“Because I saw your wife’s lightning bolt.”
“I don’t know what that means, but it sounds weird.”
“Trust me, it is, but for now, go see your wife. She’s going to be happy to see you.”
“Or, she might kill you. It’s honestly up in the air right now,” Shay joked.
Hank hurried away in a fluster, probably beyond nervous about becoming a father. I knew he’d be great, though. Some people were born to be parents, and Hank Jacobs was one of those individuals.
As time moved on, Hank informed Shay and I that the baby would probably take a little bit longer to make an appearance in the world, so Shay and I could head home to get some rest.
It was pitch-black when Shay and I left the hospital. As we walked to our cars, Shay reached hers first, and I went to say good night, but she cut in first.
“So, I’ve been thinking,” she started. She rubbed her hands together and bit her bottom lip. “About us.”
Us.
Yes.
I liked the sound of that.
“Yeah?”
“Yes. I mean, the other day you asked me if I felt anything after we hooked up, and the truth was yes. It felt…” She released a weighted breath from between her lips and shook her head back and forth. “Really, really good.”
“Like the best sex of my life.”
“Exactly.” She nodded and her cheeks blushed over a bit, but she kept going. “Which is why I was thinking, maybe we can do that again.”
“Do what again?”
“You know…” She combed her hands through her hair. “The whole banging thing. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt something like that. I don’t want anything serious between us, obviously, but I wouldn’t be against feeling that again.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Are you asking me to be your fuck buddy?”
“What? No. That sounds inappropriate and wrong. It’s more like a fuck acquaintance,” she said, making me laugh.
“That sounds so much better.”
“If you’re not interested—”
“Wait, what? Are you kidding? Of course, I’m interested. I’m just thrown off, that’s all. I honestly expected that to be the last thing you’d say to me, seeing how you rushed out of my place that afternoon, seemingly uninterested in reconnecting with me.”
“I know. I’m a complicated girl, but this thing between us doesn’t have to be complicated. There just have to be a few rules in place before we start.”
“Rules? Like what?”
“For starters…it’s strictly physical. Nothing more, nothing less.”
I gave her a small smile. “Perhaps we can amend that rule down the line.”
“There will be no amendments.”
I fought back the frown that wanted to leave my lips. “Okay fine. What are the other rules?”
“It’s casual. If you’re in town, we can make it happen. If you’re not, we leave it alone.”
“Okay, sounds good. What else?”
“We don’t tell people about us. It’s a very private thing. Simply between the two of us. Also, we don’t talk about our past. We simply focus on the present. We don’t go deep.”
I smirked. “Trust me, I’m going to go deep.”
She laughed, and I loved the sound so much more than I should’ve. “Lastly, I’m the only person you’re sleeping with when you’re sleeping with me, and vice versa. If you sleep with someone else during the down time, you have to tell me.”
“I won’t be sleeping with anyone else. I don’t want to sleep with anyone else.”
Her lips flashed with a small smile before she held her hand out toward me. “Then we have a deal? We can be fuck acquaintances?”
I laughed at the term but held my hand out in her direction. “I think I can adhere to your guidelines.”
We shook on it.
“This is good, because that means I can stop with the dreams I’ve been having,” she said, making me cock another eyebrow.
“You’ve been having dreams about me?”
She bit her bottom lip and hid the grin that was trying to push itself out. “We don’t have to talk about that.”
“Oh, but I really want to talk about that.”
She opened her car door and slid inside. “Too bad. Not going to happen.”
“So, when do we get started on this little arrangement?”
“There’s no time like the present. I would give you my address, but it appears you already know where I live. So, if you happen to show up there in about thirty minutes, I wouldn’t fight letting you in. Eleanor won’t be home tonight. She’s staying by Greyson’s. Oh!” She held a hand up. “That’s another rule. No sleepovers ever.”
“I’ll race you there,” I joked, shoving my hands into my coat pockets.
“Good, and Landon?”
“Yes?”
“Bring your a-game. I don’t want the whiskey party to be the best sex I’ve ever had. I want better each and every time.”
“Don’t worry, Chick. I’m bringing my a-game, along with some extra credit. There’s so much I want to show you.”
I loved how shy she grew every now and then. She combed her hair behind her ears, and pulled the door shut. “Okay. I’ll see you soon.”
Yes, she’d be seeing me soon, and I’d be tasting every piece of her.
Dr. Smith probably would’ve advised me against having a strictly sexual relationship with Shay. He would’ve brought up all the reasons it would be a mistake down the line, but luckily Dr. Smith didn’t have to know. There was no way I was going to pass up a way of connecting with Shay—even if it was strictly physical.
Maybe down the line, that could change.
Maybe down the line, she’d think about letting me back into her heart and allowing me to stay for a while.
25
Shay
“Jameson Landon Jacobs,” Raine revealed twelve hours after Landon and I left the hospital. Landon and I spent the night together doing anything but sleeping, and he wasn’t kidding about bringing his a-game and extra credit along with him.
Landon rocked my world in every single direction possible, leaving me with sore legs and blushing cheeks.
We’d only left my apartment when we received a text from Hank that Raine had delivered their son. We headed over to the hospital right away to meet the bundle of joy.
