“Daddy, is it okay if I help Lucy Lu fight bad guys? We can be a team. Erica can help too.”
His father looks stunned and he’s staring at me with an expression I can’t place. The only clear thing I can read is shock, and I don’t get it. “Sure pal. You guys just have to tell me about all of your adventures. Deal?”
Max smiles a brilliant smile and nods once, “deal. Now can we have pepperoni pizza to celebrate? Oh and you can’t tell anyone else. It has to be a secret so the bad guys can’t find us.”
“Sure Bud. We can have pizza tonight.” He still seems shocked. It’s weirding me out a bit.
Max turns back to me buzzing with excitement. He jumps up and gives the air a fist pump while shouting “YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” Then he launches himself at me in a hug that knocks me off balance and he lands on top of me. “We’re going to be awesome Lucy Lu. Like Spiderman and Superman or Batman and Robin. You can even play with my toys. You want to see my Spiderman Lucy Lu? He’s great like we are. Oh I’m going to get him. You wait right here!” with that he scrambles up and takes off back the way he came a few minutes earlier. I’m laughing out loud getting myself up from the floor when I see a hand extended towards me. I look up and see Dean, with his dimples on full display looking to help me up. His eyes filled with curiosity. I’m not going to lie; I’m weirded out now.
I accept the proffered hand and get off the floor. I look over at my mom and she looks a bit peeved, and I have no idea what the hell is going on. “Thanks”. I say when I’ve righted myself. When I realize he’s still giving me that expression, I cave. I just can’t take it anymore. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
He shakes his head as if he’s trying to pull his thoughts together. “Nothing.” He shakes his head again and runs a hand through his hair and I hear him chuckle slightly. “Well honestly it isn’t nothing. Max… he’s so shy and scared. He doesn’t take to people. Ever. It takes a while for him. I’ve never seen him react to anyone that way that he doesn’t know. I’m just shocked I guess, and happy. I mean that was a better meeting than I could’ve ever imagined.” He shakes his head again. “Don’t mind me. I’ll get through the shock. I’ll order the pizza.”
About an hour later the pizza has arrived and Max has shown me more Marvel characters than I can remember. He makes this transition a lot easier; then again it’s only day one. He’s keeping me distracted from everything going on in my head and it’s more than welcomed. We’re sitting at the table and it strikes me that she said that there were 3 kids, but I’ve only seen Max. My curiosity getting the best of me I turn to Dean and ask, “Um, Dean?” when he gives me an acknowledging nod I continue, “You have 3 kids right? Do they also live here?”
“Oh yes. Erica is the oldest and she’s in college at UCLA she has two more years to go until she receives her Bachelors in psychology. She still lives here but she stays on Campus. You’ll see her on breaks and holidays and things. She should be up in a few weeks actually; you know with holidays and break approaching. Then we have Max here, as you have been acquainted with. Then I have another son that’s a junior like you. He… “He’s looking up as his voice trails off. He stares for a few, and I’m a bit confused at the change. Then I hear another voice.
“Is here. Ahh, our very first family dinner aye? Did our new mommy cook?” the new voice says from behind me. I can hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice and it immediately raises my hackles. I can tell that the warm reception is not across the board. I have been waiting all week for the other shoe to drop. I mean things like this cannot possibly ever be easy right? There was a reason for my dread and I see that it wasn’t unfounded. I take another bite of my pizza not wanting to meet the last son. “Pizza huh? I’ll take that as a no. kind of disappointed though.” It’s obvious he’s not open to our company and the further I can avoid meeting yet another douche that is probably going to treat me like shit the better. I take another bite of pizza, and I’m fuming now. I mean this kid doesn’t even fucking know us and he seems not to like us. I take a peek at Dean and see he’s silently fuming. He’s tense and his hands are clenched. His teeth are gritted together like he’s trying hard to refrain from commenting. I peek at my mom next and see that the color has drained from her face and she’s clutching the necklace around her neck like a lifeline.
