Page 29

Landon

The first two weeks of November go by relatively smoothly. There’s only been a couple of times Trevor was seen watching her between classes or at the library. He's still shooting me daggers every time he sees me, but dare I say, maybe things are calming down. Maybe he sensed I was about to pull the pin and take everything to Coach and the cops. No matter the reasoning, I’m thankful. Things were getting stressful as hell around here. Neither of us were sleeping well.

It’s a week full of exams since next Tuesday we start two weeks off for Thanksgiving break. I am ready to have some time with only my girl to think about. I’m ready to take her home for a few days to go see our families.

Kate’s mom informed us on her last call that Adam would be joining us for their Thanksgiving dinner. Things must be going well between the two of them. Good. Kate’s mom deserves to smile more again.

My parents are excited to see me. When I told them that Kate and I are together, they were thrilled. Some sort of trigger must have been pulled in my mom’s brain though because now she won’t shut up about me looking for a ring and future grandbabies.

Don’t get me wrong, I want all of that with Kate, just maybe not at the speed she’d like it to happen. I chuckle to myself. I made Mom promise not to bring that up at the dinner table and scare Kate off. I promised her in return that I was in this for the long haul and that, in time, I’d make good on her and Mrs. Morgan’s wish. Our first goal is just getting through this semester.

Kate comes flying through the door of our apartment with a paper clutched in her hands. She reaches the couch at record speed and shoves the flier down on the coffee table in front of me. I lower my latest sci-fi novel and push up my glasses to get a closer look. It’s a bright pink page with Kristy’s face on it. ‘Have you seen me?’ is scrawled big in a girl’s handwriting underneath the picture. My stomach sinks.

“Can you remember the last time you saw her?”

Kate asks me with wide eyes. “I can’t!”

she huffs out.

My eyes scan back and forth between her and the page.

“These apparently have been hanging up all around campus for a week. I didn’t really pay attention to them until I saw one on the mirror in the girl’s bathroom outside of art class.”

Kate runs her fingers over her face in exasperation. “Kristy has been missing since the weekend after the parties.”

She points to the last seen date on the page.

The pit in my stomach only grows. How did all of us manage to miss this over the entire past week?

“I’m crazy for even considering it, right? You don’t think he’d actually really hurt someone, do you?”

she rambles and tries to rationalize out loud. I rub at the day-old stubble I need to get rid of.

“I don’t know. I sure as hell hope not, but Kate? The way he was acting was crazy. He planned things, hurt me, destroyed your phone, scared you...I just don’t know.”

I pull out my phone and snap a picture of the page. I send it out in our group message with the question if anyone had seen it. Bubbles immediately appear to say the guys were typing.

Gabe: WTH?

Mason: Oh my...holy shit.

Jameson: That’s not good...you don’t think?...

Me: Kate brought it home from school. To answer that? I just don’t know what to think.

Jameson: From everything I saw, it’s suspicious at the very least.

Me: I think I’m going to talk to Coach after conditioning tomorrow morning.

Mason: I’ll go with you.

Jameson: I’ll bring the pictures.

Gabe: Shit, looks like I’m on babe duty.

Tommy: Hey, fuckers, WTH did I miss?

Oops. I guess the last batch of group messages didn’t have him attached because he wasn’t there when stuff all went down.

Mason: Some shit. I’ll call you in a minute and catch you up. Sorry, man.

Me: Thanks, Mason.

Mason: No prob.

I look up to see Kate watching me type with interest.

“Anything they’ve heard?”

she prods.

“No, this is the first they’ve heard of it too. Mason is getting Tommy up to speed since he hasn’t been around for some of it. After conditioning tomorrow morning, Gabe will be on watch duty while the other guys and I take everything to Coach to get his input. He needs to be made aware, and hopefully he’ll know how we should move forward,”

I blurt out with a forced breath and pull her down onto the couch beside me. “You eat dinner already?”

I tuck her hair behind her ear.

“No, I’m not that hungry,”

she mumbles while biting at her thumbnail.

I get up and go into the kitchen to make us a couple of PB and Js. That sounds perfect for a quick, not-that-hungry kind of dinner. She crawls up onto the counter next to me as I’m slathering peanut butter onto her wheat bread and my white bread.

“I said no to any extra shifts these next couple of weeks, so this week is my norm, and next week I only have Wednesday’s long shift since a lot of students will be leaving campus. I took off the rest of break because I just want to relax with you.”

“Good.”

I nod as I spread the jam. I hold up the butter knife for her to lick, knowing if I don’t she’ll just take it from my hands anyway. I enjoy watching her mouth and tongue slide along the knife, lapping up all the leftovers in one smooth move. She uses her thumb to wipe the tiny bit that got on her lips.

