by S. R. Watson
“What the fuck?” He growls. He looks in Giselle’s direction and she hunches her shoulders.
“Not me,” is all she says.
“I just can’t Landon. I need to go. Please let me go.”
“Hell no. Who fucking hurt you?” He wraps his arms around me. I return his embrace because this might be my last chance after he finds out what I’ve been hiding or even worse—the lies his uncle plans to tell him.
“I promise we can talk later. I just can’t do this here. Please don’t make me do this h . . . heeerre,” I begin stuttering. My lips tremble as I try to keep from breaking completely down in front of these people.
“Okay baby. Let’s go.” He turns to look at every room in the room. “This visit is fucking over.”
“No Landon. You stay. I’ll go—”
“There is no way in hell baby.” He picks me up and my head lays against chest. He carries me out of the apartment and to his truck. He doesn’t pressure me to talk right now and I’m happy for the reprieve. I lean against the door and try to contain my sniffles. I’m absolutely terrified of losing him. I know I need to tell him the truth before his uncle poisons him with lies, but I don’t know where to start. I’m so ashamed. How can I expect him to make a life with someone who is so tainted? What if he makes it to the NFL and my past tarnishes his name in the tabloids? He has a bright future ahead of him. I hate to admit it. Although I despise Giselle, maybe she would be better for him in the long run. Her family is rich, she will have his child, and they could live happily ever fucking after.
Once we are inside of Gavin’s place I run to the bathroom and lock the door. A little dramatic, I agree, but I’m freaking the hell out. Now that we’re alone, Landon is going to want answers. I just need a minute to decide how to proceed. I can tell him everything now and have him leave me or I can wait and play defense once his uncle gives his warped version of the truth. Somehow I think playing defense is now a smart idea, but I can’t do it. I will, but not tonight. A light tap on the door has me jumping out of my skin. The time has come to put on the second best performance of my life. No performance will ever be better than the one the day I broke up with him.
“Heaven open the door,” he pleads. I can hear the concern drip from his tone. I open the door slowly and let him in. “Baby, please tell me what’s wrong.” I dig deep and give him some semblance of the truth.
“They all want Giselle for you Landon. Your father clearly hasn’t forgiven me and well I was thinking . . . what if they’re all right?”
“What the fuck?” He yells. “I’m sorry baby, but that is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Why would you say that? Are you having second thoughts about us?” He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“Of course not Landon, but Giselle is gorgeous, her family has money, and she has your baby growing inside her,” I say listing all of her redeeming qualities. “I could hear them arguing about you making a mistake with me,” I sniffle.
Landon pulls me into a hug. “I don’t give a fuck what they want. It only matters what I want and you’re it. You’re beyond gorgeous. The word is pale in comparison so I don’t ever want to hear that again. What’s next? Yeah money. My family has money too. My father is a world class chef. It doesn’t mean jack shit to me—I pave my own way. Lastly the baby. I will be the best father I can be, but you know what? It will be with you by my side and she will have to get over it.” He kisses the top of my head and I melt into him. Everything I told him was a snippet of how I really feel. I just chose to share my insecurities on what his dad wants rather than the underlying shit brewing under the surface.
“Do you want to still get something to eat?” He asks.
“No. I just want to go to sleep. I’m exhausted. I had plenty to eat at the tailgate party. You were amazing by the way.” That brings a smile to his face. “You should have heard the naughty things those women wanted to do to you,” I yawn.
“Trust me. I’ve heard it all before. No thank you. I have who I want right here. Get some sleep baby. I’m going see what I can whip up to eat because I’m starving and then I’ll join you.”
“Okay.” I start the bath, but then decide I’ll just lay across the bed until the water fills the tub. That is all I remember.
