Landon & Shay - Part One: (The L&S Duet Book 1)

by Brittainy Cherry

  I moved in closer to her and placed my forehead against hers. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, breathing her in.

  “Why would you love someone like me?” I asked.

  “Because it’s impossible not to.”

  I opened my eyes and looked into hers. I wanted to say it back, I wanted to tell her how I loved her first. How I felt it first. How I lost the bet way back when on my birthday, but it wasn’t the right time.

  First, I needed to tell her the hardest truth she’d ever have to hear. “Shay…there’s something you should know about your father.”

  She pulled back a little and her brown eyes locked with mine. “What is it? Did he…” She stood up straight. “Did he say something to you? Did he offend you? Did he—”

  “He lied. He’s been lying to you, to your mother, about so many things.”

  “What are you talking about?” she choked out, her voice shaky with confusion.

  “Shay, he, um…” Why were the words now freezing up in my throat? Maybe because I saw her nerves. Maybe because I knew how much she loved her father, even if she wished she hadn’t. Maybe because I knew what I said next was going to break her heart. “He’s a dealer. He’s been dealing shit to kids at our school.”

  Her face shifted a bit, but the lack of surprise in her eyes kind of shocked me. “I know. That’s why Mima got so fed up with him. He used to deal in the past…but we thought he stopped. We’d thought he’d pulled his life together. We’d thought he’d got solid jobs and was on the up and up. But…he lied. Because that’s what he does. He lies. And still, my mom keeps choosing him.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “And she knows?”

  “Yeah. We all know.”

  “No, I mean…” I swallowed hard. “She knows about his other daughter?”

  She laughed.

  No shit, she laughed. Really hard, too.

  “Wait, what?” she said between giggles. She looked at me and her laughter began to dissipate as she saw the seriousness in my stare. “Wait. What?”

  It was clear she hadn’t known about all of his dark, dark secrets. “Shay, he has another daughter.”

  “That’s ridiculous. My father is a lot of terrible things, but he’s not…he doesn’t have…” her words faded. “I’m his only…” She sniffled a bit and stood straighter. “What’s the punchline, Landon? What’s the joke?”

  “It’s not a joke. He used to deal to me, Shay. He always talked a lot about his family. About his two daughters…”

  “No,” she spat out. “No. I’m his only child.”

  “Shay…”

  “Stop it, Landon. This isn’t funny anymore,” she scolded, her eyes watering over.

  “I’m not trying to be funny, Shay. He has another daughter.”

  “Stop,” she snapped, shutting her eyes. “Stop it right now. I don’t know why you’re doing this.”

  “I’m doing this because you deserve to have someone who tells you the truth. No lies, only truths, remember?”

  She parted her mouth, but nothing came out. She took steps away from me and she stared my way as if I were a complete stranger. Someone she didn’t know. Someone she couldn’t trust.

  I was doing the right thing. I was being real with her and I was telling her the truth.

  “I can’t do this right now,” she said, walking away from me.

  “Shay, wait!” I called after her, but she didn’t turn around. She didn’t look back. She broke out into a run, and not once did she look back at me.

  I didn’t even get to tell her that I loved her, too.

  27

  Shay

  My heart hadn’t stopped beating erratically since I had left Landon standing alone in the theater. His words replayed over and over again in my mind, like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.

  Another daughter.

  A whole other person.

  A human being that held part of my DNA.

  How could that have been? How could he have hidden something so massive?

  When I walked into my house, my parents were sitting on the couch as if they were a completely normal pairing. As if our house wasn’t swarming with lies upon lies. They were laughing as they watched some show together, cuddled up as if they were made from the same heartbeats.

  It made me sick.

  I stepped right in front of the television, blocking their view and halting their laughter.

  Mom sat up first. “Shay? What are you doing?”

  “Is it true?” I barked, crossing my arms as my stare pierced into my father.

  “Is what true?” Mom asked.

  Dad tensed up as he sat up straighter. He clasped his hands together and released a weighted sigh.

  Oh my gosh. It’s true.

  The swirling in my gut intensified as I stumbled backward. “You’re a monster.”

  “Shay, perhaps we should talk alone in the other room,” Dad suggested, but it felt more like a threat.

  “So, she doesn’t know?”

  “Know? Know what?” Mom stood from the couch, and her stare moved back and forth between my father and me. “What’s going on?”

  “Shannon Sofia,” Dad warned, his voice low and smoky. But I didn’t care. I wasn’t afraid of him. He didn’t hold the same grip on me as he held on my mother.

  “He has another daughter,” I spat out, the words burning my throat.

  Mom huffed and shook her head. “What?”

  “He has another kid.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” Mom argued, still shaking her head. “That’s ridiculous. Tell her, Kurt. Tell her that’s ridiculous,” she urged.

  He didn’t though. He stayed quiet as Mom’s face drained of all color.

