Joshua had brought Paige to his house for dinner. They ate by candlelight and Joshua was searching for something to say. They had kind of talked about the incident with Katarina, but Joshua felt it needed to be explored further.
“I didn’t know you could cook.”
“I can. Listen, I wanted to explain more —”
“What is there to say? You love Katarina.”
“I do. I mean, I always have, ever since we were kids. We grew up together, couldn’t be apart, stuff like that, but she’s made her choice, Paige, and now I’ve made mine. I really like you, and I think we could be good together.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Joshua got up and turned the radio on to a slow music channel. He put his hand out and Paige took it.
They danced slowly, and Joshua held her close, softly kissing her neck. Her arms went around him and he pulled her face up, kissing her softly. Joshua parted her lips, taking her mouth. His hand went to her hair and he deepened the kiss, hearing Paige’s soft moan. He did have feelings for her. He knew that now. Holding her close and kissing her… it felt right.
“Ooops.” Jason stood with Josh, Vince, and Andrei in the doorway. “I thought you’d be out by now.”
Joshua blushed. “Hey.” Josh hugged Vince and Andrei. “I missed you.”
“Who is your date, Joshua? She is very beautiful,” Andrei inquired.
“Oh, Paige, this is —”
“Andrei Panchenko.” Paige stared at him. “I know who he is.”
Andrei recognized the look on her face. “I see you do.”
“I’d like to go home now, Joshua.” Paige grabbed her jacket.
Josh looked at his dads, confused, and followed Paige out. Jason looked at Andrei and arched a brow.
“What the hell?” Jason looked at them.
“I believe Paige only knows Andrei Panchenko, head of the Russian mob.” Andrei sighed.
“But that’s not fair!” Vince argued. “You are so much more than that, babe.”
Joshua had to practically run after Paige. He drove her home and she was halfway to the door before he got a hold of her. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you serious? Andrei Panchenko and Vince Markov? Did you not think I’d know them?”
“Well, pretty much everyone does.” Joshua chuckled. “They’re my uncles.”
“You can’t be serious.” Paige looked at him.
“Well, yeah. I mean, I’m real close with their son, Nikolai. We’re all close with them.”
“You’re close with murderers? Who are you?” Paige demanded.
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Joshua backed up. “This is my family and you have no idea what the circumstances were behind who they have killed and why.”
“Do you hear yourself? Murder is murder, Joshua!” Paige looked incredulous.
“I don’t see it that way. Not everything is black and white. I trained with them over the summer —”
“You what?” Paige screeched. “What do you mean trained?”
“With weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and stuff. Someday I’ll be out on missions too.”
“You can’t be serious. You would take someone’s life? I don’t even know who you are!”
“If it’s them or me, I choose me. What would you have me do? Stand there and get shot because I would be taking a life? Of someone who is trafficking drugs, women, children?”
“You shouldn’t even be in that kind of situation,” Paige demanded.
“Well, in this family, it happens more often than not. My dad has already killed people. Does that make him a murderer too? He shot someone to save my dad.”
Paige’s mouth dropped open. “I can’t believe this. I thought you were this nice guy and I find out you have connections to all these… people.”
Joshua bristled at her tone of voice. She said ‘people’ like it was a disease. “I am a nice guy.” Josh stepped toward her and she backed up.
“You think it’s okay to kill another human being if the circumstances are right.” Paige shook her head. “I can’t be with someone like that.”
“What? Wait, Paige!” Josh moved to grab her hand and she almost tripped trying to get away from him.
“Go away, Josh. Whatever this was, it’s over. You’re… sick.” Paige ran inside.
Joshua got in his car and just drove. He didn’t care where he was going — he just needed to leave. He finally stopped and got out, sat down next to the water. Tears pricked his eyelids. No one had ever hurt him like this, calling him sick…
“Joshua.”
Joshua turned to see Katarina standing there. “Kat!”
Kat watched him break down and ran to him, hugging him. He sobbed in her neck and she ran her hand through his hair. “Shhh, it’s okay.” Katarina held him.
When she had gotten the phone call from her uncle, she’d known where Joshua would go: the one place he always went to when he was hurt or sad. His Uncle Tanner’s grave. Katarina held him while his whole body shook. She fought to hold back her own tears. Joshua was in pain. Paige had broken his heart, and there was nothing she could do but be there for him.
Landon was on his way to Bree’s when his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID.
“Hey, Dad, what’s going on?” Landon stopped walking. “When? I’m on my way.”
He ran to Bree’s room and she opened the door. Seeing his face, she knew something was wrong.
“Oh, God, what is it?”
“I have to go home. Something happened with my best friend.” Landon hugged her. “Can you come with me?”
Bree was shocked. She looked at him and could tell he was upset. “Sure, let me just get some clothes.”
“We can go shopping when we get there.” Landon grabbed her purse.
“But… we don’t have airline tickets —”
“Taken care of.”
Two men escorted Bree to a limo, and then, before she knew it, they were on a jet. Not a commercial plane… a freakin’ jet. Landon sat and talked to the two men who were with them, and she eyed their guns nervously. One of them caught her eye and smiled.
“I am harmless,” Antonio offered.
