Page 125 of Landon & Shay: Part One

“Then tell me a lie,” he pleaded.

“I hate you.” I breathed the words against his lips, and he swallowed them whole, as if they were the way to his existence.

“I hate you, too,” he lied back to me, making a tear roll down my cheek.

“But I hate you the most,” I swore.

“I love you,” he told me, gently kissing my lips. It was so gentle that it almost felt like fiction. Like something I’d written about in my stories. Like a dream that finally came true.

“I love you, too.”

“But I love you the most,” he promised, and I felt it. I felt his love all throughout me. In my heart, in my soul, in my spirit. I also knew how hard it was for him to admit that. I knew Landon was sad. So, so sad, and so, so broken. And still, he loved me. That probably terrified the hell out of him.

“What are you doing here?!” a voice hissed, this time toward Landon.

He quickly stood and cleared his throat. “Mr. and Mrs. Cole, hi.” He brushed his hand against his forehead and didn’t make eye contact with them. “I heard about your daughter and wanted to make sure she was okay.”

Monica’s parents.

That made sense. She didn’t look like them at all, but that wasn’t shocking. I was sure she looked more like her mother at some point in time before all of the plastic surgery.

“That is none of your business,” Mrs. Cole barked. “It’s probably because of you that she’s in the state she is! You’ve always been dragging our daughter into troubled waters, and now it finally reached the limit. Our poor Monica is here because of you and your bad influence.”

“You’re probably the one who gave her the drugs she overdosed on. This is your fault,” Mr. Cole hissed. His words were coated in hate, which only made me despise him more.

“What? No, it’s not!” I started, but Landon placed a hand in front of me to stop my words. It wasn’t fair, though. He was being attacked left and right for things he had no part in. He wasn’t the villain of this story; he was the hero. Yet, everyone was showing up with pitchforks, chasing after him while shouting, “Kill the beast!”

Their hatred was misguided and misdirected. They should’ve been calling themselves out for being crappy parents.

“You need to leave this place,” Mr. Cole ordered Landon. “And you need to stay the hell away from our daughter. If I ever see you near her again, I will have the cops so far up your ass that you’ll never be able to come back to this town. Now go.”

“What’s the matter with you people?” I cried, feeling so angry for Landon. I couldn’t imagine what my brain would do if I had full-grown adults hollering at me about how terrible I was as a person. I wanted to rage for him. I wanted to defend him time and time again, every single second that a nasty comment was made toward him.

But he wouldn’t let me.

He refused to allow me into the murky waters to fight his battle.

“It’s okay, Shay. I’m fine. I’m going to go,” he whispered before turning toward Monica’s parents. “Mr. and Mrs. Cole, I am sorry for what you’re going through. I hope your daughter is okay. Again, I’m sorry…for everything.”

His voice cracked before he headed off toward the exit.

I went to hurry after him, and his mother gripped my arm, stopping me. “Let him go, girl. Isn’t it clear to you yet that he’s troubled? Don’t you see the damage he’s done?”

I ripped my arm away from her. “Don’t you see the damage you’ve done, Mrs. Cole?” I turned to the two adults who were acting more like children. “You’re all wrong about him. He’s not a monster; he’s not damaged…he’s good. He’s so good, kind, and gentle. Yet you all are so wrapped up in your fictional stories of who he is that you won’t even open your eyes to the truth.”

I hurried off in Landon’s direction, and when I spotted him, I was quick to call out to him.

He turned around slowly with his hands stuffed in his jeans pockets. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, Shay. You can’t. Didn’t you hear them? I’m no good for you. I’m no good for anyone.”

“Stop it. Don’t let that crap get in your head, Landon. They are wrong. They are beyond wrong. Don’t let them allow your mind to start spiraling. Let me come with you. Let me stay by your side.”

He cringed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t, Shay. But can you do one thing for me?”

“What’s that?”

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