Chapter 20: His Promise
\[Leo’s POV\]
I stand in the hospital's parking lot looking around, trying to spy Rue somewhere, anywhere.
“Dammit.” I growl when she doesn’t come into view. “What the hell are you even thinking?”
Of course, it was obvious that she was thinking of ending her life, but what exactly could she be planning on doing to do that?
I rack my brain for somewhere she would go or what she would do, and when I hear the sound of a horn blaring and tires screeching, I rush in their direction.
When I arrive, I find Rue on the ground and a man hanging out the window of his car screaming at her.
“YOU STUPID BITCH! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING? CAN’T YOU SEE THAT THE FUCKING LIGHT IS GREEN? ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE? FUCK!”
On and on he goes as Rue just sits in place, her arms wrapped around her tiny body, and when I reach her, I pull off my coat and drape it around her.
“Sorry,” I tell the angry man, pulling Rue to her feet. “Here is my business card.” As I speak, I pull a card from my wallet and then pass it to the man. “You can settle this with me, but for now I need to get her out of the rain.”
Not waiting for the man to say anything, I start to lead Rue toward the hospital, but before we can reach it, she starts to fight me, kicking, clawing, and even biting as I try to keep control of her.
“That’s it,” I growl, fed up with her antics. “COULD YOU JUST CALM THE FUCK DOWN!”
As I speak, I grab Rue’s wrist and pull her toward me, and when her large eyes come to rest on me, I can see some sanity returning to them.
“DO YOU THINK THAT DARLENE WOULD BE HAPPY WITH THE WAY YOU’RE ACTING?” I push as she just stares at me. “LOOK AT YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF WHEN SHE ISN’T EVEN COLD YET! WHAT KIND OF DAUGHTER DOES SUCH A THING BEFORE BURYING HER PARENT?”
Stop it.
“YOU’RE BEING SO SELFISH!”
Stop it right now.
“DO YOU EVEN REALLY LOVE HER?”
Shut your fucking mouth, Leo!
“MAYBE I SHOULD JUST LOCK YOU IN A MENTAL INSTITUTE!”
My voice is harsh as I speak, and I can almost see Rue physically flinching from pain from each and every verbal attack, and once I’m finished, she simply collapses.
“I’m sorry,” she sobs as I just watch her helplessly. “I’m so sorry.”
Sighing, I kneel down and gently press a finger against Rue’s chin and then force her to look at me.
“I get that you’re hurting.” I tell her, hating that I certainly added to her grief. “But right now you need to be strong for not only your mother but also me.”
“You,” she repeats, staring at me. “Why would I do such a thing for you?”
“Because we are family.” I tell her, and I see her expression darken. “Your mother was the last remaining family you had, right?”
I knew the story about this girl whose father abandoned her before she could even remember and whose grandparents weren’t involved because they were angry about their daughter’s pregnancy out of wedlock.
Because of that, Rue only had Darlene, and likewise, Darlene only had Rue, at least until I entered the picture.
Now that Darlene was gone, I was all that Rue had, and even if we weren’t actually family and she was an adult who was living her own life, I couldn’t possibly just abandon her.
“Just because your mother has passed doesn’t mean that I’m going to abandon you.” I continue. “Like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”
Growing quiet, I wait while Rue processes what I’ve said, but with each passing minute nothing about her demeanor changes, and instead of looking relieved, she looks more upset.
“I don’t need anybody,” she whispers, slowly rising to her feet. “So, don’t sit here and pity me.”
Finished speaking, she yanks her wrists that I still hold free of my grasp and then heads toward the hospital, but before she can reach it, I’m rising and then moving, and when I’m close enough, I reach out and wrap a hand around her wrist.
“STOP GRABBING ME AS YOU PLEASE!” She growls. “I DON’T REMEMBER GIVING YOU PERMISSION TO DO THAT!”
Eyes widening, I stare in disbelief at the woman in front of me, trying to make sense of why her telling me not to touch her bothered me so much.
I mean, I understood what she meant, and if I was being honest, I certainly wouldn’t like it if she touched me all willy-nilly, but I really thought that we had grown a bit closer in our shared worry for her mother.
“Just leave me alone,” she sighs, turning and starting to move again. “Just pretend like we never met and go about your life once the funeral ends.”
“Why do you insist on pushing me away like this?”
The question leaves my lips before I can stop it, and I immediately regret it when she gives me a pointed look that almost screams, "Are you stupid?"
“I think you know the answer to that.” She says quietly. “We both know that our staying together won’t bring about anything good. So, to avoid anything bad happening, we should just go on with our lives.”
Go on with our lives. She made it sound so damn easy even though we both just lost the glue that bound us together.
I don’t know why, but the thought of just leaving her like this doesn’t sit well with me.
“I refuse.”
I couldn’t just abandon her when she was in so much pain and was mentally breaking right in front of me.
“I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to you because I turned a blind eye. So, until I’m certain that you’re okay and that you won’t do anything crazy, I will stick to you like glue, and if you don’t like it, oh well.”