CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO: ATHENA

The cool breeze on my bare legs jolted me awake. When I turned to my nightstand to see what time it was, the alarm clock read 2am. So I sat up in bed, trying to adjust my eyes to the dimly lit room, but something didn't feel right; I had an uneasy feeling that someone was watching me.

My gaze scanned the dimly lit room until it settled on a dark figure standing motionless in the corner of my room, his gaze fixed on me.I thought I was seeing things until the figure blinked, causing me to let out a loud gasp and tighten my grip on the blanket as a makeshift shield.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my room?" I asked but he didn't reply and just stood there staring at me.

"If you don't answer me, I'm going to scream," I said to the intruder standing in the corner of my room, while trying to find something to protect myself, hoping this was just a dream and he wasn't really in my room.

"We both know you are not going to scream Princessa," the intruder said and I recognized his voice immediately. It was Leo but what was he doing here? Did something happen to Austin's mum?

"Leo you scared the crap out of me, what are you doing here? Did something happen?" I said quietly, not wanting Sophia to come and check on me if she was back from work because she heard a voice that wasn't mine; even if she approved of him being my friend, she wouldn't like him being in my room at this time of night.

He took small steps towards me, and I shifted backwards until my back hit the headrest, feeling self-conscious about being alone with him, but that didn't stop him from getting closer.

"I came here to see you but you were asleep so I decided to watch you sleep, you look really cute when you sleep Princessa," he said huskily, causing my cheeks to flush deeply.

He was staring at me as if he wanted to devour me, and the moonlight making his gray eyes shine in the dark room made him look dangerously attractive.

His hair was down and falling across his face, his cheekbones were defined and high, and his jaw was tense and sculpted perfectly. His lips were heart-shaped and pink, making me want to lean in and kiss the lips that haunted my dreams every night.

He was dressed in a black hoodie with the hood down, and gray sweatpants, he looked really sexy as always. As he climbed onto my bed, he pulled me towards him with my leg, causing me to yelp in surprise.

Shocked like a deer in headlights, I watched him crawl over my small frame, his intense gaze still fixed on mine. He looked different from the Leo I knew but I knew deep inside my heart he would never hurt me.

He was now towering over me, his hands on either side of my body supporting his weight as he stared into my eyes. I noticed his gaze shift from my eyes to my lips for a split second before returning to my eyes.

He leaned in towards my ear and lightly brushed his lips over my sensitive ear lobe, sending shivers down my spine. "I missed you, Princessa, do you know what's going through my head right now?" As he whispered huskily into my ear, his voice grew deeper, and I felt hot all over.

"What are you thinking about?" I questioned shyly.

"All the bad things I could possibly do to you right now" He said with an amused smirk on his handsome face, sending another shiver up my spine, "You're trembling, Princessa, and I haven't even touched you yet,". Then an involuntary moan escaped my lips as I felt his fingers caress my waist beneath my flimsy top.

He moved his head back so he could tower over me again, he stared at my lips longer this time, licking his in the process, he leaned in slowly, until only an inch separated his lips from mine, then he whispered his breath fanning against my lips.

"Do you want me too Princessa?" he asked huskily.

"What are you asking? Leo" I asked softly.

"I'm asking if I can act on my fantasies, Princessa," he said, staring at my lips. I nodded, and his lips met mine, and I moaned at the sensation of his lips on mine. His kiss was gentle and sweet, and he tasted like lemon and mint.

His lips moved in unison with mine, and his kiss shifted from gentle to demanding in a split second. I moved my hand from my side to his hair, running it through his soft black hair.

My other hand moved to the back of his neck, drawing him closer, he growled and wrapped one hand to my waist, drawing me closer to him so my front was pressed against his, we kissed for a while longer until he pulled away, giving me a chance to catch my breath.

"You are so fucking beautiful" he says huskily and I blushed feeling butterflies in my stomach.

While I was still trying to get my bearings, he moved his head to the crook of my neck and kissed the skin there, leaving a trail of kisses from my neck to my collarbone.

When he stopped, I thought his delicious torture was over, but it wasn't. He bit down gently on the skin of my collarbone and began sucking on it. I couldn't keep my moan in any longer, so I let it out, and I felt him smirk against my skin before he continued sucking on that spot; he was bound to leave a mark, but I didn't mind because I was already his.

When he was finished, he raised his head to face me, his eyes searching for something as he stared into my eyes. Then he kissed my cheek and looked as if he wanted to stop.

So I grabbed his face and pressed my lips against his, I bit on his lower lip softly and brushed my tongue slightly on the bite, mimicking his previous kiss, he growled in approval matching my pace, his hands then went to my boy shorts slipping his hands in while I kissed him, his fingers brushed against my sensitive area, then-

I shot out of bed, drenched in sweat and panting hard. I was trying to process what had just happened when my alarm went off. I slammed my hand on the alarm while mumbling incoherently to myself as I walked towards the bathroom. I had a wet dream about Leo and blushed furiously. What the hell was wrong with me.

