Page 54 of Greedy Grizzly
“Why’d you change it?” Toby asked.
“Because I wanted a fresh start and I never really liked Lydia. Libby sounded more fun and since I was hired to be a Kitten, I wanted a name that fit the image. It probably sounds silly and immature.”
“No, baby. It’s not silly.” I finally opened my arms to her and she didn’t hesitate, sitting on my lap. “I’m sorry about your sister.”
“Lydia Larson.” Toby seemed to be thinking hard about it. “No wonder I didn’t find you online when I searched you.”
“You searched me?”
“Of course I did. I mean, I didn’t dig deep. Figured you just weren’t on social media. Obviously, you don’t work for NASA.” Toby winked.
“I knew who you really were,” I confessed.
Libby’s green eyes bulged. “You did? And you never said anything?”
“Why would I? You obviously didn’t want anyone knowing your true identity.” I respected her wishes and could relate. “I’ve basically done the same thing.”
“You have?” Toby and Libby said in unison.
“Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I looked you up, too, and found plenty of information.”
I glared at Toby. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I was curious about you.” He shrugged. “Sue me. But dude, you went above and beyond, building a whole new profile with supporting documents.”
“It needed to look legit in case someonelookedintomeas you apparently did.” I cocked my head at him.
“Who would be looking for you?” Libby asked. “I thought your parents were dead.”
“Like I said, I don’t want to talk about it.” As far as I knew, my parents were dead, according to what Logan had told me. I was afraid of the authorities finding me. The murder of my foster parents was unsolved, thanks to Matt and Storm. I couldn’t be too careful and had to make sure nobody knew my real identity.
Torching my old home had been awful and liberating all at once. I’d almost not lit the match. It had taken me a half an hour of warring with myself before I went through with it. Killing to people while they slept wasn’t easy even after everything they’d done to me and the other children. But all these years later, I was glad I’d found the courage to end them.
“Well, if we’re all going to be together, we need to be honest with each other. Right, Libby?”
She nodded. “Toby’s right, Landon. We should know everything about each other.”
“Who said we’re going to be together? I don’t even know how that’ll work.” I lifted her off my lap and stalked to the door. I didn’t want to talk about this right now or maybe even ever.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I need a drink.”
And with that, I went downstairs to the bar. I could only manage to deal with one thing at a time, and being with both Libby and Toby, in a real relationship, was the furthest thing on my priority list.
There was a killer on the loose I needed to find.
And soon, I would be meeting Libby’s sister. Suddenly, it felt like our lives were going to be getting complicated and revealing my truth was a complication I could do without.
14
LIBBY
The three hour drive to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester was very tense. After Landon had left our room the other night, Toby and I had agreed to give him time and space. Forcing our desires on him would only push him away, even if down deep he wanted the same thing.
So when he returned, Toby was gone, and Landon and I went right to sleep. The next couple of days were a blur. I had hardly seen either of them together. At night, I slept with Landon and in the morning and afternoon, I ate with Toby.
