Chapter Nine: It's Not About Revenge!
Leo lay gazing at a sleeping Izzy and couldn't wipe the smile from his face. After a very nice, warm bath they finally, but very slowly, consummated their relationship. Leo was struggling to find the whole thing a reality and had to constantly pinch himself to make sure. Izzy stirred and turned over mumbling something incoherent as Leo's smile widened even more. He got up and pushed the curtain aside slightly, looking outside at the town he called home as the dawning of a new day arrived. Leo was unsure of how to proceed with things now, they'd gone to the next level, he glanced at Izzy all wrapped up under the covers and his heart began to beat that little bit faster. Never before had this meant so much, never before had Leo actually felt something so profound. Usually when he slept with a girl he would take off and avoid ever seeing her again, with Makayla it was going through the motions. With Isabel Henderson, it was the most amazing night of his life! This was how it felt to be in love with someone, this was what he had been waiting for all this time! "Good morning!" Izzy whispered in his ear and wrapped her arms around his waist, he didn't even hear her get out of bed. When he turned around to hold her he noticed she was wearing his shirt, unbuttoned and teasing him, but it suited her better anyway.
"Good morning!" He replied and kissed her hungrily as she giggled, taken by surprise.
"Room service is coming in about forty minutes. What do you want to do until then?" She winked at him and traced his scars gently with her index finger.
"I..." He didn't know what to say, "...actually I think I need some sleep! You tired me out young lady!" Izzy bit her lip and buried her head in his chest.
"You weren't complaining at the time!" She mumbled, then looked up at him with those wide eyes. She was so beautiful, glasses or no glasses, if only she could see that!
When room service arrived with their breakfast, they sat on the bed and ate their pancakes in silence, small glances now and then followed by smirks and chuckles like teenagers. The taxi home was quiet but comfortable, and when they arrived back at Leo's house he didn't want her to ever leave. He remembered what she'd said, about not being in the right place yet, and he respected that. It didn't stop him from missing her any less when she wasn't with him though. "I'll stick the kettle on!" She mumbled and climbed wearily over Leo's hold all sitting in the middle of the hall. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who was rather tired from their recent activities, he fought back the urge to laugh like a schoolboy and threw himself down on his trusty couch. Flicking on the television to some antiques show, he listened to Izzy pottering about in the kitchen and humming away to herself. No he never wanted her to leave, she brightened the place up...she brightened him up! His phone beeped, a text from the newly weds,
"Bonjour guys! Hotel awesome, wife gorgeous! Miss me?" Charlie was obviously missing Leo, sending a text to your best friend would have been the last thing on Leo's mind if he was on honeymoon with Izzy! Charlie wouldn't even have come onto his radar, and he felt a little guilty for that. Such was his love for Isabel Henderson!
"Tea!" Izzy shoved a mug in his face and sat down beside him. "What are you watching???" She giggled and elbowed him in the side.
"I'm not watching it, I'm just...Charlie texted me, having a great time by the sounds of it!" Izzy nodded, but she didn't ask about her sister which he found odd. "Missing Amanda?" She wrinkled her nose and blew on her hot tea.
"Not really, she only left last night!" True, and Leo had been taking up much of her time since then, no time to think about your big sister on her honeymoon. "Fancy going to see a film this afternoon?" She asked causally as she whizzed through all the channels.
"Sure, why not!" Leo replied, any excuse to spend more time with her was okay by him.
Like any decent gentleman would, Leo let Izzy pick the film. Some weird sci-fi thing that she was into. When it was over, and it wasn't really that bad a film, Izzy took his arm and snuggled into him as they left. He should have been feeling content and happy, but the voice calling his name sent shivers down his spine. "Leo???" Izzy looked round to see a skinny, raven haired girl with far too much make-up on.
"Who's that?" She enquired as she looked the woman up and down.
"Just keep walking!" Leo grabbed her arm and pulled her along the street towards the taxi rank as the woman ran after them.
"Ow! Leo what's going on?" Izzy demanded as he dragged her to a vacant taxi, "Leo you're hurting me!"
"Get in!" He ordered, and she obeyed but only because she trusted him and had never seen him so forceful.
"Leo!" The woman shouted as she caught up with them, Leo slammed the car door and shielded Izzy from sight.
"You're not supposed to come within ten feet of me! Don't make me call the police!"
"I just wanted to...oh my God your face!" She clasped her hand over her mouth and her green eyes were wide with shock.
"I mean it Makayla! Leave me alone!" Makayla??? So this was the woman responsible for Leo's scars and burns? How normal she looked, like Katy Price or any other glamour model. Who would have known she could be capable of such an act of violence? She was so skinny and petite. When Leo got in the taxi and told the driver to take them to Izzy's house, she was confused at first. But then she realised he was trying to keep her safe, not that the woman would harm her...or would she?
"So that's her then?" Izzy finally said as they were half way to her house. Leo simply looked out the window with a stern look on his face, then he nodded. "Why are we going to my house? Will she hurt me?" Leo shook his head, still looking angry.
"I dunno Iz, I...dunno but I'm not risking it!" Leo ordered her to stay in the taxi until he'd paid the driver, then he took her by the hand right up to her door. When she entered the house and her parents called to greet her, Leo kissed her firmly on the lips and sighed. "I'm sorry if I was rough with you, I was...scared for you! I don't care about myself, she's done all she can do to me except kill me but...I'd just die if anything happened to you!" Izzy stroked his scarred cheek and smiled.
"You're staying with me tonight, aren't you?" Leo looked over at her parents in the living room.
"If they say it's alright then yeah, I'll stay!"
