Keeping Her (The Lexington Series Book 2)

by Belle Winters

  Nick sighed and dropped his elbows to his knees. “Something about that whole situation isn’t sitting right with me. But I understand, you’ve been through a lot today. Do what you need to do, but don’t make any hasty decisions until you talk to him about it ok?” he asked. I nodded and he grabbed my hands forcing me to give him all of attention. “I’m serious Lucy. Promise me.”

  I nodded again. “I promise you Nick I will. I just need some time. I have too much going on in my head right now.”

  He nodded and let me go. I made my way upstairs and went into Max’s room. I ran my fingers through his hair and he sighed. Max was so precious and I loved this boy so much. I wouldn’t admit it to him because I’m afraid of confusing him, but he does feel like my son. I kissed him on his forehead and then his cheek. I made my way to our room and grabbed a duffle bag out of the closet. I set it on the bed and went about packing up some clothes. I went into the bathroom to grab some toiletries and looked around to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. I stared at the t-shirt on the bed and sighed. Landon, what am I going to do with you? I looked down at my hand to see I was unconsciously twirling the engagement ring on my finger. I stared at it for two minutes before I sighed and grabbed my duffle bag to head over to campus.

  I rapped on the door and Naiyla let me in. she took one look at me and shook her head. “I knew that something was up. Come in, come in.”

  I gave her a small smile. I dropped my bag down on floor by the door and tossed off my coat. I walked over to the coach and plopped down and Naiyla followed suit. I looked at the table and laughed. She had ordered pizza and had two bottles of wine waiting for us. She paused the movie she was watching and turned her body to face me. She reached over and grabbed the corkscrew and opened one of the bottles. She handed me a glass and picked up one for herself and filled them. “You thought of everything.” I commented.

  She smiled. “I did. Now spill, what the hell is going on?” she asked.

  I sighed and started to tell her everything starting with the massacre and threat at the art show. When I ended with the call to Landon her eyes were wide and her mouth was gaping open. I was on my second glass of wine and drained it then refilled. As if I talked him up my phone rang, and I ignored Landon’s call. Two seconds later it rang again and I ignored that one. When he called again for the third time I ignored his call and turned my phone off. Once she gathered herself she shook her head.

  “Girl, I’m not going to lie but that’s a shit day.” She told me.

  I nodded in agreement. “You’re telling me? Now what’s new with you? I’m over this depressing shit.”

  “Well there’s not much. I’ve been on a few dates, but they’re all toads so far. Mainly I’ve just been running and keeping my grades up. There is a party tomorrow, some girl named Jasmine invited me to. She kind of just struck up a conversation with me one day after class saying that she knew me… and said she didn’t know many people. I agreed to go with her.”

  I frowned. “This Jasmine girl… Is she petite with brown eyes and hair with bangs?” I asked.

  Naiyla raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. “Yea… you know her?”

  I scoffed. “Not really. She went to high school with us our last semester, but she knew Landon. Had a major crush on him in a weird sort of way.”

  Naiyla looked surprised and refilled her glass. “What do you mean? I’m a bit freaked out here. I mean this random girl comes and gives me this kind of pity story to hang out with her… and you’re telling me that she knows my ex roommate and some guy that asked me out even though he didn’t really want to date me.” She giggled. “I’ve come across some wacky fucking people and I don’t believe in coincidences. The girl sought me out. It wasn’t like hey cute bag and we started talking. She waited for me and approached me.”

  I laughed. “Ok well let’s see. When she first came to the school she asked Landon to sit with us because she didn’t know anybody. But I spotted the googley eyes right away. She would seek him out for rides and things. Then she threw herself on him one day after a game. Then she showed up at the house saying she wanted to drop off a book of his. Mind you, they were both at the same practice because she was a cheerleader. At the time though she didn’t know I lived there so I thwarted her plans. Nick and Landon threw a party once and she was there and ‘fell’ onto his lap. That night I slept in a different room because I was pissed and the girl snuck into the room when he was passed out drunk. Found her in the bed in her underclothes. I think those are the highlights…” I trailed off and took a sip of wine. I was starting to feel a little buzz. I giggled and then my hand shot up. “Oh and we ran into her the day I dropped off my now ruined paintings for the show. She asked Landon to study with her. It was pretty awkward. That girl makes him so fucking uncomfortable it’s insane. I find it funny because he should’ve caught on to the signs the girl was in love with him. Now that it’s out there plain as day he’s all too aware and she creeps him out.”

