Keeping Her (The Lexington Series Book 2) (28 page)

He smirked and kept walking towards
me. I backed up into the sink and had nowhere to run. “You’re running away from
me again right back to water. I think you
want
to be wet Lucy. Is that
true?” he was standing right in front of me.

I shook my head frantically. “No I
would like to be nice and dry and outside with everyone else.”

His arms came down on the sink on
either side of me. He lowered his head until his lips were so close they
brushed mine when he spoke. “Are you sure? Because if you want to be wet I can
make you wetter.” I felt the blush coat my cheeks and my eyes fluttered closed
as me brushed his lips against mine once, then twice, before placing his lips
fully on mine and probed at my bottom lip begging for entrance. I tried to deny
him I promise, but he made it so
hard
. I don’t know when it happened but
I felt his body on mine. His bare chest against me and his hands were slowly
moving from my lower back to my ass. He squeezed it and I squealed in surprise
and he used the opportunity to literally stick his tongue in my mouth. He moved
his hands back to my waist and picked me up seating me on the counter. He moved
in between my legs and deepened the kiss. He began moving his tongue in that
way I like it when his mouth is on me. When I had the urge to wrap my legs
around his waist and pull him closer I broke the kiss.

“No Landon this is not happening.
Be-Have!” I scolded him.

He threw his hands up in defense. “I
just wanted to kiss you is all girl, I’m going to get dressed now. Don’t beat
me up or anything.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ha, ha. What a
fucking comedian.” I heard him snickering behind me and I wanted to kick him in
his freaking kneecap.

I was putting on his boxers when I
heard him behind me. “Seriously Lucy? You got those for you and bought me
these
?
I know I had more than one pair in the car, you’re an evil fucking heffa you
know that?”

I turned my head and stuck my tongue
out at him as I snapped the underwear dramatically in place and he rolled his
eyes. I put on his sweats which were big but had a drawstring so they’d do. But
he was taller than me so naturally there was a ton of additional pant at the
bottom even though I rolled them up a few times at the top to make them shorter
they still made me look kind of like a snowman with bulky legs. I snapped off
my bra and looked around. I held up the white t-shirt in my hand and bit my
lip. I looked over at Landon who put on his shirt first and was working on his
socks and pants.

“Landon switch shirts with me?”

“No.”

“Why?” I complained.

“Because I don’t feel like it.”

I growled. “Oh come on. Do you want
to keep doing this tit for tat shit for the rest of the night?” I asked.

He shrugged. “You started it. Now
leave me alone girl I’m trying to get dressed.”

“Ok fine. I’ll wear this shirt.” I
told him. When he didn’t respond or act the least bit interested I cleared my
throat. “You know since you’re
not
a girl so you don’t wear bras I have
two choices. Wear the white t-shirt braless where you might see through or I
can put my wet bra back on and it’s going to wet the shirt in the entire breast
area.”

“You don’t play fair.”  Landon
complained taking off his shirt.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not about
playing fair you just don’t want to admit that you are a little pissed at the
thought of either. At least with the black shirt you might not be able to even
tell I don’t have on a bra.”

He scoffed. “Lucy, I can
always
tell when you don’t have on a bra.”

“Yea because you’re a perv. Can you
put our wet stuff in your car while I hunt down Dean? I should have him when
you get back.”

“Yea, give me. And don’t fall into any
more water or something with your clumsy ass.” He said on a snicker as he
walked past me and slapped my ass.

“You should be more concerned about me
pushing you back in.” I yelled at him as he was walking away.

I went back out back and found James.
“Why is it that I heard two people fell into the pool and I knew one or two of
the three of you were involved?”

I laughed. “I have no idea you know
how good we have always been. We are angels. Besides this time it was truly an
accident.”

He laughed. “I was banking on Nick
being involved. I was a little disappointed.”

I shook my head. “Me too. But it
might be because we really weren’t just messing with each other. I legit didn’t
know the pool was behind me and I fell in and bought Landon down with me.”

He shook his head. “You sure he
didn’t jump?”

I heard laughter behind me and turned
to see Sam standing there with Dean. I held my arms out for Dean and he began
wiggling in her arms trying to get to me. “I’m sure he jumped.” She agreed.

