“You’re mad at me?” I didn’t look in his direction, but I didn’t have to in order to know he was up and moving. “As if I’m the one that went another town over, rented a hotel room, and then allowed some strippers with see-through panties to rub up on me.”
“I didn’t allow them to.” I twisted my body toward his just as he sat at my side. “If you think back, you’d remember that I am the one that snuck off like a coward, hid in a closet, and called you. Then in come the raging bull to end the night. Oh, and let’s not leave out the fact that everyone is now mad at me and not talking to me.”
“I’m talking to you.”
“Yeah, after two days of ignoring me,” I wave my hand at him, “here you are ready to talk.”
“Would you have rather I rush in here like a raging bull and say what was really running around in my mind?” Narrowing my eyes at him, I looked away and heard him chuckle. “I figured between the girls and your father, I’d allow myself a day or two to tame my irritation before coming to see you.”
“Well, thank you for that. How thoughtful of you.” Rolling my eyes, I stared at the television instead. Silence settled in between us. Everything was a mess. The wedding was in four days, and everyone was still upset, either with me or someone else. No one was talking, everything felt uneasy and tense, and I wished more than anything I could go back to that night and not drink so much. Instead of calling Landon, I would have made the guys leave and found another way for us to have our girls’ night.
“Do you know how scared I was that night?” Finally, Landon spoke, and what he said surprised me. “When your texts came through, I thought, ‘She’s drunk and not really making any sense.’ Then when you called me back…” He shook his head and relaxed back into the cushions on the couch. “I felt like I was going to crawl out of my skin with fear. All I wanted to do was get to you and hold you. I wanted to make sure that no one hurt you, that you were safe and protected. It was terrifying, that drive to Statesboro.”
Landon’s throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. His hands rested upon his thighs as he fisted them tight.
“Then when I saw those guys…” His jaw muscle flexed as his nostrils flared. “I meant what I said about you, Chloe. It may sound barbaric and ridiculous, but you are mine. The very second you shared yourself with me, you became mine, and the idea of another man touching you in any way, it triggers something inside of me that I don’t like. A feeling, a possessiveness, that is overpowering.”
“They didn’t touch—”
“But they could have,” he interrupted me. “They could have done anything, and yeah, there were five of you, but the chances of the two of them overpowering you were pretty good. What could you have done?”
Landon reached out and lifted the blanket, seeking me out beneath. One hand on my thigh, the other going behind my back, he tugged and pulled me closer. Repositioning me on his lap, he covered us with the blanket and threaded his fingers with my own.
Silence filled the room, with the exception of the television playing low. It was eerie, a heaviness settling in my stomach.
“If they would have hurt you…” I watched his throat bob once more. “Had they hurt any of you…” I should have interrupted his thoughts, but I couldn’t seem to formulate the words. “Don’t ever put yourself in that kind of position again, because next time I may not be able to control the thoughts, and it may end with something none of us can take back.”
Seconds passed before he looked up, and his angry eyes locked with my own. “I want to be mad at you, I want to leave now and let you wonder when I’m gonna come back, but I can’t.” His hand slid over my thigh and squeezed my hip. “Because being near you overpowers that, and right now the only thing I want to do is hold you tight like this and remind myself that you’re okay.”
I nodded, because it was exactly what I needed, too, for him to hold me. I’d been craving it since he placed me in my bed and walked away after the guys forced us to leave the hotel that night. Landon didn’t climb into bed with me like I’d hoped he would. He walked away, leaving me staring after his darkened figure until I heard the sound of my front door shutting.
He’d left me, and right now, I needed him to stay.
***
I sat in the small room in the back of the church in the center of town. It was feeling smaller by the minute as I ignored the way Grace was glaring at me from the side. She’d been doing so all morning. She started at me while at the hair salon, the one I once attempted to work at prior to realizing that being a hair stylist wasn’t what I wanted to do forever. While we were on our way to the church, and now while I was staring ahead and avoiding her hatred for me, she continued to stare holes into the side of my head.
This day was supposed to be built with nothing but happy memories. It was a day to celebrate love, only I wasn’t feeling any. At least none being tossed in my direction.
AJ and Maddison assured me that they’d forgiven me, but not our little Grace. Who’d known that she could be so angry and could hold onto it for so long? She always
