Chapter 78: It’s Julia

Chapter 78: It's Julia

Ivy

“I’m sorry, Leo. I don’t know what has come over Andy.”

The words left my mouth before I fully decided on them. I turned away from Leo’s unreadable expression and faced the real problem standing only a few feet away.

“What the hell is your problem?”

Andy’s eyes were wild. He took another step forward until he was nearly toe-to-toe with me. “He’s manipulating you, Ivy. Just say the truth.”

I stepped back on instinct and felt the solid wall of Leo’s chest behind me again. The contact steadied me more than I wanted to admit.

“Andy, you’re sounding crazy.”

“Show us your arm then!”

Leo’s voice cut in, low and cold. “You might want to watch that tone, pretty boy. I’m beginning to have a real problem with it.”

I looked past Andy to Julia. Her face was tight with worry. Poppy stood slightly behind her, watching every flicker of my expression like she didn’t want to miss a single reaction.

I drew a slow breath.

“I don’t know what Andy is talking about,” I said carefully. “And this is honestly embarrassing for me. Yes, I have handprints on my arms. Yes, they’re Leo's. But it’s not what any of you are thinking.”

Julia’s brows drew together. Poppy’s gaze sharpened.

I forced myself to keep going even though my face was already burning. How do I say this lie without dying right here? This is so embarrassing.

“Leo and I had sex.” The words felt enormous in the quiet gym. “It was… passionate. I wanted it like that. I asked him to be rough with me. I told him to do it. He didn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t hurt me.”

The three of them exchanged quick, startled glances. Clearly none of them had expected that answer.

I wasn’t finished.

“Since Andy has already stripped us of our privacy, I might as well continue without shame.” My voice shook once, then steadied. “If you need further proof, I can show you the bite marks on my thighs. The handprints on my butt. I can even show you my breasts, Andy, since the three of you already walked in on us—”

Julia moved so fast she almost stumbled. She wrapped her arms around me tightly, cutting off the rest of the sentence.

“No, dear. I apologize. I’m so sorry. I apologize on behalf of him.”

I stayed stiff in her embrace for a second, then let out a shaky breath.

“It was my choice,” I said against her shoulder, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Just like any other young adult who’s willing to explore. I have my own… preferences. So please don’t ever try to embarrass me like that again in front of my boyfriend. I find this entire interrogation unnecessary and humiliating.”

I pulled back just enough to look at Poppy. “And you? Next time, fact-check before you go running with a narrative.”

Her eyes dropped. She bit her lower lip. “Sorry.”

I didn’t wait for anything else. I reached for Leo’s hand, laced our fingers together, and tugged him toward the door.

“Excuse us,” I murmured to Julia as we passed.

I didn’t look at Andy at all.

Leo’s grip on my hand was firm the entire walk through the hallway and up the stairs. I kept my eyes forward, too embarrassed and too wound up to risk meeting his gaze. My pulse was still racing. My skin still felt too hot.

Andy hadn’t been entirely wrong.

The marks on my arm hadn’t come from some carefully negotiated kink scene. They had come from Leo’s temper.

From the way his control had slipped when I told him I wouldn't marry him. But admitting that out loud in front of Andy would have been like handing him a loaded weapon.

He would never have let it go. He would have used it to justify every possessive, obsessive thing he still felt entitled to do.

I had chosen the lie because I knew Leo’s heart.

He loved me. He was rough around the edges and sometimes frighteningly intense, but he would never hurt me the way Andy was trying to paint him. I believed that. I had to.

Only when the bedroom door clicked shut behind us did Leo finally react.

He moved so fast I barely had time to register it.

One second I was standing. The next my back hit the door and he was lifting me, wrapping my legs around his waist like I weighed nothing. A slow, dangerous smile curved his mouth as he buried his face against the side of my neck.

“A kink, hmm?”

Heat flooded my cheeks so hard it almost hurt. I turned my face away. “It was the first thing that came to mind. And honestly the best option available.”

He nuzzled lower, lips brushing the sensitive skin just below my ear. “You could have told them the truth. Why cover for me?”

“Because Andy is acting like a raging lunatic,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady while his mouth did terrible things to my concentration. “He just wants any excuse to keep hanging around and harassing us. I wasn’t about to hand him one.”

Leo pulled back just enough to look at me. The smile on his face was softer now, almost fond.

“Aren’t you the most thoughtful thing,” he murmured. Then he rolled his hips, pressing the thick, still-hard length of him right against the center of me. “And the sexiest.”

He dropped his face into the open V of my tracksuit and pressed an open-mouthed kiss between my breasts.

“Leo—” My voice came out strangled. “Your mom is right downstairs. In this house.”

“And?”

“And she just walked in on us with my…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence. The memory of Julia’s horrified face made me want to crawl under the bed and never come out.

Leo’s low chuckle vibrated against my skin. He kept one arm locked under my ass to hold me up and used the other to slowly drag the zipper of my tracksuit all the way down. The sports bra followed a second later, shoved up until it bunched beneath my chin. His hot breath kissed my bare breasts.

He stared for a long moment, eyes dark with pure satisfaction. “You can't even say it.”

I looked away, blushing. “Leo… stop.”

“She caught me doing this,” he said, almost conversationally, right before he lowered his head and took one nipple into his mouth.

I clapped a hand over my own mouth to muffle the sound that tried to escape.

Andy was somewhere in this house. Possibly already pacing the hallways, listening for any excuse to start another fight. I refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing me.

My moans belonged to Leo. Only Leo.

He sucked slowly, thoroughly, like he had all the time in the world and no audience downstairs. His tongue circled the stiff nipple before he drew it deeper, teeth grazing just enough to make my hips jerk against him.

“If memory serves,” he murmured against my wet skin, switching to the other breast, “you were grinding on me like a little seductress earlier. Look, baby.” He shifted his hips so I could see the front of his sweatpants. A dark wet patch marked the fabric. “Still wet with you.”

I stared, mortified.

Had that really been there the entire time we stood in front of his mother and Andy?

Leo’s quiet laugh told me I had said the last part out loud. “Yes,” he confirmed. “They could’ve thought it was sweat from training, I suppose. But given the position we were in when they walked in…”

Another knock on the door cut him off.

“Ivy? It’s Julia.” Her voice was careful, almost gentle. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Leo went completely still against me.

For one heartbeat neither of us moved. His mouth was still close enough to my breast that I could feel every warm breath. My legs were still locked around his waist. My bra was still shoved up under my chin. Again.

I swallowed hard.

Leo slowly, reluctantly lowered me to the floor. He tugged my sports bra back into place with surprising care, then zipped my tracksuit most of the way up.

His eyes stayed on mine the entire time—dark, heated, and just a little amused at the fresh wave of panic on my face.

“Go,” he said quietly. “I’ll be right here.”

I smoothed my hair with shaking hands, tried to will the flush out of my cheeks, and opened the door just wide enough to slip through.