Bittersweet Symphony (Bittersweet #4)(27)

I throw on a pair of sleep pants and head out into the living room to see what all the commotion is about. The second I open the bedroom door I regret it.

“Do you realize how much shit I have dealt with? Do you know how hard it is to give a blow job for ten minutes?” The girl that is screaming at Landon is a usual lay. She comes and goes as she pleases. Literally. I know Landon keeps it strictly platonic. He isn’t ready for a relationship, and as long as she understands and accepts that, she can come back for more.

I think her name is Laura or something. I walk out into the living room, scrubbing my hands down my face. I always thought I would be the one in this predicament.

“I kindly asked you to leave… It’s not like I’m being an *.” Landon is blowing her off, and by the looks of it, she isn’t taking it well. She has one red heel in her hand about ready to stab him with it.

I would be lying if I didn’t find it at least a bit funny.

“Could you guys maybe tone it down? It’s not even eight A.M., and you’re going to end up waking the whole God damn apartment complex.” I watch as her eyes turn to me. They glide over me, landing on my shirtless chest. I can tell she is interested just by the way her lips part.

“Tell your friend to be less of a dick and I wouldn’t have to wake the whole apartment complex.” Her voice is sinister as she shoots daggers at Landon. Her hair is a mousy brown color. It is going in about twenty different directions. Her shirt is half on, and her skirt is so short, I can see what I am getting before I buy it.

I scratch at the back of my head, trying to figure out a way to make myself look less like a dick.

“Just in case you haven’t noticed, you’re here at our apartment calling him a dick after you willingly slept with him. By the looks of what you’re wearing, it sure seems like you came here for one thing. Now, I don’t know the ins and outs of your ‘friendship’, but if you come here looking like that, and acting all seductive, it’s not’s going to earn you breakfast in bed. You want to be treated like a lady, act like one.”

A growl erupts from her throat, a sound I have never heard come from a woman’s throat before. In one second flat, she is in front of me, aiming the heel of a red stiletto right at my head. Reaching out, I wrap my hand around her wrist, pulling it in a downward direction. Instinctively, she releases the heel, and it clatters to the floor.

“Did you just try and stab me?” I am only a little angry. A little. However, it doesn’t stop me from looking down at her like she has ended the world. I can see the terror build in her. She pulls away from me as fast she can, picking up her shoe from the floor.

“You both are pieces of shit!” she screams, heading toward the door. Of f*cking course she has to slam it on her way out. Fuck. I will be shocked if the cops don’t end up here at least once by the end of the year.

“Never again, dude.” I say to Landon shaking my head at him. He needs to pick less psychotic women, or at least screw them somewhere else.

“Sorry…” he says shrugging as he finishes his breakfast. I walk into the kitchen and get a bowl out of the cabinet. Our apartment is pretty nice for two guys. Two bedrooms, two baths, it has a balcony, a huge ass living room, and a nice little breakfast nook. It will be a shame to lose it because of some bitch.

“It’s fine. Just maybe think about letting her take you back to her place next time.” I pour Frosted Flakes and milk into my bowl. I stand in the kitchen, munching on my cereal, and my thoughts immediately drift to Kennedy and the secrets she is hiding.

I am not sure if I can wait for her to tell me everything… My eyes land on Landon and then it dawns on me. He went to high school with her… Maybe he knows something… Don’t go there, Ryder…

I don’t want to. Fuck, I do not want to go there, but I have to. I have to know what it is that she is still hiding from me.

“Hey…” I say causally.

“Yeah?” he says, looking at me sideways.

“Can I ask you something?” His brows furrow together.

“Uhh… Yeah?”

Setting the bowl of cereal down, I walk over to the table. I want to look him straight in the eyes when he tells me what I want to hear.

“Kennedy went to school with you?”

“Yeah, you know that…” I can tell by the expression on his face he doesn’t get where I am going with this.

“Remember that day I asked you about Sam and what he do to her? Or who he was?” He nodded.

“Okay… Well, I need to know what he did to her back then. I need to know why he’s so adamant about hurting her.” Landon’s eyes brighten the moment it clicks in his mind.

“I don’t get what you mean. She was bullied by him for like the last two years of high school. They went from being best friends to hating each other in a day.”

Hmmm. What he is saying is matching perfectly to Kennedy’s story; the missing piece, however, is why? Why are they not friends anymore?

“Any reason they aren’t friends anymore?” I can be persuasive, and Landon is my friend, so I don’t want to be a dick to him. But if I have to be, I will. I have a way to get answers, and it isn’t nice.

He looks at me confused for a moment. “No…” He runs his hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair.