Landon & Shay: Part Two (L&S Duet #2)(25)

It was clear that the person he showcased to the world was all an act.

The boy who lay in my bed that night was the real Landon. The broken Landon.

The boy who lost his father and blamed himself.

When he woke up in the middle of the night, I was still awake.

He turned over to me and gave me a sloppy smile. “Hey.”

“Hey. You okay?” He gave me another smile, and I shook my head. “Only truths, no lies.”

His smile faded away and he brushed a finger beneath his nose. “No,” he confessed. “I’m not okay.”

I placed my forehead to his and brushed my mouth against his lips. “Tell me what you need?”

“You,” he whispered, placing a hand against the nape of my neck. His tongue slid across my bottom lip before he sucked it lightly. “I need you.”

So, that was what I gave him. I gave him me—all of me. He undressed me and owned my body, swallowing me whole. My back arched from his touches and his trailing fingers, to him sucking and nibbling at my nipples.

As Landon slid into me, I almost cried out from the pleasure of it all. Gosh, I missed him. I missed his touch, his kisses, his warmth. But also, the way we made love felt different that night. Almost as if a part of him was shut off, and he was moving in overdrive. As he pulled my hair and pinned me down, it became clear to me that we weren’t making love that night. He was fucking me, raw, and hard, and deep, and fast.

I moaned in desire, knowing the way he took control of my body was concerning, but, still, it felt so good. I selfishly wanted him to use me until his pain went away. If loving me gave him a few seconds away from the demons in his mind, I wanted to allow him to swallow me whole. If I could make him feel good, I’d do whatever it took.

Because I loved him, and I knew of his struggles. Come morning we could talk. We could explore his thoughts and make sure we were on the same page. I could listen to his problems and help him through them all, letting him know he wasn’t alone.

The only problem with that was when I awakened the next morning, he was gone. Leaving me only with a note left against his pillow saying he was sorry.





Landon seemed to be working a lot, using that as an excuse to not deal with his emotions. It was easy for him to shut himself off from his problems if he embodied a character, and I figured that was exactly what he was doing: shutting off his feelings up until the time they became too much and he’d end up on my doorstep.

Every few weeks, he’d find his way back to me, and he’d take another piece of me with him when he left. He made love to me hard and deep, never speaking a word about the mess of his mind. Then come morning, he’d be gone.

Months passed by without hearing from him at all, and worry began creeping into my stomach all over again. The new year came and went without a word from him, Valentine’s danced by, and I didn’t have a sweetheart to celebrate it with.

“He’s probably just busy with work,” Raine reasoned one night as she, Tracey, and I sat in the dining room eating Chinese food and doing homework.

“It doesn’t take that much to send a freaking text message,” Tracey argued. “I think he’s playing games.”

“Tracey!” Raine gasped, smacking her arm. “How could you even say that?”

“It’s not that far outside the realm of possibility. He’s working with the likes of Sarah Sims. She’s only the most beautiful person alive. Could you blame him if he stepped out?”

“Of course, you could blame him,” Raine remarked. “But he won’t because he’s Landon, and he loves Shay.”

“I’m just saying, the temptation will be there. It’s not even like they are a real couple. They hardly even see each other, and when they do, he’s super emo. I could see why he’d want something that’s right there in his face.”

“If you keep talking like this, I’m going to pull out your weave,” Raine threatened.

I hadn’t said a word because I didn’t even know what I was thinking. Mainly, all I knew was that I was growing a bit embarrassed by the whole situation. I felt like the more time that passed, the more I was resembling my own mother—standing by the window, waiting for a man to come back to me. Then he’d come, take, and leave again.

The girls continued to talk about me as if I wasn’t there, and in some ways, I wasn’t. My mind was far away from my studies, Chinese food, and my friends’ chatter.

“I mean, honestly,” Tracey said, shoving an egg roll into her mouth, “they hardly ever even talked on the phone.”

“What does that matter? Some people don’t like talking on the phone,” Raine argued.

“But they are long distance. It’s weird, that’s all. It’s like you’re settling, Shay.”

“What the hell, Tracey? What crawled into your butt and left a parasite?” Raine remarked in response to her harsh comments.

“All I’m saying is she deserves more than what he’s giving her, which is crumbs. It’s kind of pathetic to watch. I couldn’t imagine wasting my time pining for a boy who didn’t think I was good enough to even text back, and then he just comes to bang and dash. Maybe the fame went to his head, and he figures he can have whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Either way, it’s crap. I mean, does he even talk to you when he comes, or is it just sex?”