Jameson was in the NICU, due to him entering the world early, but he was doing really well. The four of us stood in his closed-off area and stared down at him as if he were the one brought into the world to save humanity. He was perfect in every single way.
They named him Jameson, because Raine’s parents named her after the town she was born in. To keep that tradition going, the two new parents named their son after the liquor he was conceived with. Always keeping it classy.
“Landon?” Landon questioned, raising an eyebrow to our friends.
“Yes. We wanted to name him after his godfather. If you’re interested in that role at least,” Raine said. “If not, let me know because I think I still have time to change his name,” she joked.
Landon smiled and looked down at Jameson. “It would be my honor.”
Hank turned to me and nudged me in the arm. “You best believe that his middle name would’ve been Shay if he was a girl.”
I smiled. “I call dibs on the next little rascal.”
“That will be a long, long time away,” Raine sighed. She looked exhausted, but I assumed that was what happened when you gave birth. I was pretty sure she’d be exhausted for the next eighteen years. “But of course, you are the godmother. You have no say in turning down that role. It’s yours, so deal with it.”
“I wouldn’t turn it down if my life depended on it.”
“Do you want to hold him?” Hank asked Landon.
“Can I?” A big smile fell against Landon’s lips, and I accidentally let a smile slip from my lips just from seeing his.
I couldn’t help it, though. He looked so over
whelmingly happy.
“Of course, here.” Hank lifted his baby up into his arms and placed him into Landon’s. There was something so genuine about the way Landon stared down at Jameson. It was the same way he stared at Karla—as if he were looking at the brightest star in the world.
“You’ll never know a day of loneliness,” Landon whispered, placing his lips against Jameson’s forehead.
In that moment, Jameson opened his crystal blue eyes for the first time since we’d arrived, and it officially became the most beautiful moment in the history of ever.
There was something so wonderful about seeing a large man hold a tiny child in his arms.
The beautiful moment was ruined seconds later when Raine scrunched up her nose and made a face. “Is it just me or does it smell like nasty sex in here?” she questioned. Then, her eyes moved between Landon and me. A small smirk fell against her lips and she looked pleased as my cheeks heated up more and more. “Oh. Never mind.”
I wasn’t certain whose face was redder in that moment—Landon’s or mine.
The next few days were hard for me.
It turned out the crazed coffee girl fiasco hadn’t settled down over the past week, and I was lucky enough to go into the new year with people still tagging me online in their tacky humor.
Yup, that was right. The internet was so good at their stalking skills, they’d found out exactly who I was, and where I lived. That was scarier than one would think. I found coffee beans spread across the porch of my apartment building, along with a slew of iced latte cups. I was sure it was done by immature kids and was supposed to be seen as some kind of joke, but it didn’t make me laugh.
I ended up staying a few nights at Mima’s place.
I was left with such a feeling of unease with people knowing who I was and thinking they had the right to access me whenever they pleased.
That was why I always thought I’d want to go into screenwriting over acting. There seemed to be a bit of mystery that came with being a writer. You were in the shadows instead of the limelight, and I truly loved that idea. It turned out that I wasn’t made for the limelight, and the small fifteen minutes of fame I’d been getting couldn’t have passed any sooner.
I had three job interviews under my belt, and I was feeling pretty hopeless going into the fourth one that week. Each position brought up the fact that I’d been an internet meme and concluded that it wouldn’t be a good fit. They couldn’t work with unstable employees. One employer even went as far to say that I should’ve had more pride than to be fighting over Landon Pace. “He sleeps with everyone, sweetheart. Not worth losing a job.”
Last time I checked, I was applying for a job, not to be scolded for fake news.
As I sat in the fourth interview at a cute coffee shop called, Beans & Things, I was pretty relieved when fifteen minutes had passed during the interview, and the manager hadn’t brought up my dramatic claim to fame.
“It looks like you have quite a few years in the barista career,” Matt exclaimed, scanning my resume. “Is this a passion of yours?”
Serving coffee to people? No. Not a passion. But paying my rent was a passion, so I did what most people did during interviews—I lied. “Oh, yes. I love interacting with individuals on a daily basis. Plus, I know that people are much happier with a great cup of joe in their hands, and I like being able to give them that joy. Nothing feels better than seeing a smile on their face as they walk away with their order made perfectly. Plus, I’m fast, too. I can make drinks in my sleep, and I can memorize your specialties in a heartbeat. This would be an amazing opportunity to work for your business.”
Matt smiled, pleased by my answer. “Good, good. I’m glad to hear it. Now, there’s just one last thing. A test, if you will.”
I nodded. “Sure, okay.”
He looked up to the counter where an employee was standing, and he called him over.
The employee walked over with a smirk on his face and an iced latte in his hand.
Oh, no.
He sat it down on the table, and Matt turned to look my way. “So, let’s say a customer walks into the store, and you’re having a bad day. Say there’s an iced latte in front of you. What do you do with said iced latte?”
My stomach dropped and my face heated up as Matt and the employee both began laughing at me. I felt tears burning at the back of my eyes as they laughed straight in my face, as if I weren’t a human anymore, yet just a stupid meme that was giving them a kick that afternoon.
