Keeping Her (The Lexington Series Book 2) (16 page)

“Landon, if you do that one more time
I’m going to kill you.” I threatened.

He shrugged. “You’re not supposed to
be eating blue cheese Lucy.”

I growled. “Landon… don’t you dare
start your shit when I’m hungry. You can scold me later, but right now you let
me eat.”

“I’m not going to let you eat what’s
not good for you. You can eat the wings like you were before
without
the
blue cheese. You’ll survive, stop being so dramatic.” He said as he picked up the
blue cheese and moved it.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the
whole box of wings and took it with me to sit. He can have the blue cheese by
itself then. I continued my essay which took me well into the night. When I
finally finished, it was 3am and I was beat. I didn’t have class the next day
so that was fine. I had to work on some more paintings for my portfolio. With
my best ones ruined I needed to play catchup. My professor told me not to worry
too much about it, since she had already reviewed the work and would still be
able to grade it. I couldn’t have my end of year work lacking, it just didn’t
feel right. I curled up into Landon and fell asleep.

When I woke up it was past 10am and
everyone was gone. I decided to make breakfast and headed downstairs. I checked
the mailbox and there was a cable bill and a letter addressed to me with no
return address. I opened it up and it was a wedding invitation from my mother.
I rolled my eyes, who is the sucker this time? I wonder if this is the same guy
that she cheated on Dean with. Only my mother would get drunk and sleep with
her fiancés client while on a romantic cruise. I tossed it over to the side and
fed myself. I’m sure Nick and Landon would get a kick out of this. I wonder how
she got our address. Had to of been James.

I brought my painting materials
downstairs so that I can paint by the French Doors overlooking the backyard. I
opened up the doors and let the scenery soothe me and I began painting. I don’t
know how long I was at it, but I had to take a break when my fingers started
cramping. I put down the paint brush and just breathed in the fresh air.  I was
looking into the yard when I saw something move in the back. I narrowed my eyes
to get a better look but I couldn’t really see that far out. It was hidden in
the trees. I wondered if it were an animal. I haven’t seen any deer or anything
out here. Mainly just birds and squirrels, you know the typical small things. I
saw the figure move again and that’s when I realized it wasn’t an animal, it
was a person. I had a clearer view of their frame. They were directly in front
of me, sort of like they were watching me. My phone chimed and I checked it. It
was from a blocked number. I opened the text message and paled. It was a photo
of my sitting here a few minutes ago while I was painting. Another text came in
and I scrolled up. It was me checking my phone. My hands began sweating and I
got nervous. I jumped up and closed and locked the doors. I closed the blinds
and began moving around the house to make sure all the windows and doors were
closed and locked tight. I closed all of the blinds and chugged a glass of
water. I was shaking in fear. I grabbed a hold of the cabinet and my phone
chimed again. At this point I was trembling so bad that my knees were knocking.
I checked my phone, and this time it was words.
I can find you anywhere.
Your time is running out. Leave and don’t come back
.

I didn’t want to be alone, I was too
afraid. I sat on the couch and curled up into a ball. I considered texting
Landon but I didn’t want him to skip class or practice just to comfort me. I
hugged a pillow to my chest and turned on the TV. Every little noise had me
jumping in my skin and the TV would drown out some of the sounds. After sitting
around for two hours on pins and needles I caved. I sent a text to Nick and
Landon asking for them to come straight home when they were done for the day.
They usually did but their reassuring texts provided me with a little comfort.
I had to do something to clear my head so I went in the kitchen and started
cooking. By the time they got home, I had made some Spanish rice, corn on the
cob, steak, chocolate chip cookies, and two cakes.

“You were busy.” Landon commented
when he came in.

I nodded. “Look I have to show you
guys something.” I told them unable to keep it in anymore. I pulled up my phone
and opened up the text messages and showed it to them. Landon’s nostrils
flared.

