Together: A Dark Romance Duet || Leon Kennedy x Female Reader

Chapter 4: Leon

I lead our escape from the church, making sure every five seconds that she is behind me. Below, the villagers gather in the pews, chanting a prayer in Spanish. We eventually find a ladder against a stone wall that must lead up to the roof, but it is too high for us to reach.

"Get the ladder," I whisper, nodding to it.

She follows my line of sight. "Please," she sasses, and I ignore it, crouching down to allow her to step on my shoulders. Once her weight is on me, I feel her jump up and grab ahold of something. A few seconds go by as I wait for her to lower the ladder for me; a few seconds too many because I am left analyzing how her weight felt on me, and how it might feel against me in other ways...

"Hurry up!" she says, and I hold in the annoyed growl that wants to surface at her lack of patience.

Once I meet her at the top, the space is dark as pitch, the only light coming from a single window. I take out my flashlight and shine it around the space; we appear to be inside the church's roof.

"Where to now?" she says, her tone condescending.

Rats scurry around us in the dank space as I approach the window and find it lacks glass, completely open to the elements. The rain remains unrelenting, landing on my face as I peer over the edge and make a decision.

The jump is quite a few feet from the landing, but nothing dangerous. I land on the wet concrete feet first and look back up to where her face peeks out over the edge.

"Are you fucking kidding," she says. "No way."

"It's okay, I've got you," I say, holding up my arms to catch her, but still she hesitates, biting her lip as she gauges the fall. "Hey, trust me," I add.

This seems to convince her, and I watch as she swings her legs over the edge and jumps, letting out a string of curses all the way down.

I catch her with a grunt, and she lands in my arms perfectly.

Her body is soft against mine, and I can feel her breath on my neck, her heart racing. Her hands are locked around my neck, but I don't think she realizes it until it's too late. This close, and in the gray light of day, I can make out more features on her face: wide eyes full of worry but still beautiful somehow, framed by long, wet lashes. Her plump lips hang open as she catches her breath, skin dewy from the rain. I notice the cuts along her jaw and bruises on her temple, and it ignites something within me that wants to protect—that wants to hurt whoever did that to her.

She must feel my grip under her knees and around her ribs tighten because she squirms a bit, and I catch her staring at my own lips before our eyes meet.

"I promise you can trust me," I say, my voice coming out too breathy.

"Can you put me down, please," she says.

I can't help but obey, and I set her down gently. She brushes herself off, adjusting my jacket to shield herself from the rain further.

"Thanks," she says.

I start moving to keep my mind from lingering on the sight of her in my jacket. I have to keep my head on straight if we're going to make it out of here alive, and soon.

Before we make it too far, I get a call from Hunnigan.

"Roost, I've secured Baby Eagle," I answer.

"Copy that. Is she okay?" Hunnigan asks, static hanging off each word.

I look over my shoulder at her. She's standing with fists clenched at her sides, observing the woods around us like she's waiting for something to pop out. The rain is starting to dampen her hair. The shirt beneath my jacket is beginning to cling to her skin, accentuating the outline of her chest—