  Naiyla shuddered. “That’s pretty fucking creepy. I’m cancelling on her. Something about what you told me doesn’t sit right. And I have a feeling the girl knows exactly who I am. She seems like the type to be passive aggressive but she’s smart.”

  I threw my head back and barked out a laugh. “I’ve met bat shit crazy… trust me. My mother, Dan, even those bitches Delilah and Molly. She just seems creepy I don’t think she’s capable of extreme crazy.”

  She shook her head. “I hear you and all even though I don’t know who those people are but I’m sticking to my guns. Did Landon tell her that she didn’t have a chance?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Oh yea. When I found her in the bed it led to this huge public fight with me and Landon. She heard what he had to say about it, and he practically said she was an annoying little bug he couldn’t shake. She had to have gotten the point considering she broke down in tears.”

  “Right. She’s fucking crazy then because she’s still trying. Now she’s trying to buddy up to your friend. No thanks, I am not ending up in an episode of CSI with this chick.”

  I laughed. “Only you.”

  We spent the rest of the night polishing off the pizza and wine and indulged in some chick flicks. It was well after 3 in the morning when we finally retired. This was exactly what I needed, have some girl time and blow off some steam. I live in a house full of guys, and I have to twist their arms to participate in anything girly. As soon as my body hit the bed I was out for the count. I didn’t even undress or change my clothes. I was woken up by loud banging. I grabbed a hold of my head and willed it to stop hurting. I opened my eyes and the room spun. Crap I’m hung over. I sat up and a wave of nausea came over me. I jumped up to run to the bathroom, when I swung open the door I saw Naiyla edging towards the door with a bat. The banging sounded again and the door rattled. It looked like I was about to be knocked off its hinges. That immediately sobered me up. I raised an eyebrow in question to Naiyla and she only shrugged. The banging began again and my stomach rolled. I ran to the bathroom and reached the toilet in time to hurl.

  “Who is it?” I heard Naiyla scream.

  “Landon, open the door.” When I heard his voice I paled and my stomach rolled again. I peeked my head out the door to Naiyla and shook my head to indicate that I wasn’t here. She nodded and I closed the door quietly and huddled into the corner. I could still hear them clearly through the door.

  “Landon are you insane?”

  “Where’s Lucy? Nick told me she came here.” he practically growled.

  “She did come here but she went out already.” I could kiss her right now.

  “Where did she go?” he asked. I felt sick again and willed my body to hold tight until he left. If I started throwing up he would know someone else is here. Knowing his crazy ass he’d barge in here to check and make sure that it isn’t me.

  “I didn’t ask. You just woke me up actually banging on the door like a lunatic.” I could hear her starting to get aggravated.

  There
was a deep sigh. “Her phone is going straight to voicemail. I can’t get a hold of her. Did she say anything to you?”

  “Not really. She was kind of out of it when she got here yesterday. We just watched movies then crashed.” Ok she was pretty good with the lying. I didn’t blame her I wouldn’t want to put myself in the middle of our drama either.

  “Can you tell her to come home or call me when she comes back?” he pleaded.

  “I’ll let her know.” She agreed.

  I heard the door close and lock and I let out the breath I’ve been holding. I waited two minutes before I opened the door just to be sure. I got up off the floor and made my way into the kitchen and fixed a huge glass of water and drained it. Naiyla was sitting on the coach looking completely exhausted.

  She looked up at me. “That man of yours is nuts. You should’ve seen him. It doesn’t look like he slept and he was frantic. His eyes were totally wild. I was afraid to put down my bat in case he went nuclear on me. I pity you when you have to deal with him.”

  I waved my hand and refilled the glass and took it with me to the couch. “He’s a big boy. He’ll be fine. I need some time before I deal with him. I wonder if Nick told him everything.”

  She turned and looked at me. “Lucy, I really think you should go home and talk to him. That man looked like he was on the edge on his sanity. What if he heard about that threat? He’s probably worried sick. I know you’re pissed at him and all but no one deserves to be worried like that.”

