Drifting into Darkness (24 page)

Me: lol sounds good. Thanks.

Landon: Can’t wait to see you. I should have kissed those lips when I saw you this morning.

I was smiling as I turned my cart down the chip aisle and I was about to reply and ask him why he didn’t, when I spotted Shannon and Barbie number two.

I wanted to huff in annoyance, but went along with ignoring her instead. She hadn’t noticed me yet, so I would just grab a few bags and turn the other way to leave. I wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation and that’s all she seemed to provide when we were around each other.

“Well, look who it is.” I cringed as I heard her shrill voice, but plastered a smile on my face and turned to her.

“Hey! What a pleasant surprise,” I shrieked sarcastically and turned to grab a bag of BBQ chips. I placed them in my cart and started walking off to avoid any of her nonsense, but I was stopped in my tracks with her next comment.

“I hope you don’t mind sharin’!” she exclaimed loudly.

“Excuse me?” I retorted.

She walked toward me with a grin and I raised an eyebrow at her. She was looking at me like a tiger ready to pounce, but she needed to realize I sharpened my claws daily.

“Oh, ya heard me,” she taunted, as she got closer. Barbie number two stood beside her with her arms crossed over her chest. She must be her guard dog.

“What is your problem?” I asked annoyed, as I moved my cart off to the side out of the way of passersby.

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “I don’t have a problem. I’m just trying to make ya aware of how this works.” I looked at her confused. I had no idea what she was getting at. She chuckled and looked to her sidekick. “Look at her,” she said to Barbie number two, nodding toward me. “Poor thing has no idea, does she?” She turned back to me with a smile. “Bless her heart,” she said in an overly sweet voice.

I had a feeling she wasn’t being very Christian and was actually telling me to fuck off. But I didn’t need cryptic words and I was pretty damn close to telling her exactly that.

“Are you really that confident that he’d come to you?”

“I don’t have to have confidence,” she grinned, “because I know it will happen. It never fails, Sadie. He always comes back to me. He doesn’t get serious with anyone.”

I could feel my heart rate pick up as more words flew out of her mouth. She was pissing me off, but that was her goal. I knew she wanted to get a rise out of me. But I couldn’t help but wonder if what she was saying was true. Which only made my stomach hurt. It wasn’t like she knew I had trust issues. She didn’t even know me. Yet, here we were standing in the middle of a grocery store having this conversation for everyone that passed by to hear.

“He doesn’t get serious with any one, but you stand here acting like you have a relationship with him,” I scoffed. “You need to get over yourself; it’s called using someone for sex. It’s not a relationship and he doesn’t care for you. You’re a fuck ’em and leave ’em kind of girl and probably always will be.”

Her eyes widened in shock, but her expression quickly changed to a sneer. “Oh, honey. You don’t know Landon at all. You just met him. Why don’t ya ask him about Kelly?”

I rolled my eyes. “I already know about Kelly.” I was so done with this shit. “If that’s really all you’ve got, then you need to get a life.”

I turned my back to her and pushed my cart to get out of the aisle. I didn’t even feel like shopping any more, but I wasn’t about to let her ruin the rest of my day. I needed to take some deep breaths and push her snarky country ass out of my mind.

I turned out of the aisle and walked quickly toward the other end of the store to get some lunchmeat and bread. I needed to get what I came for and leave. I had so many things running through my mind now, I almost felt sick.

It wasn’t like I had invested a lot of time with Landon, but I liked him. I felt like we had something there, and to think he might betray me in any way was hurtful, even if he hadn’t done anything yet. I knew it was her plan to plant all these thoughts and emotions in my head, and she did a damn good job of it.

I needed to get what I came for and get the hell out the store so I could get home and figure out what the hell I was going to do with this newfound dilemma.

Sixteen

The next day went by like every other day except I was quieter than normal. I kept to myself, staying deep in thought for most of the day, going over what Shannon had said.
Was Landon the type of person to cheat? Would he do that to me after everything he’d said?
Scenario after scenario played in my head all day long. I had been zoned out when Lisa finally nudged me in the bean house.