  “Oh my gosh,” she muttered. Her eyes glassed over as her hand moved to cover her mouth. “Oh my gosh…”

  Dad shifted around in his shoes and lowered his head. It was clear he couldn’t lie his way out of this one, but I wouldn’t have put it pass him to try. “It was years ago, Camila. When I was using. I made a mistake and slept with another woman. A few months later she showed up with a kid, claiming it was mine. I didn’t believe her, of course. Then, we took a DNA test and…” He looked up to Mom with tears in his eyes, and I wanted to slap him for the crocodile tears.

  A little too late for the fake emotions, Father.

  “I fucked up, Cam, but she means nothing to me. All I do is provide money to the kid, that’s it. It’s nothing personal.”

  “Is that what you tell them about me?” I barked his way. “That it’s nothing personal? Or have they not yet discovered what kind of man you are?”

  “You need to watch your tone, little girl.”

  “I don’t need to do anything you say,” I replied. “You are not my father. You are nothing to me. Mom, let’s go,” I said, turning toward her. She was frozen in place, tears streaming down her face.

  She kept staring at my father with such a look of shock. “I can’t leave, Shay. Not yet. There’s still so much that’s not clear. Things that still aren’t adding up.”

  “What do you mean? Everything is added. He lied to you—again. He betrayed you—again. He had another daughter behind your back and only confessed to it when he realized he had no other choice because he got caught.”

  “How did you even find out?” she asked.

  “Landon told me. He found out, and he told me the truth.”

  “And you just believed him?” she questioned. Those words made my mind spin.

  “What? Mom. Dad just confessed! He told you straight out what happened, and now you’re questioning Landon? Are you kidding me?”

  “Camila, please,” Dad begged, “just stay and let me try to explain.”

  “There’s nothing to explain. I’m going to go pack a bag. You should do the same, Mom.”

  I hurried to my room and packed up a suitcase. I didn’t know what I needed or what I should’ve left behind. I simply tossed as much as I could into the suitcase and hoped like hell that Mima would help me pic
k up the rest of the stuff another day.

  As I pulled the suitcase out of my room, I saw Mom standing still as Dad sat on his knees in front of her, begging her to stay. He looked pathetic and still very much like a manipulative liar. He was throwing heavy emotions at Mom in an attempt to gaslight her into thinking she was in the wrong if she walked away from his toxins.

  I raised an eyebrow at my mother. “Come on, Mom. Let’s go.”

  She looked at me and back toward Dad, still so unsure about what her next actions were going to be. I knew there was so much to my parents’ story that I hadn’t ever read. So much history and pain raced through Mom’s heart on a daily basis. I wanted to blame her for being weak. I wanted to call her out on not choosing herself ever in her life, but she was hurting. She’d been beaten down for so many years that she didn’t know what it felt like to not be in such an agonizing pain.

  In a way, suffering felt normal to her. She was used to it. If only she knew there was a whole life waiting for her outside of the castle’s prison. If only she knew that she could walk away and begin again.

  “Mom,” I stated once more, “look at me.” She turned my way, and I smiled at her. Everything I knew about love, I’d learned from my mother. She was the first person in this world to give love so unconditionally to me. She was the one who first made me laugh, made me smile, made me live. And her heart was currently broken. She was so sad and scared, and I was certain she felt so alone, so it was my job to reminder her that she wasn’t.

  I walked over to her and took her hands into mine, stepping right in front of my father, and blocking his viewpoint from her.

  She was hurt, just like Landon. Lost, confused, and so unsure. So, I knew I had to say to her the same truths I had spoken to him. “Mom…you are more than the story that this man wrote for you. You are more than my father. You are smart. You are funny. You are strong.” My eyes watered over as I felt the trembling in her hands. “You are loyal. You are breathtaking. You are beautiful. And this is not the end of your story; it’s only the beginning. But it begins now. With you and me, walking out of that front door. You can do this. You don’t have to walk alone. I got you.”

  “Don’t listen to her, Camila. She doesn’t know you like I do,” Dad barked as he stood. His crocodile tears were now gone, and his cold stare returned once more. “I am your home. I am your truth. You can’t leave me.”

  Her hands were still shaking, but I didn’t let go. I wouldn’t walk out of that house without her. I wouldn’t leave her side in the middle of a war. I simply held on tighter.

  “Mom, it’s okay to leave him. It’s okay for you to turn your back on him. You deserve more, and you won’t be alone. But please, come with me. I’ll be it…” My voice cracked as tears began to fall down my cheeks. “I’ll be your willow tree.”

  That was when she fell apart, but I was there to keep holding her up.

  “Can we go home now?” I asked her.

  “This is her home,” Dad argued, but I knew he wouldn’t understand. Truth was, my father never really had a home in his whole life. Home wasn’t a building; it was a feeling of warmth. Kurt Gable lived in coldness his whole life.

  I ignored him. “Mom?”

  “Yes,” she finally whispered, the word so small and delicate. “Let’s go home.”

  “Do you want to pack some things?” I asked.

  “No.” She shook her head and squeezed my hand. “I have everything I need right here.”

  We walked out of the house with Dad shouting toward us. “You’re making a huge mistake! You’ll come back to me, Camila! You always come back! I am all you’ll ever have! You need me.”