  I sighed and dropped my head. “I know. You’re right. Let me get a few more hours of sleep and I’ll get ready and head home. I can’t face him right now feeling half dead.” She nodded and patted me on the back and I headed back into bed. I fell asleep quickly.

  When I woke up again it was after 3 in the afternoon. I got showered and dressed and hugged Naiyla goodbye. I stopped for some greasy food since my stomach was normal again and I drove home. I ate in the car as I dreaded going into the house. Both Nick and Landon’s cars were there so I knew that there would be no avoiding once I went in. when I was done I gathered my garbage and headed inside. I heard the TV playing so I checked the family room first. Nick and Max were there watching a movie. I went in to greet Max and caught Nick’s eye. He grimaced and shook his head. Great, he was preparing me for hurricane Landon. I headed upstairs to our room and the door was closed. I stood there for a minute before I gathered the courage to enter. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. I walked over to stand in front of him and he didn’t move.

  “Where have you been?” he asked in a low voice.

  I sighed. “I needed space.”

  He looked up at me and he looked worn out. “You ignored my calls last night, and then I come home and you’re gone and so is a duffle bag. Your phone has been off… were you with someone else Lucy? Just tell me now.”

  My head reared back like I’ve been slapped and my anger escalated quickly. He had the fucking audacity to accuse me of cheating when I caught his ass. My hands flew to my hips. “And what if I was?”

  I saw the storm instantly in his eyes and he stood quickly and stalked after me. “Lucy, this is not something that you play with you hear me? When I told you that you were mine that meant that nobody else can have you. If I find out you were with someone else I might just break your legs after I kill him. So I’m going to ask you one more time and you’re going to answer me honestly. Were. You. With. Another. Guy?”

  I growled and stuck my finger into his chest. “You have a lot of nerve you know that. Who the fuck is the girl that you hook up with at all your away games? I forgot to get her name.”

  He looked at me confused. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  “You’re an idiot. You send me a text telling me to come see you and low and behold I don’t find you in the room. I find your sometimes fuck buddy. Why would you tell me to come out there just to catch you cheating? How many times Landon? How long?” Right now I’m following him and he’s backing up.

  “One, I didn’t text you to come to my game. Two, there was no girl in my room. Three, and most importantly I haven’t cheated on you.” He said frustrated.

  I grabbed my phone from my pocket and turned it on. I went into my text messages and found it. “What room were you in Landon?” I asked.

  His eyebrow arched. “406, the whole team stayed on the fourth floor.” He told me.

  I frowned and showed him the text. He read it and scowled. “I didn’t send that to you and that wasn’t my room. The time you got this message we were practicing… my phone was in my locker Lucy.”

  This confused me more and I plopped down. “This is crazy. So you’re telling me that someone went into your locker and sent me this text so that I could find that girl in a room thinking it was yours? Why would someone do that?” I asked.

  He sighed. “Dylan.” He said by way of explanation. “He’s still cool with a lot of the guys on the team and he was at the game. I saw him around but he’s not on the team so he doesn’t stay with us. That was probably his room.”

  Landon took out his phone and after pressing a few keys I heard ringing coming through the speaker.

  “Hello?” a woman answered.

  “Hi, I stayed there last night and I think I might’ve left something in my room. I was staying in 302.” Landon said.

  “I will be happy to check on this for you. Can you verify your name first?” she asked.

  “Dylan Thomas.” We heard keys clicking.

  “Thank you for confirming Mr. Thomas, can you please tell me what it is you think you’ve left so we can check on this for you?”

  Landon cursed under his breath and hung up. “Son of a bitch I’m going to kick his ass.”

  I sighed. “Landon, that’s what he wants. Just leave it alone. He’s trying to goad you.”

  “Lucy so where was you?” he asked changing the subject.

  I sighed and sat next to him. “I went back to my old room with Naiyla. I was there when you came earlier but I was in the bathroom. By the way you should consider not breaking down people’s doors.” He growled and I rolled my eyes. “It was just too much. Seeing that girl in what I thought was your room was the last straw. I was already shaken up from the art show.”

