If I Never Knew You Trilogy Bundle

by Aubrey Bailey

  "You know," Landon said, kissing me lightly, "in a way, I was just stupid and blind."

  "And teasing," I added, grabbing his head and bringing his lips to mine. I was sitting on the counter behind me within seconds.

  True enough, all we did was make out before the captain announced we would be landing soon. I don't think we qualified for the Mile High Club.

  We landed before noon. Luckily, we were able to get a few hours of sleep before the whole group got hauled down to do some sound check stuff before the show that night.

  "We should do something fun," I suggested.

  "Go ahead, you're the only one who seems to have the energy to do anything big anyway," Bridgette said, yawning. I rolled my eyes.

  "Fine, we'll do Moves for You then," I said. The girls instantly brightened.

  I loved that song so much! It was fun to dance to. I was happy because I had a headset instead of a microphone for once. I waved at my parents and Noah. My brother looked as if he needed a lot more sleep than what we gave him, even though he was the first to fall asleep on the plane and the last to wake up. I looked at the girls-they were pumped up once we started playing. So much for being tired. They all seemed to be restraining themselves from just giving up on the instruments, and joining in the dancing. I couldn't help laughing. It was great. I knew the audience that night would love this song. When we finished, everyone in the little group cheered. Even I clapped.

  After sound check, we were given a few hours of beach time. Faith and I lay on the beach in our swimsuits for all of maybe five minutes before we were dragged into the water. At one point, I was on Landon's shoulders and Bridgette was on Noah's and we were trying to see who could push who over.

  After the beach, I still had time, so I went with Paul into the hotel room he shared with Landon and Noah. My brother was still on the beach with the rest of the girls, but Landon, surprisingly, wasn't, if the sound of a running shower was any indication.

  "I'm just gonna put this away, then leave," Paul said, putting the bag in his suitcase.

  I could barely contain myself from giggling, thinking about a plan I had involving Landon. I told Paul that I wanted to freak Landon out, so he wisely decided to stay away and just left. I walked into the bathroom, then leaned against the wall next to the door and waited.

  "I know you're standing there, Riles," Landon said, after about ten seconds.

  "How the hell do you do know that?" I demanded.

  "Oh please, who else is going to come in here?" Landon asked, poking his head around the curtain.

  "Good point," I conceded. Grinning, I walked across the bathroom and stood in front of him.

  "What are you doing?" Landon asked. I took off the shirt and shorts I had on overtop of my bathing suit. Landon raised an eyebrow.

  "I figured, why waste time in walking across the hall to my own room to take a shower? I'm already here." I pushed him back then stepped into the shower with him.

  "I think I might be a bad influence on you," Landon said, smirking.

  "Since when have you not been?" I asked. I then kissed him.

  "Only got about half an hour," Landon said, barely pulling his lips from mine.

  "Plenty of time," I calmly stated.

  CHAPTER FOURTY-FOUR

  THIS WAS THE worst thing ever! I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms.

  "If you keep doing that, the paper might catch on fire," Landon warned, putting his hands on my shoulders.

  "I still can't think of that goddamn last song," I whined, putting my hands on my head. "It's driving me insane! I should have it by now." Landon sat down next to me and put his arms around me.

  He said, kissing my cheek, "Relax. Just as long as the teacher doesn't find out, you should be good."

  "Yeah, but the play is so close," I reminded Landon, leaning against him. We were back home, at his house actually, sitting in front of the piano. I tapped my pencil on one of the keys, as I stared at the pretty much blank pieces of paper in front of me.

  "You'll get it," Landon encouraged me, but I just sighed. "How about we don't think about that, huh?"

  "What do you propose we think about?" I asked, putting the pencil down.

  "Well, what to do for our date tomorrow," Landon suggested. I laughed. He had asked me out on the plane ride back. I thought it was funny that we had done a bunch of stuff without ever going on any official date.

  "Well, how about a movie?" I asked. "We can go after rehearsal."

  "Movies don't start until later on. We'll be sitting around for a while," Landon remarked.

