Page 518 of Hell Hath No Fury
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I was sitting across from Anna, the mug of warm tea Landen had made me cupped between my hands.
Ever since we came down, things had been tense and quiet. The discomfort that filled the kitchen was palatable, tangible.
I was looking everywhere but at Anna. I wasn’t ashamed of what I’d done with her father. It had felt like the most perfect thing I’d ever experienced.
But I felt guilty.
Sleeping with Landen while she was in the house was immoral. Some would even say disgusting
Landen cleared his throat, and I glanced up at him. He leaned against the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in hand. How did he look so good wearing sweats and a white T-shirt?
He smiled at me over the rim, and it was a salacious one. I curled my toes in my socks and looked away quickly, my face heating.
“How about we talk about this?” His tone was even. It was like we were talking about the weather.
Anna cleared her throat and started piling her hair into a messy ponytail before playing with some wayward strands that fell out. I knew she messed with her hair when she was anxious or uncomfortable.
She fidgeted with her hair, braiding it, putting it in messy buns, tugging at the strands or rubbing them between her fingers.
“So,” she finally said after her hair had been knotted up. “Are you guys like a… thing?” She glanced up at me from underneath her lashes before giving Landen a look out of the corner of her eyes.
“A thing?” He cocked an eyebrow and brought his mug to his mouth, but he couldn’t hide the smirk on his face. “That’s cute, Anna.”
I felt my face heat in instant humiliation. Of course, I didn’t think we were a couple. That what we just shared upstairs meant, we now formed some kind of solid relationship.
But hearing Landen say that so casually embarrassed me and made me feel like I had some silly schoolgirl notion on what we shared.
But I want it to be more.
I glanced away sharply, feeling my brows pull low. At that moment, I wished I could leave. That, or the world would just open the hell up and swallow me whole.
“What’s cute about any of this?” The sharpness in Anna’s voice had me looking up at her in shock.
She was glaring daggers at Landen, who also had his brow furrowed.
“So what?” She held her hands out, palms up. “This was just a onetime thing for you? You used Bea like she meant absolutely nothing?”
My heart was thundering so hard at the venom in my friend’s voice, and hearing her say those things. Is that how Landen felt? The things he said… how he’d touched me, made me think I meant something to him.
But he was stoic and silent and I worried my bottom lip because I knew this man held my heart in his hands.
She stabbed her finger in my direction, but still looked at Landen. “Bea is damn special. And you won’t just dismiss whatever happened between you two like it was nothing.”
For long seconds, nobody spoke. What could anyone say?
I felt my chest swell with pride at the fact she had my back. Even when she could very well say I betrayed her, she wouldn’t throw me to the wolves.
The look on Landen’s face was almost frightening in its intensity. He stared at his daughter before slowly setting his coffee mug down on the counter and then turning and looking at me.
I pulled my shoulders back and met him eye-for-eye. I was prepared for whatever he had to say. I wouldn’t show emotion if he was candid about this being a one-night stand.
I’d try to keep my shit together, at least.
I would be strong even if my heart broke.
He pushed off the kitchen counter and stalked toward us. For a second he just stood by the free chair, his hands gripping the back so tightly the knuckles were white.
