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46. Sanctuary
sanc·tu·ar·y
ˈsaNGk(t)SHəˌwerē/
noun
1.a place of refuge or safety.
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Reyna felt safest whenever Leo was around. It had been that way for a while now.
Maybe it was because she felt like he didn't constantly watch her, waiting for her to mess up so that he could pounce on her faults. Or the way he smiled when she actually laughed at one of his jokes. It could have been because when his lips moved slowly and surely against hers everything else melted away.
It might have been because the one time Hylla had taken Reyna aside in the hallway to try to get her to stop hanging out with Leo, he hadn't backed off like Jason had before him. He had stood quietly and listened to her sister and then, when Hylla had left, he had taken her hand and kissed her knuckles quickly in the deserted hallway.
"We won't let your dad find out then." Was his simple answer.
She trusted him.
That was big for her. Reyna didn't trust. She usually took years to open up to people and they had to prove they were going to pull through in tough situations or there was no chance.
Somehow Leo broke down her defenses with one corny joke and lop-sided smile.
When Reyna's father came home late some nights it was the worst. He might be drunk. Or angry and sullen. He might blame his daughters for his wife leaving without a trace or he might blame himself, mumbling too low for either Reyna or Hylla to hear.
Hylla had started to leave whenever that happened.
Reyna had started to call Leo.
He lived at a foster home but she didn't call often, and if he told his foster family it was for a school project they let him talk as long as he needed. As long as she needed.
Some nights that was a long time.
Leo was her safe place, her refuge, her sanctuary. He was the one part of her life that was untainted by her family and their problems. He was a haven, a private oasis for her and her alone.
He had started as a way to get back at her father and his rules. It had been the day after a particularly bad night at home and she had decided to lose her virginity in the girls bathroom at school to a stranger who was her classmate. Leo Valdez, the mysterious rebel who joked around and broke the rules and had no parents.
He was known for being a ladies man, even though Reyna had never actually seen him with a girl.
He had been gentle the first time when he'd learned Reyna was a virgin, and he hadn't questioned her motives because he knew when something was personal.
She had gone back because he had been so caring the first time.
He had come back because she was unlike any girl he'd known before.
Somewhere along the line it stopped being just sex.
Now he was where she went when she needed to get away. He was who she called when she needed someone- she had learned to trust him because he had always picked up.
Leo was kind and nothing like she had thought he would be.
Leo was safe.