Landon & Shay: Part Two (L&S Duet #2)(60)

I didn’t want to know that, partly because it was none of my business, mainly because it would hurt too much to know who they were all for. I glanced down at my phone to check the time. “I think I can head out now.”

“I’ll drive you back to the coffee shop.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll take an Uber. It’s probably safer than having you go back over there.” I stood and gave Rookie one last snuggle before heading to the front door. “Thanks for the coffee.”

Landon got to his feet and headed toward me. He held the door open, and as I stepped past him, his hand landed on my forearm, stopping me. “Shay, wait.”

“What is it?”

He moved a step closer to me, hovering over my body as chills raced through me from his small touch. “A few days back when we made love—”

“Had sex,” I corrected, trying to tame the wildness that was shooting through me.

“Yes. A few days ago when we had sex…did you feel it, too?”

My eyes locked with his. “Feel what?”

He lowered his voice and his hot breaths brushed against my skin. “Everything. Shay…not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about you. You are the first woman—the only woman—who ever awakened every sleeping part of me. You were a defining moment of my life.”

“Then why did you disappear?” I whispered, feeling the ache in my chest growing more and more. I felt my emotions building up, which was exactly why I knew I had to leave. I couldn’t fall apart over him anymore. I was supposed to be past it. I was supposed to be free of his chains. I was supposed to be fine. “Forget it, really. This isn’t an easy conversation. This is heavy, and I can’t do heavy with you anymore. Sorry, Landon. I can’t.”

I didn’t look back at him as I pushed myself out of his penthouse. I hurried down the hallway and tried my best to keep the tears burning in my eyes at bay, but deep down inside I knew the answer to his question when he asked me if I felt anything at the whiskey party. I knew the truth I was trying my hardest to ignore.

I had felt it all.

I’d felt everything the night we fell together, and for a moment in time, it had felt so good.





23





Shay





“I must admit, it’s a little clever,” Raine said as we sat in front of her computer monitor, strolling through article after article. “They’re calling you Coffee Girl, and the headlines are true gems. ‘Coffee Girl—A Whole Latte Crazy’,” she said, giggling as it rolled off her tongue.

“That’s not funny, Raine.” I groaned, slouching over in my chair. How was this even happening? Just yesterday, I’d lost my job, and lucky for me, Mr. Hollywood was there, which brought about a ton of people with camera phones snapping videos and pictures of him inside of the bakery. They made it right on time to capture me throwing a latte—correction: iced latte—into Tina’s face, and now I was the girl all over social media, throwing a drink into the face of a seemingly sweet customer.

Isn’t life grand?

“Oh look! You have a collection of memes on Twitter! Oh gosh, Shay. You’re a meme!” Raine exclaimed, taking it all in stride a lot better than I was. Then again, it wasn’t her face looking like a complete madwoman all across the internet.

“This is humiliating,” I groaned, pulling my shirt over my face to hide my shame. I couldn’t believe this was happening. The angles that they got of me that day were awful, too. It appeared that I had resting bitch face, which was the complete opposite of who I was. I was a happy girl! It just so happened that they caught me during a not-so-happy moment.

This was all Landon’s fault.

If he wouldn’t have showed up, wanting to have an easy conversation, I would’ve been able to have a completely normal iced latte face toss moment, without bystanders capturing it on camera.

What was even worse about the whole situation? The headlines were running with a story that I threw the drink because we were fighting over Landon.

Could you believe that? They painted him as the guy all girls were fighting over, when the reality of the situation was, we were fighting over Jar Jar freaking Binks!

The anger that simmered inside me was far too strong. There I was yet again, being completely embarrassed due to Landon and his fame. Only this time I wasn’t invisible in front of two models. This time, the whole world was seeing me.

“I wished they would’ve grabbed some of the pictures from the whiskey party of me instead of these. At least in those, I looked hot.”

“You look hot here, too,” Raine remarked. “Come on, Shay. Don’t let this get to you too much. The internet will be on to the next dramatic moment in a few minutes. This will be swept under the rug in a heartbeat.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I am. So, come on, chin up. What’s on your agenda today? Other than avoiding the internet at all costs.”

I lowered my shirt and sighed. “Well, job searching once again. I found a few barista positions I’m going to go try to grab. Plus, I’m going to shoot for some waitstaff positions.” I felt somewhat ashamed even saying those words. I was a woman in her thirties with a master’s degree in fine arts, searching for waitstaff jobs.