Page 17 of Loving Leo (Behind the Camera #4)

SEVENTEEN

Leo

“Thanks for doing this with me,” Asher says as we move toward the back entrance of the expansive house. I stare up at it and whistle.

“Of course. Always happy to take an extra job. And help out my bestie. Plus this place is like the Roman Colosseum.”

“I’d say it’s more like the Pantheon.”

“Yeah, well, off we go.”

Asher slings his arm around me as we make our way into the bustling kitchen, finding the manager who hands us our aprons and goes through our responsibilities. A few minutes later we get to work.

I don’t normally take on catering gigs, but Asher asked me to help and I had nothing else to do since Heath was busy, so here I am. Making a few extra bucks and killing time until I can see him again.

Is it ridiculous that I miss him so much?

This is getting out of hand and yet, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

We gather the trays with fancy finger foods on them and I eye Asher .

He grins at me, waggling his eyebrows slightly.

Rich people food is what we’re thinking. Maybe this is what Heath grew up eating. Maybe his nanny made him cute little cucumber sandwiches when he was still running around in diapers. I’ll have to tell him about this place, see if its the same kind of place and vibe.

Either way, this place is nice. My mind conjures up Heath running around in a place exactly like this with his sister, all while being chased around by the nannies. Oh who am I kidding, he wouldn’t be misbehaving. I bet he followed all the rules.

I grin to myself at the thought as I take a step outside. It’s the perfect day, almost as if these people paid the weather to behave. I’m pretty sure if they could manage it, they would have.

“Can you imagine being this rich?” Asher whispers to me as we make our way outside.

“Never,” I reply with a small snort and then stop near a gathering of people in elegant dresses and suits and ties. They pick the food off the plate and place it daintily in their mouths.

Apparently, no one here shoves food into their faces like I do.

Oh well. It seems Heath likes me just the way I am, beastly behavior and all.

As Asher and I move around, offering the finger foods to the small clusters of people, my mind thinks of Heath. It’s only when the trays are empty that I head back in for a refill.

As I move around the yard, I do my best to fade into the scenery. I want to do my job and then get back to Heath, but on my third trip outside, my steps falter and I gasp.

It’s him, standing out near some trees, his sister on his arm, a beautiful woman at his side.

I freeze, unable to look away, a smile forming on my face before it falls off quickly.

He’s making his way toward me, but he’s not looking my way.

Wait. No, he did look my way, a quick flick of his eyes, spotting me for a second before sliding his gaze away. What the hell? He’s avoiding eye contact, making me feel like my heart is shriveling in my chest. Why is he ignoring me? Why is he acting like this? Like I don’t exist?

Suddenly it all clicks.

Holy fuck. This is his parent’s event. Somehow I managed to end up in the same space as all of them. As a caterer. As the help. Suddenly I realize this is not going to end well for me or my heart.

“Leo,” Asher hisses softly. “Did you see Heath? Did you know he’d be here?”

“No,” I whisper, swallowing roughly, my eyes unable to leave his stiff form. He looks so good in that suit and tie, his hair perfectly combed to the side. His sister looks beautiful as well, as does the blonde bombshell making her way up to him once more, leaning into him like she’s known him intimately.

Oh fuck. Is this the ex? The one who cheated?

Lana.

Suddenly everything fades in and out and I find it hard to breathe. My chest constricts and I feel myself wobbling slightly.

He didn’t say that she’d be here. Why did he lie? Maybe lying is a strong word. Maybe he just omitted it.

Fuck. I shouldn’t be here and yet I can’t leave. I have a job to do. My mom raised me to be responsible, to finish what I started. I can’t just walk away, as much as I want to.

“Come on. Just keep working and pretend you never saw him.”

I don’t know if I can do that, but I try like hell to do as he suggests. It doesn’t quite work. My eyes are constantly drawn to him, to the way he moves, the way he speaks. I can tell just by looking at him that he’s uncomfortable. He tugs on his collar and adjusts his tie, fiddling with the buttons on his sleeves. He looks nothing like the carefree man I spend my nights with, the one who smiles and laughs and kisses me so sweetly.

And while I can understand why he doesn’t, it hurts that he won’t even look my way.

Stupidly, I even try to make him. I stop near his tight little circle and brush against his arm and his gaze flicks up to meet mine before diverting back to a woman and man I assume are his parents. They look like him. Heath is almost a carbon copy of his dad.

“Well, Lana looks good don’t you think?” his mother says coyly, her question directed to Heath.

Heath huffs and sips his drink, not responding.

“Don’t be rude, Heath.”

“She looks fine,” he grumbles, obviously annoyed to be asked this, probably with me right there to hear it. So I move away, not looking back as I move around the guests, listening to their inane, idle chatter. It’s so out of the ordinary for me, their talk about luxury vacations to the Bahamas and the Greek Islands, their yachts and their time away spent at their chalets.

