Warning: Violence
(Also sorry this is so long)

Tessa

"I'm sorry dad. It's really urgent and he can't make it" I said once again.

"I was really looking forward to meeting him" He said looking down with a sad look.

"I know dad. I'm sorry" I said feeling sad as well.

"Well, I guess I'll go to sleep now. At least I'll get some sleep since your aunt is keeping the girls" He said with a sad smile.

I smiled at him as he stood up and headed to his room.

Leo sounded really upset over the phone so it probably was something urgent. I knew how dangerous and unpredictable his job was so I couldn't blame him.

But I was upset too.

Not necessarily with Leo, but I was upset things didn't go as planned.

The next few days he mostly avoided me. The same man who asked me to not go a day without seeing him.

Well he acted like he avoided me, but sometimes I felt like I could feel his presence.

I was starting to get angry at him for avoiding me. At first I excused his behaviour because of his job, but I missed him, I was overwhelmed by my feelings and I was upset.

That's when I finally got a call.

"Hello" I said.

"Hi" He said hesitantly, "I'm sorry I haven't been talking a lot, but I missed you. I was really busy I'm sorry" He said.

"Of course" I said.

"Okay, can I come pick you up from college?" He asked.

"Sure"
________

"I'm very sorry I didn't come the other day and that I didn't talk to you much" He said as we were cuddling on his couch.

"Can you tell me what happened?" I asked.

He stayed silent for a few seconds, "I'm sorry" He muttered.

I sighed, "You know, I'm upset you're hiding things from me again. You never speak to me about what's worrying you"

"Nothing is"

I turned to look at him, "Leo, you've been extremely anxious ever since we got back together. You think it's not noticeable? You look like you're always on edge"

"That's not true"

"But I can see it!" I said, "I always tell you about my problems. Why can't you do the same? I thought you wouldn't keep secrets from me anymore"

"Because it's nothing important" He said stroking my hair, "I don't want to make you worry for nothing"

"Then why are you so worried about it?" I asked.

"I told you, I'm not-"

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"No, I'm sorry. It's just work. You know Ares gave everything to us so that he could enjoy the first month of his marriage" He said.

I gave him a doubtful look.

"It's true" He said.

"Fine"

"How about we go out for dinner with your dad tonight? I'll pay for everything since it's my fault we didn't do it last time"

"He won't accept your money" I said knowing my dad.

"Please? I'll feel very bad if I don't do it"

"I'll talk to him about it and we'll see" I said.

"Thank you" He smiled at me, "And again, I am very sorry I couldn't come. I'll tell your dad when I meet him too"

"It must've been something very bad" I said trying to find out more about the situation.

"Nothing I can't handle" He said and kissed my forehead before running his hands on my body.

"Is it all taken care of?" I asked.

"Mhm don't worry about it" He murmured, his lips against my cheek.

"You can't help it when you care about someone. It's normal" I said holding his face in my hands.

His lips stretched into a small smile as he stared into my eyes, "That's right. It's normal" He whispered more to himself.

_______

"Tonight!? You should've told me earlier so that I had time to prepare!" My dad said running around trying to find clothes.

"You do have a couple hours to prepare" I said rolling my eyes.

"Well, I wanted to prepare even better. It needs to be perfect"

"No it doesn't. Look, if you want we can make it another day-"

"No! I want to meet him as soon as possible" He said.

I smiled and rolled my eyes again.

I spent the next couple hours getting ready. When we were both done getting ready, my aunt came to watch my sisters and we finally left.

"The restaurant he chose seems pretty expensive. What's this boy's job?" He asked.

"Uhm he's a-you know I don't really know but it has something to do with computers" I lied.

This should do.

Well it's not completely a lie.

"You don't know what his job is? That's an important part, you should know that, Tessa. I'm not saying he's a bad person, but when someone refuses to talk about what he does he might be hiding something"

You have no idea.

"He could be a murderer"

I choked on my own spit when I heard that, "Are you okay!?" He asked taking his eyes off the road to look at me.

"I'm fine" I said.

I felt so guilty for lying to him and I wanted to tell him the truth. I tried telling myself that maybe if I talk to him about it and explain the situation he will accept it since he's always so understanding, but I didn't want to risk it.

"He's a good person, dad. You'll see for yourself when you meet him" I said.

After a few minutes we finally arrived at the restaurant. we parked somewhere nearby and got out of the car. It was pretty dark outside, but even though I could see the restaurant had a lot of people inside, the place we were at didn't have that many people.

Which was very suspicious.

Finally I saw two people walking close to us, but they didn't pass by us. They stopped in front of us.

"Hey you" one of them told my dad.

"Yes?", he replied.

The man chuckled, "I knew you'd be here. You had a reservation on your name in that restaurant"

"You must have mistaken me for someone else-" My dad tried to say but he was interrupted.

