8. THE SIZE OF BUDDING ORANGES

Slowly, I turned around and met his gaze. 

He stood still, in the blackness of his clothing and peered into my eyes.

Holy fuck!

I recognize those eyes. Those empty eyes sucked a looker in. My face cream fell from my hands and I jerked. 

"What do you want?" I said, stepping away from his front. He doesn't say a thing. The mask over his face does not let me see any expression on his face. "You got your jacket, so why are you back here?" 

He took a step toward me and instinctively, I made a dive for my phone that was on the bed. I began to frantically punch on the screen, looking to call officer Steve. "How did you find my house?" I asked again. 

Maybe I should have called Sophia and slept at her place.

He kept walking toward me and my hands trembled as I continued to back away. 

"Stay away!" I yelled.

Then I hit the wall next to the dressing mirror and stopped moving. He was before me in a blink of an eye. 

My mind was threatening to burst with fear and so, I let out a scream. He stamped a rough hand on my mouth, muffling my scream. 

"I won't hurt you." I heard him say, softly. He looked at me some more and when he was sure I wouldn't scream again, he took off his hand from my mouth. 

I didn't scream. My eyes were still wide open with surprise but I didn't scream. 

What is wrong with you, Debby? I thought. Scream down this building!

But I kept quiet and watched him. 

He was pressed unto me and I was very aware of the thin materials between his body and mine. 

"Step away," I said, more calmly this time. "I'll report you for assault."

"Will you now?" He said, inching his covered face closer to mine. "You came on to me first, remember?"

"I was drunk. You said it yourself. Don't touch me."

"Why?" He murmured huskily, as he began to trail his gloved hand on my wet thigh, where my short robe did not cover. "And I told you to do it with a clear head. You're stable now. Am I wrong?"

Like in the club, the movement of his hands on my thigh caused me to shiver. The gloves he had on did nothing to reduce the effect the skin contact had on me.

My hands were upwards, apart from my body, as he pressed onto me. His hands moved up my thigh, working their way back and forth.

I must be stupid.

Why? 

Because instead of tension and fear, I was at ease. The initial fear I felt seemed to dissolve with the familiarity of his hands moving on my thigh. I was still dripping wet from the shower I just had.

"You're Leo?" I asked, instead of answering his previous question. "You steal?"

I was so concentrated on what he would say from behind his mask that I did not realize he had taken his hands off my thigh. The next place I left his hands was underneath my boobs.

"What the..." I began, only to be interrupted by him.

"Shhhh." He said. Somehow, he had undone the knot of my robe and slipped his hand underneath the piece of clothing. His hand roamed the rib cage area of my body. I let out a small whimper as he pinched the flesh gently. He dipped his face into the crook of my neck that he had exposed with his other hand. "You smell so fucking good." He said, through what I think is a groan.

When his other hand inched towards my breasts, part of my initially frozen senses returned. "No!" I screamed. His eyes darted to mine and then I said, "No" calmly.

I had small boobs. They were the size of budding oranges and I was very insecure about them. 

My feelings are too much like a tangled thread and it was difficult for me to read through. I was scared but at the same time, I wanted him to keep touching me. I had a lot of questions but I also did not want to say anything to make him angry.

"What does it matter if I'm Leo?" He asked, intruding on my thoughts. At that moment I wanted to push him off me but I knew I couldn't even if I tried. This guy was way bigger than I am. He was wide as well and his hand that's laid throughout my butt, squeezing it, was a direct proof. "What matters is that I am here and you want me."

"I do not want you." I protested.

"Your body heavily disagrees with you." He said, his face still nestled against my neck. 

He seemed to have taken my earlier protest seriously as his hands did not go upwards to my breasts again. But before I knew it, I felt both his hands moving my thighs apart. Until I felt sinewy ripped muscles underneath my fingers, I didn't realize I was holding tight unto him, clinging for dear life. 

My knees threatened to fail my body and my brain was almost shut down from sensory overload. 

God, I could just fucking die.

I felt sticky liquid trail down the side of my thigh and the sound of protest I wanted to make came out instead, as a moan. I clasped my hands over my mouth, ashamed.

My fucking traitor of a mouth.

"Don't do that." He said, taking away my hands and putting them around his neck. "I want to hear you. I want to hear the sounds you make."

He pulls his mask down, leaving his face almost bare, except for the hair covering the upper part and the mask covering his chin. Then without warning, he kissed me ferociously. He sucked my lips and I shrank from the intensity of it.

I didn't realize he had lifted me in his arms until I was straddling him, his groin pressed against the opening in between my legs. I wrap my hands around his neck, arching backward.

"I..."

"Fuck!" He said, stopping me from talking. "You are fucking muddling." He kisses the nape of my neck, sucking on it, the neckpiece around it rattling. 

"Leo," I called as if he was an ex-boyfriend I was getting hooked up with.

"yes?"

"Why did you help me?"

His hands stops moving all over my body and I instantly felt deserted. He retracts his face from my neck and looks at me. I still cannot describe what he looks like seeing as parts and parts of his face were covered. But his lips, his eyes, they were imprinted in my head now.

He was yet to answer me when I heard a shuffling from a distance.

"Debby!" I hear the familiar voice call. "Where are you? Holy fuck! The door is broken! We truly got robbed."

It was Jake. 

I took one look at Leo and the position we were in.

Jake would have a heart attack if he walked in on us in this manner, with me butt naked except for an open robe, in the arms of a man who looked highly suspicious.

"My brother." That was all I said.

"I know," Leo replied.

I expected him to drop me but he does not.

"Hey, Jake!" I called out instead. "Don't come into my room right now, I'm in the middle of something. I'm looking for what to wear." It was not exactly a lie. 

I was true, in the middle of something.

"Why did you sleep here? Are you crazy?" His voice came from outside. He was close now because his voice was sharper and clearer. Perhaps, he was just outside my door. "You should have gone to Sophia's place." He said again.

"You can't leave," Leo said into my ears, bringing back my attention to him.

"What?" I whispered.

"Don't leave here. If you do, they'll follow you and you'll be open to danger."

"You weren't the one who came here yesterday?" I asked, shocked.

"I was here yesterday. Only to retrieve my jacket before the police got hold of it. But the raid, it wasn't me. It's not safe, but you have to remain here. It's way safer than moving."

"What..."

He slowly lets me down on my feet. My stupid legs refused to do their work and so I stumbled. He helps me not to fall after which he pulls his mask over his face.

"Are you picking out clothes to wear or you're giving birth in there?" Jake's voice came from outside my room again.

"Almost done," I yelled back. "Calm your horses." 

I turn to face Leo once again.

"Don't go." He said one more time. "Don't leave here."

Confused and muddled, I watched him. With one final stroke on my hand, he moves towards the only window in my room. He climbs onto it, turns back, and takes a look at me as if he's reluctant to leave.

Then with a jump, he was gone.