When Leo got back home the next morning, Makayla was sitting on his front step. He wasn't afraid of her, but he wasn't going to allow her to torture him again! "I told you last night, ten feet Makayla! You're breaking the rules of the restraining order! Do you want to go back to jail?" Makayla shot up and began to cry crocodile tears.
"Leo I wanted to see you, I miss you!"
"It's been over a year now, what do you want from me?" He shoved her aside gently and put the key in the door, he opened it half way and looked at her as she sobbed for dramatic effect.
"I want us to go back to the way it was!" Leo snorted.
"What? You tearing lumps out of me and me shagging every model I clapped eyes on? I think we're done don't you?" And he shut the door in her face before she could say anything more. But she did get her last word through the letter box.
"I saw you with that girl!" Leo's veins turned to ice and he felt a cold clammy sweat form at the back of his neck. "Yeah, I saw her! Did you think I wouldn't notice??? Well I did!" Leo stood on the spot for a long time, listening to her footsteps getting fainter, until he was certain she was gone. He called Izzy, she sounded annoyed.
"Leo I'm fine, why?"
"Call in sick today! Don't go to work! I'll come over and see you!"
"No I will not! Leo stop being so weird!"
Leo couldn't convince Izzy to hide, so he spent the whole day at the coffee shop with her. She was working some week days during the holidays and every time the door opened Leo's heart skipped a beat. Not that Makayla would know where Izzy worked, but he couldn't take that risk. Eventually Izzy got annoyed with him and told him to go home. "I'll be fine, stop worrying! Come round for your tea tonight okay?" Leo reluctantly left her, but he couldn't stop worrying about her. Makayla was unpredictable! After an agonising few hours waiting for Izzy to finish work, he decided to meet her at the end of her shift. But Tina, the annoying girl she worked with, told him she'd already left! He tried not to worry as he headed over to her house, but when her dad answered and said she hadn't got home yet...
"Why, what's the matter Leo?" Stu Henderson stared him down until he cracked. Izzy was now half an hour late coming home and Leo's nightmare was becoming a reality. As they all tried her phone, texting, calling, but no answer...Leo felt sick! He went back to the coffee shop to speak to Tina, who was less than helpful.
"I told you she already left!" She popped her chewing gum and tutted.
"Was she alone? Tina please this is important!" Tina finally sighed, rolled her eyes and replied,
"Her cousin, can't remember her name, started with an M! She came in asking for her, when Izzy finished they went off together! Why?" Leo's stomach lurched and he couldn't get a breath.
"Was she called Makayla?" Tina clicked her fingers and grinned,
"That was it, yes!"
Leo wasted no time in calling the police, they talked to Tina and a few of the customers in the coffee shop. They spoke with Izzy's parents and with Leo who was trying to point them in Makayla's direction to no avail. "I have a restraining order on her for Christ's sake! What is wrong with you people? She threatened my girlfriend and now she's missing!!!" The uniformed officer was being patronising as well as dumb.
"Mr Hardy, we are doing everything we can, but she's only been missing a couple of hours!" Leo was banging his head against a brick wall, and he was playing right into Makayla's hands, but he phoned her.
"Hi Leo!" She chirped and he wanted to reach down the phone and strangle her.
"What have you done to Izzy?"
"Who?" Makayla sounded as if she didn't know what he was talking about, but then again she was mad and he'd always thought she was sane.
"If you hurt her..." Makayla interrupted him with an amused tone.
"Leo I have no idea what you're talking about! Have you misplaced your specky geek girl?" She snorted.
"Makayla, I swear if you've done anything to her I'll kill you with my bare hands!" Leo hung up on her and threw his phone away in anger. It landed in pieces on the floor, stupid move if the police tried to contact him! He just knew Makayla was behind Izzy's disappearance!
He sat outside the block of flats where Makayla lived, unsure of what to do. He wanted to barge in there and look for Izzy, he wanted to physically hurt Makayla! As he sat there, thinking and stewing, his newly pieced together phone rang. "Izzy?"
"Yes, it's me. Where are you?" She sounded tired and annoyed.
"Where am I? Where are YOU???"
"I'm at home, with the police and my rather freaked out parents! Leo what have you done?" Leo's heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way.
"I...I thought...did you see Makayla?" He could hear her sighing.
"She approached me outside the coffee shop, yes. But I sent her packing! She wanted to warn me off of you, said you were violent and unpredictable. I told her she wasn't the one with the scars! Leo, please come over, I'm not mad!" Leo agreed to go over to Izzy's, he felt he owed her parents an apology for getting them so worried. How was he to know that Izzy had gone for a walk to clear her head? He honestly thought something terrible had happened. "They're fine, just come in!" Izzy pulled him inside.
"Mr Henderson! I'm sorry!" Stu rubbed his arm affectionately and smiled.
"No harm done, well apart from the possibility of wasting police time!" Leo and Izzy lay on her bed in silence. She stroked his arm and nuzzled his neck, but it didn't make him feel the usual warm and fuzzy inside. It made him feel even more concerned about Makayla.
"Leo? Talk to me?" Izzy mumbled, but he didn't know what to say. When he got home late that night, there was a note on his front door, from Makalya!
"I'm flattered that you thought of me when your new girlfriend was missing! Shows I'm always on your mind, I'm your drug and you need me! It was fate that I saw you the other day! I'm willing to take you back Leo! But you have to get rid of her, if you don't then I will! It's not about revenge baby! It's about love, true love...and you are mine!" Leo felt sick as he ripped the note up angrily. As if he'd ever go back to her! And now she really had threatened Izzy, the police wouldn't take him seriously now and neither would she or her parents! He wished Charlie was here, he felt so alone...and so frightened for the girl he loved!
To Be Continued...
