Keeping Her (The Lexington Series Book 2) (14 page)

I saw the storm instantly in his eyes
and he stood quickly and stalked after me. “Lucy, this is not something that
you play with you hear me? When I told you that you were mine that meant that
nobody else can have you. If I find out you were with someone else I might just
break your legs after I kill him. So I’m going to ask you one more time and
you’re going to answer me honestly. Were. You. With. Another. Guy?”

I growled and stuck my finger into
his chest. “You have a lot of nerve you know that. Who the fuck is the girl
that you hook up with at all your away games? I forgot to get her name.”

He looked at me confused. “What are
you talking about?” he asked.

“You’re an idiot. You send me a text
telling me to come see you and low and behold I don’t find
you
in the
room. I find your sometimes fuck buddy. Why would you tell me to come out there
just to catch you cheating? How many times Landon? How long?” Right now I’m
following him and he’s backing up.

“One, I didn’t text you to come to my
game. Two, there was no girl in my room. Three, and most importantly I haven’t
cheated on you.” He said frustrated.

I grabbed my phone from my pocket and
turned it on. I went into my text messages and found it. “What room were you in
Landon?” I asked.

His eyebrow arched. “406, the whole
team stayed on the fourth floor.” He told me.

I frowned and showed him the text. He
read it and scowled. “I didn’t send that to you and that wasn’t my room. The
time you got this message we were practicing… my phone was in my locker Lucy.”

This confused me more and I plopped
down. “This is crazy. So you’re telling me that someone went into your locker
and sent me this text so that I could find that girl in a room thinking it was
yours? Why would someone do that?” I asked.

He sighed. “Dylan.” He said by way of
explanation. “He’s still cool with a lot of the guys on the team and he was at
the game. I saw him around but he’s not on the team so he doesn’t stay with us.
That was probably his room.”

Landon took out his phone and after
pressing a few keys I heard ringing coming through the speaker.

“Hello?” a woman answered.

“Hi, I stayed there last night and I
think I might’ve left something in my room. I was staying in 302.” Landon said.

“I will be happy to check on this for
you. Can you verify your name first?” she asked.

“Dylan Thomas.” We heard keys
clicking.

“Thank you for confirming Mr. Thomas,
can you please tell me what it is you think you’ve left so we can check on this
for you?”

Landon cursed under his breath and
hung up. “Son of a bitch I’m going to kick his ass.”

I sighed. “Landon, that’s what he
wants. Just leave it alone. He’s trying to goad you.”

“Lucy so where was you?” he asked
changing the subject.

I sighed and sat next to him. “I went
back to my old room with Naiyla. I was there when you came earlier but I was in
the bathroom. By the way you should consider not breaking down people’s doors.”
He growled and I rolled my eyes. “It was just too much. Seeing that girl in
what I thought was your room was the last straw. I was already shaken up from
the art show.”

His eyes met mine and he frowned.
“What happened at the art show?” he asked. Then I remembered I never told him
about it.

I rubbed my arms trying to get rid of
the sudden goose bumps. “Someone ruined all of my paintings. They wrote things
like slut and whore in red paint on my work. The one I did of the family they
covered my entire face with red paint, then they made a target on my chest kind
of like a death threat and made it look like I was bleeding from it.”

Landon’s eyes went wide and his
breathing came out in heavy pants. “Someone sent you a death threat?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Not necessarily no, but
it sure looked that way. It really freaked me out that’s why I didn’t think
twice about taking you up on your offer to come see you.”

He let out a shaky breath and grabbed
me up into his arms. He pulled me onto his lap and rubbed circles on my back. I
relaxed into him and nuzzled his neck. This is what I needed all day yesterday.
I felt safe in his arms, like no one could get me. “No one is going to hurt you
Lucy. I won’t let them you don’t need to be afraid.” He placed kisses on my
forehead and in my hair. I could feel his irregular breathing and knew he was
barely keeping it together.

I nodded. “I just need you to hold
me. That’s all… it makes me feel better.” I whispered.

