Page 124 of Landon & Shay: Part One

“That’s awful. Is she not close with her parents?”

“As close as you can get to people like that. They are all about money and status. Her father is in politics. An overdose scandal would be terrible timing for her family, seeing how her father is hoping to run for a senate seat someday. It wouldn’t look great for him.”

“And her mother?”

“Her mother is probably off getting a facial or something. She’s a real number.” He released a weighted sigh. “Shay. Really…why are you here?”

“I told you. You don’t deserve to be alone. I know for some reason you think you do, but you don’t, Landon. No matter what.”

Devastation sat in his eyes as he looked up to me. “I miss you,” he whispered. “I miss you so fucking much it hurts every single day.”

My heart tightened in my chest. “Was it just a bet, Landon?”

“Come on, Chick…” he muttered. “I think we both know the answer to that.”

My hands were trembling, or maybe it was his hands that shook. Who knew? Either way, I kept holding his hands.

“Why did you push me?” I questioned. “Why did you push me away?”

“Because I need to keep people at a distance,” he confessed. “When people come near me, they get hurt. Monica, for example.”

“What happened to Monica isn’t your fault.”

“Of course, it’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”

“How so?”

“She asked me to stay with her, and I said no. I told her I wouldn’t choose her. And then, she overdosed because I wasn’t there.”

“No,” I said sternly. “She overdosed because she made a choice to use drugs. That’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”

He flinched a little and lowered his head to stare at the floor.

“I didn’t kiss that girl.”

The words rolled off his tongue so gently that I wasn’t sure he even spoke them. For a split second, I thought I’d lost my mind and was hoping he’d said it.

But then, his head rose back up, and his blues locked with my browns, and he gave me that broken smile of his.

“Why did you lie?”

“Because you deserve more than me. I did it so you wouldn’t love me anymore.”

“Well,” I gently laughed and tried to keep my emotions in check. “It didn’t work.”

He scooted his chair closer to me and placed his forehead against mine as he closed his eyes, too. We were so close that I could have moved my lips an inch higher, and I’d had been kissing those lips of his. His breaths were brushing against my cheeks, and my heart was pounding wildly against my chest.

“Chick,” he muttered.

“Satan,” I replied.

“Tell me you don’t love me.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can. Tell me you don’t love me. Please,” he begged. His lips brushed against mine as shivers raced through me.

“No.”

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