Page 10 of Cold Snap

Teresa

E scaped just in time! I slow down the farther away from Waylon’s I get.

I knew. I knew who was on the other side of that door.

And I just didn’t want to see him or hear what he was going to say.

Not that he was stopping by to see me. He didn’t even know I was there, to be fair.

Once I went home and had a good cry, I pulled myself together enough to go check on Waylon and Oakley.

He called, but I ignored it. There’s nothing he can really say to me that he hasn’t already made devastatingly clear.

And the last thing I want is for Waylon or my family to find out how stupid I was for lusting after him.

Stupid, immature…dumbass! That’s me! A stupid girl who thought her silly crush would become the hero of her dreams and sweep her off her feet once she nailed him down!

Thinking about it, I'm aware of how silly it is now. I can also relate to why Landry doesn’t want to fool around where he lives.

It’s going to be so embarrassing having to live with this, knowing every time I go to the bar with family -because I’m not going there by myself anymore- I’ll have to relive that moment all over again.

Every time I want someone to take me out, I’ll have my first kiss right there beside me.

Not that I’m going to be out on any dates for the foreseeable future.

Who the hell would I even ask? Aarons? Oh yeah, the last thing I want is to go to Land’s End and fake interest under the watchful eyes of the man who has my heart but doesn’t want it.

Will it be like this forever? Have I ruined…

everything? Not going to the bar is one thing, but pulling away from my dad and my brother so I don’t have to listen to anything about Land is another.

Yeah, I made the mistake, and I have to live with it, but I’m going to need some advice or a How-To book or something.

I’m so deep in thought, I don’t realize I’m being followed. I don’t realize someone is watching me until arms are wrapped around me and I’m being lifted from the ground.

“What the…?”

A hand comes over my mouth and I reach out to try to grab something, but there is nothing to grab but the person who has me. I’m being shoved into a big red truck that I know all too well. God damn it!

He pushes me in through the driver’s side, so there is no chance of me getting out while he goes around to get in. As soon as he is in, I let him have it.

“What do you think you are doing? Have you lost your mind?!”

“Put your seatbelt on!”

I do what he says automatically before going at him again.

“You can’t kidnap me, Landry!”

“Funny you should use that word.” He takes his eyes off the road for a brief second. “Kid. Yeah, that’s funny coming from you.”

Oh shit! Does he know?

“What are you even talking about? Twenty-four…”

“Is not how old you are, so don’t even try it. You aren’t twenty-four, nor are you twenty-three or even fucking twenty-one. You’re twenty years old, Teresa, which is a fucking baby!”

I narrow my eyes at him.

“You asked my brother, didn’t you?”

“Only after I started checking around with people who would have gone to school with you if you had been twenty-four.”

Wonder what made him start questioning it? And who he asked?

“What made you lie to me?”

Uh-uh, nope, he does not get to ask questions and expect me to answer just because he got his feelings hurt. It takes me a moment before I realize where we are going and panic a little.

“Why are we going to the bar?”

“Because we need to talk.”

“I’m pretty sure you and I have said enough. I don’t have anything else to say to you, and you said everything you needed to yesterday.”

He pulls to the back of the bar and pulls me out through his door, the same way he put me in. I huff my way into the building before turning and pulling away from him.

“Damn it, Land…”

He picks me up and takes me up the back staircase.

What is going on? This is how to get to the apartment he lives in over the bar.

Why is he taking me up here? No one has been in his apartment…

that I'm aware of. Presumably, he could have had thousands of women coming and going, but none of the people in town have been here.

“Landry, we can talk downstairs.”

He unlocks the door but doesn’t put me down once we are in. Instead, he carries me over to a high-backed chair sitting in front of an island. Before I can open my mouth, he has those damned handcuffs out, locking me to the arm of the chair.

“Really? I cannot believe you!”

“You have a tendency to run away. I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again.”

I narrow my eyes at him and give him a snarky look. And bide my time. As soon as I have an opportunity…I’m out of here. Screw this! Screw thinking things could be different if only, and screw him!

He doesn’t get an explanation or answers. Because I don’t have any to give him now that everything has changed. The last thing I want -or need- is him knowing how deep this thing with him went for me. Or to hear another stupid lecture on how it could ruin everything for him.