Page 22

Kate

I watch Landon leave, sipping on his coffee as he pushes out the front door with his back and holding it open for a girl coming in. Melissa is still staring out the window, deep in thought.

“Kate, I have an uneasy feeling about all of this. I can’t believe Trevor stooped that low.” Melissa huffs, stuffs books into the cart, and continues worrying the inside of her cheek with her teeth.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Surely he’ll get a grip and drop this whole dick measuring contest, right? It’s been, what, almost two months since Landon and I got together? It’s not like he doesn’t have Kristy fawning all over him.”

“ Has he been texting you still?” Melissa quirks an eyebrow.

“ Just his typical nonsense. Says hello or asks why I won’t answer his texts about why I chose Landon over him. Says he wants to give us another go, that Kristy doesn’t mean anything to him and that she’ll likely be gone soon. If I were her, I’d pick anyone else at this point. I don’t understand what either of us saw in him other than a pretty face to begin with. I know she knows he still hasn’t moved on by the number of dirty looks she tosses my way daily.” I roll my eyes and push the cart toward the rows of encyclopedias and research studies.

“ Do you answer any of them or just ignore them all?” She eyes me.

“ I answer minimally. I don’t want to completely block him out and piss him off more. I just keep reiterating that I’m no longer interested in a relationship with him and that I’m not going to change my mind. Eventually, he’ll take the hint.”

Buzz. I pull my phone from my pocket and sigh. It’s Trevor.

Trevor: I need to talk to you.

Me: No, I have nothing to say.

Trevor: Please, he probably made it sound like it was worse than what actually happened. I was goofing around and tripped. I wouldn’t purposely hurt your boy toy.

Me: He’s not a boy toy, he is my boyfriend, and you did hurt him.

Trevor: I beg to differ, and like I said, it was an accident.

Me: I’m done talking about this.

Trevor: I still want to talk to you.

I curse silently and put my phone in my pocket. Nope, not doing this. He can shove it. I give Mel the quick run down and she rolls her eyes at his audacity, ‘accident my ass’ being her exact words.

? Melissa and I finish up this row and move onto the next. Tonight is our long night and we are here until seven. The time crawls, and when I look at my phone to check the time, I see it’s still only six-thirty. Mel announces that she’s gotta pee and takes off around the corner.

I set my phone down on the aisle opposite me so that I can have easy access and hear my music a little more clearly while I work and still keep it quiet. I am bouncing my shoulders to Landon’s playlist and quietly singing along to Shivers by Ed Sheeran when the connection cuts out and the aisle becomes silent. I frown and turn around. I could’ve sworn it was right behind me. Ahh, there it is. I must’ve moved further than I thought. I turn the song back on and get back to jamming. This is my favorite song out of the whole playlist.

I’m back in the back of the library stocking books close to the infamous “stacks” section where students disappear to mess around with each other. I’ve learned over time that when the feeling of a quiet presence gets my attention from somewhere nearby, it’s probably best not to investigate or risk being scarred for life. It used to kind of spook me, I’ll admit, but now it doesn’t phase me much.

“I hoped I’d find you here.” I freeze at the unexpected sound of Trevor’s voice at my back.

“Trevor, I’m working. I can’t talk right now, nor do I have any desire to do so.” I roll my eyes, getting back to work and not giving him an ounce of my energy.

“When will you talk to me? Let me explain?” He sounds a bit peeved. Good. I’m pissed.

“It’s not going to happen, Trevor,” I grit through my teeth. “Why the fuck did you mess around near the lifters and hurt him?” I turn around and let him see the wrath written across my face.

“Sshh, babe, it’s okay. It was an accident. Mostly. It wasn’t meant to hurt him, just scare him a little,” he says as if he’s soothing a kid. His story changed again. He rests a palm on a set of books next to the left of my head. I tense, my anger skyrocketing.

“First of all, don’t ‘babe’ me. I’m not yours. Secondly, you never fuck around near weights, it’s dangerous. Thirdly, you wanted to scare him? What in the actual fuck, Trevor? Why?” His demeanor drops from a soothing, easy-going smile to a cold, dead look that I have never seen from him before. His lips are set in a razor thin line and his eyes look empty.

“To make a point.” He raises his hand and swipes a book out onto the floor at my feet, and I jump nervously. I swallow my sudden fear and stiffen my spine, refusing to give him that satisfaction.

“What point?” I spit back.

“That this isn’t over. That you were mine first,” he says indignantly.

“We had a few dates, Trevor. We only shared a few kisses. I was never yours . You made sure of that. Stop acting like a petulant child. You are a grown man for fuck’s sake. Leave Landon alone.”

Trevor growls and swipes a good six books from the shelf. I cry out at his sudden outburst. He bends down and picks one up, harshly stacking it back in its place. Then another. He picks up a third and thuds it into my hands while I stand frozen in place. His eyes find me with a stony, unyielding assurance.