  His eyes met mine and he frowned. “What happened at the art show?” he asked. Then I remembered I never told him about it.

  I rubbed my arms trying to get rid of the sudden goose bumps. “Someone ruined all of my paintings. They wrote things like slut and whore in red paint on my work. The one I did of the family they covered my entire face with red paint, then they made a target on my chest kind of like a death threat and made it look like I was bleeding from it.”

  Landon’s eyes went wide and his breathing came out in heavy pants. “Someone sent you a death threat?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Not necessarily no, but it sure looked that way. It really freaked me out that’s why I didn’t think twice about taking you up on your offer to come see you.”

  He let out a shaky breath and grabbed me up into his arms. He pulled me onto his lap and rubbed circles on my back. I relaxed into him and nuzzled his neck. This is what I needed all day yesterday. I felt safe in his arms, like no one could get me. “No one is going to hurt you Lucy. I won’t let them you don’t need to be afraid.” He placed kisses on my forehead and in my hair. I could feel his irregular breathing and knew he was barely keeping it together.

  I nodded. “I just need you to hold me. That’s all… it makes me feel better.” I whispered.

  He picked me up and placed me down on the bed. He removed my clothes down to my underclothes and took of his t-shirt placing it over my head. He took off his shoes and pants and gathered me up in his arms in bed and pulled the covers over us. He held onto me tight and kept whispering reassuring words to me. We stayed that way until I fell asleep once again. I woke up an hour later and checked the time. It was a few minutes after six. I untangled myself from Landon and went downst
airs to cook. I made some rice and chicken. Landon had woken up before I was done and was in the living room with Nick and Max. I called them in when the food was ready and we all sat together and ate. Max asked to go to the aquarium and Landon nodded. That actually sounded like fun. We needed time together just having fun away from all things drama.

  The next morning we were woken up by Max jumping on my bed. Landon answered first with his voice thick with sleep. “Max, what’s up?”

  Max threw himself down on top of me and I scooted off Landon and to the side to make space for him in the middle of us. “You guys were taking too long to wake up.” He turned to me. “Lu can you please make pancakes and sausage and then we can go see the fishes and sharks?” he asked excitedly.

  “Sure thing. We have to see what time they open though. We can’t get there too early.” I told him.

  He shook his head. “Fishes never sleep Lucy. They’re open already I know it.”

  Landon laughed. “I’ll check. Let’s have breakfast first then we’ll get ready to go ok?” he asked.

  Max nodded and hopped out of the bed. I went to get up and Landon grabbed me and pulled me to him. “Morning baby.”

  I smiled. “Morning Landon.” I gave him a closed mouth kiss to spare him further morning breath. I got up and went to the bathroom to freshen up then headed downstairs to cook. We ate and Max chatted away about all the things he wants to see when we go out. Nick joined in and started making up different types of fishes. I just laughed at his ridiculousness.

  We went to the aquarium and had a ton of fun. We took plenty of pictures and bought Max one of those overpriced stuffed sharks. He crashed on the drive back home. Nick was like a kid in the candy store. He didn’t care about looking like an oversized 6 years old because he was running around right along with Max. When we got back I made some fish and shrimp with French fries… you know since we were with the sea all day. Max was a little sad that we were eating fish, but after encouraging him that we wouldn’t have wanted them to die for no reason he dug in. I rarely make seafood, but when I do the boys act like it’s a grand treat. We lounged around together before retiring to bed. It was back to school tomorrow. Landon got into the shower and I decided to check my email. It was the normal crap that you see, school newsletters, promotions, and coupons. I kept going down the list until I came to an email from some Gmail account I’ve never seen. I opened it up and inside was a picture of Landon holding me from behind. You could see Max and Nick in the background pointing at fishes through the glass. My face was blacked out and there was a picture of a gun facing my chest inserted into the shot. Underneath it said in bold TAKE MY WARNING SERIOUSLY. LEAVE HIM OR ELSE. I felt the blood drain from my face. So it was a warning they put on my painting. I felt my body begin to shake. This person took a picture of us today. They were close to me, to us. I didn’t even know there was someone following us let alone taking pictures. I was frozen staring at the screen that I didn’t notice Landon get into the bed.