Keeping Her (The Lexington Series Book 2) (29 page)

Lucy

“Ok Mel listen, I’ve been beating
around the bush about this…” I trailed off.

“Yes Lucy, I know there’s something
you’re dying to say but you’re avoiding it like the plague… you keep talking
about shit you don’t even give a damn about now out with it.”

I sighed. “How are you feeling
anyway? Erica told me you were sick and she had to come bring you soup with a
face mask.”

She chuckled. “You know she wasn’t
lying right? The girl showed up to my room with a goddamn face mask like I have
swine flu or something. It was just a damn virus, she is so dramatic. Now stop
changing the subject and spit it out.” I stayed silent as I started biting my
lip and she sighed. “This is about Nick isn’t it? You normally can’t hold
anything
in for this long, so just tell me I can handle it.”

“He’s going to enter the draft this
year.” I blurted out and it felt like my body could take in air again. She
didn’t respond and I looked at my screen to make sure the call hadn’t dropped
or she didn’t hang up. The phone still had her name on it and the time was
still ticking going into 30 minutes. “Hello?”

“What?” she croaked out.

“He’s entering the draft. I had a
mini freak out on him since you never know where he’s going to end up or
anything you know? What if they put him in Alaska or some shit?” I told her.

“He’s entering the draft?” she asked
in a low broken whisper.

“Are you ok?” I asked softly.

She cleared her throat. “Yea sure,
listen I need to go. I’ll call you tomorrow ok?”

I nodded and realized she couldn’t
see me. “Yea sure.” Before I hung up I hurried through. “Hey Mel?”

“Yea?”

“I’m sorry.” I told her.

She sighed. “Yea me too.” Then she
hung up and I listened to the phone disconnect.

Before we knew it June was here and
it was time for the draft picks. Once it was out there that Nick had decided to
go through with it the sports channels have been buzzing about him nonstop. It
appears that almost
everyone
had their eyes on him. It was bitter sweet
for me, I mean I was so fucking proud of him and happy for him but at the same
time I didn’t want him to go. Come on I’ve done life without Nick and it wasn’t
fun but then again he was pretty pissed at me at the time so I guess it was
different. We all gathered in front of the TV to review the picks and Nick was
the first one chosen but it was to the shittiest team in the league. His hopes
fell dramatically and so did everyone else’s. I can’t lie and say that wasn’t
expected because everyone wanted him but a call from his agent was uplifting.
He was such a hot commodity that people were willing to pay the big bucks to
take him it’s all a part of the NBA. He was guaranteed to be sold off to a good
team and that lifted my spirits.

It was about three weeks later and we
were heading out to the dive bar on campus to watch the final decisions of who
will be with which teams for the upcoming season. Nick’s teammates wanted to
all watch it together with him to celebrate and we were going to support him. We
sat at the bar with the rest of the team and I was nervous in anticipation.
They didn’t talk about Nick until almost the end and most of the team was
drunk. I only had one beer because I would need to wake up for Dean tonight.
They announced that he would be with the Toronto Raptors which was one of the
best teams in the league. The entire bar went bananas about it and Nick was
extremely happy. He scooped me up and spun me around while I laughed and hugged
him tight. Just as he was putting me down my phone rang, it was Catherine. I
went outside to speak to her because it was so loud inside. I returned a few
minutes later with an even bigger smile on my face.

“What was that about?” Landon asked.

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face
for anything. “Oh nothing, just about my paintings…”

He grinned. “Then why are you
grinning like a lunatic?”

“She sold four of my pieces.” I told
him.

His grin turned into a full blown smile
and he hugged me. “Congrats babe.” My leg bounced as I waited to give him the
last bit of the news. “What else? I can see you’re barely keeping it in, just
tell me Lucy.”

“They sold for a net of over two
million dollars, apparently more than one person wanted them and it drove the
prices up.”

“Holy shit Lucy that’s amazing. I’m
so proud of you baby. You see I’m not the only person in love with your work.”