She seems to regain a bit of composure, and gives the person behind me a tight tentative smile. “Hello Dear, I am Rebecca. It’s lovely to finally meet you.” She begins to stand as if to greet him.
His voice is getting louder as he speaks which indicates he’s getting closer. “That’s nice Rebecca. So, anymore pizza?”
Mom drops back in her seat deflated and frowning. Dean looks like he’s about to explode. I see the mystery person starting to pass me and I refuse to look up. It appears he’s heading for the pizza box directly across from me. Dean turns his attention to the way his son went. “Are you kidding me right now? This is how you’re going to behave? What the hell LJ?”
LJ huh, even a douche name. I know I’m now being petty but I’m not above it in the moment. “What Dad?” now I can see his outline right in front of me and I hear a gasp and a muttered “What the Fuck?” ok this is the last straw. What is this kid’s problem? I drop the rest of the pizza on my plate take a deep breath and look up to face the kid that I have realized is going to try his hardest to make our lives hell and uncomfortable. I get it enough; I don’t need to endure it where I sleep as well. I slowly lift my head and finally meet his eyes. The same intense green eyes as his father.
I feel sick.
I can’t breathe.
I’m frozen and so is he.
My life is over.
My stomach bottoms out as I leap up from the table.
A strangled “no” escapes and my hands come up to my mouth. I’m trembling and frightened all over. This is the worst thing possible. Worse than anything I’ve thought up. Shit the sound of a sugar daddy is all the more appealing. I look around at our parents confused gazes watching this horror story unfold slowly before their eyes. This can’t be fucking right. God, Karma, Mother Nature, whoever dictates this shit could not be this cruel. I jumped back from the table and high tailed it up to my room. I slammed the door shut and locked it then backed up and watched the door. I’m shaking so bad I sit on the bed. This can’t be happening. It can’t be true. I cannot possibly be living with my worst nightmare, Landon.
CHAPTER 2
I knew there was something about Dean’s eyes. How could I not have realized immediately where I’ve seen them before? He gets to torment me at school and now after hours. This is so wrong. What have I done to deserve this twisted fate? I curled my body into the fetal position and eventually fell asleep.
Saturday morning I lay in bed until noon. When I was so hungry I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to leave the confines of the room for food. Landon went away for the weekend to visit his cousin or something. I found this out from Dean when I went in search for food. He seemed curious and I assumed wanted to ask me about what exactly had happened that scared me so bad I fucking ran, but he refrained. I wonder if he knows or could guess that my pain both emotionally and physically is his son’s wet dream. It’s been a while since he made me cry out in the open, but a girl can only be so strong. I wonder how long it’s going to take him to break me here. He arrived back Sunday night and I made sure to have eaten and bought a snack along with me back to my room before he returned so I wouldn’t have to see him.
Monday morning when I was done getting ready for school, I finally realized I didn’t have a ride. Well shit. I don’t want to confess to Mel exactly who my soon to be stepdad is and who his kids were. I still haven’t fully absorbed the news myself. I had no choice but to ask my mom, so I made my way downstairs.
When I reached the kitchen, I found my mom, Dean and Max there. My mom was leaning against the counter decked out again in similar attire as Friday. I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of that yet. When had she ha
d time or money to buy all these things? Dean was sitting on a stool next to Max reading a paper also with a cup of coffee. Max was eating cereal.
“Hey mom, I need a ride to school.”
She looked up at me and was about to respond but Dean beat her to the punch. “Don’t you and Landon go to school together? He can give you a ride. A good way to get to know each other I think.” He took another sip of coffee and I felt the rug being pulled from under my feet. Why didn’t it dawn on me that they would suggest that? God I’m such a fucking idiot sometimes. I know I needed to leave soon to get to school on time. I was just about to ask for directions to the bus when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. FUCK!
Before I can do anything else Max spoke up, “Hey Lucy Lu. I missed you. I wanted to play with you this weekend and was going to come to your room, but my daddy said I should let you get settled. I have to go to school today but are you settled so we can play afterschool, huh? We can even have our afterschool snack together.” He gave me a bright hopeful smile and at that moment I forgot Landon, school, and everything else. I gave him my best most genuine smile and watched as he put his hands together in a please motion and batted his lashes. My god, this kid is going to be the death of me if he gets any cuter.