The next morning I roll over to see a note from Landon on the pillow. He teases me about leaving the water running last night. He is meeting his dad for brunch before he leaves. He said he refuses to let him in my presence again until he can be cordial towards me. I don’t think that will happen anytime soon, but whatever. I’m still wearing yesterday’s clothes so I get up to grab a shower. When I remove my clothes I see a reddish-purple bruise on both of my upper arms. You can clearly see the fingerprints. Holy shit, how in the hell I’m going to hide this? Better yet, how will I explain them? Damn skeletons are visible on my skin now. The bruises will take weeks to fade. I quickly shower and change into a long sleeve shirt. Last night I had donned on a light sweater because the temps had dipped uncharacteristically low for this time of year. It’s probably hot as Hades today.
A knock at the door draws my attention away from my clothing dilemma. Landon has a key so it may be someone looking for Gavin. The minute I swing the door open, I know it was a mistake not to look through the peephole first. Ugh. It’s Giselle. This isn’t going to end well. She waltzes her petite ass through the door without being invited in with a smug look on her face.
“Not a good practice to open the door without seeing who it is first,” she says. Her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Landon is not here,” I retort. “So you can leave the way you came.”
“Oh. I’m not here for Landon. He and his dad are enjoying the brunch I prepared before I left,” she gloats. So it looks like I’m not the only one who’s mastered omission. Landon didn’t mention that in his note he left for me. “His dad and I had a chance to really talk last night. Intelligent man. Did you know he can’t stand you? He thinks you are a conniving, opportunist that only came back in his son’s life because you see the dollar signs. You know he will likely get drafted into the NFL.” That hurts that Roger sees me that way, but I won’t let her see that she landed that jab.
“What did you come here for Giselle?” It’s funny how stable she is now when Landon isn’t around she see her in action.
“Well I’m come to offer you an ultimatum of course,” she smiles evilly. I’m about to give her a verbal beat down, but she puts her hand up. “You may want to listen. See, I happen to have heard every word that you and old Uncle George talked about last night. Now obviously I don’t have all the details, but I don’t need them. He gave you twenty grand to suck off his VIP customers for a certain amount of time, only you skipped town with his money after only doing it for a short time. It’s the real reason you broke up with Landon two years ago. You didn’t want him to find out what a skank whore you were. He isn’t very forgiving you know? I would hate to have to break that news to him so I’m giving you a chance to walk away with your secret intact—his ideal of you, untarnished.”
Shit. This definitely complicates things. I don’t bother trying to change her view of what really happened back then. She is having too much fun trying to make me squirm. “Get the fuck out Giselle,” I say as I hold the door open for her.
“Oh, I’ll go. But this offer has a time limit. I expect to hear from you by this time tomorrow or I will tell Thor everything and he will leave you anyway.” She twists her ass out the door and I slam it behind her. I would have never pegged her for being so devious and underhanded. Great. Now I have two people black mailing me. Add the bruises into the mix and you have a catastrophe. There is no way to contain this. I need to talk to him tonight. I find my phone and call Peyton. I need her words of encouragement right now.
“I’m so glad you called,” she squeals. “I was just getting ready to call you with something I just discovered.” She can hardly contain her excitement.
“What is it?” I try to match her
enthusiasm, but I have too much weighing on my mind.
“No. No. This needs to be said in person. I’m coming to you.” She arrives in less than fifteen minutes so she had to already be on the way. I let her in and she is gloating—smiling from ear to ear. “So you’re going to want to sit down for this,” she warns.
“Just spill it already Peyton.” I need to tell her the shit I’m dealing with.
“I can see something is bothering you. I can wait. Tell me what’s wrong.” She is drawing out her news so I proceed with the details of last night after she dropped me off and the visit I just got from Giselle.
“I’m going to beat the shit out of that lying little bitch’s ass for you,” she huffs. She begins to furiously roll up my sleeves to see the bruises. She gasps in horror when she sees them. “Nevaeh. You have to tell Landon about this. He can get the uncle and I’ll take care of Giselle.”
“She knows that I can’t touch her because she’s pregnant.”