  "Okay, how about this. You drive me home, drive yourself home, we get ready then you pick me up. We'll go to dinner-you pay-then a movie where I'll pay."

  "Sounds good to me," Landon replied. I loved the fact that he didn't argue with me over paying for things. I didn't usually want the guy to pay for everything. I'm the one with a lot of money and he needs to help out his mom.

  "Good, now that that's settled, I have to go home," I informed Landon.

  "Aw, no you don't," Landon denied, tightening his hold and burying his face in my neck.

  "Yes, I do."

  "But there's no one there. Your parents are out and Noah's working."

  "Oh wow, I'll be home alone for like the millionth time. What's the deal? You've never had this kind of problem with me being home alone before."

  "I dunno," Landon said.

  It was a few more minutes before we finally got up and he drove me home. I walked into the empty house smiling because goodnight kisses were always great, especially from someone like Landon. I got a bowl of chips and made some hot chocolate before sitting in front of the TV. I flipped through some channels before stopping on Music Broadcast Network. Having the TV on made being home alone so much more bearable.

  Someone knocked on the door hard.

  "Huh?" I said to myself, putting my food on the table and getting up. I smiled when I figured it was probably Landon. I just realized that I had left my music at his place and he probably brought it over. I turned the lock and opened the door, expecting to see my boyfriend.

  What I didn't expect to see was a tall, burly looking man who, oddly, reminded me of Preston. The smile went off my face as I looked up at him.

  "May I help you?" I asked.

  "Yeah, I have a question for you," the man said, leaning on the door frame. I moved back a bit to put some distance between us. "Your mom, is her name Madison Summers?"

  "Before she married my dad, yeah that was her name," I answered, completely not thinking.

  "That is exactly what I needed to know, princess," the man said. "Now..." He stepped into the house and I backed away. "This probably will hurt, at least when you wake up it will." Before I realized what was happening, his fist swung out and connected with my head, then everything went black.

  Later:

  Noah pulled into the driveway and a few seconds later another car stopped on the opposite side of the road.

  "Hey, Noah," Landon said, getting out of his car.

  "Hey, didn't you see enough of my sister already today?" Noah joked.

  "That's very funny! She forgot all her music stuff at my place," Landon said. He held up the binder.

  "Okay. Well, come on in," Noah cordially invited Landon. They walked up to the door, but it opened easily under Noah's hand. "That's weird."

  "What?" Landon asked.

  "Well, Riley usually locks the door when she's home alone."

  Landon frowned. They walked into the house. Lights were on, the TV was on, but Riley wasn't anywhere for them to find.

  "Riley, I'm home!" Noah called.

  There was no answer.

  "Since when does she leave hot chocolate nearly full?" Landon asked, picking up the mug. He put his hand over it. "And for a long time, because it's cold."

  "Riley!" Noah yelled, going down the stairs to the basement. Landon went up. He searched all the bedrooms and in the attic. "Landon!"

  "What?" Landon asked, coming ba
ck down the stairs. Noah pointed at the floor. "What am I looking at?" wondered Landon.

  "The blood," Noah said, crouching down to get closer. Landon did the same, and spotted the dots of blood on the floor by the stairs. "That wasn't there before."

  "I'm trying her phone," Landon said. He picked up the house phone and dialled. They heard the ringing and looked at the table. Sitting next to the bowl of chips was Riley's cell phone.

  "She never goes anywhere without her phone," Noah said. Landon and Noah looked at each other with fearful expressions. "I'm calling Mom and Dad." Noah took the phone from Landon, and dialled his parents.

  Landon called Bridgette and within twenty minutes Madison, Orion, Bridgette, Andy, Shauna, Alice and Faith were all at the house. Paul, Nathan and Lorne had all been called, but they hadn't seen Riley.

  "Where the hell could she be that she didn't bring her cell phone?" Madison asked.

  "Where the hell is my father? He should be here by now," Orion agonized.

  "If she's not here and she wasn't with any of you or Paul, Nathan or Lorne," Madison said, in exasperation, "where on earth would she be?"

  "There's nowhere else," Faith exclaimed.

