Losing Her (The Lexington Series Book 1)

by Belle Winters

  “Good, now shut the fuck up. Leave her alone.” Landon told him.

  When Nick agreed I lifted my head to see Mel staring at me with eyes narrowed. She wanted the dirt but she wouldn’t pry until we were alone. I could’ve kissed her right then. We left the diner shortly after and made our way back home. Nick threw on some music and I let myself relax and enjoy the ride.

  SOMEWHERE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN

  DEAN

  “Becca, I would like it if you didn’t drink at tonight’s dinner. This is one of my biggest clients.” I told Rebecca.

  “Don’t be a worry wart dear, it will be fine.” She told me snapping brand new diamond earrings on.

  I sighed. Just like it was fine yesterday when she got super drunk. I tried to get her to stop and remove her cup. She ended up falling overboard trying to fight me. Talk about embarrassing right? Earlier yesterday, we ran into Randy one of my clients. He asked us to have dinner with him tonight, and the last thing I needed was for her to do something to put him off and possibly lose him.

  “Listen, just try not to ok? I would appreciate.” I asked her.

  “Alright, alright. Water it is,” she replied petulantly.

  We made our way to the deck where we were going to have dinner. Randy was already seated and waved us over. I pulled out Becca’s chair for her and then took my seat. The waiter came over almost immediately. Randy ordered a bottle of champagne and we put in orders for appetizers. As soon as the waiter disappeared Randy and I began to talk some business. He worked in the film industry and there was always a need for a lawyer. The waiter came back within minutes with the champagne and glasses. Randy opened it and poured some into my glass. He moved over to Becca’s and I let out a laugh.

  “Oh Randy, Becca’s not much of a drinker.” I told him. Really I’m not, but it would seem rude that he’d be the only one drinking after buying an entire bottle.

  Becca looked at me and pouted. Seriously? “Oh look at her. She wants to have fun today, let the woman have a drink. She can’t be that much of a lightweight.” Randy said.

  Becca turned to him and gave him a bright smile. I had to refrain from showing my true feelings. She couldn’t do this one thing that I’ve asked of her. I gave him a small smile and shrug as if to say I didn’t mind. He filled her glass halfway, and then reengaged me into work talk. The appetizers came and we ate those slowly over talking. I was watching Becca the whole time even though it seemed as though I wasn’t. Every time her glass went empty, Randy refilled her being the great hostess. She’s down about 3 full glasses worth of champagne already. I wanted to tell her to remove herself from the dinner but I couldn’t.

  The waiter came back to remove our plates to bring out dinner. Randy ordered another bottle as the first one is almost finished, she drank most of it. The bottle was brought over with the food, and Becca finished off the first bottle.

  “You guys have been talking and I have no idea what you are talking about.” She said. She must be feeling it… she knew that this was technically a business dinner, not personal.

  “My apologies Rebecca. We are being a bit rude here. What is it that you do?” he asked her.

  She lit up at his attention. She put a hand to her chest and gave him a bright smile, “Oh me? Well I used to own a shop, but I sold it. I’m looking to open up my business again… you know, bigger. Better.” She told him.

  She’s lying. I know she hasn’t been looking for places. Just because I have a lot of money doesn’t mean I’m stupid about it. Besides me, Erica, Landon, Nick, Becca, and Lucy have cards on my account. I have to monitor it and see what the hell they’re doing. Landon and Nick shop occasionally, but they don’t spend much. Landon spent most money on food, but that was until Lucy came around and started feeding them. Erica shops, but she’s not excessive. Over the past few years she’s only really splurged during holidays like Christmas and she does when she’s home or away somewhere. But while at school, she doesn’t spend much more than on groceries and gas and such. Nick and Landon had told me that she took Lucy and Mel out shopping so I knew she paid for everything. I didn’t mind that. I liked Mel and she didn’t even come back with much. I know Nick likes her a lot and Max likes her, but he’s still getting comfortable. I need to pay more attention to those two. The shopping spree was mainly for Lucy. Lucy only uses her card for food shopping or when she takes Max somewhere. I haven’t seen any charges from a clothing store or the movies even. I know she goes out and buys things but she never uses my money. I wouldn’t mind it.