He picked me up and placed me down on
the bed. He removed my clothes down to my underclothes and took of his t-shirt
placing it over my head. He took off his shoes and pants and gathered me up in
his arms in bed and pulled the covers over us. He held onto me tight and kept
whispering reassuring words to me. We stayed that way until I fell asleep once
again. I woke up an hour later and checked the time. It was a few minutes after
six. I untangled myself from Landon and went downstairs to cook. I made some
rice and chicken. Landon had woken up before I was done and was in the living
room with Nick and Max. I called them in when the food was ready and we all sat
together and ate. Max asked to go to the aquarium and Landon nodded. That
actually sounded like fun. We needed time together just having fun away from
all things drama.

The next morning we were woken up by
Max jumping on my bed. Landon answered first with his voice thick with sleep.
“Max, what’s up?”

Max threw himself down on top of me
and I scooted off Landon and to the side to make space for him in the middle of
us. “You guys were taking too long to wake up.” He turned to me. “Lu can you
please make pancakes and sausage and then we can go see the fishes and sharks?”
he asked excitedly.

“Sure thing. We have to see what time
they open though. We can’t get there too early.” I told him.

He shook his head. “Fishes
never
sleep Lucy. They’re open already I know it.”

Landon laughed. “I’ll check. Let’s
have breakfast first then we’ll get ready to go ok?” he asked.

Max nodded and hopped out of the bed.
I went to get up and Landon grabbed me and pulled me to him. “Morning baby.”

I smiled. “Morning Landon.” I gave
him a closed mouth kiss to spare him further morning breath. I got up and went
to the bathroom to freshen up then headed downstairs to cook. We ate and Max
chatted away about all the things he wants to see when we go out. Nick joined
in and started making up different types of fishes. I just laughed at his
ridiculousness.

We went to the aquarium and had a ton
of fun. We took plenty of pictures and bought Max one of those overpriced
stuffed sharks. He crashed on the drive back home. Nick was like a kid in the
candy store. He didn’t care about looking like an oversized 6 years old because
he was running around right along with Max. When we got back I made some fish
and shrimp with French fries… you know since we were with the sea all day. Max
was a little sad that we were eating fish, but after encouraging him that we
wouldn’t have wanted them to die for no reason he dug in. I rarely make
seafood, but when I do the boys act like it’s a grand treat. We lounged around
together before retiring to bed. It was back to school tomorrow. Landon got
into the shower and I decided to check my email. It was the normal crap that
you see, school newsletters, promotions, and coupons. I kept going down the
list until I came to an email from some Gmail account I’ve never seen. I opened
it up and inside was a picture of Landon holding me from behind. You could see
Max and Nick in the background pointing at fishes through the glass. My face
was blacked out and there was a picture of a gun facing my chest inserted into
the shot. Underneath it said in bold
TAKE MY WARNING SERIOUSLY. LEAVE HIM
OR ELSE.
I felt the blood drain from my face. So it was a warning they
put on my painting. I felt my body begin to shake. This person took a picture
of us
today
. They were close to me, to us. I didn’t even know there was
someone following us let alone taking pictures. I was frozen staring at the
screen that I didn’t notice Landon get into the bed.

“Lucy?” he asked. I turned to look at
him with wide eyes and he immediately went on alert. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
I didn’t speak I just turned the computer to face him. He scanned the screen
and paled. “Who sent this?” he asked.

I was shaking so hard my teeth were
rattling. “I – I don’t know. I don’t recognize the email address.” I confessed.

He punched the bed and growled.
“FUCK!” he exploded and I flinched. His head whipped to me and he scooped me up
into his arms. “This has to be Dylan messing with you because of me. Don’t
worry about it Lucy, I’ll take care of it. No one is going to hurt you and you’re
not leaving me.” He told me softly.

It took some time but the shaking
eventually stopped. I looked up at him and confessed, “Landon I’m scared.”

He petted my hair. “It’s ok baby.
Nothing is going to happen to you ok?” I nodded. His confidence was soothing
but it didn’t quite take the fear from my heart. It took a long time but sleep
eventually found me. Landon didn’t let me go throughout the entire night.