I nodded. “This feels so surreal I
can’t believe this is real, pinch me please.” He reached down and pinched my
butt and I jumped up. “Seriously? You just had to choose there didn’t you?”

He shrugged. “All you said was pinch
you, so I got to choose where I wanted to do it. That was the best place I
could think of in public.”

I rolled my eyes. “Must you always be
a perv?” I asked and he nodded.

Nick needed to be packed and ready to
go to Toronto in a week for practice since the season was starting in October.
We helped him get ready and when the day came for him to leave I cried like a
big baby. He ended up having to reschedule his flight for a later one since he
spent two hours with me on his lap bawling while he rubbed my back trying to
soothe me. Eventually I snapped out of it and released him so he could leave
and we promised to visit as soon as he found himself a place. He would be
staying in a hotel while his agent hunted down living arrangements for him. The
team would be paying for his hotel stay.

It took us a couple of months to
adjust to Nick being gone. Maggie was full time now since I would be starting
school in about two weeks. She would be responsible for dropping and picking
Max up from school as well as take care of Dean. The one thing I wouldn’t bend
on was her cooking dinner, that’s something that I enjoyed doing for my family.
Oddly enough Max has taken to calling her Granny Maggie. She says she’s too old
to be someone’s grandmother but she is secretly basking in it. I was pretty
pumped to be going back to school. I had received the check from Catherine for
the two million dollars I made on my paintings and I put it away. I figured if
I could expand on my techniques I could really make this a career. I never
thought that I would be able to do anything with my paintings besides getting
self-enjoyment when creating them and I could only thank Landon and his nosy
ass for all of this.

Dean was growing fast, he would be 10
months tomorrow and he’s already taken his first steps. Not surprisingly his
first word was dada. Landon still smothered the hell out of him but now that he
wasn’t so fragile he was also trying to chase Max around. Max was your ideal
big brother he played with him and protected him like he was his own. Max
himself was like a little man these days; he’s moved off of his marvel stuff
and action figures and has gotten into sports. I was surprised that he tended
to gravitate towards sports like hockey, and soccer but he played a little bit
of everything. I was looking forward to the upcoming years to see what kind of
man he would grow up to be. Would he be like Landon and Nick and be this hot
shot sports guy or would he be like me and like painting and drawings? Although
he was growing up he was still my little Maxamillion. He still crawled in bed
with Landon and me occasionally and slept or just wanted me to hold him. I
could understand, he was nine years old now but he still suffered slightly from
abandonment issues. He knows that it wasn’t
actual
abandonment like what
my mother did to me, but the loss still sometimes scares him and he seeks
reassurance that he still has us. With Nick no longer here we ensure that we
spend a few hours altogether everyday just to ensure that everyone continues to
keep the connection that we have. We’re very careful with Max, although he
doesn’t come off the least bit jealous of Dean we don’t ever want him to feel
replaced or any less important.

Landon was upstairs taking a nap and
I left Maggie with the kids. I crept up the steps slowly and made my way to our
room. I looked at Landon fast asleep with his mouth slightly parted on our hot
pink bed sheets. I giggled to myself when I thought about the shit he gave me
yesterday when he saw them. I was in the store looking for some new sheets for
the kids when I saw them. I mean come on I
am
a girl, and what girl
would turn down some extremely cute pink sheets. Of course I found a black
comforter with a hot pink design on it. He refused to sleep on them saying that
I took it a step too far with the pink and made up the couch. It wasn’t even
two hours before he was back upstairs and in the bed with me huffing and
puffing. He said it was because the couch was uncomfortable but I knew that was
a damn lie, there has been more times than I can count when he had come home
after practice and sat in the family room with us and ended up passing out, I
knew he could sleep perfectly fine on that damn couch but I didn’t call him out
on it. Not to mention he refused to touch me and I fell asleep with his back to
me. When I woke up I felt like I was in a sauna with all of his body tangled up
with mine. At some point in the night he crawled over to my side and wrapped
himself around me. When he woke up shortly after me he accused me of touching
him in his sleep. His big ass just looked so cute on the girly sheets. I
crawled up the bed to lay down with him when his eye popped open.