  Before I met Lucy, Becca had warned me about her. Told me she was sneaky and to be careful around her because she will try to seduce me, that’s why I hadn’t met her until it was time to move in. To me it didn’t seem appropriate to have her around my kids when I couldn’t meet hers. It put me on my guard. I mean, Becca was sweet and caring. She was hardworking and considerate. I pictured her with a teenage most likely promiscuous daughter that was out of control. I mentally prepared myself for having to bring some of my lawyer skills at home. I was a lot worried on how that would go over with my kids. That day we were standing in the kitchen and Lucy came down. When I first saw her I was confused. She was beautiful, but looked nothing like her mother. She must take fully after her father in her features. I noticed the baggy ratty clothes she was wearing and was confused. This is not what I was expecting from what her mom told me, but I didn’t want to let my guard down.

  Max had come into the room and I introduced him to Becca. Watching the interaction you would think she never had kids. I also knew that Max is really shy and isn’t comfortable with new people and relationships. When I began to introduce him to Lucy she cut me off and dropped down to his height. She introduced herself and told him her name. He made a joke out of it that she coerced it out of him. Of course it was about bad guys and good guys or whatever but she got it. The next thing I know he was launching himself at her in a hug tackling her. This cannot be the same person that her mom told me about. She knew what she needed to do to communicate with him. She was nice and polite to me and then with Max she became silly and comfortable. At that point I was kind of afraid of her meeting Landon. He would love her. She had a body like her mom and she was naturally beautiful, that’s telling you something considering what she had on. I was concerned that he would try to treat her like one of his usual conquests and these guys were going to be family and had to live together. That took care of itself when he came home and she ran. I asked Becca about it that night, if she knew whether they knew each other or not and she brushed it off. It was that day when I first realized the topic of Lucy was something she’d rather not talk about. Anytime I bought her up from that point I noticed the disinterest, unless she’s accusing her of being a whore. I’ve wanted to find out what that was all about but didn’t really know how to broach the subject. It seems like a sensitive topic.

  I took a bite of my steak, and looked up at her. She and Randy have been talking the last few minutes and I’ve just been observing. I nod and smile when it’s appropriate but there’s something not right. I see her leaning in and drawing attention to her breast. She did some of the same things with me when we were dating. I can’t lie and say that as time progresses I realize more and more she’s not the person I thought she was. I’ve caught her in verbal confrontations with the kids. Shit, I even heard her tell Lucy she lied about her dad being dead. And from what she said about bastard kids and taking what she was due, I assumed he was probably married. I never brought it back up because I was too stunned, and was beginning to question my decision about her. To be honest I have a lot of doubts in my head. All she does is shop and spend money and try to get within the social circle of people with money. I think she honestly believes I’m dumb. I haven’t brought up any of the things that were bothering me because they’re big and I don’t want to tip her off and her start putting on a show for me. I don’t know how she could treat a girl like Lucy the way she does. She got uprooted fr
om her life, and took to my son. The next thing you know she’s waiting on him hand and foot. Everything that boy wants she makes happen. The thing is, the things he wants are family dinners and home cooked food. To be honest, these are things I wished he wanted from Becca. Truth be told in our situation she should be the one doing what Lucy does. I can’t understand the cooking thing either. Becca can’t cook to save her life, and it makes me wonder where she learned or how. I mean she’s only 17 and her cooking is years in the making.