I went to class the next day a
quivering mess. If this person’s intention was to freak me out then they
completely succeeded. I was constantly looking over my shoulder and jumping at
the smallest things. My nerves were a wreck and my anxiety was at an all-time
high. I put on a brave front this morning for Nick and Landon, I didn’t want
them worried or thinking they needed to baby me. They were coming after me not
them. Landon thinks its Dylan, but this little beef they have with each other
isn’t on the level of threatening me I don’t think. Something in my gut tells
me that it isn’t him. Based off of what they told me has happened so far in
their little feud, this didn’t fit the MO. I would just need to be careful and
watch my back.

Landon

This asshole Dylan is taking this
whole thing too far. Threatening Lucy? I’m going to hurt this fucker. I made my
way to his dorm and banged on the door. I had about 15 minutes before my class
and I’m hoping he was here. I banged again and I heard shuffling. I dropped my book
bag on the floor and waited. The door swung open and Dylan was standing there.
It looks like I just woke him up. The urge to hit him was intense but I can’t
knock him out just yet.

“Back the fuck off of Lucy. This is
between you and me.” I told him.

His eyebrows shot up. “Seriously
dude, you’re bent out of shape because of that little trick? I thought you were
a master player.” He taunted me.

I stepped forward and grabbed him by
his shirt. “I’m talking about the threats to her life you’ve been sending.”

He frowned in confusion. “What are
you talking about? I didn’t threaten her life. I haven’t bothered her since
that first day. I saw how loyal she was to you so she has no use to me. That
trick I played was for you.”

I dropped him back to his feet.
“Don’t fuck with me.” I threatened.

He threw his arms up in surrender.
“Listen, this is still a war. But it’s between me and you. Why would I threaten
to kill her if I didn’t even do that to you? This is not
that
serious. I
wouldn’t actually hurt her anyways. Besides being crazy for being with you
she’s a good girl. I wouldn’t bring her into this now what the hell are you
talking about?”

 I watched his eyes and posture for
any tells but there was none. He was telling me the truth. I sighed and turned
and left. That meant that there is someone else out there fucking threatening
her, but who? I grabbed a handful of hair and tugged. I can’t handle this if it
is real. I made my way to class but I couldn’t focus. I had a million things
running through my mind. Maybe this is just a trick? Someone working with
Dylan? I knew that Lucy was putting on a front for me this morning when she
said she was fine, but I know she’s scared shitless. I can’t tell her this.
It’ll probably make her have a panic attack.

When I got home I kept a close eye on
Lucy. She was definitely jumpy and that pissed me off. I couldn’t stand to see
her scared, even in her own home. I waited until Lucy went to the kitchen to
cook before I pulled Nick to the side.

“I don’t think that Dylan is the one
threatening Lucy.” I told him.

His eyebrows rose and he frowned. “What
do you mean?” he asked.

“I confronted him. He said he didn’t
do it and I believe him.”

“You believe him?” he scoffed in
disbelief.

I sighed. “Yes. He didn’t deny
whatever the hell this thing is going on between us, but he was adamant about
not involving Lucy. Honestly, it doesn’t fit in with his other hits against me.
Why would he do that at the show knowing I wasn’t going to be there? And don’t
you think I might’ve been the target in the picture and not her?” I asked him.

He seemed to think this through then
sighed running his hand through his hair. “Fuck, so who could it be? We don’t
have trouble with anyone else right now. Why would someone be going after her?”
he asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.
That’s what’s driving me crazy. I don’t even know where to start.” I confessed.

“How about with that email? There’s
some guy in one of my classes that’s all techy and shit. I’m sure he would do
some hacking for me at the right price.”

I nodded. “Let’s get on that ASAP. I
don’t know if these threats are real or not. I don’t want to take any chances
with her.”

“Me either. I’m going to hurt someone
just so you know.” Nick confessed and I could only nod in agreement.

When I took Lucy up to bed that night
the last thing on my mind was sleeping. I’ve been strung so tight all damn day.
I was like a wild animal, I stripped me and Lucy down quickly and pushed her
back onto the bed. She crawled up towards the headboard and I followed her. I
leaned down and entered her in one swift thrust. When it was over I feathered
kisses on her shoulder and neck. She pushed herself back into me and I felt
myself harden again. I picked up her leg and put it over mine and I entered her
slowly. This time it was calm and controlled. I took my time with her, feeling
every inch of her that I could get my hands on. When I tweaked her nipple she
shuddered and came. I stayed buried inside of her as I fell off to sleep.