  "What about the mall?" Andy asked.

  "Without her cell phone? I thought you were her uncle," Alice responded.

  The front door then opened, but everyone slumped in disappointment once they saw Grandpa Phillip enter the house. "I checked the arcade and the race track as I drove here," Phillip reported. "She does not seem to be anywhere around Knightsbridge."

  "Oh God," Madison cried, dropping onto the couch and covering her face with her hands. Orion sat next to her and put his arm around her comfortingly.

  "Did anyone try Preston?" Faith asked.

  "Several times, but there's no answer at his house or his cell," Bridgette said. Madison and Orion looked up.

  "Well, the thing you feared seems to have happened," Phillip said. "So are you finally going to tell them?"

  "What?" Noah asked.

  "There's a man named Damian, who was recently released from jail," Madison informed them. "He's been in there for twenty years."

  "That's my whole life!" Noah exclaimed. Madison nodded.

  "He's the one who almost killed you before you were born," Orion added. "He was your mom's boyfriend until I came along."

  "Why was he released?" Faith asked.

  "He only had a twenty year sentence," Madison said.

  "What does that have to do with all of this?" Landon asked.

  "He's going to want revenge on Madison and Orion for putting him away," Phillip said, "and it wouldn't be hard to find them when they've lived in the same house since before Damian even met Madison."

  "But how does he know about Riley?" Andy asked. "Everything else seems to make sense but..."

  "Damian is Preston's uncle," Madison explained. "Remember the one time we met his father's brother?"

  "The guy who was constantly drunk?" Andy asked. Madison nodded. "No way," replied Andy.

  "Yeah, that's what I thought," Madison said. "I guess he cleaned up a bit."

  "So you're saying that asshole, Damian, now has Riley and God only knows what he could be doing to her?" Noah asked. "Is this the reason why you and Dad have been fighting so much lately? Is this the reason he's wanted us to move for so long?" Madison closed her eyes then, slowly, nodded. "Why didn't you ever listen to him?"

  "Hey!" Orion said. "Don't be taking that tone with your mother!"

  "Why not?" Noah asked. "Because of us never moving, we not only had to deal with the absentee grandfather making an appearance that was never wanted, but now this!"

  "Thank you, Mr. Obvious!" Madison shouted. Her face was red and her cheeks were wet. "Can't you see that I'm tearing myself up enough as it is?"

  "Well, if you had just..." Noah started.

  "Noah, that's enough!" Phillip demanded. "Yes, your mother was foolish in her decision not to move, but that does not give you any right to speak to her in such a manner."

  "I'm sorry, Mom." Noah apologized. The door opened again and everyone looked up to see Lorne and Nathan enter the room.

  "We checked everywhere we could think of," Lorne reported.

  "And that's quite a lot of places," Nathan added. "But we came up with nothing." There was a silence after that. It was only disrupted by the sound of the TV still playing quietly before Noah finally reached for the phone.

  "What are you doing?" Landon asked.

  "What we should have done right away," Noah tersely responded. "I'm calling the cops."

  CHAPTER FOURTY-FIVE

  Landon:

  "WE HAVEN'T HEARD anything, I'm sorry."

  I squeezed my eyes shut then opened them. All around me was everyone else who had been here that first night. All of us (who didn't live in the house) were lying in sleeping bags. Bridgette was out cold on the couch. Faith and Alice were talking quietly on the floor by her. Nathan and Lorne were actually the only ones not in sleeping bags. They were sitting on another couch, Lorne with what was probably a list on his lap and the phone held to his head with his shoulder. I sat up and Nathan spotted me. He gestured to the kitchen and I nodded. The two of us walked quietly out of the room.

  "How're you doing?" Nathan asked.

  "You actually have to ask?" I asked. "I've been questioned by at least twelve cops just because I was the last person to see her."

  "Yeah, I know," Nathan acknowledged. "We've been at this all fucking weekend and still nothing."

  "What are we going to do about school?" I asked.

  "Your parents all came by when you were asleep," Nathan said. He moved the kettle over and turned the burner on. "Depends on how the four of you feel, but they're willing to allow you out of school. Faith and Alice's parents are only willing to do it for a week, though."

  "I don't think they'll be happy with that," I replied. As soon as the kettle started whistling, Nathan took it off the burner and made tea and hot chocolate. "Bridgette's probably awake now," I guessed.

  "I'll take your word for it," Nathan said. I helped him carry the drinks out. I was right-Bridgette was awake. I handed each of the girls a cup of hot chocolate, then sat with them. Lorne wasn't talking on the phone anymore and he had his head on the back of the couch. I watched the two guys for a moment before turning my attention to the girls.

  "Did you two sleep?" Bridgette asked, looking at Faith and Alice.

  "Yeah, for a while," Faith said.

  "The phone ringing woke me up," Alice said. Faith nodded.

  "I woke up to Lorne's voice," I added.

  "Yeah," Bridgette agreed. "I can't believe the one time, apart from sleeping, showering and swimming, that Riley took her damn phone out of her pocket..." She trailed off. She didn't need to finish; the rest of us understood what she was getting at.

  Despite what Mom said, I told her I'd try school on Monday. I didn't think I could stand being at Riley's house any longer without her there. School was even worse. It felt weird that, even though I had no classes but Drama with her, the place felt pretty empty.

  "Landon! Yo, Callahan!" I stopped on my way into the cafeteria for lunch. Turning around, I was greeted by a few of my friends, Matt, Fred and John. God, it'd been a while since I hung out with them! "Man, where the hell have you been?"

  "Around," I said absentmindedly, looking into the cafeteria. I could see Bridgette, Faith and Alice all sitting at a table (they had decided to come along to school for the day as well, probably just to pick up work for the week or something). Paul was with them, plus a few other kids who were part of the play.

  "Well, come and hang out with us outside for a while, man. Haven't seen you in a hell of a long time," Matt said.

  "Sure, I guess," I said then followed them outside.

  "So really, where have you been?" Fred asked. "Hanging with the Drama kids?"

  "Yeah, pretty much," I admitted, leaning against my car. Faith had left her jacket in the back seat.

  "We heard y
ou're dating that Riley chick now," John said. "Dude, tell us if it's true or not."

  "It's true," I said, looking at them. "Why?"

  "God, she's fucking hot! Where is she today?" Matt asked. Was he kidding me? They had dragged the whole school into an emergency assembly to talk about Riley being missing.

  "Weren't you guys at that emergency assembly?" I asked. The three of them looked at each other, and then shook their heads. "Of course not. Why am I not surprised," I sarcastically shot back.

  "Take a chill pill, Landon," Matt said. "No need to get excited."

  I rolled my eyes, and walked away from them. They called after me, but I ignored them. Bridgette looked at me when I sat down next to her in the cafeteria. She gave me a questioning look, but I just shook my head.

  Riley:

  I woke up not knowing what the hell hit me. God, my head was killing me! If I could have, I would have been holding it. But why couldn't I? I opened my eyes and looked around. Oh, my hands were tied behind my back. Then everything came back to me: being at home, someone at the door, some guy asking me about mom, then knocking me out. Fuck, he did that with just one hit. Either I'm really weak or he's really strong.

  "Glad to see you finally woke up. I was beginning to wonder." I looked up to see the man who hit me across the room sitting in a chair. "Your mom, now she could take a hit. You went down much too fast. Not too sure about your father, though. I never really met him."

  "So you expect me to understand what the hell you're talking about after I've just woken up with one killer headache?" I asked, "For which, by the way, I thank you ever so much." Just call me the Queen of Sarcasm.

  "Now, that's more like it," the man chuckled.

  "Who the fuck are you?" I asked.

  "I'm hurt. Here was me, thinking Mommy Dearest would have told you brats. Guess I'm just not important enough," the man conceded. "After all, the guy who nearly killed her and your little brother probably isn't on the top of her discussion pile."

  My eyes couldn't possibly get any wider at that moment. At one point there was a guy in jail who nearly killed my mother and Noah before he was born. And now, I was sitting in front of him. "Oh my God!" I exclaimed.