Landon & Shay - Part Two: (The L&S Duet Book 2)

by Brittainy Cherry

  She sighed. “That’s what I feel when I’m around Brian. I think about him all the time, too. Sometimes, I write my first name with his last name in my notebooks. I love him.”

  “You’re a lucky girl, then.”

  “That’s not lucky. I don’t know if he loves me back.”

  “That’s okay, though. Anyone who experiences love in this lifetime is one of the lucky ones.”

  She began picking at her fingernails. “A few of my old friends have been texting me about a party coming up. They said Brian would be there, so I was thinking about going and maybe telling him there.”

  “I think that’s a great idea, Karla. And remember, no matter what happens after that, at least you were brave enough to put yourself out there. If you’re ever given the chance to choose between being afraid or being brave, please, Karla, be brave.”

  She nodded and murmured the words to herself. “Be brave…” She smiled toward me, and I was thankful that she no longer tried to hide her scars from me. Watching that young girl heal was healing for my own soul. There was nothing more beautiful than watching someone find their way in life.

  Karla deserved the world, and I hoped she wouldn’t stop trying until all of her wishes and dreams came true.

  “Okay,” she sighed, rubbing her hand against her cheek. “Now back to my characters.”

  The weeks passed by, and my job search continued. I tried my best not to get disappointed, but to be honest, I was starting to feel disheartened. A person could only be told ‘no’ so many times before it started affecting their spirits.

  Luckily, after yet another rejection, Landon was in town, so I was able to use him to clear my head. He’d be in town for forty-eight hours. Twenty-four of those hours would checking in on Greyson’s family, and he left the other twenty-four opened for me.

  After yet another round of amazing sex with Landon, I excused myself to go take a quick shower before we’d go at it again for yet another round of our sexcapades.

  When I stepped out of the shower, wrapped in my towel, I discovered Landon holding one of my scripts in his hand.

  “What are you doing?” I exclaimed, snatching the paper from his grip. “That’s private.”

  “That’s fucking amazing,” he breathed out. “Karla was right. You are beyond talented. I knew you were good when we were younger, but Shay, those words are masterpieces.”

  I felt my cheeks begin to heat up from his words, and I tried my best to push my emotions to the side. “They’re okay.”

  He laughed. “I think you’re just humble. You need to get some of these made into movies.”

  “Easier said than done. Not everyone just magically has a career fall into their lap.”

  “Touché. But if you give me a chance, I can show your script to someone. I can get it in the right hands.”

  I shook my head. “You’ve been saying that ever since we were young, but I still want to do it on my own.” The last thing I wanted was for people to say Crazy Coffee Girl only got her rise to fame because of a boy. I wanted to do it on my own merit.

  I moved over to the bed with my towel still wrapped around my body.

  “Okay, but if you ever change your mind, the offer stands.” He continued to rummage through the scripts on my desk. “It’s just ironic,” he told me, placing the papers down on my desk before he crawled back into bed to hover his body over mine. He pinned his hands over my shoulders, placed his legs on the outskirts of mine, and studied my face. I hated when he did that. I hated when he stared at me with such gentleness in his eyes. I hated the way he took me in and noted the curves of my face. I hated how his eyes danced across my whole body, looking in awe at me. He studied the imperfections of my skin. The extra pounds I’d gained over the years. Then, he’d bend down and kiss every part that I deemed unworthy. Every part that made me doubt myself.

  He’d kiss every inch of me and call me beautiful.

  I hated how his words and touches made my cold heart flip.

  “What’s ironic?” I whispered as he untied the towel from my body and moved it to the side of the room. His lips grazed against my hipbones, creating chills down my spine.

  “How you write love stories, yet you don’t believe in love.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “I believe in love.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Yes, I do”—I pushed myself up a bit on my elbows and locked eyes with him—“Like I said before, I believe in love. It just doesn’t believe in me.”

  Landon’s blue eyes softened, and he leaned back on his thighs, looking me up and down. “Then why do you write about it?”

  I swallowed hard, feeling more vulnerable than I’d allowed myself to feel around a man in a very long time. If they saw you as gentle, they’d use your softness as a weakness. If they heard your voice crack, they’d deem you fragile.

  And then that heart of yours?

  They’d shatter it.

  I sat up more and wrapped my arms around his neck. “We don’t do this, Land,” I whispered, brushing my lips against his.

  His tongue slowly moved across my bottom lip before he gently bit it. “We don’t do what?”

  “Conversate.”

  He shut his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine. “We could, Shay. You could let me in.”

  “I tried that once.” I shrugged. “It didn’t really work out for me.”

  He grimaced. “I broke your heart all those years ago.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We were stupid kids. That wasn’t real love. It was fiction.”

  “Don’t underplay what we had, Shay. Don’t do that. That was the realistic thing I’d ever felt in my whole life.”

  Then why wasn’t I enough?