“Yeah, right.” Landon rolled his eyes. “What were you guys doing in New York anyway?”
“Looking at schools. I do not like your headmaster.” Marco scowled.
Bree giggled and covered her mouth. “Sorry.”
“So, you are Landon’s friend. You are very pretty,” Antonio said.
“Grazie.” Bree smiled.
“Oh, she is Italian.” Antonio smiled.
“On my Mom’s side.”
“So, tell me about Paige.” Landon insisted.
“Her father called your uncles. Joshua is to no longer in contact with her and they will be leaving the state.” Marco gave him a sad smile.
“Oh my God!” Landon ran a hand through his hair. “He must be devastated.”
“Who’s Paige?” Bree sat forward.
“The reason we’re on this trip. She found out about some ‘questionable’ people we know and went off on Josh.” Landon shook his head.
“Define questionable?” Bree asked.
Landon looked at her. Well, he was about to find out if she was going to stay with him or not. “Andrei Panchenko is my uncle.”
“The Russian mob guy? He’s hot.”
Antonio busted out laughing. “Oh my, Landon. You should keep this one.”
Landon continued, “Almost my entire family works as hired assassins.”
“Do they kill bad guys?” Bree asked.
“Pedophiles…. drug dealers, men who participate in and fund child pornography, human traffickers…” Antonio listed.
“So you two…” Bree looked at them.
“Yes, it is our job.” Marco answered.
“And one day, Landon will join us. He is training.” Antonio looked at her. “Yes, we kill people, but only those who are the lowest form of mankind.”
Bree sat back and shrug
ged. “Someone’s got to do it.”
Marco laughed loud and Landon smiled at her. Bree was nothing like he expected. He leaned over and kissed her. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Bree palmed his face.
“For being you.”
They pulled up to Stefan and Jordan’s and Landon took her hand, walking into the house. Everyone was there — not just some of them, all of them. “Where’s Joshua?”
“In the back bedroom,” Jason told him. “He needs you guys badly.”
“Will you be okay?” Landon asked Bree.
“She’ll be fine.” Stefan and Jordan’s youngest daughter, Charlie, took her hand. “We’re going shopping.”
“We are?” Bree looked at her.
“Yes, it’s on me.” Stefan smiled, handing her his credit card. “I’m Stefan Santorno, Landon’s grandfather.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Bree smiled, shaking his hand.
“Bree, is it?” Lily put her hand out. “I’m Lily. My dads are Heath and Caleb.”
“That would be us.” Caleb extended his hand.
“Oh, wow.” Bree looked up at him.
“I know, huh?” Heath smiled at his handsome husband.
“So, this is Landon’s girl,” Lorenzo said. “You are very beautiful.”
Charlie smiled as Bree stood there with her mouth hanging open. She pushed her jaw up. “I know. It happens a lot to him.”
Reece smiled. “It’s good to meet you, Bree.”
“I’m Phoebe.” Phoebe hugged her.
Bree couldn’t believe the number of good-looking guys in one room, and they just kept introducing themselves one after the other.
“You guys are overwhelming her. Hi, I’m Kat.”
“Yeah, so, mall time.” Phoebe grabbed Bree’s hand.
“Hold on a second. We haven’t gotten to meet her yet.” Jay and Greg came in from out back.
Bree could see Landon in his eyes. “He looks just like you.”
“Thank you.” Jay hugged her. “So, you know who we are, what we all do.” Jay motioned around the room.
“Yes, I do.” Bree nodded.
“I like her,” Greg said.
“This is my fault.” Andrei ran a hand through his hair. “Joshua is hurting because of who I am.”
“Joshua is hurting because of a girl, Mr. Panchenko, and the way she thinks, not because of you,” Bree told him.
“You do not care who I am, or what my husband and I do?” Andrei studied her.
Bree looked at the man standing next to him and recognized him right away. Vince Markov. “No, I don’t. You save lives; if you have to take others to do that…”
“Okay, guys, come on. I wanna go shopping.” Phoebe dragged Bree out of the house with Katiana, Katarina, Lily, and Charlie right on their heels.
Stefan sighed. “Let’s hope Joshua can recover from this.”
“He will.” Jason sounded convinced. “He’s a Reynolds.”
Landon crawled into bed with Joshua and pulled him over. He was still crying, and he pulled him against his chest, holding him tight. “God, I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Joshua.”
“She said I was sick.” Joshua cried.
“You are not sick!” Landon took his face in his hands. “If you are, then I am. Hell, we all are. You and I know better than a lot of people that there is no black and white. Some people were not meant to walk this Earth and we put them where they belong: under it.”
Joshua cried and Landon held him. God, he hated seeing him like this. He had finally opened up his heart to someone else and it had gotten ripped out and stepped on.
Katiana watched Bree shop. She was short, maybe topped out at five-foot-four. Her hair was loosely up on her head and she wore jeans and a T-shirt. Right now she was looking through a sales rack. She wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, and at this point Kat had wished she was. Bree Sinclair was adorable, which made it worse.
