Page 511 of Hell Hath No Fury
She shrugged again. “I don’t know, Bea. I noticed him checking you out last year. Not gonna lie, it grossed me out at first, but then I was like if anyone deserved some good in their life it’s you and him.”
My heart was thundering as I looked away, feeling like I was on edge, exposed, and humiliated that my best friend knew I wanted her father.
But what I hadn’t told her was this wasn’t just a crush. I’d first felt something deeper for Landen two years back when Anna and I had come stumbling in drunk and loud after being dropped off by an Uber.
We’d just come from a frat party and probably should have cared that her father would see two eighteen-year-olds trashed out of their minds.
But he’d just come out of his bedroom in a pair of grey sweats, his bare, muscular chest on full display, and I swore he’d sobered me right the hell up. That was until I had to push past him to run to the bathroom and throw up a bottle worth of whiskey.
Even drunk off my ass, I remembered that night so vividly. Landen had helped Anna to her room, then came into the bathroom. He’d held my hair away from my face as I threw up twice more, helped me rinse out the vomit taste with some mouthwash, then led me to the spare bedroom.
He’d helped me to bed, and I remember murmuring something to him, which had put a smile and soft expression on his face. He’d pulled the comforter up to my chin, told me goodnight, and we’d never spoken again about that night.
“Earth to Bea.”
I blinked back to the present and stared at Anna. “Sorry, what?”
“I said, are you staying the night or heading home to your folks’ place?”
I leaned back in my chair and shrugged. “Mom and Dad have a date weekend planned so won’t even be home. But if you want to just spend some quality time with your dad, I’m a big girl and can handle being at home alone.” I laughed genuinely.
Summer classes at the local university Anna and I attended let out a few days ago. Not having classes or schoolwork to focus on making me feel unaccomplished and almost bored, but then there were the positives of not having school and being able to come here and stare at Landen.
“What about that one guy you were talking to?” I changed the subject, but truth be told, I didn’t want to talk about my best friend’s father and how hot I found him.
She shrugged, but her cheeks turned red. My interest was now definitely piqued.
“I mean, we text, and then there were the couple of coffee dates we went on, although I don’t know if I’d call them dates. We just basically sit around and talk about school stuff.” Her cheeks got even redder when she looked at the table and started messing with the tab of her pop can.
“You like him,” I said without making it a question. When she glanced at me it was my turn to shrug. “And there’s no way he isn’t head over heels for you. How could he not be. You're a catch” She didn’t respond but her smile was instant.
When she started talking about what classes she wanted to take in the fall, I zoned out and looked out the window. I could see the width of Landen’s shoulders as he moved around the house.
A part of me didn’t like the way he made me feel, and I suspected it had something to do with how, in my mind, it felt almost “wrong” to want him. Not counting how much older he was than me, the forbidden aspect of wanting my friend’s father seemed almost… taboo.
He came back in view, a bottle of water in his hand. I couldn’t look away as he twisted off the cap and brought the bottle to his mouth. His throat worked as he swallowed, and his bicep flexed, which was sexier than it should have been.
I let my gaze move along a droplet of sweat that slid along his bared chest, catching on the ridges and dips of his six-pack.
Oh for fuck’s sake.
I wasn’t a virgin, but Landen was in a tier well above college boys—and let’s face it, that's what they were. Boys. Landen was a man in every sense of the word.
And I’d never felt more feminine as I stared at him than I did right now.
I was lounging on Anna’s bed and watching her smile in the goofiest way as she texted. Her fingers moved quickly over the phone as she typed out her millionth message to her boy toy.
Her father had ordered two large pizzas and a couple of liters of soda, and we’d sat in the living room watching TV. Although I made sure not to look at him, I swore I could feelhimlooking atme.
And so, of course, knowing he was watching me, I ended up dropping a dollop of pizza sauce right on my shirt and felt it smear along my cheek. And of course, when I’d take a drink, the pop went down the wrong pipe and I ended up coughing for a solid minute.
So yeah, I’d been hiding out in here the rest of the night.
“You are so lame with that,” I teased, and when she looked up and started laughing, she lifted her hand to give me the finger.
The clock on the bedside table showed it was almost midnight, and as if my body were telling me to go to bed, I lifted my hand to cover my mouth as I yawned.
“I’m going to bed.” I climbed off, and Anna rolled onto her belly, still typing away. “Besides, I can’t take much more of this lovey-dovey shit.”