  Thinking about Lucy makes me think about Landon. I knew who Lucy was… not directly but I remember the girl he called angel when he was a kid. He was in love with her for years, she made him happy… until one day she didn’t. It went to hell and we never heard about her again. Between the little I know of their history and her reaction that first night I knew there was more to the story. I never bought that up either because I just watched them. They don’t know Max is my little spy. He talks to me all the time and he tells me everything. Every night that Lucy cooks, Nick and Landon’s greedy asses are right there. You can see she didn’t like him, but she still fed him and things. You would think it was on Max’s behalf but I knew better. There are ways to make Max happy without having to make sure the other boys had food too. Landon was more obvious. He would track her movements when she wasn’t paying attention I saw him staring at her plenty of times. When I found out that Lucy is his angel on thanksgiving it all made sense. He was still in love with her. I know it’s unconventional, but what type of father would I be if I didn’t let them have this? He’s loved her for pretty much forever. They’re not blood related because I’m engaged to her mom and they make each other happy. I’ve seen Landon do a lot of shit, and I know a lot more than he thinks. The way he is with her, how they just sleep together… its cute. I know they aren’t having sex, Landon wouldn’t lie to me and to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if Lucy is still innocent. If they’ve known each other this whole time, knowing Landon he wouldn’t of given anyone else the chance. Since Kindergarten he called her his.

  I watched Becca blatantly flirt with Randy in my face. I know she’s also been getting the vibe that I’m not sure about her. I can try my best to hide it, but there’s only so much you could do. Watching them then I finally caught on. She’s looking for a backup bank account. That sealed the deal, we’re not getting married. How I’m going to handle this whole situation? I have no idea.

  CHAPTER 11

  We got back a few hours ago, and we were all pretty exhausted. Sure we were just sitting there but being in a car that long is tiring in itself. Me and Mel went to my room and crashed. We had just woken up an hour ago, and went down into the basement with Nick and Landon. They had ordered pizza which was a blessing because I was starved. We began playing pool for a little while.

  Max was staying at a friend’s house, and our parents were on a cruise. They weren’t coming back until Friday. We basically had the house to ourselves for the next 3 days. Unfortunately, we still had to go to school. The boys contemplated having a party, but nixed the idea. They wanted to just enjoy it being us and having more fun together. That was perfectly fine with me. That night, Landon followed me to my room and crawled in bed with me. I curled into him and we slept. Mel was going back home that night, so I rode with Landon and she with Nick. Nick would drop her off at home afterschool since she didn’t have her car. Landon walked me to my locker and gave me a soft kiss before grabbing my books and hand and walking to first period. We sat together, and this time he was good and stayed focus on doing his work.

  We took our normal seats at lunch. When me and Mel sat down I realized I didn’t have anything to drink again. I sighed and started on my burger. I’d wait until I absolutely needed to get up. I was midway through when I got to that crazy level of thirst. I started to get up and Landon’s head swung to me, “what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing, I’m going to the vending machine.” I explained. His brow furrowed and he shook his head. He grabbed my hand and pulled until I was sitting. He slid a soda over my way. “I’m not going to take your soda.” I told him. I appreciated it, but what was he going to drink.

  “It’s not mine, it’s yours. You never get one. Now drink it and stop complaining.” Landon said. Leave it to him to do something so thoughtful and follow it up with a command. I rolled my eyes, and when he turned around I stuck my tongue out at him. Ricky saw me and laughed. Landon swung his head back and looked at me. I gave him my best innocent expression. “Did you just flip me off?” he asked.

  I laughed and shook my head. His eyes narrowed and I shrugged holding my hands up in surrender. “What?! I didn’t flip you off. Paranoid much?” I asked.

  His eyebrow went up, “Lucy, I know you and you did something. Now what was it?” he prodded.

  I scoffed and picked up my burger and took a huge bite. I spoke while I chewed, “wouldn’t you like to know?” I teased.

  “That’s nasty. I just saw everything in your mouth.” Landon said with an amused and forced disgusted face.

  I snickered, “stop watching me then you wouldn’t see it now would you? Talk to your friends about football and shit… stop staring at me and let me eat you creep.” I responded as if I was put out.

  I heard a few guys at the table laugh and I turned my attention to Mel. “So Mel, are you coming over tonight? I need some company. Without Max it’s so boring.” I complained.

