New Blood | General Chat

[Littlefeets]

@benitz786

well it’s a good thing they’re getting married then

Exactly

[benitz786]

@Littlefeets

YOU KNOW IM RIGHT

[benitz786]

until they’re not

[Littlefeets]

[Littlefeets]

[Littlefeets]

Leo can handle it

[Caticorn]

@benitz786

an instinct to pull out her own phone and show him pictures of her kids, her life—the family she had built with Charlie.

do ittt

@benitz786

The past wasn’t something she could forget easily, no matter how far they’d come

@benitz786

The fact that he named his daughter after his sister said so much, about grief, about love, about the way life carried on even when it felt impossible.

@benitz786

it’s just that—the past. You’re happy… and I’m happy. And that’s all that matters, right?”

she does have a point there

@benitz786

This is Dom. Dom, this is Candice. It’s Candice right? Anyways, you both like each other. Come on. Talk

Dom had all the soccer ability and none of the personality

@benitz786

“I guess Clara’s still making sure we don’t mess things up, huh?”

she’s still looking out for them

@benitz786

Happier than when she’d last seen him. And that was enough.

Actually healing from trauma does wonders apparently

@benitz786

“I actually have to get going for a meeting,”

riiight

she’s a very important lady

@benitz786

It felt like an olive branch, a small step toward rebuilding something neither of them knew they needed.

this whole encounter was something they both desperately needed

[benitz786]

@Littlefeets

So i was right huh

[benitz786]

@Littlefeets

Leo can handle it

COULD LEO HANDLE THAT?

[benitz786]

@Caticorn

@benitz786

an instinct to pull out her own phone and show him pictures of her kids, her life—the family she had built with Charlie.

do ittt

She can’ttttt

her heart’s not in it yet

@Caticorn

@Caticorn

@benitz786

it’s just that—the past. You’re happy… and I’m happy. And that’s all that matters, right?”

she does have a point there

period

mic drop

@Caticorn

Dom had all the soccer ability and none of the personality

literally

but soooo cute how they started hanging out

@Caticorn

she’s still looking out for them

she is indeed

@Caticorn

Actually healing from trauma does wonders apparently

CRAZY who would have thought

@Caticorn

riiight

she’s a very important lady

She do be

and dom caught her off guard

@Caticorn

this whole encounter was something they both desperately needed

soooo much

[Caticorn]

@benitz786

She can’ttttt

her heart’s not in it yet

Sighhhh

Understandable tho

@benitz786

but soooo cute how they started hanging out

So cute

@benitz786

CRAZY who would have thought

Dom’s husband rn: I told you so

@benitz786

and dom caught her off guard

Oops

@benitz786

soooo much

Even if they maintain a strictly professional relationship, they got the closure they needed

[Littlefeets]

@benitz786

So i was right huh

[Littlefeets]

he can handle it

[benitz786]

@Littlefeets

I take that as a yes

[benitz786]

@Littlefeets

he can handle it

Can he

that was a rough day for him

[Caticorn]

@benitz786

[benitz786]

That’s so cuteeeee

[benitz786]

@Caticorn

Dom’s husband rn: I told you so

1 Dom’s husband
0 Dom

@Caticorn

Oops

Sigh

@Caticorn

Even if they maintain a strictly professional relationship, they got the closure they needed

i feel like candice will keep that distance

[Littlefeets]

@benitz786

May 31th, 1999

Here we go again

@benitz786

Leo’s eyes hadn’t left her since she’d pulled it over her body.

He can’t help himself

@benitz786

The world outside their room was different. Colder—full of eyes waiting to see her stumble… them stumble. She had no intention of giving them the satisfaction.

Everything’s better in the bubble of their room where its just the two of them

@benitz786

At the head of it sat Richard Azure, his expression a careful mask of politeness that barely concealed the frost beneath the surface.

He keeps that minimum mask of politeness to play his part but that frost beneath the surface is very much in control

@benitz786

She felt his muscles tense beneath the fabric of his suit, a subtle warning. He felt it too—the trap in Richard’s tone, the carefully laid snare.

Everything Richard says is a trap and Leo can recognize that
And Leo always gets tense when it comes to his dad

@benitz786

at the ring she wore there. Not… not her real one but as close to it as she could get. And after yesterday; she was going to keep it on her finger.

Leo agrees with that ring staying on her finger

@benitz786

Addie felt Leo bristle beside her, his hand curling into a fist beneath the table.

“That’s not your decision to make, Father” Leo shot back, his voice low and… almost dangerous.

Leo’s choice is always Addie, regardless of what his father says.

@benitz786

His free hand moved to the table, fingers twitching as if he were seconds away from shattering the crystal glass before him.

It takes a lot of effort to hide that emotion. It has to come out somehow

@benitz786

Addie’s hand slid over his, her fingers threading through his in a silent plea. “Leo,” she whispered, her voice a breath of calm in the rising storm.

