Free Bound (The Guardians) by M.J. Stevens

This sounds like a lot at first, until you realise the Tower has fifty levels. I’ve even found my way through the conference rooms in the second pillar and once into the library. However, a good portion of days are still spent locked up in my room.
    I can’t believe it’s been two weeks. Fourteen days and not once have I seen Leo. It eats away at me inside. Every time I hear the door open, or see a shadow flick around the corners of the Tower, I’m paranoid it’s him.
    But as the anniversary mark arrives, my fear has turned to anger. How dare he grab and then dump me here? He really is a selfish little rich boy. I’m not some toy he can keep in a cupboard until he’s ready to play with me again.
    The afternoon approaches and the light is soft in my room. I’m free from classes and my papers are all finished and handed in. I sit at my table, flicking through a magazine Poppy has snuck in for me. It’s a fashion edition, not my strongest social topic, but still better than textbooks. I turn the glossy pages until a knock taps on my door. I turn and call comfortably, ‘Yeah?’
    When I see Leo’s tall frame and soft features sliding through the entrance, my heart twists with anger and panic. I stand from my seat and run around to the other side of my bed for safety. Last time I underestimated his power to intimidate me. Today, I’m not taking any chances.
    Leo heads my way. I don’t take my eyes off him. He’s wearing a purple long sleeve shirt and dark grey pants. I think that even if he was wearing a brown sack, he’d still look like a model. My eyes carefully drift to meet his. They look tired and red. He’s exhausted. His face is pale like the day we first met.
    ‘What’re you doing here?’ I snap.
    The tall boy stands directly across from me, the double bed acting as a shield between us. I see a brown paper bag in his arms. He steadily reaches forward and places it on the bed. He then pushes it towards me, then a bit more and then again…and again.
    ‘Stop that,’ I say, annoyed.
    Leo replies strongly, ‘Accept the package, and I shall.’
    Anger is bubbling under the surface of my skin. It feels like he’s talking to me as if I’m a child. I can safely say I’ve never hated anyone more in my life. He treats me like crap and then, what, tries to buy me? I reach over the bed and smack the bag away. It flies onto the carpet beside him, a small box tumbles out mid-air.
    I shout, ‘There is no way I’m accepting your bribes.’
    ‘I do not understand,’ Leo says softly.
    ‘That!’ I point at the bag. ‘Do you seriously think I’m as shallow as the rich girls you hang out with? You can’t buy my friendship and trust. That’s something you earn .’
    ‘Then what can I do?’ Leo asks loudly. ‘I have given you the space you clearly wanted. I have extended a hand to you in apology and you quite literally smacked it away! Tell me how to earn your favour so we can move past this issue as quickly as possible.’
    I let out a low tone scream. ‘There is no one way you rich brat! Every person is different and it’s something you need to figure out for yourself. It’s a process of elimination and a long road of endurance.’
    Leo makes a long, annoyed sound back. ‘That will take forever. I do not have the time or patience for that sort of task.’
    I roll my eyes downward. ‘Well then, you will never have my trust or even my respect because clearly you don’t care enough. If someone is really special to you, then you do those things without thinking. You don’t moan about it how much effort it will be.’
    I perch on my side of the bed. There is a long silence. I figure if he isn’t going to say anything, I might as well keep going. ‘If you can’t tell the way I’m feeling or understand why I’m upset with you, which evidently you don’t, then we will never get along. I will never be happy. All the space in the world, all the gifts…they won’t fill the void that I have inside,