I gathered my things, and stood to my feet, without offering them another word. When I made it to my car, I sat inside and drove away.
As I drove, I let the tears began to fall.
At least there was no paparazzi around to capture my pain this time around.
Landon was in town for a few more days, and when I texted him to see if I could come over to forget about my so-called-life for a while, he’d invited me over. In the past, when I felt any form of anxiety, I’d go for a run to help me relax. Yet, there was nothing better than having Landon undress me, and roam his hands all over my body. Each time he thrusted into me my mind went elsewhere, far away from my current problems. I lost myself in him, the same way he’d used to lose himself in me when we were younger.
An eye for an eye.
Weeks passed with our arrangement. He’d find himself in the neighborhood much more than he should’ve, but I didn’t argue it. If he was going to fly into town for a random fling, then I was all about it.
Each kiss felt like comfort, each orgasm rocked my world, and each day I kept reminding myself that it was strictly physical. I wouldn’t become attached to him again like I used to be.
It was purely sex.
It was really great, mind-blowing, make you curl your toes, kind of sex. But still, just sex.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Even if that small corner of my naïve heart wanted it to be something more.
26
Shay
“Do you think we can take a break from talking about character arcs to talk about something different, Shay?” Karla asked, breaking me away from our current lesson plan. We’d been going on and on about what makes a character stand out in a manuscript, and ways to make each character realistic. A few of Karla’s characters were a little too perfect, so we were working to break them down.
Even heroes had their own set of flaws.
“Of course. What’s on your mind?”
“Well.” Her cheeks heated up and she shrugged her shoulders. “It’s kind about boys.”
“Ohh.” I swooned. “Tell me more.”
“There’s this boy at school named Brian. He’s so hot. Like, so hot. He used to be my best friend, but after the accident, we’d stopped talking for a while. Recently he started talking to me again, and I want to tell him I like him, but I don’t know how to do it. Plus, I doubt he’ll like me back in that way. He’s pretty popular still, and I’m…well…not.”
I smiled at her as she sat there with rosy cheeks from her nerves. “On a scale of one to ten, how much do you like him?”
“Like a hundred.” She giggled. It was so nice seeing this side of Karla. A side that wasn’t so serious and heavy. A normal teenage crush.
“And he’s nice to you?”
“Oh yeah. He’s pretty much the only person at school who makes me not feel invisible.”
“That’s important. You want to be with a person who sees you and loves what he sees.”
“The other day, a few kids were bullying me, and Brian heard about it. Later that day, I found a piece of candy in my locker with a note that said, ‘I’m sorry people are dicks. Here’s a Snickers.’” She grinned cheek to cheek. “I knew it was from Brian, too. He’s nice like that.”
I smiled, thinking back to my high school days when I used to find gifts in my locker. Banana Laffy Taffys.
A flurry of butterflies shot through my stomach from the memory, but I did my best to push them away and focus solely on Karla’s situation.
“Well, here’s the thing, Karla. Sometimes in life, you have to take a leap of faith. If you want to tell this boy you like him, then don’t be afraid to do so. Be brave and put yourself out there. If he isn’t interested that’s his loss. You’re a diamond, and he’d be lucky enough to get close to watch you shine.”
She lowered her head and combed her hair behind her ear. When she looked up to me, she was smiling and showcasing her beautiful scars. “Thanks, Shay.”
“Of course.”
“I think I might love him,” she confessed, fiddling with her fingers. “I don’t know for sure, but I think I do.”
“Well, that’s even more reason to tell him how you feel.”
“How did you tell your boyfriend you liked him?”
I laughed. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“What?!” Her eyes bugged out of her eyes. “But you’re hot!”
“I appreciate the compliment, but still, I’m as single as they come.”
“Probably because you’re waiting for the right person. That’s why Uncle Landon doesn’t have a girlfriend. He said he’s waiting for the right person to come back into his life. He said he used to love a girl a long time ago, but it didn’t work out.”
My heart flipped, kicked, and screamed in my chest.
I tried my best to ignore it.
“Oh? Is that so?” I asked.
“Yeah. He’s never had a real girlfriend since then. My mom used to call him a manwhore and said she worried that one day his penis would stop working.”
I snickered.
Luckily, said penis was still going strong.
“What about you? Have you ever been in love?” Karla asked, staring at me with those same eyes as her father’s.
I sat back in my chair and took a breath. “Once. A long time ago.”
“What did it feel like?” Her eyes gleamed with wonderment, as if she were searching for clues to see if what she felt for Brian was real love.
My hand massaged my left shoulder blade as I gathered my thoughts about what it felt like to be in love all those years before. “It felt like ecstasy. Like I was floating through the world, and I wasn’t afraid to fall because I was convinced there was going to be someone there to catch me. It felt healing. I felt happy. So, so happy every time he crossed my mind. Sometimes, I’d be sitting in class and I’d totally zone out on what the teacher was talking about, because I was thinking about him and the next time I’d be able to see him.”
Landon & Shay - Part Two: (The L&S Duet Book 2) Page 20