, "slow down a second."

"No time," Leo said.

"Just put on the clothing please. All of it. I’ll explain soon, I promise."

He grabbed the half-smoked cigarette from between her fingers, tossing it into the trash can beside her bed, 
"Shh.” he whispered sternly as Layla opened her mouth to protest.

"I promise I’ll explain everything. Get dressed."

Layla stood to her feet, gripping the bed frame with shaking hands as she did as she was told. Leo's voice is sharp and authoritative and she didn't want to test him.

"Just...turn around," she said.

Leo nodded, facing the wall. Layla reached down, gripping her hospital gown and pulling it over her head. Her hands were clammy, her vision clouded. Trying her best not to worry, Layla slid on each piece of clothing, surprised by how well it all fit. Even the shoes were her size.

"How did you know my sizes?" she asked Leo, sitting on the edge of the hospital bed as she laced up her sneakers.

The look was hardly Layla's style but she was grateful to have a change of clothing and wasn't about to complain.

Leo shrugged.

"The Internet," he called over his shoulder, "you're pretty famous after all."

He rubbed a hand over his chiseled jaw, staring out at the crowd of paparazzi that had started to gather outside the hotel.

How do you tell a woman that you just met, in the least creepy way possible, that you're enamored with her? 

–

Past

Shortly after Layla had been stabilized, Leo left the hospital. He went back to the apartment he shared with his brothers, forcing the few stragglers that remained from the party out. He needed some time to digest what had happened – alone.

"You gonna be okay man?" Richie asked him, pausing in Leo's doorway. His face was swollen and purple. 
Probably another bar fight,
 Leo thought to himself. Richie had a knack for being a mean drunk, but Leo had never seen him look this battered.

"Yeah," he said, "I'm just going to hit the sack.”

Richie turned to leave.

"Hey," he said suddenly, turning back around to face Leo, "that girl...did you know her?”

There was something odd about this voice, but Leo couldn't put his finger on what.

"No." he said, "I mean...not really."

Richie slowly nodded, shutting the door behind himself. Leo sighed, taking a seat at his desk and moving his computer mouse, causing the screen to light up. He didn't know why he was doing it but the next thing Leo knew, he had pulled up an Internet browser and was searching Layla's name. Thousands of results filled his screen.

Damn,
 Leo thought. 
She's famous.

He spent the next hour clicking through each link and reading every bit of information he could find on the twenty-three year old Starlet that had nearly lost her life in his bathtub.

Each piece of information Leo could find made him feel like he knew everything there was to know about her.

It was all there. Her upbringing or lack of one, her fall from grace, and her climb back up the ladder. Leo read about every scandal. Every fall from grace. Every Hollywood bad boy Layla had dated
 
–
 and even the few women. He 
read about how her film and TV offers began to fizzle to an abrupt stop and how just as the last of her money well ran dry, she was offered a three million porn deal by a company called Skin Flix.

She had redirected her career in a way no one had saw coming. Or maybe they did. Leo wasn't exactly hip to the comings and goings of tinsel town. He shut down his computer, tired of reading. He collapsed on his bed, kicking off his boots. What was the famous Layla Carter doing in his part of town, let alone naked in his bath tub? It didn't make any sense to him. He had to get to the bottom of it.

Leo grabbed his keys off of the table beside his bed, stuffing them in his tattered blue jeans and pulling his t-shirt off over his toned chest, tossing it in the hamper beside his bed.

After cleaning himself up, he exited his apartment, climbing down the flight of stairs. He looked down at his watch. It was 6 pm. The mall closed in just under an hour but if he drove fast, he might have been able to make it.

It was never a place Leo would go voluntarily but if he knew anything about women, and he did like to think to know a few things, it was that new clothing was the easiest way to bribe the truth out of them.

Leo might not have been the richest man on earth but he did know that Layla would be dying for a change of clothing after her ordeal. He climbed on his bike, starting up the engine and pushing down roughly on the throttle. Once it had heated up, he made a beeline into traffic. In his pocket, he had a piece of paper. On it were Layla's measurements, which he had found online rather easily.

If Leo wanted the answers he craved – he was going to have to go shopping.

– 

The tiny strip mall just a few miles up the road from Leo's apartment was packed full of teenage girls – some with their mothers, but most of them alone or giggling beside a friend. Leo parked his bike in the only open parking spot he could find, near the entrance to the Gap.

Did women find the Gap fashionable?
 Leo wondered, entering the brightly lit store and smiling awkwardly at the bubbly sales assistant who greeted him.

"Hi there.” she said, handing Leo a flyer with two girl-next-door types on it beneath the words ‘skinny jeans - 50 percent off'.