"I didn't think you'd be so-" The man scanned my dad up and down, "Old"

"Hey, I'm not that old" My dad chuckled.

I was getting really nervous. I felt my stomach turn and I just wanted to leave this place.

"Dad, let's go-"

"You're not going anywhere" The man said and took out a gun.

I froze.

I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. I wanted to run, but my body wouldn't move.

I felt just how I felt when they had a gun pointed to my mom. Helpless and scared. I didn't want to lose my dad. He was all I had.

"You know I thought you and your friends were smart, but to take one of ours for no reason, you seem like a crazy old man"

"Look, I never did anything. Please, put the gun down. I have and ID with me. I can show it to you and you'll see I'm not the one you're looking for" My dad said calmly.

"You think I'm going to believe you? You could very easily have a fake ID" He said.

"What!? No-"

"Shut up!" The man said, "I'm tired of you. I'm going to kill you and take you "daughter". Maybe she'll be useful"

Why can't I do something? I want to help, but I can't move.

Just as I thought he was about to shoot, I shut my eyes, but nothing came.

"Put the fucking gun down before I blow your brains out" 

I heard a familiar low voice. I opened my eyes and saw Leo standing behind them with a gun to one of the man's head. Relief washed over me when I saw him, but I've never seen him look and sound so dangerous before.

His glare was deadly and his voice could give you goosebumps. My sweet boyfriend was gone now. However, I wasn't scared of him.

"Go" He said and looked at me.

My dad was very confused and stood frozen. The men who seemed to be so arrogant and scary before were shaking now.

I saw Leo's deadly look falter as he looked at me, "Get in the car and go"

I took my dad's hand and led him in the car.

"Who was that?" My dad asked as he drove away, "Don't tell me that was him"

I stayed silent and to him, that seemed to be his answer.

"I don't know why he would carry a gun, but gosh he saved my life!"

I knew that look on Leo's face. He would blame himself and stay away from me and I couldn't let that happen.

"Stop the car"

"Why?"

"I need to go. Stop the car" I said firmly.

"It's dangerous-"

"I'll explain everything later just let me go" I said with a pleading look.

He sighed and stopped the car, "Please stay safe" He said with a defeated look.

I nodded and got out running to where we left them.

I don't care if I get hurt. I just want to be there for him.

When I got to where he was I was shocked. The men were both so beat up that I wondered how they were still breathing. Leo was kneeling panting. His knuckles were bloody and his lip was busted.

He stood up wiping the blood off his mouth and looked at them. He hadn't noticed me yet.

He approached on of them on the ground and put his foot on his neck, "Who the fuck sent you?" He asked.

The man uttered some words I couldn't understand since he was probably barely breathing.

"Useless" Leo murmured before taking his gun out and shooting him dead.

He walked over to the other man and kneeled down, "You better speak up before you end up like your friend" He said.

"You know who. You beat up and took one of ours. You're Leo"

"So you came here, waited for a man whose face you haven't even seen and tried to kill an innocent man?" Leo asked, "You could've killed an innocent man! Those people have families!" He shouted in anger.

"As if I care" The man chuckled.

Leo paused and then put his hand around his neck, "You're right, I don't care either. So you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to cut your limps off and send them to your wife"

"I don't have a wife" The man struggled to say.

"Who's Mary Williams then?"

The man widened his eyes in shock, "You-How-"

"I know everything about you, your wife and your daughter"

"You won't do that" The man choked out.

"I won't or maybe I will and you're going to die wondering" His hand tightened around the man's neck.

But Leo seemed impatient and eventually, he just shot him as well.

I stood there not knowing what to do. I've never seen someone act so violently.

But why wasn't I scared?"

When Leo was done, he texted someone, possibly Nate and Ares and then finally his glance fell on me.

His eyes widened in shock and then he frowned in regret, "Why are you here?" He said sounding breathless.

"I-I didn't want to leave you alone"

"You-you saw-" He trailed off looking down at the men and then back at me in panic.

I started walking towards him, "Leo, it's okay-"

"No" He whispered, his voice weak, "No" He repeated.

He walked away and I followed after him, "Stop walking away from me.You can't just leave me here"

He didn't say anything.

We got to his car and he got inside. I opened the door and got inside as well.

I'm not leaving this time.

No matter what I tried to say to him he wouldn't listen and wouldn't talk to me.

We finally got to his apartment and as soon as he shut the door, he walked to his room and shut the door before locking it.

I stood on the other side trying to open it, but it wouldn't open.

I sighed, "Please talk to me" I said, "It's okay, you protected me and my dad. You saved us"

"I saved you from a situation I put you in" He said. His voice was very unstable and I could tell he was crying even though I couldn't hear it.