“That’s just it Nevaeh. That’s what I came to tell you. That lying bitch is not pregnant.”
“What?” I scream. “How do you know? Who told you this?” This changes everything if it’s true.
“Well I went over to her place because I need my curling wand back only she wasn’t there. Landon and his dad were there, by the way. Anyway Landon let me in so I went to her room looking for my stuff. I saw a multipack pregnancy test tucked away in the trash. A man may not have noticed, but I recognized the box. I’ve had my own pregnancy scare in the past. Something tells me to look in the box. I’m nosy as hell so I wrapped several layers of tissue around my hand and pulled the box out of the trash.”
Peyton begins laughing hysterically. “All three fucking tests were negative.” I try to think of a possible rationale for this. Surely Giselle isn’t desperate enough to try to trap Landon with a baby. It’s a fleeting thought when I remember who I’m talking about.
“What if that was someone else’s test?” I offer. Peyton gives me a ‘are you fucking serious’ look and I manage to laugh at the craziness of it. “Okay, not likely,” I conclude. This means I need to pay her scheming ass a visit just like she came to see me. Oh my, how the tables have turned. I voice this idea to Peyton and she is all for it.
“We have a meeting this afternoon at the sorority house about rush week so you should come with me now and surprise her.” I like this plan. I jot down a vague note for Landon letting him know that I’ve left with Peyton and that I hope his brunch over at Giselle’s place was delicious. He will know that Peyton told me since he’s the one who let her in. Let him squirm some for that omission. I have a bigger one of my own, but I’ll have to pay for mine as well. I grab my phone and we head out the door.
Peyton points me in the direction of the bedroom door that’s Giselle’s room when she’s here. I ask that she let me do this on my own and she agrees. She is just right down the hall if I need her.
I KNOCK ON GISELLE’S door and wait for her to swing the door open. I greet her with the same smugness that she had when she came to see me. I waltz in her room and take a seat on her bed. Ballsy, I know, but it’s the type of mood I’m in. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She asks appalled at my gall.
“Not a good practice to open the door without seeing who it is first,” I feed back to her. Her jaw drops and I love this torture—her trying to figure out why I’m here. “So it’s come to my attention that you’re not really pregnant,” I accuse.
“Who told you that? They’re lying. You know nothing. You’re not my gynecologist. I’m two months pregnant,” she defends.
“Not according to those three negative pregnancy tests sitting in the trash of your bathroom,” I argue.
“Those are old,” she insists but I can see the nervous look in her eyes. She begins to fidget and I know I have her where I want her.
“Maybe I should call Landon and tell him to have a look while if he’s still there having that lovely brunch you made.” She wanted to throw the fact that she cooked for Landon and his dad in my face. I love that I get to serve it back to her. “On second thought, I should tell him to have you take a test in front of him.”
I hold the phone in front of me like I’m preparing to dial Landon’s number and she snatches it from my grasp and sets it on the dresser behind her.
“Fine. I call off my ultimatum. I won’t tell Landon about your scandalous past if you keep this to yourself. I really did think I was pregnant. All of the symptoms were there,” she explains. “I just took those tests last night after I started getting menstrual cramps. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t miscarrying.” I don’t believe a word she’s saying. If that was true, she wouldn’t be so fearful of telling Landon. She tried to trick him into being with her.
“What do you plan on telling Landon? False alarm?”
“He will think I’m lying—that I planned this,” she says defeated. Yeah because you did. “I’ll tell him okay. Just let me be the one to share this with him. This will leave the door open for you two. Happy now?”
“Giselle that door was already open, but whatever. I won’t interfere with your explanation to him if you leave my past just where it is. In the past.” I get up, grab my phone off the dresser, and leave.
I find Peyton and let her know that Giselle confirmed that she was not pregnant. I shared the excuse that she gave and Peyton didn’t buy it either. She thinks I should rat her out to Landon, but I know that I’m sitting on a secret of my own.
