Losing Her (The Lexington Series Book 1)

by Belle Winters

  “You naughty kids. We’re supposed to be playing a kids game here. You guys went up to rated R.” Nick said.

  We stopped kissing and Landon dropped his head into my neck. I dropped my legs to release him and he stood then reached down to pull me up.

  “So I take it you two kids are… on again?” Nick inquired.

  I shook my head and removed my hand from Landon. I’ve done this once. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… then well its shame on me. I’m not falling for it again. It doesn’t matter how I feel I know what this is. I spoke up, “No, that just kind of happened. But we’re straight. Thanks for stopping it, it was a mistake.” I left the room after that.

  CHAPTER 8

  We informed Mel of all the upcoming events and trips and exchanged gifts with her that night. I spent the rest of the night trying to avoid contact with Landon. I wanted him, but I can’t have him. Him being within such close proximity doesn’t help my battle.

  The next evening, Dean summoned us all downstairs. When I got there he and my mother were sitting down chatting. When we were all in the room Dean informed us that he will be throwing a New Year’s Eve party, and our attendance was required. It will be a formal event and we were to be on our best behaviors. The last demand was thrown at Nick who grinned and saluted.

  When he was done my mom piped up, “Lucy I know you don’t have anything to wear for this sort of thing. How about you let me take care of your look for the evening?”

  Nick and Landon frowned, and Erica scoffed. Our minds were all on the same page. She would do anything in her power to draw as much attention away from me as possible. Erica spoke up, “That’s ok. I have nothing to do, and I need to find something for myself anyway. We can do this together.”

  Dean chimed in, “that sounds like a great idea. Now that’s settled, I know the basketball game is the day before so you kids make sure you don’t have too much fun. Plus, you are flying out the next day, so if I were you I’d use the next few days getting all my stuff ready.”

  Erica grabbed my arm and dragged me to her room. When we entered she plopped down on her bed. “God our schedule is so packed. Let’s figure this out. Today is Tuesday, the game is Sunday, the party Monday, New Year’s Tuesday, and were flying out to Paris on Wednesday.” She ran it through her head as if making sure she got the timeline right. She threw herself back against the bed. “We only have 4 days Lucy! To go shopping and getting everything we need.” She fussed. “Call Mel and tell her to get here stat. we have planning to do. Tomorrow is going to be an early day.”

  I sent Mel a text to come over. She was there within an hour where we holed ourselves up in Erica’s room coming up with a plan. Mel won’t be going to the party but she is going to the game and with us to Paris. Erica said with the lack of time we had, we need to have an idea of what we want to buy. If we go in clueless we can spend hours without finding anything and it would be a tragedy to not have anything cool to wear on the trip you’ve been dreaming about.

  Once we got all the details figured out we decided for a girl’s night of ice cream and movies. We stole a bunch of snacks that Nick and Landon bought the other day and hid back in my room this time. They knew we were in her room the past few hours. We decided on watching Sixteen Candles and gorged in sugar. Halfway through the movie the door flew open and Nick was standing in the doorway mouth hanging open. He pointed an accusing finger at me, “YOU” he said.

  I threw my hands up, “what did I do?” I asked.

  “You stole my Ben and Jerry’s. I went looking for it to soothe my broken heart, and it was gone.” He accused.

  “Who broke your heart Nick?” I asked kind of unsure where he was going with this.

  “Mel! That’s who. I knew she was here and I was just waiting and waiting for her to come say hi to me, but she never came.” He responded and fixed his glare on Mel.

  Mel’s eyebrow’s shot up. Erica chuckled shaking her head, and I just watched on amused. Neither has spoken up on what was going on between them. “Hi… Nick.” Mel said tentatively and gave him a small wave.

  He scoffed, “Oh no, now you want to say something. After I had to twist your arm. Well I don’t want it anymore; keep your pity hellos for someone else.” He crossed his arms when he was done.

  Mel rolled her eyes, “I’m sorry Nick. Would you like to come watch the movie with us and have snacks?” she offered him.

  He looked like he was thinking it over. Then he shouted, “Landon!”