I shrugged. “It’s his entire fault
anyway. I say there should be some type of cruel and unusual punishment applied
here. Just a little advice is all.”

James laughed. “What do you think?”

“That she had her mouth open when she
fell in and consumed too much chlorine.” Landon said dryly. I didn’t turn to
acknowledge him mainly because I thought what he said was funny and I didn’t
want him to see me laughing. “Give me my baby Lucy.”

I scoffed. “No. you need to wait it
hasn’t even been thirty seconds
Landon
beat it. Go make some friends or
something I’ll bring him to you in a little while.”

“How about you both come then?”

“No I need to breast feed and I’m not
flashing the whole party.” I argued.

He faked a cough, but I know it was
to cover up his laugh. “You don’t even breast feed anymore now come on woman.”
He grabbed my free hand and placed a kiss to my knuckles. “You want to keep
this up for the rest of the day huh?”

I shrugged. “It is kind of fun.”

He laughed. “Good then we keep it up
right into bed and I’ll show you what happens to bad girls.”

I laughed. “Looking forward to it.” I
told him and he threw me a wink.

Nick

I was contacted a few times about being
drafted this year into the NBA. The rumors about me have been after my
incredible breakout season in high school; my stats are only getting better.
I’m not going to lie and say that the time I hit that shot from center court
wasn’t what made my name and popularity skyrocket. I’ve been busting ass more
than ever on the court. Initially my answer was no, absolutely not because I
wanted to finish school first. Lately though I’ve been feeling this emptiness
almost constantly except when I’m on the court. Not to mention that Landon and
Lucy have started a family and all I’ve been thinking they need space to
themselves. Knowing Landon they could be flying out to Vegas tomorrow to get
hitched. If I want to be completely honest with myself, it’s more about me than
them. It makes me feel like a shitty person but I can’t help but get plagued
with jealousy sometimes when I see them. I think they’ve finally overcome all
of the bullshit and they don’t really need me as an in-house buffer anymore.
Really the only things they fight over is stupid shit which is mostly playful
or one of them being stubborn but it usually wears off… that is unless Lucy is
refusing to give up the goods. As the last few months passed I’ve been becoming
more and more receptive to the idea. I haven’t told anyone about this whole
thing and I’m not sure if it was an intentional or unconscious decision. I gave
a tentative yes last week and I knew I would need to bring it up soon.

James and Samantha were going to be
here today before they went back home. When I got up in the morning, Sam was in
the kitchen as per usual when she was here and Dean was sipping on coffee at
the breakfast bar. I waited until breakfast was ready and everyone was seated.

I got nervous and almost chickened
out. I squared my shoulders and cleared my throat. “Hey everyone?”

“Yes dear” Sam answered batting her
lashes.

I was trying to be serious right now,
but I couldn’t help but take the bait. “Honey bun, I don’t know why you’re
sitting there. You could sit right here with me and share my food.” I told her
patting my lap.

She laughed. “Oh Nick, I’m sorry. I
know you’re all bulked up and everything but I might just break your leg and we
couldn’t have that now could we?”

My eyebrows flew up. “When it comes
to you anything is worth the sacrifice baby. Come on and break me all over.”

She threw a piece of bacon at me and
I caught it with my mouth. “You damn circus clown.”

I laughed. “Alright, I actually had
something I wanted to talk to you all about.” I met James eyes to make sure I
had his attention. When he saw the seriousness in my face he gave me a curious
stare. “I had been contacted a few times already… and well I finally made a
decision on it. I’m going to enter this year’s NBA draft.”

His eyebrows flew up. “Nick, I
understand this seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity but with your
talent they’ll wait 12 years for you to finish school if that’s what it takes.
You don’t have to go in head first you can finish school and get a degree. Plus
you have no idea where you would end up in a draft.”

I nodded. “I know all of these things
and I have thought it through. I need to do this for me. I just hope that you
all will support me in this decision.”

He sighed. “Nick, that’s without any
question if at the end of the day you know for sure that this is what you want.
At the same time I have your best interest at heart so I want to make sure that
before you make such a huge life changing decision you know everything you
should know about it is all. Regardless of whether or not you decide to go
through this at the end of the day I’m so damn proud of you that you’re doing
so well that they’re hounding you and it’s only your second year.”