“Are you okay?” she asked with a concerned look on her face.

I nodded and raised a hand to my head. “Yeah, I just have a little bit of a headache today.” It wasn’t a lie. I had stayed up half the night tossing and turning.

She frowned and patted my shoulder. “Go on up to the office and get some Tylenol and water. Take a break for a few. We’ll be fine here until ya get back.” I gave her a small smile and nodded once as I walked off. She really was a sweetheart.

I really wished I didn’t feel so blah. I needed to perk up or the day would definitely drag, but that was easier said than done with my mind whirling with questions.

I tried my best not to let my confrontation with Shannon get to me, but deep down, all girls had that insecure feeling about themselves. You’d ask yourself, ‘If he could have
her
, why was he with
me?
’ And that was exactly what I was doing.
What made me so special?

All day I had debated on whether or not trying a relationship with Landon would be worth it. I knew my heart couldn’t handle being hurt again and I chastised myself for thinking I could start over so soon. Even though it had been months since we broke up and I should be over it, it was hard to get past what I’d known for six years of my life. But if I didn’t start over now, how long would I wait.
Could you ever be ready for a new relationship after heartbreak?

I had told myself I needed to live my life and not live in the past. I need to push through my doubts.

Landon intrigued me. There was something about him that made me want to know more. I wanted to know the real Landon Johnson. Lisa said I’d be good for him, but would he be good for me? I thought about telling her of my run-in with Shannon to see if she would tell me what she was talking about, but I had a feeling she would tell me to ask Landon. She had said Derek told her he didn’t want her to get involved and I was inclined to agree. I didn’t want to put her in a bad position. She’d known the family for a long time and I didn’t want to cause any problems.

Later that night, Landon and I texted a few times about our day. He mentioned being excited to see me the next morning and he couldn’t wait to show me just how much he’d missed seeing me.

I, of course, giggled like a teenage girl because I felt the same way. With everything going through my mind I still missed spending time with him, even if our time was spent with me shoveling up horse poop. We’d seen each other for over a month. I was used to seeing him and it was one of the things I’d looked forward to every day. So not seeing him for two days was kind of a bummer. Maybe that was the cause of my blah mood.

I’d decided by the end of the night that I did want to see where this would lead, but I needed to talk to him. I couldn’t keep worrying or having the feelings I was having if we were going to try and make it work.

So, I’d wait and talk to him when he took me wherever he was taking me Thursday night. I knew I’d see him in the morning, but I didn’t want to have a conversation like that at work.

~*~

I woke up in the morning feeling more refreshed than I did the day before. After making a decision on what I wanted to do with Shannon’s information, I was able to sleep throughout the night, without waking up every few hours.

Arriving at the farm, a smile spread across my face when I spotted Landon sitting in a rocker alongside Nan. They were having a conversation so he hadn’t seen me. I took that opportunity to look him over as I got out of my car.

He wore the same thing as every other day, t-shirt, jeans, and boots, the basic farm attire. But instead of his usual clean-shaven face, he had the starting of a beard. I smiled and bit my lip at the sight. Oh, boy, did it look good on him.

As I walked closer, my movement caught his attention. He looked up at me with a bright smile and slowly got up from his seat to greet me.

“Good morning,” I smiled, as he walked up to me.

“Good morning,” he grinned. He held out his hand and gestured for me to take it.

I slid my hand into his and raised an eyebrow at him. “And just where do you think you are taking me?” I asked as he pulled me along with him to the side of the office building.

He turned to look at me over his shoulder. “Somewhere private,” was all he said as he turned the corner and led me to the very back of the office.

As soon as he pulled me fully around the corner, he slowly backed me up to the building until I was fully pressed up against it, caging me in his arms on either side of my head. I looked up into his eyes and licked my lips in anticipation as his gaze penetrated mine. I knew what he was going to do and I grinned at how stealthy he was trying to act.