  We shushed him since we knew Max was already sleeping. Landon joined him in the doorway and peered in the room at us lounged around at different angles on the bed. Then his eyes zeroed in on the snacks, specifically the ice cream that Erica was munching on. “What happened?” he asked Nick. Eyes not moving away from the pint in her hands.

  “Mel never said hi to me. But she’s given me a peace offering of a movie and our snacks. What should I do?” he asked Landon.

  Landon shrugged and walked into the room. He took off his sneakers and came around to the side of the bed I was on. He grabbed me by the waist and moved me. He leaned back against the headboard and propped me in between his legs.

  I heard Nick mutter, “Sell out” before he climbed on the bed and snatched the ice cream from my hands. Mel was lying on her stomach with her hands tucked under her head. Nick climbed directly on top of her, his front to her back. He propped himself up on his elbows and spooned some ice cream and ate it. He scooped up another spoonful and fed it to Mel. I knew I had a stupid grin on my face watching this. Even more to my amazement she didn’t push him off. Well I shouldn’t talk considering the position I was in.

  At some point I fell asleep during the movie. I was curled into Landon’s chest and he was holding me. He was still half leaning against the headboard and his neck was at a horrible angle so I made him lay flat. When I looked around no one had left. I was too tired to put up a fight. We didn’t have much space since Erica had spread out a bit in the middle and on the other side of her Nick and Mel were spooned. I couldn’t get space lying next to Landon, so I kept my previous position and lay on top of him. I must’ve woken him up when I shifted him, because I felt him rub my arm and kiss my hair before his breathing evened out again. I let out a long exhale and let sleep claim me again.

  The next morning we all started waking up slowly, but no one moved. It was like we were all stuck. It was about 30 minutes later when Nick started up a conversation but still no one moved. I checked the time and it was 9:00. At around 10:15 Dean stuck his head in my room; the door was never fully closed. Everyone was still in the same position as when we slept. “Ah, so this is where everyone is.” He said looking around, I think taking note that all clothes were intact although some of us seemed particularly close.

  Max peeked around his legs, “Hey guys.” He said and hopped on the bed. He climbed in next to Mel over Erica’s legs. “I thought everyone was gone but me.” he said. “Why couldn’t I come to the sleepover?” his head turned to Landon.

  Landon chuckled, “we didn’t have a sleepover on purpose. Everyone feel asleep watching TV and there was no one left awake to get us up to go to our rooms.” He explained.

  Max nodded as if that all made sense and he was ok with it. He turned to Mel, “why does Nick call you sweet cheeks?” he asked her.

  We laughed and Mel blushed. She must’ve elbowed Nick because he groaned, and then he must have retaliated because she squealed. “Oh, because he likes my cheeks when I smile.” She told him.

  He nodded, “Lucy Lu calls me Maxamillion because she likes my smile.” He informed her. “We both have nicknames for awesome smiles.” And he rewarded her with a beaming one that she returned.

  “What are they all doing in my daughter’s bed?” My mother shrieked. All heads snapped in her direction, and I noticed Dean was still standing there.

  “Relax, Becca. They fell asleep watching movies.” He told her.

  She grunted, “is that what they told you?” she asked him.<
br />
  “Yes it is. And judging by the amount of junk food wrappers and empty ice cream containers it sounds about right. Besides Max is in there with them.” He tried to calm her.

  “Well I know he wasn’t there last night. Lord knows what they did. We cannot let them do these things.” She said refusing to be reasonable.

  Dean grabbed her arm, “relax. I came in here before Max. They slept on top of the covers and everything. Erica’s even in there. You do realize that’s her brother and cousin. I highly doubt anything your insinuating happened.” You could hear the annoyance in his voice.

  She started to say something else when he cut her off, “enough. Give it a rest. They didn’t do anything wrong.” He started to pull the door closed and I saw my mother storm past him pissed. He turned his attention us, “don’t worry about it. I’ll see you kids downstairs.” With that he closed the door all the way.

  Nick was the first to speak, “your mom is truly insane.”