“What is this?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I was painting earlier
looking out into the backyard like in the picture. I had stopped for a break
and noticed someone in the trees. They were watching me and taking pictures
obviously. I locked up the house, and then I got the last message to leave. I’m
scared.”

Nick pulled me into a hug. “Lucy no
one is going to do anything to you. We’re going to find out who’s sending you
this stuff. They had stopped, why did they start back up again?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I have no idea. I speak
to a few people at school but it’s all friendly. I don’t have any enemies that
I know of. It just doesn’t make sense. This person is stalking me, and I was
alone today. Do you think they’re really going to try to hurt me?” I asked.

Landon picked his head up. “I’m not
going to let anyone touch you Lucy. Just stay safe.” He turned to Nick. “Do you
think it would be best if we rotate? Pick her up and drop her off. Have her
come to practices with us?”

I shook my head frantically. “You
guys can’t do that. Plus with your practices I pick up Max and drop him off
most of the time. It’s not going to work.”

Landon

These threats against Lucy are
driving me insane. For a minute there I thought things had gone quiet, that
whoever it was had forgotten about her. Now that bastard is stalking her at the
house scaring the crap out of her. I kept my eyes on her as much as possible.
Whatever game this person was playing at was getting under my skin. It’s like
they pop up out of the blue to shake the ground, then they disappear. As soon
as we get comfortable they turn back up. We haven’t heard a thing since the
beginning of April, when they sent the pictures of her painting. It was now the
beginning of June and the semester is almost over. We were on our way back to
the house from one of our prenatal appointments and I was leaving tonight to go
to a game. I’ve been having this bad feeling in my gut. Something was
telling
me that this wasn’t a good idea to leave her. When I fought with her about it
she said she would stay with Naiyla on campus where there’s security. That
eased my worries a bit but not much. I dropped off Lucy at her old room and
kissed her goodbye. I headed out to meet the team, as we boarded the bus I
couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to turn back around.

I called Lucy when we arrived, and
she told me that Naiyla was going to a party and she decided to join her. I
could choke the shit out her right now. Why doesn’t she ever listen? I told her
to just stay her ass inside with Naiyla, and do all that girly shit and what
does she do? She goes out… to a party at that. I cursed her up and down until
she hung up on me. I didn’t bother calling back because I know she won’t answer
trying to avoid the argument. I sent her a text telling her that I’m tanning
her ass when I get back and she sent me the ‘ok’ emoji. I ordered room service
as I stewed about Lucy’s hardheaded ass. I decided to turn in around 11. I was
on the verge of sleep when my phone pinged. There was a picture of Lucy asleep.
I looked closer and I could see what looked like blood on her forehead. Another
message came in next.
She says goodbye, this is the last time you will see
her.
I jumped up out of bed as I dialed Nick. I began tossing on my clothes
because I was heading back. He answered and I heard a girl in the background.
He’s been sort of a man whore ever since Mel left him but he won’t open up to
me or Lucy about it.

“Nick, we have a problem. Meet me at
the house with the nerd guy. He’s going to have to break through and find out
who the fuck is threatening Lucy. That son of a bitch has her and sent me a
picture.”

He cursed. “I’m calling Chris now.
I’ll be home.”

I grabbed my stuff and ran out of the
hotel and jumped in a taxi. I promised the driver a generous tip if he hurried
to get me there. He got me home as quickly as possible, and as promised Nick
was there with the guy that has been trying to help us figure out who’s
threatening Lucy. He’s been running into some issues. Apparently whoever is
doing it is tech savvy and has some firewalls and things up that are making it
hard for him to figure out who’s on the other side.

“Guys, I don’t think I will be able
to figure this all out in one night. I’ve already been trying for weeks.” Chris
said.

I grabbed him by his shirt and lifted
him up off the chair. “You’re getting paid well for this. The person who’s been
threatening her, well they have her now. We need to find her.” I released him
and he dropped into the chair and nodded. His hands started flying across the
keys and I watched as these black boxes popped up and down with these cryptic
messages on them.