  My chest tightened and I felt my emotions beginning to swirl as Landon was working his way into my heart. A heart that I worked hard to keep closed-off from men—from him especially.

  Stop it, heart, I ordered. Don’t you dare skip for the man who shattered you to pieces.

  I reached down to his hardness and began stroking it as he shut his eyes. Then, I flipped him over to his back and I leaned forward and began sucking it, loving the moans that escaped his lips. My tongue ran up and down his shaft as he grew stiffer and stiffer in my hold. I loved that. I loved feeling how my touch brought him pleasure. I loved seeing how his body reacted to me. I loved…

  No, Shay.

  No feelings needed.

  It’s just sex.

  I looked up to those blue, dilated eyes that looked ravished. He loved it, too. He loved when I looked up at him with his hardness in my mouth, pleasing him. He loved that connection, and I secretly craved it, too. In those moments, it almost felt as if we were one. As if the energy racing through his veins was what was used to fuel my soul. We created sparks of life with just our touch.

  He stared at me as if he had every plan to devour every single part of me. I slowly thumbed my clit as he watched me. He pulled me up and flipped me onto the mattress, putting the control back in his hands. He became wilder when he craved me, and I needed that. I needed the wildness of Landon, not the calm. The calm made me think, the wild made me feel.

  All I wanted was to feel him, to taste him, to fuck him.

  It was nothing personal.

  It couldn’t be.

  I wouldn’t allow it.

  “You want me to let you in?” I whispered, as his lips sucked against my neck.

  “Yes,” he hissed against my skin.

  “Okay then.” I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him into me as he pressed his throbbing cock against my opening. “Come on in.”

  He slid into me hard, determined to fuck me harder than we’d fucked before, and I allowed him to stay a while.

  27

  Landon

  I thought that the interactions with Shay were going well, up until I talked to Raine and learned Shay had lost her job weeks prior because of me. She hadn’t been able to find a new form of employment, either, which made me feel damn awful.<
br />
  I was such an asshole.

  Shay’s face had been broadcast all across the internet all because of me showing up at her place of employment. The paparazzi wouldn’t have even been there if it weren’t for me, and due to that, she hadn’t been able to land another job.

  I knew better than to walk into establishments without being highly incognito, but was I wrong for wanting to have one moment in my life not feeling as if I was caged to the tasks of celebrity?

  I wanted a chance to see Shay and be normal with her again. To try to build up a friendship with her after messing up so many years before. I was an idiot going to her place of employment, and now she was jobless and a fucking internet meme.

  She didn’t even tell me about her struggles, because we didn’t talk on that level. She didn’t let me in.

  I never wanted that for her. I knew what it felt like to be mocked online and bullied by trolls. Shay didn’t deserve that. She was in a vulnerable position, and I was certain anyone would’ve reacted the way she had with what that woman was saying to her. But, sadly, their breakdowns weren’t caught on film.

  I wracked my brain over and over, trying to figure out what I could’ve done to make this right. I needed a way to fix the mess that Shay was slugging through, and the only thing that came to mind was going back to the basics.

  Back to the woman who taught Shay and I both so much about life.

  “Sorry, we’re closing up for the night,” a sweet voice said as I pushed open the door to Harmony, a yoga studio in downtown Chicago. It was a stunning studio, and the peace I felt walking inside was overwhelming. Calming jazz music played over the speakers, and essential oils filled the space. Lavender, I assumed.

  “Maybe you can find about five minutes to talk to an old friend?” I said, making the older woman turn around and look my way.

  Shay’s grandmother, Maria, smiled ear to ear as she saw me. “Well, I’ll be…if it isn’t a blast from the past.”

  She didn’t hesitate to pull me into a tight embrace, and even though I stood almost a foot over her, I melted into her arms, squeezing her back. “It’s good to see you, Maria.”

  “You too, Landon.” She pulled back and slapped my chest. “But also, I’m mad at you. Just disappearing all those years ago.”

  She went straight in with no pause for a reunion.

  “I know. I’m sorry. Those years were really tough for me.”

  “Still, that wasn’t an excuse to just up and disappear. Even though I was very upset with you for what you did to my granddaughter, I still worried. You know you were always like family to me.”

  “And you were to me. I wish I had a better excuse for my actions, but I don’t. I went through a dark phase in my life, Maria. I lost my way.”

  “But you made it through that rough patch, yes?”

  “I did. It took a lot of time, work, and therapy, but I did. There are still some hard days, with dark thoughts, but I fight against them.”

  “I always knew you’d make it to the other side of the darkness.”

  “You believed in me when I couldn’t see a way, that’s for sure.”

  She eyed me up and down and then a small, gentle smile fell against her lips as she placed a comforting hand against my cheek. “How’s your heart?”

  Three words. Three simple words and instantly I was that teenage boy who was so lost, standing in front of a woman who’d so often helped me find my way. I slid my hands into my pockets and cleared my throat. “Still beating.”

  “Let me make us some tea,” she said, walking to the back room. “You can go wait in the studio, we can sit, and breathe, and catch up.”