It’s wild. So, so out of my world.

I don’t belong here.

“Hey there,” a familiar voice says behind me. I turn around and see Selena grinning at me. She’s a little tipsy, not that I blame her. If I had to come to something so stuffy, I’d drink too.

“Hi.”

“We didn’t know you’d be here.”

“I didn’t either,” I reply and then start to walk forward, not wanting to cause a scene. But Selena follows, her heels clacking on the pavement noisily.

“It was a surprise and a good one. Heath really likes you.”

My heart picks up but I shush her, not wanting anyone to hear that admission. It seems these people are a little nosy and a lot bored. Gossip would spread like wildfire through this group.

“I know! I am being very quiet, but I just wanted to say hi.” It’s a whisper, but a loud one.

I can’t help but grin at her and she smiles back. She’s ridiculous.

“The food is delicious, by the way. I didn’t know you did catering. Thought you were just a camboy.”

Now that is said a little too loud .

“Selena,” I hiss and then move behind a bush where there’s no one around. “How much have you had to drink?”

She shrugs. “Some. Maybe ten glasses. Fuck, I hate these things. We have to pretend we like our parents. Which we don’t. And Lana is here, the bitch.”

I take a piece of food from the serving tray and push it toward her mouth.

“Here you need to eat something.”

Perhaps if she’s chewing she’ll stop talking so loudly and maybe it will help mitigate some of the alcohol flowing through her body.

“Oh god, this is good. Who is the caterer? I need to meet them. Man or woman? Who cares! I will marry them!”

I snort a small laugh when some of the food sticks to her lip.

I reach out and flick it away just as her mother appears around the corner, glowering at us.

“Selena,” she says sternly. “Stop flirting with the staff.”

Selena snorts. “Um, he’s gay, mother dearest. He’s not interested in me.”

Her eyes widen and I find my skin heating, meeting her steely gaze.

“Stop speaking to him then. He has a job I’m paying him to do.”

Selena rolls her eyes and then grabs another bite of food from the plate, shoving it into her mouth, looking very unladylike.

“Sure thing, mom-a-do.”

Her mother’s cheeks flush red and she huffs as Selena wanders off, leaving me standing there, face to face with this woman. She should leave, ignore me and go back to gossiping with her friends. But instead, she lingers.

“How do you know Selena?” she finally asks.

I don’t answer, just try to move around her, but she stops me, a hand on my arm.

“Please just let me go,” I say softly and her eyes narrow.

“Selena has a habit of hanging out with the wrong type of person. ”

“We don’t hang out,” I murmur, trying to move my arm from her grip, but she only seems to dig her claws in.

“She was very friendly with you.”

“I barely know her, now please let me go so I can get back to work.”

She doesn’t seem to want to let me go and I debate just dropping the platter and making a run for it when I hear his voice.

“Mother, let him go.”

Her grip loosens on me and I take a step back.

She glances at Heath who is behind her with Lana at his side. She’s even more beautiful up close.

Hell.

“He knows Selena. I was just making conversation,” his mom says.

She tries to play it off, but it doesn’t quite work.

“Leave the help alone,” he says and then winces when he realizes what he’s said. But I can forgive him for it. He didn’t mean it. I know that’s not what he thinks about me.

Right?

“Just leave him alone and let him do his job.”

His mother purses her lips and turns to walk away, leaving Heath to linger, his gaze meeting mine, his cheeks slightly flushed. I offer him a small smile, hoping he’ll give me one back, but he doesn’t. He just offers me a clipped nod and then turns around and walks away, Lana at his heels.

I don’t like that. Not at all. I run a hand through my hair, feeling like shit, but knowing that this will all be over soon. And then Heath and I can discuss it and it will all be fine.

Everything will be fine.

Everything is not fine. As the afternoon turns into evening, I find myself growing more and more agitated. Heath is constantly with Lana, doing nothing to stop her from clinging to him and she’s hanging off him like some kind of drapery. Asher even notices and purses his lips in distaste.

“I don’t like that. She’s too pretty to be a curtain.”

I know and neither do I, but what do I do to make it go away? I’m going to finish out my shift and then we can talk. That’s what we do. We communicate. And when we do, he’ll assure me its alright, that he’s not getting back together with her. That this is all just a spiral in my head, but when she places a kiss on his cheek and he does nothing other than reach up and wipe it away, not rebuking her in the slightest, I feel myself start to wither.

I just want to go home.

He said she meant nothing and while that may be true, he’s doing nothing to deter her either. Not really. Although, right now he’s leaning toward her, his face set in stone, seeming to be saying something forceful to her. She huffs and then smiles back at him, trying to undermine his feelings with batted eyelashes.

I don’t like that at all.