  His words were harsh and filled with lies. He was belittling and mean, but my mom? She kept walking. She kept standing, even though he tried his best to shatter her spirit. She kept going. Each step making her stronger. Each step moving her toward a better tomorrow.

  And that tiny corner of my heart reserved for my father? It completely dissolved.

  When we arrived at my grandmother’s apartment, she opened the door in her nightgown and raised a curious eyebrow. Then, her stare moved to the suitcase and to her daughter.

  “It’s okay.” She smiled a sad smile and wrapped her arms around Mom, who finally completely began to crumble and sob into Mima’s arms. Mima parted her lips as she held onto her daughter. Her blood. Her first love. She whispered softly into her hair, “It’s okay.”

  Mom and I stayed in Mima’s guest room that night. I showered and got ready for bed first. When Mom came into the room, she smiled my way. Her smile was sad, but at least she still was able to curve her lips up.

  Her hair was dripping wet from the shower she’d taken, and she wrapped it in a towel. She moved over to join me on the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. “You must think I’m stupid and weak,” she timidly stated.

  “Never.”

  “I’ve tried to leave before, you know. Millions of times. Yet, somehow, he’d always find a way to pull me back in. He’d beat down my self-esteem so much that I’d be left feeling like I was worthless. I know it sounds stupid to believe the words from someone like your father, but I was so young when I met him. I was young and confused, and he was there during the hardest time of my life. I owe him for the greatest part of me, and he loved to hold that over my head…he loved to remind me that, without him, there wouldn’t have been a you.”

  “Just because he’s part of my DNA doesn’t mean that he gets to hold that over you, Mom.”

  “No, but you don’t understand…Shay…” She swallowed hard. “I was seventeen years old when I had you. I was a very troubled kid. I ran away from home for a long time and got involved with drugs. That’s how I met your father. That’s how we fell in love.”

  “I never knew that.”

  She nodded. “Yes. When I found out I was pregnant, I was strung out. I was in no shape to have a child. I was high on the regular, hardly eating, and my mind was so far gone, I didn’t think I could do it…” Tears danced down her cheeks as she gripped the edge of the mattress. “I didn’t think I could get clean. I was just a kid, for goodness’ sake. I didn’t know what I was doing, but your dad was there. He helped me through the withdrawals. He held my hand through the hardest time of my life, which brought me you. So, in a way, I always felt like I’d owed him for that, and it was something he held over my head time and time again.”

  “He abused you.”

  “No. He never laid a hand on me,” she disagreed.

  “Mom.” I shook my head. “He abused you. He hurt you emotionally and mentally. He fed you lies for decades, and that’s not your fault. I would have believed all the things you did if I was fed those lies on a daily basis. You’re not weak because you stayed so long. You’re strong because you did. But know that I’m here now because of you. Because you raised me, not him. You were a mother and father to me whenever he wasn’t around. You’re my hero, and it’s going to be okay.”

  She smiled and nudged me in the shoulder. “How did you get so smart?”

  “I blame the two women who raised me.”

  Mima peeked her head into the room and raised an eyebrow. “Are you two hungry and done crying like silly gooses? I just whipped up some food.”

  “Starving,” Mom and I echoed at the same time.

  We stood up and headed toward the dining room. As we sat at the table, my phone dinged.

  Landon: How’s your heart?

  I smiled at his words.

  Me: Still beating.

  28

  Landon

  For the past forty-eight hours, I’d been in touch with Shay constantly texting her, calling her, and making sure she was remembering to breathe. She hadn’t been at school for two days, and honestly, I couldn’t blame her. Her life was turned upside down. It made sense that she and her mother needed time to regroup.

  Me: How’s your heart today?

  Shay: Still beating.

  Good.

  On Wednesday afternoon,
I was surprised when my doorbell rang, and Shay’s mother was standing on my front porch. She was wrapped up in a long, brown trench coat with sunglasses on, and her hair was pulled up into a messy bun.

  “Mrs. Gable, hey.”

  She flinched a little as I said her last name, as if it were tainted.

  She removed her sunglasses then crossed her arms and hugged her body tight. “Please, call me Camila.”

  “Okay. How can I help you?”

  Her eyes had purplish bags beneath them as if she’d spent the past few nights crying. Again, I couldn’t blame her. Her whole life had been transformed in a matter of moments. All because of one man’s selfish choices.

  “I wanted to say thank you. For what you did, for telling Shay the truth about Kurt. You can imagine that the past few days of our lives have been a living hell, but Shay and I have moved out, and I am in the process of filing for divorce…” Her words faded away, and she sniffled a bit, wiping her hand beneath her nose.

  I saw so much of Shay within her mother. Her same brown eyes, her same dark hair, the same frown lines around her lips. I wanted to hug her and give her comfort, but it didn’t seem right. In a way, I was to blame for the hurting she was experiencing. I was the cause of her current suffering. If she was in need of comfort, I doubted she wanted it from me, which made me come back to the first thought on my mind: what was she doing here?

  She shifted back and forth in her tennis shoes and ran her hands against her forearms.

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Why do I feel like you have something more to say?”

  “Well, because I do. I haven’t figured out how to word it correctly.”