  I did as she said.

  Maria’s yoga studio was a true treat. It was spacious and felt exactly as the name would have one assume it would feel—harmonious. I pulled down two of the yoga mats that were hanging against the wall and lay them down on the wooden floor. When Maria came back, she held two cups of tea in her hands, still wearing that smile of hers. She handed me a cup, and then took a seat on one of the mats. I did the same.

  It amazed me how youthful Maria still looked after all the years that had passed. Based on looks alone, she could’ve been the same age that I left her at years before. I assumed yoga had been good to her. Plus, she had a way of living a peaceful life—never letting negativity touch her too much.

  “Even though it’s nice to see you, Landon, why do I get the idea that you’re here due to my granddaughter?”

  “You’ve always been pretty good at reading me.”

  “What can I say? I’m a well-read woman.”

  I smiled a little and took a sip of the tea. The warmth of the cup felt amazing against the palms of my hands. “I need to make right of a situation. I mean, obviously there’s a lot of things I need to make right when it comes to Shay. But the most recent is this whole coffee-gate fiasco. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have lost her job, and now the internet is losing its mind and mocking her nonstop. It’s my fault the paparazzi was there. I should’ve never gone into that shop knowing how they follow me around.”

  “Did you tell her to throw the drink into that woman’s face?”

  “No, but—”

  “Then it’s not your fault.”

  “No, it is. Those people took videos of her because I was there.”

  Maria arched an eyebrow. “Did you tell those people to follow you and take those videos?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Then it’s not your fault. I understand why you might think you are to blame for what happened in that coffee shop, Landon, but this time the blame does not fall on you. It’s not your burden to carry.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck and frowned. “For a split second on Christmas, it felt like Shay was almost going to let me back in. I mean, obviously not in the same format as before, but we were friendly with one another. Almost playful, and I screwed that up.”

  “If at first you don’t succeed…” she murmured, grinning my way.

  Try, try again.

  Which was exactly what I planned to do.

  I placed my cup of tea down on my yoga mat, reached into my back pocket, and pulled out my wallet. “I’m filming in town over the next few months, and one of my costars is in need of a new assistant while hers is on maternity leave. I passed on Shay’s name and thought it could be helpful with getting her a new job. My costar is more than willing to help out. She needs to meet her this week, though, since we start shooting. I need your help passing on the information to Shay. She won’t accept it if she thinks it came from me. Not after what happened.”

  Maria sipped her tea before setting it down and taking the piece of paper with a number on it. “You really care about her still, don’t you?”

  “I don’t think I ever stopped caring. I don’t think I ever will.”

  “Well, I will do my best to get her to go in for an interview. I’ll be honest, though, my granddaughter can be a bit stubborn sometimes.” She smiled wide. “She gets that from me.”

  “As long as you try, that will be good enough for me. I can’t imagine not trying to fix this issue. Even though you said it isn’t my fault, I still feel responsible.”

  She reached across to me and took my hand into hers and patted. “I’ll make sure she gives it a go, as long as you make two promises to me.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Since you’re here in town for a while, you must come take a few yoga classes with me. Once a week. I know you’re a hot shot actor, but if you can’t make time to slow down and breathe for an hour a week, then you don’t really have time to do anything else. Deal?”

  “Deal. And what’s the other promise?”

  “You come by for Sunday dinner, like the good ol’ days. I’ll make your favorite.”

  “Lasagna?”

  “Lasagna,” she echoed. “I’ll even bake homemade bread.”

  “Well, you had me at lasagna, and sealed the deal with the fresh baked bread.”

  We
go on to talk about life, and catch up for a little bit longer, before we both hug one more time to say our goodbyes for the evening.

  We walked out of the studio, and Maria locked up the door. I waited to walk her to her car. When we approached it, I opened the door for her, and she slid inside. “Thank you, Landon.”

  “Of course.” I held my hand on the door and hesitated. “Maria?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why have you been so kind to me? After what I’d done all those years ago, disappearing and breaking Shay’s heart. Why are you being so welcoming?”

  She placed her key in the ignition and her car roared to life. “Because I know you’ve probably beat yourself up enough for what happened, but lucky for all of us, you’re still here, and I get the feeling you’re going to spend the rest of your life trying to make up for those mishaps.”

  “Thank you. For everything.”

  “Of course. Just don’t disappear again. This time I’ll track you down and beat your behind.”

  28

  Shay

  “What do you mean someone dropped this off at your studio?” I asked Mima as I gave her a bewildered look. She called me over to come help her move a dresser, but when I arrived, she’d already changed her mind about moving it, but she made us some coffee and cut me a slice of the pound cake she made the day before.

  “I mean exactly that. Someone came by the studio and put up the sign. It’s not uncommon for people to hang up posters in my studio. It happens weekly. I kept this one for myself, because it seemed like a perfect fit for you.”

  “This is all it said? An email address?”