Landon hadn’t even looked her way when he had come in the house — he walked right by her right after he made sure Bree was okay. The jealousy was hitting her hard. Landon was supposed to want her, and only her, until she was ready to take him for herself. God, she knew what that sounded like. She sounded like a bitch.
The other part was what Paige had found so disgusting in Joshua. Bree couldn’t have cared less. She had actually been nice to all of them. This was bad… this was so bad.
“She’s cute.” Phoebe watched Bree shopping. “I like her.”
“I wish I could find something wrong with her.” Katiana sighed.
“How’s Joe?” Katarina asked snidely.
“Oh, shut up,” Katiana snapped at her.
“Meow! I like her too, she seems to like Landon a lot.”
“He likes her a lot. To bring her home to meet the family? Big step.” Phoebe could tell that Bree was doing the mental math in her head for her clothes. “Bree, just get it. Trust me, my grandfather isn’t poor.”
“I just don’t want to take advantage of him.” Bree blushed. “He’s very nice.”
“Don’t forget hot too,” Lily pointed out.
“I wasn’t going to say it.” Bree blushed. “But since you did, I’ll just agree.”
Lily took her hand. “You get everything?”
“Yep. I don’t know how long Landon wants to stay, so if I need more, I’ll go shopping again.”
“And I will be happy to come with you.” Phoebe laughed. “Let’s get back.”
Bree had dropped her bags off and went out to the pond. It was truly beautiful out here. She noticed a guy on the other side of the pond skipping rocks. She walked over and sat down next to him. “Joshua?”
Josh looked up and tried to smile. “Hey. You’re Bree, right?”
“Yes, the cheese.” Bree looked out over the water. “Where’s Landon?”
“He went to get me a drink. Thanks for coming with him.” Joshua leaned back and wrapped his arms around his legs.
“She’s wrong, you know,” Bree told him. “I know what happened, and she’s wrong.”
“I just thought, for once, I was moving on and finding someone who accepted me, my parents… and then…” Joshua trailed off. “She called me sick.” Joshua sniffled.
“You are not sick.” Bree took his face in her hands. “Some people don’t understand, Joshua. That’s all. They have one way of seeing things, and no matter how much you argue, they won’t budge. I don’t know you well, but I see it in your eyes. You are a very caring and loving person.”
“I can see why Landon cares about you.”
Bree blushed and backed away. “Sorry, I just get emotional sometimes.”
“Don’t be. You’re feisty.” Joshua chuckled.
Bree arched a brow. “Feisty?”
“That’s what Landon called you the first time he met you.”
“He was so annoying.”
Joshua noticed Landon coming back and he glanced at Bree. “I’ll let you guys spend some time together.”
“You don’t have to —”
“I’m good, Bree. Thanks.” Joshua hugged her.
Bree watched Josh stop and talk to Landon. They hugged, and then Landon joined her. Her heart was aching for Joshua, the pain he was in. She saw him with Katarina on the back porch and they hugged.
“Hey. You met Joshua.”
“I did. He’s sweet.”
“Do I have competition?” Landon arched a brow.
Bree took his hand. “Are you serious? He’s gorgeous, but he’s not you.”
Landon blushed and pulled her against his chest, cupping her face. He searched her eyes and leaned in to kiss her. Bree wrapped her arms around his neck as he picked her up.
Landon broke the kiss, smiling. “I don’t know what you said, but he seems better.”
“I just told him the truth: that Paige is insane.”
Bree was special, and for once, Landon felt like he had a chance at happiness. “Come on.”
They all sat around on the back deck laughing, tel
ling stories. Bree watched Landon’s parents. They were so cute together. She noticed Joshua’s father smiling at her and she smiled.
“Thank you.” Josh took her hand.
“For what?” Bree looked puzzled.
“Whatever you said to our son. It helped him.”
“Joshua is a very sweet guy. I don’t think people should judge others.”
Katiana had had enough. She walked to the front of the house and forced her tears down. Bree was sweet. She had no reason to dislike her, save for the fact that she was taking her Landon away.
“Hey, are you okay?” Landon walked over to her.
“Yeah. Just this whole mess with Joshua and Paige. She had the nerve to call me earlier asking if we were still friends.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her to fuck off, right after I told her my dads have killed people too.”
Landon took her hand. “Thanks, Kat.”
“Bree’s sweet,” Katiana said grudgingly. “She seems to really like you.”
“I like her a lot. She thought I was a dumb jock.”
“Well, she knows better now, huh? You are the sweetest guy, Landon, and very smart. I just hope she knows what she has.”
Landon swore he saw something in her eyes… like she wanted to say something more but was holding back. “How’s Joe?”
“Oh, shit. I haven’t even called him. A lot going on.”
“Well, you should do that.” Landon walked back toward the house.
“Landon?” It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she was in love with him, would always be and she had made a mistake, but it was too late. He was happy and she wasn’t going to ruin that.
“Yeah?” Landon stopped.
“Nothing.” Kat sighed.
“See you later.”
Bree couldn’t sleep. She didn’t know if it was because it was so quiet out here or because she was in a strange house. She got up and went outside. It was beautiful. She could see every star in the sky. She heard crying and crept around the side of the house. It was Katiana. She was just about to join her when she saw Joshua come out.
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