He grinned back at me and slowly lowered his lips to mine. I raised my arms and wrapped them around his neck, leaning up to meet his kiss, only to have him back away and smile at me. I dropped my mouth open and he laughed at me. Playful Landon was out and he wanted to tease. Two could play that game.

Unlocking my hands from around his neck, I slowly let them trail down his shoulders to his pecs, massaging as I went. My touch caused his nipples to harden and I ran my fingertips around them as I ran my hand down to his abs, memorizing every groove. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw and my fingers danced along his rib cage and made their way to his back where they didn’t stay. They headed south and latched on to that perfect round muscular butt and squeezed.

His eyes flew open with a sigh and he wasted no time bringing his lips to mine in a hungry kiss. He grabbed onto my waist and leaned into me causing excitement to peak in my core. I got lost in his kiss. My hands grabbed at his face and then slid into his hair that was slightly damp from sweat.

The heat of the day was already affecting us, but not as much as the heat he was creating with those lips.

He ran his hands down my side to my hip and was about to lower them further when we were interrupted with a clearing of a throat.

We pulled apart, breathing heavily, and turned to see who was there. My cheeks immediately flamed with embarrassment. Mr. Johnson was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, with a smiling Derek by his side.

Landon pulled back, dropping his hands from my hips. I stayed where I was against the building even though the brick was starting to dig into my back.

“Nan said she saw you walk back here,” his dad stated with an obvious look of irritation. It only made me feel more self-conscious about the compromising position he’d caught me in, on the job, even though I wasn’t clocked in yet.

“Yes, sir,” Landon replied, waiting for his dad to continue. It was the first time I’d heard him address his dad that way. I knew Derek and everyone else did, but the words had never left Landon’s mouth that I’d heard, until now. And the look on Mr. Johnson’s face would suggest he was surprised too.

Mr. Johnson uncrossed his arms and gestured to the front of the building. “I need you in the office to sign some of this paperwork.”

Landon nodded and his dad and Derek walked off.

I sighed as soon as they were out of sight and brought my hand up to my forehead. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

He tipped my chin up to look at him. “Don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile and then he kissed my forehead. “He catches Lisa and Derek all the time.”

Grabbing my hand, he pulled me along with him to the front of the office. I knew my cheeks were still red so I took a couple of deep breaths to calm my embarrassment. There was nothing like getting caught making out by a parent, let alone your boss. I knew then why he dragged me back there, but next time, he’d have to find a more secluded place if he wanted to attack me with a make-out session.

He pulled me through the office door with him and kissed me on the forehead once more. “I’ll see you later today,” he said with a wink as he pulled away and headed to the right to the office door that was always closed.

After he closed himself behind the door, I walked to Nan’s office and signed the sign in sheet. A smiling Lisa was waiting for me.

“Welcome to the club, sweetie. It happens to us all the time,” she laughed.

I shook my head as we made our way out of the office. “That was so damn embarrassing,” I said, managing to laugh at myself.

“Was he just kissing you?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, why?”

She laughed. “You want to talk about embarrassment. Try being caught in your bra with your boyfriend’s hands all over your boobs.” She gave me a freaked-out expression and I couldn’t contain my laughter.

“Oh. My. God. I would have died.”

She nodded her head laughing. “Yeah, well, we’ve learned our lesson. Now you’ve learned yours.” She looked at me with a grin. “No more making out on the farm.”

She got that right.

~*~

The rest of the day went by quickly. Landon sat with me at lunch and I listened to him talk to Derek and Joe about the race that was happening in another town they planned on attending Friday night. He asked me if I wanted to go and I, of course, said yes. I wanted to see him in action.

I was sure watching other cars race was awesome, but watching Landon race would be different. I already knew I’d probably be cheering like the rest of them. They were so enthusiastic when they talked about it, so there was no way I wouldn’t be too.