Tonight things will change for better or worse. Either I will get this humongous weight off my shoulders and we start our lives without baggage or he dumps my ass. I don’t want to think about the latter of the two. I lay across Peyton’s bed while she goes to her meeting. I doze off, but the unexpected ringing of my phone pulls me from my slumber. It’s Landon. He must have just gotten my note.
“Where are you?” he says as soon as I answer.
“Hello to you too,” I challenge. “Didn’t you get my note?”
“I got it alright. Where are you? I know that she and Peyton had a meeting.” I can tell that he is getting anxious so I ease his mind.
“I’m in Peyton’s room at the sorority house. I was taking a nap until you called.”
“Stop with the shit Nevaeh. I only met my dad for brunch. I didn’t go to see Giselle. I didn’t even know she was cooking until I got there. My dad told me that we had a change in plans, but I know it was his way of playing matchmaker one last time before he left. I made sure I called him on it too. She left anyway so it was a nonissue.”
“It doesn’t matter Landon.” I yawn and I can hear him growl.
“Yes it does. You’re being pissy with me. I’m on my way to get you right now. You need to be reminded that there is only one woman in my life that matters. Well aside from my mother, but you know what I mean.”
“I’ll see you when you get here Landon.” He curses under his breath and I contain my giggles. I look forward to him fucking me into submission. He ends the call and I laugh out loud. My laughter fades when I remember these freaking bruises on my arms. I can’t wear this stupid shirt during sex. I need a cover story. I don’t want him to grill me on how these skeletal skin badges came to be, instead I want to make sure he is at a good place mentally where he can be receptive to my story. Damn skeletons never stay in the closet. I took care of one black mailer and hopefully his uncle won’t make good on his threat. I plan to tell Landon about my past anyway, but I don’t want my truth to be buried under his uncle’s lies.
I quickly devise a cover story for these bruises until I tell him the truth. First I’m going to fuck him into a state of serenity and receptiveness and then boom! Everything is going to be okay. In a perfect world, things will go just like that.
Landon and I stop for dinner at a local Italian bistro before heading to Gavin’s place. I’m buzzed from the merlot and feeling relaxed. When we get back, he begins running us a bath. He tells me that he may have found us a place. The condo that he
had been holding out for will finally be available.
The tenants are moving out at the end of the month. Once they make it ready, we can move in. I just hope he still wants to after tonight. I begin to get undressed and I know it’s coming. I try to act like it’s no big deal. As soon as the shirt comes off, I watch Landon’s eyes bulge.
“Why the fuck are there bruises on your arms Nevaeh? Wait . . . those are fingerprints. Who did this?” his voice booms throughout the bathroom. He pulls me to him to inspect me thoroughly. He is more upset that I could have imagined.
“Calm down Landon. Some homeless guy was hanging around campus and tried to shake me down for change. I gave him a couple dollars and he went on his way.” He looks at me doubtfully for a split second, but then the look is gone.
“Where the hell was campus security? Did you report this?” He is pacing now with his fists clenched. Okay. This lie is really going to come back and bite me in the ass.
“Nevaeh—”
“Shhhh,” I interrupt. I reach out and pull him to me hug him and press light kisses to his cheek. I need his mind away from my bruises. I unbutton his jeans and fall to my knees. His beautiful features are an open book in this moment. His eyebrows knit together as his cock twitches in anticipation.
“This conversation is not over,” he assures. I continue pulling on his jeans until they’re at his feet. He’s fucking commando and shaven. The visual of his pink perfection has me licking my lips.
As I take him into my mouth, I watch his shoulders relax. He tangles his hands in my hair and focuses on fucking my mouth. I plan on working him over until his freaking toes curl and he’s screaming my name, only we’re interrupted by a knock at the front door. Who the hell is it now? Landon really tries to ignore it, continuing to propel his hips forward, but then Michael calls out to him through the door.
