Page 43 of Vendetta

Her breathing grew labored, the breaths leaving her in rapid succession as she began to struggle getting air in. And then she was shaking, her entire body visibly trembling. What the fuck? Was she really that afraid?

I spotted a dirt road coming up to my right, pulling my car off the road and coming to a stop once we were clear. The storm had finally slowed, coming down softer now as she wretched her door open and practically fell out of the car.

I shot out of my seat, racing around the vehicle as I watched her hurry to the muddy ditch lining the side of the road before dropping to her knees and retching.

I walked up behind her, unsure what to do as she emptied the contents of her stomach. Once she was done, she slowly fell back into a seated position, wrapping her arms around her legs and tucking her head into her knees as she stared blankly down at the ground. What was she doing? And what was I supposed to do? I didn’t think I would push her this far.

Her body started shaking, violent sobs wracking through her. It looked like she was borderline seizing. Panic raced through me as she began hyperventilating. What was happening to her?

“Landry?” I warily asked, taking a few steps until I was directly in front of her. Something was clearly very wrong, and my heart began racing uncontrollably as concern laced through every inch of me. “What’s happening? What can I do to help?”

She quietly muttered something that I couldn’t quite make out due to the shakiness of her voice. A few seconds passed, and it seemed as though she was physically trying to pull herself together in order to speak, her teeth clamping together as her jaw shook and entire body continued to convulse.

“Purse,” she finally managed, and I sprinted back to the car, finding her small pink crossbody on the floorboard of the passenger seat. Digging through it, I found a small orange pill bottle. Holding it between my fingers, I read the word ‘Clonazepam’ before dumping one of the small white pills into my palm and returning the bottle to her purse, reaching into the back seat for a water bottle out of my gym back.

Making my way back to Landry, I crouched down beside her and handed her the pill, watching her slowly look up at my outstretched palm. She moved at a languid pace, her hand trembling as she struggled to grab both items. I uncapped the bottle for her, handing it over and placing the pill in her open palm.

Her body seemed rigid, her muscles uncooperative and strained. Worry thrummed inside of me, guilt about the fact that I had done this to her. I hadn’t meant to scare her this badly…

I grabbed the water bottle from her once she had swallowed, helping her place it down on the ground at her side. She buried her head back into her knees, her body still violently trembling.

We sat on the side of the road, the rain drenching us as I waited for Landry to come back to herself. I found my thick denim jacket in my trunk, placing it over her shoulders to try to keep the rain from further soaking her. The minutes felt like hours as I watched her seizing begin to slow, her breathing regulating back to normal until she just sat there in silence, still holding on to herself as tears slid down her cheeks. She still hadn’t looked up, nothing but a dead look in her eyes as she stared down at her feet. Her mind seemed worlds away.

“Landry?” I hesitantly asked, desperately needing to see life come back into those baby blues. My heart raced, needing her to look at me. To fight me or scream at me, anything but this. She didn’t answer, but I noticed some awareness coming back to her at the sound of my voice, and I felt like I could breathe for the first time since this started.

“Let me get you home,” I told her, not making a move to stand up yet until I knew she was okay. She needed a change of clothes and some rest, her muscles most likely sore after that episode.

That seemed to yank her out of whatever trance she was in, and her eyes snapped to mine. Jaw still clenched, she threw daggers at me, the fight back in her eyes.

“You’re out of your mind if you think I would ever get back into a car with you,” she practically spat at me.

“Landry, I promise I won’t do anything like that ever again.” I tried, softening my tone so she could see that I had no malicious intent. “I’m sorry.”

She slowly got up, getting her feet under her and making her way to the car, her legs shaky at first but recovering quickly. I was shocked to see her make her way over to the vehicle withsuch little fight, convinced that it would have required more to get her to relent. But as she opened the passenger side door, I watched as she grabbed her purse and slammed the door, turning to walk back to the main road.

“Landry!” I called after her, racing to catch up. I wasn’t about to let her walk home, especially not after that episode she just had. She didn’t spare me a glance, only continuing as she reached the main road.

I stalked towards her, my long strides catching up to her in no time. “Landry, get back in the car or I will physically put you in there myself.” I was fully prepared to do so, getting ready to throw her over my shoulder and haul her back, but I paused as soon as she turned around and I took in her face.

“Don’t you dare put me back in that car,” she hissed.

Tears still ran down the sides of her face, and fury laced her every word. But what stopped me was the true fear in her eyes. I had only ever seen it once, the night that I had walked in on her backed into that corner by Conner and Levi. It was the look, I realized, of somebody trying to fight for their life. And I realized that forcing her back into my car would be the worst thing I could do to her right now.

She was terrified down to her core, and I had done that to her. Guilt shot through me, an emotion that had once been so foreign to me but that was quickly becoming a recurring feeling when it came to her.

She turned around to walk away again, and this time, I let her. Following her in my car the entire way, I watched as she reached Lancaster Hall and made it into her dorm room. I shot a quick text to Bexley asking her to check on Landry before Iturned around and pulled out of campus. As I hit my pillow that night, sleep never found me.

CHAPTER 22

LANDRY

“How about spin the bottle?”

“That’s not very Christmas-y!” Olivia responded, the pitcher of eggnog in her hand as she made her way around the living room offering refills.

It was the first weekend of December, and we had a pretty decent group over for Olivia’s Christmas party, around thirty of us comfortably fitting in her living room.

We had just gotten done playing the Elf drinking game, where we put on the Will Ferrell movie and all drink any time the word ‘Santa’ is said. It wasn’t rocket science, but it sure was fun, and safe to say that the eggnog was definitely flowing.

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