All Chapters of DEADLY FACADE: I Became His Obsession : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Lenny's POV"Explain?!" I spat out, throwing my plastic bag at him. "How the heck are you going to explain this?"He dodged—he always had surprisingly fast reflexes—and groaned, pulling up his pants and buckling swiftly."Sofia is a friend,""I'm sure she is," I seethed as he approached me. He had the audacity to wear 'that' smile, the one that usually had me melting in a puddle and swallowing any half-baked apology he had to offer.Not this time... or ever again."Len... look, I'm a man," he gestured to himself like it wasn't obvious enough, "I have needs. Sofia is just a distraction." He sounded so convinced with himself that if I had any less self-respect, I would have actually believed him. I dragged my palm over my face, the tears already beginning to bubble in the corner of my eyes. I already knew the answer to the question I was about to ask next, but I did so anyways. Perhaps a vain hook still lived somewhere in my heart as it crumbled into pieces. "Why didn't you call me even

Lenny’s POVGradually, the darkness that had swallowed me finally began to spit me out, taking off its tendrils as I heard sounds muddled in my ear. Soon, the fluorescent lights above me flooded my vision. After taking a minute to adjust, I swept my head from one side to another."You're alive," a deep, gruff voice filled my ears. My shoulders stiffened for a second, until I rolled the tension out of them, straightened up, and locked eyes with a guy leaning against a white wall, looking at me.Just as I was about to inquire about the identity of the stranger in front of me, a feeling of pain speared through my leg. I finally looked at it, set in a cast. I blinked several times at it and then looked at the guy. "You did this," I said, my voice entwined with accusation. "You were the one driving the car, weren't you?"My voice was getting louder with every syllable that trailed out of my lips because my life was already a hot mess, and now I was injured. Great. The man barely flinched a

Lenny's PovI woke up to a ceiling I didn't recognize for exactly four seconds before I remembered the motel.I sat up slowly. My head throbbed once. The jacket was folded neatly on the end of the bed and I stared at it for a long moment.The stranger from the bar.I had thrown up on him and then apparently blacked out in his car and he had….what? Brought me here? Did you know where I was staying?I picked up the jacket and checked the pockets. It was empty, there was no wallet, no ID, nothing that told me who he was.I set it back down."Okay," I said to the room. "Moving on."Moving on turned out to be deeply unglamorous. I spent the next two weeks submitting applications to every entry-level position I could find.I wrote cover letters that were honest in some places and strategically vague in others.The rejections came in three flavors. The automated kind that arrived within twenty minutes of submitting.The kind where they called me in, seemed hopeful, then went quiet after the

Lenny's PovShadow was already at the door when I knocked.I could hear him on the other side, that soft urgent whine that meant he had been waiting. Something about it loosened the tight thing sitting in my chest just slightly.David opened the door in a dark shirt and trousers, car keys already in his hand."You came," he said."I said I would."He stepped back to let me in and Shadow shoved his nose straight into my palm. I scratched behind his ears and he made a sound as if I had personally rescued him from something terrible. Which, technically, I had."Food is in the cabinet above the stove," David said, moving through the apartment the way he moved everywhere. “He eats twice. Morning and evening. Don't let him guilt you into a third. He will try.""Noted.""Leash is on the hook by the door. He doesn't pull unless he sees a cat. If he sees a cat, use both hands.""Okay.""Water bowl gets refilled when it drops below half. He's dramatic about it even when it's three-quarters full

Lenny's Pov The damage was not simple. The gash across his knuckles was deep and uneven. Someone had treated this in a hurry with no real supplies and not enough light. "What happened?" I said, keeping my eyes on his hand. "I had a rough night." "I can see that. I'm asking what happened." "Work," he said. "What kind of work does this do to someone's hand?" "Physical work." "You said logistics last time." "Logistics can be physical." I pressed a gauze pad to the knuckles and looked up at him. He didn't flinch. "David. I am currently holding your hand together with gauze. You could give me something real." He looked at me for a moment. "I handle problems. The kind that don't get resolved in a boardroom."