  Max grabbed my hand I had resting on Landon’s chest. “Lucy can you make some waffles today? I’m hungry. I was waiting for you guys for a long time before I went looking and couldn’t find anyone.” He told me.

  I nodded, “sure thing little man.”

  Erica propped up on her elbows, “then we need to go shopping. I say we should all go.” She informed everyone.

  Nick groaned, “I don’t want to go shopping. Who do I look like? A girl?” he responded.

  Erica rolled her eyes. “I don’t mind going.” Landon said, then shot a look at Nick, “we do need to get some stuff for the trip and the party and shit.”

  Nick grunted, “Fine.”

  Max looked at Erica, “Can I come too?”

  Erica scoffed, “of course. You have to have the coolest outfit for the game and the party.”

  Max cheered and hopped out of the bed. “I’m going to tell dad.” And with that he ran out of the room.

  We all got up after that, and I made some waffles, sausage, and eggs for breakfast. Dean was in the kitchen when I got downstairs so I asked him if Mel could come to the party. I knew the guest list was going to be exclusive, and wasn’t sure how he felt. He scoffed, and told me of course that she was like family. And then hinted Nick would be pissed if she wasn’t there. Confirmation finally that I wasn’t the only one who saw something going on between them. We opted for comfortable so I threw on one of my new sweat suits. They were still comfortable but these were stylish and fitted. I got them from Victoria’s Secret. I loaned Mel a set since she hadn’t planned on staying. She did leave some underclothes here the last time she stayed since it wasn’t unusual for us to have impromptu sleepovers. At least with clean underclothes she can shower and borrow something. We met the boys downstairs a little while later, and we headed out. We took Dean’s jeep so we could all fit inside.

  We headed to the mall and decided to take care of the party first. We went to Barneys and got our dresses first. Nick and Landon sat in the waiting area while we tried on a few dresses. I was down to the last of 6 dresses we picked out for me and I wasn’t into any of them. The last one was a powder blue gown. There was just a tie in the back to hold together the mid piece where the dress was cut to expose my belly button area. I called in Erica to help. When she came in she gasped and called Mel to come in. Her jaw dropped. When she tied the small unnoticeable tie in the back I turned to face them to give them an entire looked. They both nodded encouragingly and told me it was the one. Nick heard the reactions and demanded to see the dress. Erica and Mel told him absolutely fucking not and I was forbidden from letting anyone else lay eyes on my dress.

  Erica and Mel made their selections shortly after and we checked out. Erica snatched up my dress and said she’s going to hold onto it until that night to make sure no one snuck a peek and it was safe. I asked what she meant and her explanation was simple, your mom. Next we headed to the Men’s department. In retaliation for us not showing them our final choices they did the same. Max however, strutted his stuff for us. He looked positively adorable. When that was done we headed to Bloomingdales and racked up on a bunch of clothes for Paris. Erica mostly picked out mine, not that I was complaining. As she so adamantly stated, Paris is all about fashion and we need to pack enough but no extras since we can’t go to Paris and not hit the shops once or twice. The guys shopping was a lot easier, I can’t say I wasn’t just a bit jealous. We found some cool hats and things to have for the game. Lastly, we went to find shoes. I found some cute little shoes that went with some of the outfits we got, I also found two pair of sneakers I really liked. I was only having a hard time finding the perfect shoes for my dress. She found me a pair of silver Gucci heels that had straps that were fitted out with crystals just like my dress.

  I jumped up and down and squealed how perfect they were and hugged Erica. She asked the salesperson to bring me a pair in my size to try on. When the guy came back out with them, Landon took the box from him. He kneeled in front of me and removed my shoe, then placed on the heel securing the straps. I found him really studying them.

  I glanced at him sideways as I said, “I didn’t know you were into shoes that much.”

  He looked up at me and smiled before letting my foot fall. “They look like they fit. Are they ok?” he asked. I nodded, and took the shoe off and placed it back in the box. He put it on top of his and headed to the cashier. I just blinked after him not sure what to say. The rest of us grabbed up our purchases and cashed out. As we were leaving, Landon grabbed Nick and told us to get the car and he’ll meet us out front. They needed to stop at the jewelers to get some cuff links. Nick cursed saying he totally forgot about that, and they ensured to get some for Max.