As I was taking a shower, my mind wandered back to the dream; I can't believe I dreamed about us in that way; this was my very first wet dream involving Leo, it felt so real and good; how am I going to face Leo now without making a fool of myself? Maybe I can just avoid thinking about the dream when he was around me.

When I was done with my shower I went into my room to get changed, I decided to go with a gray flannel tee with light blue jeans and a pair of black high top sneakers.

Sophia was not at home, which meant she was at Stephen's. I was so happy she found someone like him; they both deserve to be happy. I couldn't eat breakfast because Leo was due to arrive soon, so I warmed up some leftover lasagne for lunch.

When I finished packing my lunch by 8:30 a.m. I heard Leo's horn, so I packed everything into my bag and left the apartment, locking the door behind me and putting the key in the usual hiding spot in case Sophia didn't take her key.

I walked out of the apartment complex and towards Leo's car. I didn't want to embarrass myself, so I wasn't going to say anything to him until we got to school, which would give me time to think of something because I won't be able to stop thinking about the dream while he was in the car with me.

"Hi Shane," I said softly, smiling at him.

"Hi Athena," Shane signed, but his attention was elsewhere; he was watching something on his phone.

"What are you up to?"  I asked.

"Watching a new episode of demon slayer season two,"

"I see, I'll leave you to it," I said, giggling at his focused expression; he was just like his brother in that they both dislike being disturbed while doing something important.

"No hello for me Princessa, did I do something wrong?" Leo asked, but I ignored him, causing him to raise an eyebrow at me. I expected him to keep asking why I was ignoring him, but he said nothing else before starting the car and driving off.

Even after we dropped Shane off, Leo and I didn't say anything to each other as we drove to the high school. When he packed his truck as we got to school, I wanted to run for it, but when I tried to open the door, it was locked.

I faced Leo to ask why he had locked it but he leaned in and unbuckled my seatbelt saying nothing. I was perplexed at first, but what he did next caught me off guard completely. He picked me up from the chair and placed me on his lap, making me blush furiously.

"Now, will you tell me what I did wrong?" Leo asked, Instead of responding, I shook my head as I tried to get off him, but he just held on tighter, keeping me still.

"Athena, stop acting like a child and tell me what I did wrong; you know I don't like it when you're upset with me," Leo said, sounding hurt, I didn't mean to hurt him, but I'm too embarrassed to tell him about the dream.

"I'm not angry at you, Leo," I replied quietly, "so why don't you want to tell me what's wrong? Princessa," Leo asked, his expression worried.

"It's embarrassing, I can't say it out loud," I said, hoping he'd stop asking me questions, but a mischievous grin appeared on his face as he began tickling me.

"Leo, ple–ase st–op," I tried to say between fits of laughter, but he didn't stop tickling me as my laughter filled the car, "okay, okay, I will tell you, just stop tickling me."

Thankfully, he stopped tickling me because I didn't know how much more I could take and said, "I'm waiting or do you want me to continue?"

I leaned in and whispered into his ear, "I had a dream about you, are you satisfied?"

"So you had a dream about me? What's the big deal? That's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"It was a bad dream, okay," I explained further, making a much bigger fool of myself because he smiled a few seconds later, which meant he knew what I was talking about.

"So, my little Princessa had a wet dream about me; are you going to tell me what we were doing? Did you enjoy it?"

"Leo, please stop teasing me; I'm embarrassed enough as it is".

"I'll drop it for now, but you're going to tell me about it one day, and in exchange, I'll tell you about mine," Leo said. It took me a few seconds to realize what he meant, and when I did, my face heated up and my mouth gaped open in surprise at his boldness.

"Close your mouth Princessa, you'll catch flies," Leo smirked as he dragged me forward to the home room because we were running late and didn't want Mr Hunter to throw a tantrum.

When we arrived at the classroom, we took our usual seats, but it wasn't the same without Austin. If he was here, he would probably have stolen my phone to play Candy Crush. I really miss him.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't notice Mr Hunter had already left class after making the announcement. I turned to Leo and asked, "Have you heard anything new about Austin's mother?"

"The last time I called, which was this morning, he said Officer Simon came by to ask the doctors some questions and that his mum's condition was still the same," Leo said with a sad expression on his face.

"I don't want Austin to lose his only family, he's already lost so much for him to lose her too," I said, feeling my eyes well up with tears.

"Athena, Austin has family, and that is us, so he won't be alone even if he loses his mother, but I hope it doesn't come to that," Leo said as he drew me into his arms for comfort.

"I heard from my brother, a cop, that Kendall's mother was shot selling drugs. No wonder his life is so shitty, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now. What a freak," I heard someone behind me say, and I felt all the pent-up anger I'd been holding in for my entire life break free.

For years, I'd taken every insult and abuse from these jerks, but when he said such cruel things about Austin and his mother, something in me snapped.

"What the fuck did you just say?" I yelled as I turned to face the motherfucker who had just spoken.