He exhaled, the tension bleeding out of his shoulders just enough. He squeezed her hand back, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. A silent promise: I’m with you.

She’s the calm to his storm. Nobody can calm him like her

@benitz786

At one point, she found herself forcing small bites even though her stomach rebelled. Something was wrong. The voices around her blurred, their laughter and conversation weaving into a distant hum. A wave of nausea rolled through her, sudden and sharp.

Leo noticed immediately. His hand brushed her thigh, his voice low with concern. “Addie, are you okay?”

He’s worried

@benitz786

His eyes darkened with concern. “I’ll come with you.”

She shook her head, fingers squeezing his. “Stay. I’ll be okay.” She needed him to stay. To keep up appearances. To hold the line they were walking so carefully.

He wanted to go with her
And then he was stuck… he couldn’t get away from the dinner to get back to her for far too long

@benitz786

She had barely made it to her door, fumbling with the handle before she rushed inside, her clutch dropping unceremoniously to the floor as she reached the bathroom.

The sickness came in waves, relentless. She clung to the cold porcelain of the bathroom toilet, her chest heaving, eyes stinging with tears. Minutes bled into an hour, her body trembling as she leaned against the floor, trying to catch her breath.

@benitz786

Preston.

He was leaning against the wall, a cigarette dangling between his fingers, his smile wore a lazy… predatory curve.

Preston is awful

@benitz786

It made her feel disgusting.

@benitz786

But he didn’t move. Instead, he pushed off the wall, his eyes glinting with something darker. Before she could step away, his hand landed on her wrist, pulling her closer until her back hit the cold stone. And, within a second, he had blown smoke on her face making her stomach twist with nausea.

He wants Addie… He wants her just because she’s Leo’s…

@benitz786

Her voice was a dangerous whisper. “Next time, it’ll be your balls.”

It would’ve been better if it was that time, instead of leaving it as a threat for the next time

@benitz786

Leo was sitting in the hot tub, his head tipped back, blindfolded. Lauren straddled his lap, her movements exaggerated, her bare skin gleaming under the lights. Leo’s boxers lay crumpled at the pool’s edge.

The air punched out of Addie’s lungs.

A choked sound escaped her throat before she could stop it. A soft, wounded cry that shattered the fragile silence.

@benitz786

So, you and me—”

Her knee met his groin with brutal precision. He doubled over with a strangled groan, crumpling to the ground.

At least that next time came very soon. He deserves it

@benitz786

“Addie…” Leo’s voice was shattered, desperate. “I didn’t… let me explain… please.”

He’s broken knowing she’s hurt

@benitz786

He didn’t move. “Addie, I… I… Ithought she was you. She dyed her hair blonde… I only saw the back of her head…, and a fucking butler told me to wear a blindfold and—”

“You… You thought wrong.”

he knows he thought wrong
He feels like a complete fool and it will haunt him
He just wants Addie…

@benitz786

He slipped the blindfold over his eyes, his hands trembling.

A silent vow. A broken man, offering his vulnerability. Leo… offering his vulnerability… which was something she’d never seen before.

It was all he could think of.

She has full control over him. Anything she wants, he’s hers.

@benitz786

She watched him standing there, stripped of his usual confidence. His hands trembled slightly at his sides, his jaw clenched in a futile attempt to hold himself together.

Barely holding himself together

@benitz786

precision that belied the tremor in his fingers.

He can’t hide it, even if he tried

@benitz786

Each piece fell away, leaving him exposed in every sense of the word.

His heart is especially exposed

@benitz786

He stood there, blindfolded, utterly vulnerable, trusting her even now. It made her chest ache.

He trusts her with everything. Even with complete control.

@benitz786

She slipped the blindfold away, and his eyes opened. They were red-rimmed, glossy with tears that hadn’t fallen. The moment his gaze found hers, something cracked open in both of them. Pain, love, fear—they all tangled together… too raw to unravel.

@benitz786

He had been manipulated. Deceived.

Violated.

@benitz786

“Are you okay, Leo?” The words felt too small, too inadequate for what he’d been through.

He didn’t respond, his breath shallow, his body rigid.

He hardly knows how to answer that

@benitz786

“You… you were r*ped.”

He didn’t want to admit it to himself…

Also, why is it that so many of my male characters end up being r*ped in some manner somehow

@benitz786

The word hung in the air, a dark truth neither of them wanted to face. Leo’s body shuddered beneath her touch, his arms wrapping around her like he was trying to hold himself together.

“I’m not okay,” he admitted, his voice barely audible. “But I need you, Addie. I need you to believe me.”

[Littlefeets]

@benitz786

I take that as a yes

The truth doesn’t matter when Leo’s answer stays the same