  We grabbed the car and waited for them outside. Erica was driving and Mel was shotgun. Landon and Nick climbed into the back with me and Max, but the fit was tight. These bastards were big. I made one of them switch with Mel. Landon switched and Mel hopped in next to Nick.

  We spent the next few days packing and running errands back and forth for the smaller things we forgot. We all made a target run together to stock up on toiletries. Saturday we decided to go on a girls run and got perfume, nail polishes, and makeup. We hit up the lingerie shop and they grabbed a bunch of sexy underwear, bras, and pajamas. I just looked around like a lost puppy. Eventually, they took pity on me and grabbed a few not so sexy but not boring items for me. I was grateful. When we were leaving Erica whispered in my ear, we’ll raid that nice little gift Nick got you and pick some stuff from there for you to pack too. I paled, I forgot about that.

  We got back home and spent the rest of the day finishing up packing. Mel was staying over until we returned from Paris. It didn’t make sense for her to head back and forth. She bought over her stuff for the trip when she came this morning. We all hung out in the living room drinking and having fun. We didn’t go to sleep until around 3 in the morning, and drunk. We woke up later than usual. I didn’t roll out of bed until almost 11. I got up and made breakfast as everyone else trickled down. We needed to get out of the house by 1 in order to make the game in time. After we got some food in our system, the house started to buzz with excitement. After we ate it was around 11:30 so we all ran up to our rooms and got ready. I think we broke our own records. I was back downstairs about 12:45 when the bell rang. I answered the door, it was Dan.

  He looked me over in my ripped jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt with the team logo on it. I had straightened my hair today and threw it up into a messy ponytail. “Hey” he said.

  I gave him a smile. I felt kind of bad. He’s been trying to hang out with me texting me the last few days and even popped up when we were out. I let him know I was busy, but he wasn’t too happy about me not having time for him. I didn’t tell him about the game or the party or even Paris. I was going to get around to that, and never did. I’m not sure why I was withholding the information from him. I’m sure he would’ve understood if I just told him why I was so busy, it makes sense.

  “Hey Dan, what’s going on
? We’re just heading out.” I told him.

  He scowled, “again? Where are you going?” he asked me.

  I heard Nick bellow in the background, “Get your asses down here. We need to put some pep in our step if we’re going to get there on time. And whoever makes me late, it’s me and you! That is a threat people, me and fucking you!”

  “Oh calm down, we’re coming!” I heard Mel reply.

  Max came running towards the door and ran right into my legs almost knocking me over. “You ready Lu? I can’t wait, we’re going to meet the team!” he said excitedly holding onto my leg bouncing on his toes.

  “Sure am. We’re waiting for everyone else so we can go.” I told him and ruffled his hair. He nodded enthusiastically and turned as Mel, Nick, and Erica came towards the door.

  “Yea bud, we’re waiting on slow poke Landon.” Nick told him. Max took off through the house screaming for Landon to hurry up. We all laughed.

  Dan cleared his throat and I redirected my attention, “so you’re going to a game? With them?” he asked.

  I nodded slowly. “Yes, that the plan.”

  “I see…” was all he said.

  Landon came our way with Max in his arms. He looked at Dan standing in the doorway and frowned, then swung his gaze to me in question. I shrugged. He placed Max down and I looked him over. He had on a plain black T-shirt that hugged his body way too well. I could see all the muscle packed behind that shirt. He had on a pair of jeans and the sneakers that Erica bought him for Christmas. He looked delicious and my mouth went dry. I let my eyes take their time drinking him up. Landon cleared his throat and I snapped my gaze back up to his. When I met his eyes he gave me an amused and knowing look then did the same to me. When he was done and his eyes came back up they landed on my necklace, then the bracelet. When he finally met my eyes again they had darkened and he licked his lips. I felt a shudder through my body. His eyes left mine and went to Dan’s.