Part of me wants to pretend this evening never happened, but the other part of me wants to go over there and tell her to fuck off.

I can do neither.

I just want to avoid it all until the night is over, but unfortunately that doesn’t happen. Heath manages to catch me when I’m taking a break, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched slightly.

“Hey,” he says softly and I peer over my shoulder at him and manage a small smile.

“Hey.”

“I meant to come over earlier, but I got stuck.”

I peer up at him. “With her.”

“Yeah. Fuck, Leo. I’m really sorry about all of this. I didn’t know you’d be here and you’ve seen me at my worst.” He lowers his voice and leans forward slightly. “They make me worse.”

My chest clenches at that admission. “I don’t think you’re worse. ”

I roll my lips between my teeth after uttering that and then just stand there and drink him in.

“I just want to kiss you,” he whispers.

The way his gaze moves down to my lips makes my cheeks pinken and I shift on my feet.

“I don’t think you should do that here. They may see. But just know that I’d like that. Very much.”

He nods and meets my stare, still standing a horribly far distance away.

He lets out a relieved breath, but then sucks it back in when I ask, “That was her huh? Lana?”

His head hangs. “Yeah. She won’t leave me alone.”

I shift on my feet again, peering over his shoulder to look at his parents and his ex who are speaking to one another several yards away.

“You should probably get back to them.”

“I’d rather run away with you instead.”

He grins at me and his hand reaches out slightly before falling back to his side.

I miss his touch, can feel the absence of him. It’s only a day, but still. I don’t like him having to hide. It’s a horrible thing to be someone you’re not, to pretend.

To put on a mask for so many years.

“I should go.”

“You should.”

He sighs and turns to leave, his steps faltering, making me deflate slightly as he continues to walk away from me. I can’t help but watch him go and that’s where the mistake is made.

Lana catches me watching him and I know she sees it in my eyes.

The yearning, the desire. The connection I have with him.

Her lips turn down and her arms fold across her chest.

Fuck, I need to leave before she confronts me. I’m a terrible liar.

I don’t want to ruin this for him.

“Who are you, really?” Heath’s mom asks me, catching me off guard twenty minutes later. The tray of drinks wobbles in my hand and I blink over at her, not answering. “How do you really know my kids?”

“Just in passing,” I lie and she narrows her gaze at me, much more intuitive than I thought.

“I don’t believe that. My children don’t associate with the staff.”

I bite my tongue and glance away, wishing she’d leave me alone because the longer she stays here the more chance I have of blurting something out I shouldn’t. I have terrible verbal diarrhea.

“I mean, they do,” I say softly and she takes a step closer. “You must not know them very well if you think that.”

She purses her lips and cocks her head, not liking my response. I bet no one talks back to her. I bet she always gets her way.

She’s so different than my mom.

“You were hired to do a job, not socialize with my children.”

“I didn’t approach them. They came to me.”

Her eye twitches. She doesn’t like that either.

“Just stay away from them. And do your job. After that, I never want to see you again.”

I give her a clipped nod, feeling my heart sink when I catch Heath making his way over to us with a purpose. It seems he’s at his wits end.

“Mother, you’re wanted,” he says, trying to get her away from me.

I appreciate the thought, but don’t want him involved. As nasty as she seems, she is his mother and I don’t want to come between them or be the reason there is any animosity in their family.

“I was busy taking care of things.”

“Well, you should not be working. Its your anniversary. Paul will take care of whatever the issue is. That’s what you’ve hired him to do.”

She huffs and then turns to walk away, just as Heath moves up to me. “You okay?” he asks softly and I grin up at him, just as his mother turns toward us once more and catches the way he gently touches my hand.

It’s obvious what this is.

She sees it and seethes. I swear smoke comes out of her ears.

Marching back to us, she grabs onto Heath’s arm and tugs him forward. I can do nothing but stand there and watch as she gets into his face, hissing angry words at him. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but I get the gist.

He gave us away.

His face is pale, his shoulders sinking as she pokes him in the chest. I don’t know if this is because I’m a man or the help. For some reason, I think it’s the latter.

I need to leave before things get worse. It’s almost time for me to go anyway, my shift is almost over. I hesitate just a moment, wanting to know what Heath wants me to do when I hear him say, “It’s nothing. Fuck. Just leave it!”

The way his voice rises, his eyes flicking to me, shame filling his tortured gaze says it all. I know why he did it, but still, it hurts.

I need a minute to gather my thoughts. I need some space.

Like I said, it’s better if I leave. I should have left hours ago. The minute I saw him I should have taken off.

This is a conflict of interest or some shit.

I’ve ruined things. I’ve ruined it all.

I move inside the house, setting the tray down and walking out without a backwards glance.

Heath and I can talk later.

Right now, I need to think about what this means.

What I really mean to him.