“What are you doing?” he asked his
voice thick with sleep.

I gestured to the bed. “Laying down…
duh.”

“You can’t sleep with me get out.” He
muttered.

I laughed. “Aww don’t tell me that
you’re still mad about the sheets. If it makes you feel any better I think you
look adorable right now in them.”

“Ha ha, get out.”

I rolled my eyes and dropped down on
the bed. I propped my head up on my hand, “so what’s it going to take for you
to forgive me?”

He sighed and turned on his side so
his back was to me. “I won’t ever forgive you Lucy.”

I grabbed his arm and pulled and he
rolled over onto his back. “Yes you will, say you will.” He shook his head. I
sighed and kissed his cheek, “come on you know you want to.” He shook his head
again and I leaned over him to kiss his other cheek.

“Bye Lucy.” He huffed and I chuckled.
I trailed kisses along his jaw then his neck and moved down to his bare chest.
I continued going until I reached his sexy abs and placed kisses on them. I
felt him twitch and I laughed. “What’s funny girl?” I didn’t answer I laughed
and continued kissing his hot ass abs. The lower I got the slower I went and he
started fidgeting. The tent in his sweatpants was unmistakable. I purposely
made sure that I didn’t come into contact with it maneuvering my body so that I
didn’t accidently brush him. I knew he was growing frustrated because every
time I came close his hips moved seeking friction. When I finally reached the
top of his pants I feathered kisses from one hip to the other and he groaned. I
hid my smile as I slid my hand underneath the waistband and used a finger to
trace him through his boxers. “Lucy…” he moaned.

“Tell me you forgive me.” I prodded
and he threw his arm over his eyes and shook his head. God he was fucking
stubborn as all hell. I sighed and when my breath blew across his stomach I
felt him shudder. I was probably looking forward to this more than him so I
decided to stop messing with him and myself and pushed down both his boxers and
sweats just enough so that I could release him. I took him into my mouth
eagerly and his hips bucked off the bed. I continued on with a punishing
rhythm.

“Lucy stop” Landon said on a groan
and I didn’t. He grabbed me and pulled me up his body and then threw me onto
the bed on my back. He climbed on top of me and slammed his lips down on mine.
He had my clothes off in less than a minute and gripped my thighs pulling them
up to his hips. “I still don’t forgive you Lucy as a matter of fact I’m even
more
pissed at you for trying to unman me. Do I need to show you that I’m still a
man Lucy?” he asked and slammed into me and I gasped at the unexpected
intrusion. “Do I feel like a man Lucy?” I couldn’t speak because he was going
at me so hard and fast the bed was slamming against the wall. I was trying my
hardest not to spontaneously combust. “I.CANT.HEAR.YOU.BABE.” each word was said
with a hard thrust.

“Yes Landon.” I half screamed and I
would be surprised if he actually understood what I said. Just getting an answer
must’ve been enough because he brought me straight to the edge and threw me
over in an earth shattering orgasm and he followed right behind me.

He dropped to his side gasping for
air. When his breathing evened out he reached for me and tugged me over to him
roughly. “Come here girl.” When he settled me onto him comfortably he brushed
my messy hair out of my face and kissed my forehead. “I love you Lucy, but you
got to stop trying to turn me into a chick. Did you really have to get pink
sheets?” he asked.

I smiled and nodded. “I like pink
Landon can I have pink sheets for
me
?” I begged and pouted.

He sighed and shook his head. “Fine
Lucy, but you better not try none of your sneaky shit like taking pictures of
me in them while I’m asleep or something or I’m kicking your ass.”

I feigned innocence, “Who me? I would
never.”