Page 105 of Landon & Shay: Part One

“Mom, Dad, this is Landon,” Shay said, introducing us.

I was going to vomit. I was going to vomit all over the freaking theater.

My eyes stayed on them, and I couldn’t have looked away if I wanted to. Well, I could have looked away from Camila, but not Shay’s father.

Her father’s name was Kurt.

KJ for short, I assumed.

I saw it in his eyes, the panic that fell over him, the sweat that beaded along his forehead. I would have bet his hands were clammy and a million thoughts were shooting through his head the same way they were flying through mine.

No, really.

What the actual fuck?

He cleared his throat. “Landon, right?” He held his hand out toward me—his sweaty, nasty, guilty hand. “I’m Kurt, Shay’s father.”

No fucking shit, asshole.

I gripped his hand tightly and shook it.

“I hope you two have a great show tonight.” He stepped back and crossed his arms. “I hear you’ve been working really hard.”

I didn’t say a word because my mind was on speed. I thought of every conversation I’d ever had with the man in front of me, tracing back every single word of his dialogue, and one fact stood out strongly to me.

It was the one thing he spoke about almost every time I saw him with my friends.

His daughters.

Daughters—plural. More than one.

As far as Shay was concerned, she was his one and only, and now there I stood, knowing the fact that her father, the man she looked up to more than anything, was a lying scumbag living a double life.

I felt nauseous. I wanted to shout from the rooftop what I knew. I wanted to express how messed up the whole situation that was unfolding in front of me was. I wanted to rip KJ’s eyes out for ruining the kind of good thing so many people would’ve killed for, for ruining his family.

Family.

I would’ve fucking killed for a family unit.

Shay smiled and stepped forward. “We should probably get backstage and get ready for the show,” she suggested, nodding in my direction.

My eyes were still glued on KJ, who was smiling brightly as if he hadn’t just been caught in the biggest lie of the century.

“Landon?” Shay said softly, lightly shaking my shoulder, knocking me out of my trance.

I shook my head. “Yeah?”

“We should go get ready?” She said it like a question, tilting her head with concern in her eyes. Concern…Shay was always concerned for everyone around her, always so caring, always so giving…

How had she, the kindest, most giving person in the world, come from such a monster?

I scratched the back of my neck and took a step backward. “Yeah, sure. Okay.”

I mumbled a goodbye to Shay’s parents and wandered off toward the dressing rooms. Shay hurried behind me and grabbed my arm.

“Hey, you okay?” She said it with those sincere eyes that always shone in her face.

“Yeah, sorry, just a little out of it.”

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