My phone rang and I checked the
screen, it was Naiyla.

“Hello?”

“Landon? Hello? Can you hear me?” she
was all but screaming into the phone. I could hear music blaring in the
background.

“I’m here Naiyla.”

“Have you heard from Lucy? She said
she was going outside for air and never came back. I looked for her everywhere
outside and in the party and I can’t find her.” She told me.

I sighed. “The person that’s been
threatening her has her. They sent me a message. Where did you last see her?” I
asked.

“
Oh my God!
Are you kidding
me? I had to use the bathroom and she said she was going outside. I’m going out
there to see if anyone saw anything.” She told me and hung up.

I called James next and let him know
what happened. He said he was coming up right away and will be here as soon as
possible. This is going to be a shit storm having to explain to her father that
someone has been threatening her and I failed to protect her. I paced back and
forth pulling on my hair. When two hours had passed after I received the texts
I began to panic. What do they want from her? Are they seriously planning on
hurting her? I called Ted and had him check to make sure Dylan was around. He
confirmed that he was in his room planning on getting drunk as hell with the
other guys. That was the only lead that I had.

My phone rang and it was Naiyla. I
could still hear music in the background but it sounds like she moved herself
away. “Naiyla, please tell me you have something.”

“It took me some time but there was
this group of stoners I found. They were on the side of the house in the trees
so that no one would see them getting high. It took forever but they remembered
seeing Lucy out there. They said someone came up to her and spoke to her.
Lucy’s back was to them but she got in the car with the girl. They said it was
a skinny girl with dark wavy hair. It’s dark out and they were high so that’s
all they had.” She told me.

I thought this through. It was a
girl? But who. “Who could it be?” I asked out loud.

She sighed. “I think it was that
weird chick. She has dark wavy hair and she’s skinny. I told Lucy that I didn’t
think the girl was all right in the head when she told me about her fascination
with you. She had waited for me one day after class and approached me trying to
be my friend. It was a random and weird kind of. I told her she probably knew
who I was and that’s why she was trying to befriend me. I’d never even noticed
the girl before that day. I did see her here at the party like twice but she
wasn’t drinking or anything.”

I slammed my fist through the wall.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Jasmine did this?” I roared.

Nick looked up at me and narrowed his
eyes. “Jasmine? What the fuck?”

“Thanks Naiyla, I’ll let you know.” I
told her and clicked off.

I found the guy’s number who my dad
uses for security work. This isn’t their normal type of work but I’m sure they
could give me what I need. I told them that there was no price limit, I needed
everything on Jasmine.

Nick turned to Chris. “Can you get
into the school database and find out where Jasmine is staying and anything else
they have on her?” he asked.

Chris nodded. “Already on it, you
have a last name?”

“Santeeno.” I told him and he kept
typing away.

Chris was able to pull Jasmine’s
information. Nick and I headed over to her room and her roommate let us in. She
told us that Jasmine moved out a week prior and didn’t leave anything behind
but we were welcomed to look. I think it was due to the fact she was busy
drooling over us, but hey I’d take what I could get. The room looked completely
cleaned out. We tossed over the bed, checked the closets and drawers and there
wasn’t a trace that she even lived here. Just as we were walking out Nick spoke
up.

“Hey hold on a second, what’s that?”
he asked.

I turned to look to see what he was
talking about. There was a paper on the floor sticking out from behind the
dresser. I walked over and picked it up. It was an envelope for photo prints.
There weren’t any pictures in there, but there was still the sheet that shows
smaller images of all the developments. I pulled it in close to my face and
scanned them. They were all pictures of Lucy, and me. There were even some of
us coming and leaving the doctor’s office. My anger rose to a level I don’t
think it’s ever been. This crazy bitch stalked us and kidnapped Lucy. We went
back to the house and there’s still no progress. I was still waiting to hear
back from
somebody
. Time seemed to be flying by and more and more dread
filled me as the seconds ticked away. It’s already been almost six hours.