“Sure Bud. I couldn’t say no to my partner now could I?” he bounced off his stool and wrapped himself around my legs and looked up at me. “Now have fun at school and I’ll see you later, ok?” I ruffled his hair as he unwound himself and went to put his bowl in the sink. I looked up to find 3 pairs of eyes on me, all with different levels of shock written across them. I looked from my mom to Dean, then finally to Landon. My smile dimmed when I met his eyes, and he just continued to stare. I couldn’t read his expression and it made me extremely nervous. Then he frowned and gave me a look I recognize way too well. Did he not like me talking to his brother? That will make things rough because I like the kid and he’s an innocent. He seems to like me. It wouldn’t be fair to avoid him to make this beast happy. I resigned myself to extra torture just to be able to continue to hang with him. Dean broke the silence.
“LJ, I told Lucy that you would give her a ride to school. It makes the most sense. You can use the time to get to know each other. I don’t know if you guys have had the pleasure of meeting or associating at school so this should help break the ice. We’ll see you guys at home later. Have fun.” He gave Landon a pointed look as if to say, and that’s an order don’t you dare argue. The fact he’s been calling him LJ just dawned on me. It’s probably why I didn’t pick up on who he was much earlier.
Before I could stop myself my brows furrowed and I asked “LJ?”
Landon growled. Like an actual fucking animal. What. The. Shit? His dad responded “His middle name is James. His mom wanted him to have a piece of her dad’s name and it just kind of became a nickname. Landon James, LJ… I know it’s a bit confusing.” He gave me an assuring smile that didn’t assure me one bit.
Landon huffed and addressed me, “you coming? Then we’re leaving now.” then proceeded out the door. I stood for a few seconds debating if I had any other option, figuring out quickly that I didn’t. If I did I would’ve used it already. I sighed and left out behind him.
I climbed into the passenger seat of his Ferrari. As soon as the door shut he sped off without even waiting for me to put on my seatbelt. We came to a red light as I was still fumbling with it and he slammed on the breaks causing me the lurch forward. He was probably hoping that I’ll fly through the dashboard; I wouldn’t put it past him. I got my seatbelt on thankfully before the light turned green. At the next stop light he finally turned to me. The dread intensified when I saw the disgust in his eyes. He was none too happy with present company.
“Listen, I don’t want you in my house. Get your shit and your mom and go back home. It’s not too late you know.” He practically sneered the words at me.
My stomach turned and I met his eyes. “It wasn’t my choice, and I had no idea that it was your home. Trust me I don’t want to live with you anymore than you do with me. If I had a choice I wouldn’t have left my home.”
He grunted. After a minute or two he finally said, “So leave.” Like it was that simple. I sighed; this was going to just get worst. I just knew it. After a few more seconds he glanced at me and said, “I don’t live with sluts. We all know how you are… and lord knows what diseases you have now. I don’t want to catch it from being in your proximity.”
I felt a stab of pain. That was not true. Guys didn’t even ask me out let alone sleep with me. Those were all nasty rumors that he and his friends came up with. We both knew it, but it still hurts. “I’m not a slut.” Was the only retort I can come up with.
He let out a humorless laugh. “You were practically going to have sex with that boy Kenneth against the lockers at school. That’s a slut.” That one was a low blow. I turned my head to look out the window so he wouldn’t see the hurt in my face. The memory came flooding back to me.