  She laughed, and Nick scowled and said, “first off peaches, I resent that. I’m fucking fun of all kinds so cut your shit. You love me, and you cherish the moments we spend together. I know Landon is a party pooper but we can lock him in the basement and have fun.”

  I laughed, “You are so right. We can totally lock him there and have a party. I’ll be able to flip off as many people as I want.” I joked.

  “Ha, ha, shut up.” Landon said and turned his attention back to Ricky. This time I crossed my eyes and pretended to gag. Ricky laughed harder than the first time. Landon didn’t turn around or acknowledge me. I guess he was done with my shit, spoilsport. Me, Nick, and Mel all began talking about everything and nothing.

  “Hey Lucy, how was your vacation?” Dan asked.

  “It was great, I had a ton of fun.”

  “Did you actually try to ski or did you just watch?” he asked.

  I looked at him and smiled. This I can handle, this was normal. “Sure did. I’m a pro skier now.” I said putting my hands up like Rocky Balboa.

  Dan laughed, “Bunny slopes don’t count.” Dan teased. Mel laughed.

  “Hey we were off the bunny slopes in no time. Serious professionals here dude. You aint got shit on us.” Mel responded.

  Dan threw up his hands, “no problems here. I just wanted clarification is all. No need to jump me.” He joked. We laughed.

  Dan turned to Nick, “so seriously, they made it off the bunny slopes in their first tries?” he asked him.

  “Yea, but then again I’m that goddamn awesome I was teaching these hardly capable beings and they were able to do it. I actually deserve all the praise if you ask me.” Nick responded.

  Mel nudged him and I threw a fry at him. “Laughing doesn’t qualify as helping or teaching you ass. We’re just naturals.” I bragged.

  We all continued to talk about our skiing experiences, and for once it just felt normal. There was no catty bitches, mad ex’s, weird tension with my now boyfriend Landon. This is what a normal lunch is like then. Dan was back to the person I originally met. The nice, laid back guy who I could see as a good friend. He didn’t ask about Landon or anything too personal. He joked, and laughed. This is what I wanted… this is what I’ve been waiting for.

  Later that night when we were in bed watching a movie. I was lying against Landon when out of the blue he said, “I told him.”

  I looked up at him confused, “what?” I asked.

  “Dan, I told him earlier today we were together. It was weird, I knew he’d be a bit pissed but his face went blank. He told me he was coo
l with it, and I was paying attention at lunch. I don’t like it.” Landon informed me.

  “Why? He didn’t say or do anything wrong.” I said.

  “Exactly, I know he still wants you. There should’ve been some type of emotion or reaction, and there wasn’t. That’s what concerns me. His reaction wasn’t normal at all. I just wanted you to know so you can be careful around him. Nick and I had shared the same concerns when you were seeing him that something was right. He proved that we were correct. So I’m telling you this because I want you to know that there still isn’t something right. I’m going to be watching him but I want you to watch yourself too.” Landon said.

  I scoffed, “you guys worry too much. I’ll admit you were right before but I think he was just a little confused or something. But he seems to have gotten it together. Things are just getting normal. Don’t make it weird again over nothing.” I informed Landon.

  He sighed, “I’m serious Lucy, but I won’t bring it up again. Just don’t forget what I told you.”

  “That Landon, I can live with.” I told him.

  He rolled us over so I was on my back and he was hovering above me. “You don’t have a choice but to live with it Lucy.”

  I rolled my eyes, “yea I do.”

  “You don’t because you’re stuck with me baby.” He said.

  I went to argue but he shut me up by putting his mouth gently on mine. He didn’t move or try to deepen the kiss. I grabbed the back of his head and tried to bring him closer. He didn’t budge. I stuck out my tongue and ran it slowly over his top lip and he still didn’t move. I looked up into his eyes and then ran my tongue over his lower lip. He gave me a small groan. I moved my mouth away from his and placed small kisses on his nose, then cheek, going down to his neck. When I reached the place between his neck and shoulder I sucked and he snapped.