I smiled. “Thanks James.”

A chair scraped back and Sam bounced
out her seat and came over to me. “This time I’m going to be all over you. Give
me some love sexy boy.” I wrapped my arms around her waist as she bent down and
placed a kiss to my hair. “I’m so proud of you Nick.” I heard her sniffle and I
looked up. She had tears in her eyes.

“Awe shucks wifey, don’t cry you’re
going to hurt my heart.” I told her wiping away her tears. She smiled and
grabbed both of my cheeks giving me kisses on both. “Oh so
now
you’re
not afraid of exposing the intimacy of our relationship in front of people? Had
I known that I would’ve announced this years ago.” She smiled and shook her
head as she went back to her seat.

“Congrats man, make sure I’m there
when you get picked!” Landon said excitedly.

“Can I come to your games?” Max
asked.

I frowned. “What do you mean can you
come? Of course you can dude, I expect you to be there in the front row
screaming my name. As soon as I’m on a team I’m buying you my jersey.”

Max smiled wide. “For real?” he asked

I nodded. “Absolutely.”

“That’s so cool, I’ll get to tell
everybody my brother is awesome!” Max chatted excitedly. I looked over at Lucy
and she was sitting with her elbow on the table holding her head and pushing
her food around. She didn’t look the least bit happy and I decided that I’d
question her about it later.

Sam and James left and Landon took
Max out to get some new clothes. He was such a boy’s boy his clothes and shoes
were always getting destroyed. I think he ruined three pairs of jeans last
week. I found Lucy in the kitchen cutting vegetables. “Hey Lu.”

She turned around to face me, and she
looked pissed. “How could you Nick?”

Ah, here we go. She must have been
waiting to catch me alone too. “What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Why do you want to leave us?” she
asked.

I sighed. She thought I was leaving
because of them, and I’d be lying if that wasn’t part of the truth. “I’m not
trying to leave
you
Lucy, you shouldn’t take it personally.”

“How can I not? You’ve been withdrawn
for a while now and I’ve been sitting around patiently waiting for you to come
to me and talk but you never did. It’s fucking frustrating, and now you’re all
of sudden just leaving. Why?” she demanded.

“Look Lucy, throughout the last few
years I have been having nothing but nonstop loss. Yes I have gained some
things too like you and I appreciate that, but I feel like I need time to
myself you know? To figure things out and I don’t know find myself? Right now
the one thing that keeps me steady, happy, and focused is basketball. It’s one
thing I can give my all to right now, I’m sure you can understand.”

“You’re not happy here with us?” she
asked and I saw the hurt in her face.

I grabbed her and pulled her into a
hug and rocked her back and forth. “Oh Lucy.” I let out a deep exhale. “It’s
not that babe of course I’m happy here with you guys. You’re the only family I
have left and I’d be a fool to not appreciate that. But at the same time you
and Landon also need some time to yourself. You guys are building something
here together and while I know you
want
me here you don’t
need
me
here. Don’t you think I deserve to figure out what it is I need in life to make
me complete?” I asked.

She looked up into my eyes and asked
softly, “does this have anything to do with Mel?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Well yes
in a way, that whole thing I went through with her made me realize a lot of
things about what I may or may not want in my life. At the same time, I don’t
know what it is that I do want other than you guys and basketball. I know I’ll
always have you guys even if I’m on the other side of the world and you know
how important you guys are to me. I would walk off the court in the middle of a
game and hop on a plane if any of you needed me no questions asked. And no
matter where I am in the world you know you can always call me and you can
always depend on me. Even if Landon gets out of line I’ll come and set his ass
on fire if I have to. And you know I won’t miss anything important, there are a
lot of demands that come with this life but I have already expressed as a
strict condition of me entering the draft that every coach that might even be
thinking about me must know that family comes first for me. You hear me
princess?”

She nodded. “Yea Nick. I’m sorry, I’m
happy for you I really am but I’m being selfish right now because I don’t want
to lose you is all.” She confessed.

I nodded. “I know pretty girl, I
know.” I held her until I felt the tension release from her body and she sagged
into me.

“I love you Nick.”

“I know Lucy, I love you too.”