We were in 7th grade and it was towards the end of the semester. Thanks to Landon, I was basically a social outcast by this point. Kenneth was a nice guy and we had classes together. He would speak to me sometimes. He wasn’t anywhere near popular but he was cute, and didn’t seem to care that the rest hated me. I guess because they didn’t exactly like him either. He asked me out and I was ecstatic. My first boyfriend. I thought I was finally going to start to experience a normal teenage life like the others. We dated for about a month and a half. We weren’t going on dates or anything but we would have lunch together and do homework in the library. I guess on the outside it might’ve just looked like two nerds being nerds. One time he held my hand under the table during lunch. I was on cloud 9 for the next week. We did it twice more in this time span. It was a Friday that following week and we were by my locker. I was getting ready to go home and we were discussing having an official date. Kenneth told me how much he liked me and really wanted to kiss me. Butterflies erupted in my belly. And all I can think was Oh. My. God. My first kiss was actually going to happen. At some point during the year I figured I should discard any hope of any of the guys even liking me. I was so happy. I remember telling him, “I would very much like for you to kiss me.”
It all went to hell after that. I knew it had to be his first kiss also because he was just as nervous as I was and was procrastinating as much as I was. He took my hand and said “ok. Let’s give this a try, huh?” he had such a cute smile. I couldn’t help but grin back at him like an idiot. He started to lean in and I closed my eyes in anticipation. I stood there for a few seconds and then nothing happened. After a bit longer I was confused. I opened my eyes to find Kenneth’s body turned forward and all the color had drained from his face. I followed his gaze to see Landon standing in front of us heaving. I never seen him so pissed.
My body immediately started to shake as I waited for what was going to happen. His eyes narrowed on me then on our hands together. He bared his teeth at me. Then he exploded, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” I let out a startled gasp as he screamed. His eyes never left mine and his breathing got heavier as if he was getting angrier by the second. Both of his hands went to his waist then he spoke again, “Answer me. Now!” This time his gaze flitted to Kenneth.
He swallowed hard before answering in a low voice, “I’m just kissing my girlfriend.”
Landon flinched and his arms dropped down and his hands balled into tight fist. His gaze swung back to me, “girlfriend? You’re his girlfriend? And he’s kissed you?”
I was so confused and I couldn’t speak. The lump in my throat prevented anything from coming out. I was so scared, and had no idea what was going on. I hadn’t realized until that moment that the exile he basically put on me included me being able to date or befriend anyone. All this time I had been thinking it only applied to who he could influence although it was most – there was still free choice. Apparently that’s not the case. He didn’t want me to have anyone. The tears were building and once again I knew
I would embarrass myself by crying in front of the school at his hands. My chest constricted as the reality of what my life will be like crushed me. When Landon seemed about to go ape shit Kenneth spoke up again, “well yeah she’s my girlfriend. I mean we haven’t kissed yet,” there was so much emphasis placed on the fact we didn’t do what he accused of, “but we were just about to.” He sounded almost proud.
Landon’s expression was murderous. “You fucking kiss her, touch her, speak to her, look at her, I will fucking knock your head off.” Kenneth’s hand immediately left mine and he gave me an apologetic look before running off. I could understand. Everyone knows Landon is a badass and can fight. While I had no doubt he can beat the dog shit out of Kenneth I was still hurt that he left me high and dry like that. I could no longer contain the tears. I shrunk into my locker as I cried quietly. Landon continued to look at me with that barely contained anger, his eyes never left me even when he threatened Kenneth and he ran off. His eyes narrowed on me and edged a bit closer. I tried to shrink back further into the locker. “You were going to let him do that. You were going to kiss him? Were you going to fuck him right here too? For everyone to see how much of a slut you are? That’s what you are you know that?” I felt like I’ve been slapped.
“Landon no. I wouldn’t do that. It was just a kiss and it was going to be my first one. I just… “ I broke off in a sob. I don’t know why he was doing this. People were listening and snickering. I didn’t know what to do. I grabbed my bag and tried to run out of there as fast as I could. I only got a few feet before I felt something shoot out in front of me and I toppled over to the floor. I look up to see one of Landon’s friends standing there not hiding the fact he tripped me. I was on my hands and knees on the floor looking up. The crying came harder.
His friend let out a deep laugh. “That’s better. I prefer sluts on their knees.” I was mortified. I took one last glance back towards my locker to see if Landon found this even funnier than what he did to me, but he was gone. I picked myself up and made my way out of there.
Losing Her (The Lexington Series Book 1) Page 3