? “You will be mine. I’ll make sure of that ,” he grinds out with venom. The blood in my veins turns to ice.

“Kate, what in the hell is all the commoti...” Melissa’s exasperated words die on her lips when she rounds the corner and sees the source of the commotion. Her eyes fly to mine and then land on Trevor with fire.

“Trevor, if you’ve come here to say your piece, it’s not wanted. Leave now, or I’ll get campus security to drag your lame ass out of here.” She crosses her arms over her chest and means fucking business.

Trevor eyes me hard then coolly swivels his head to Melissa in an unsettling manner, plastering on a fake smile.

? “No need for that, Melissa. I was just helping Kate pick up the books she dropped.” He picks up the last three and drops them with a thud onto the cart before glancing my way one more time, eyeing me up and down. With smooth, sure steps, he walks out from the aisle and disappears like nothing happened. We both wait a moment until we are sure he’s gone.

“I think we have a problem,” I croak as Melissa rushes over to me and takes the book from my shaking hands. She pulls me in for a hug, and I blow out a stuttering breath.

“Nah, we got this. He’s a prick. It’s all going to be just fine.” In that moment, I don’t think either of us believe it.

Landon pretty much lost his shit when Melissa made me call and put him on speakerphone as we walked to our cars after the shift was over. I expected as much to happen, but Melissa didn’t believe that I would go straight home and tell him. She was right to believe that, because I hadn’t planned on bringing it up right away. She warned me that if I didn’t tell him, she would say something to Gabe, and Gabe would most definitely speak up. I wasn’t about to have that happen, so I dialed reluctantly and put him on speaker.

When I got home, he was waiting outside on the doorstep for me. He just stood up and silently waited for me to reach the door before swooping me into his arms and carrying me through the door, locking it behind him then striding to sit me on the kitchen countertop. He tucks my legs firmly around him and pulls the hair off my face, tucking it behind my ears and tracing me over with his eyes as if looking for injuries. He’s so tender with me. I can see the gears turning in his brain. His eyes aren’t masking the unspoken anger or the unspoken worry. He blows out a cautious sigh and rests his forehead against mine, closing those beautiful blue eyes.

“I am so glad you are home,” he whispers and pecks my lips.

“Landon, the look he gave me tonight was different.” He pulls back and looks at me unsettled. Hell, I feel it too.

“What do you mean?” he asks, hands falling to my arms, rubbing up and down soothingly.

“I’ve never seen him look at anyone that way, not even when he was livid about a play in the middle of a ball game. It was cold and detached like an empty mask. His actions were all over the place, like for one second he was on the verge of burning the place down. Then Melissa walks up and a switch flips and his mask disappears into a calculated, manipulative smile like nothing just happened. Something’s not right. I think this is more than him just being pissed that he didn’t get the girl, Landon.”

I can’t read his expression. I hate when he puts his walls up, but I also understand. He’s in protect mode. He lifts his hands and cups my face, looking into my eyes.

“I don’t know how yet, but I will find a way to stop this. Until then, we keep our heads on a swivel. He’s proving to be unpredictable, and I don’t like it.”

I scrunch my nose up to ward off tears and shake the scary thoughts running through my head. I don’t want Landon to get in any deeper with this either. He already got hurt today because I repeatedly turned Trevor down.

“I didn’t tell you his last words before Melissa showed up.” I gulp and see Landon clench his teeth, mentally preparing for whatever I’m about to say. His eyes beckon me to spit it out, but my mouth is suddenly dry. I grab the water bottle on the counter, not caring how old it is or whose it is, and take a long draw.

“After I told him that I was never his, that he made sure of that, he scattered the books and started slamming them back on the shelf and in my hands...” I start trembling again at the memory of his eyes on mine. “He told me that I will be his, and that he’ll make sure of that. It wasn’t a flippant response. It was a promise.”

Landon goes dead still and regards the fear in my tone, the fear in my eyes. So far, I’ve been able to blow it all off as stupid male competition or a drunken outburst, but tonight… tonight was the first time I really felt scared.

We get ready for bed in silence. Our brains are fried from all the psychological fuckery for the day. I catch Landon checking the lock on the door again before he comes and crawls into bed next to me. He pulls me into his arms with my back against his chest and inhales deeply into my neck. By the time two in the morning hits, I can tell by both of our breathing that neither of us has fallen asleep. Every time I shift, Landon tenses and shifts to accommodate me. I roll over in his arms and press a kiss to his chest.

“I’m okay,” I whisper into the silence and feel his muscles finally relax under my palms. He sighs into my hair.

“I’ll keep it that way. I promise,” he whispers back. At some point, we both finally fall asleep.