"It doesn't matter, you still did it. See, I trust you. I know you can protect me"

He stayed silent no matter what I tried to say next.

Fuck that.

"If you don't open this door right now I'm going to break it down" I said firmly.

He still stayed silent.

"Fine" I said.

I took a few steps back and then tried to break down the door, hitting it with my shoulder.

After about four times, the door opened right when I was about to hit it, but luckily Leo caught me and I didn't fall on my face.

"You're going to hurt yourself!" He yelled at me and held my shoulders.

Now that I could finally see his face I knew for sure he had been crying. I wanted to cry too at the sight.

"I don't care. How many times do I have to tell you I don't care if I get hurt?"

"But I do!" He said, "Your father almost got captured or killed because of me today, Tessa. How can you still-how can you still be here" His voice cracked at the end and tears ran down his face.

"Because I trust you and I know you can protect me. Just like you did today"

His hands cupped my face and he checked all over my body, "You almost got captured today" He whispered to himself.

"But I didn't thanks to you"

"But you would because of me"

"Stop that! I thought you'd changed. I thought you said you were sure you could protect me now! You asked me to trust you and I did and now you're doing the same all over again"

I felt so overwhelmed that I had started crying without realising.

"I lied. I fucking lied. I'm still the same" He admitted wiping his face with his hands, "I was just greedy and I wanted to be with you. I've never wanted something in my life. All I had was taken at a young age and I had to work with what I had that's why I became this person. Then I met you and I started being greedy. I wanted you in my life even if I was no good for you. Leaving you was the hardest thing I ever did and I had to hold myself back every minute from running back to you, but when I saw you again I couldn't do it anymore. I thought I had taken care of everything, but I was wrong"

His voice was soft and he stared right into my eyes that were filled with tears just like his.

"I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to lose you like I lost my family. I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have" He shook his head slowly, "But I want you. What do I do, Tess? What do I do?" He said and lowered his head on my shoulder.

"You came back to me even though you weren't ready" I said softly stroking his hair, "You still don't trust me. You still keep secrets from me and you lied to me. You need to understand that we should both trust each other. You should tell me about your problems just like I tell you about mine. I don't care about your job, but when it's something about you and our relationship I want to know" I said.

He lifted his head and looked at me, "I know you were anxious about something happening to me when I was away from you. I know you were paranoid"

His eyes widened, but he silently listened to me.

"You need to work on yourself. I can't be there for you if you don't want me to be"

"You're leaving?" He asked, his voice soft.

"Just like last time, we're both hurting. You're better off without me because you're not filled with worries. Just like you think I'm better off without you"

"No-"

"I don't want to leave either" I said barely holding back from sobbing.

"Don't leave, please. You can stay with me I can protect you if you're with me all the time-"

"I can't be with you all the time that's impossible. Why don't you trust me like I trust you?"

He stared at me silently, "If you honestly promise me right now that you'll trust me, let me live my life normally, talk to me about your problems and try to get rid of your worries I'll stay, but if you can't I'll have to go" My voice gave out at the end and the tears filled my vision. I couldn't see clearly, it was all blurry

However I could see his hesitant look and I could see he couldn't do what I was asking.

I wiped my tears and turned around to leave, but he held my wrist and turned me to look at him.

"I love you" He confessed with a desperate look on his face.

I stood frozen for a minute not knowing what to say.

"I loved you when we broke up almost two years ago and I still loved you when we got back together-"

"You're telling me now?" I asked in disbelief, the tears streaming down my face now were many more, "You had all this time to tell me and you tell me now?"

Did he say that just to make me stay?

"If you're going to leave I think you should at least know this" He said.

I looked at him feeling angry at the time he chose to let me know.

But I loved him too. I loved him too and I couldn't help it.

"I love you too"

He exhaled harshly and smiled through his tears.

"-but my decision is still the same"

His smile fell.

"If you ever decide to trust me and work on your worries then I might still be there, but until then let me live my life normally" I said my heart hurting at my own words.

He looked down in sadness and nodded slowly, "I will. If you give me time, I will" He said, "I promise. One day, as soon as I can and after I've dealt with all these people"

I nodded wiping away my tears harshly. He took my hands away from my face and wiped my tears softly with his hands that were now washed and not so bloody anymore.

"Can I hold you and kiss you one last time" He asked hesitantly.

I nodded and he immediately took me in his arms holding me tightly and running his hands all over my body. He held my face and looked at it for a long minute before he started kissing all over my face slowly.

The more he kissed me the more I wanted to stay, but we only did each other harm.

Finally, when he had kissed every spot but my lips, his soft lips landed on mine and he kissed me slowly.

"I never want it to end" He whispered against my lips.

I pulled away and looked down, not able to look at him.

"Goodbye" I struggled to get the word out.

He nodded and smiled as tears ran down his face, "I'll see you soon, Tessie"