“Mmm...that’s the best.”

She licks it off her thumb. I feel it in my dick.

I hand her her sandwich and grab mine. Moving over to rest between her thighs, we eat happily in each other’s company, making silly moaning noises when the peanut butter is just so good. She wraps her ankles behind my ass and pulls me up against the counter and giggles adorably. I steal a bite of her sandwich because I’m curious what it tastes like on wheat, and I enjoy playing with her. It’s delicious. I can’t believe I’ve never tried that before. She quirks her eyebrow in a ‘how dare you?’ gesture, and I swipe a finger through her gooey sandwich and suck it off my finger.

She tosses her head back laughing, and I take that moment to catch her mouth with mine. She tastes like peanut butter, sweet jam, and Kate, a wonderful trio I could never get enough of. I spend the next thirty minutes showing her just how much I enjoy peanut butter across a few choice places of her body. The counter might need another thorough cleaning, and we most definitely need a shower, but to earn those breathy giggles and that gorgeous smile? The extra work was worth it.

The next morning, the guys and I are anxious to get through our workout so we can talk to Coach. I texted him beforehand and let him know that we had some things he needed to be aware of. Trevor works out obliviously, and to my surprise, doesn’t mean mug me or anything. He kind of just steers clear, off in his own little world unless he has Jace spotting him. He looks more relaxed than I’ve seen him in quite a while. I don’t know whether that makes me feel relieved or unsettled.

Afterward, all of us get showered and ready. Jameson keeps an eye out for when he leaves the locker room. Gabe gives me a good luck fist bump and takes off to go be on “babe duty”

as he goofily called it. I snort at his choice of wording but am happy knowing he’ll have eyes on Kate and her surroundings.

We gather our stuff and head for Coach’s office. As we present everything that’s happened to me, and the things Trevor’s done to Kate, his face falls and grows paler with every detail. I leave out the stacks part because I don’t really feel like discussing my sex life with all of them. Jameson shows him all the pictures we’ve taken to back up what we were saying. Lastly, I set down Kristy’s flier and explain Kristy’s part in Trevor’s life and how it connects with Kate. He pushes back his chair and pulls off his baseball hat, tossing it on his desk, clearly nervous by the look of his heel tapping quickly.

“I don’t like it, guys. Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”

He eyes us.

“With what? Until he smashed her phone, we didn’t really have much physical evidence. Then he backed way off. We were really hopeful that things were calming down. But Coach, after seeing this?”

I point down at Kristy’s picture. “I sincerely hope he’s not involved, but I couldn’t not say something.”

Coach nods.

“You’re right, and I’m glad you all came to me. I need to think on this, but I do think we need to take this to the cops too. I’ll go with you guys so they take it more seriously. Fuck.”

He looks up to us at his cursing. “Sorry, I’ve just never had to deal with something like this. My mind is just taking a minute to wrap around it all.”

We all get it and nod at him.

“Are you all free this afternoon? I’ll have to take this to a university head to determine what they think we should do on the sports and academic end. I’ll also inform them we are taking this to the police. Are any of you in class around two o’clock?”

We all look at each other.

“Two is good. No tests or classes that can’t be missed. We’ll meet you there,”

Jameson says with certainty.

“Okay. I have to get on this. I’ll text you, Landon, if there’s any developments that can’t wait or if I need to change the meet-up time. You guys can go. Be careful and keep an eye on Kate. I’m proud of you all for stepping up.”

Kate

Landon texts me on my new phone that they brought their coach up to speed and that at two they were all going to the police.

I sigh, relieved and anxious all at the same time.

That means the cops will likely want to speak with me soon.

I wonder what the school and sports program are going to do.

My stomach drops a little when I think over how Trevor might react.

I get through my morning classes and grab lunch with Sarah and Melissa.

They are equally as keyed up about everything as I am.

Sarah takes back off for her next class, leaving Mel and I to chat. By the time it’s about one-thirty, we pack up our stuff and walk to the library. She and I have a small shift from two to five. We notice Trevor at the coffee shop across from the library. He’s busy on his computer, so I don’t think he saw us. We hustle into our building knowing the guys aren’t on campus anymore.

“What do you think the school’s going to do? You think the cops are going to question him yet?”

Melissa asks, tossing her bag onto our regular table.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if they have enough to talk to him about Kristy yet. Will they even take it seriously?”

I just shake my head, a wreck inside about the whole damn thing.

Landon

“So the best I can do at this point is record everything,”

the cop says with a look of remorse on his face. “I wish there was more we could do, but the fact is he hasn’t committed a crime visible enough for us to bring him in. Since there are no known witnesses to say he was without a doubt the one who destroyed her property, everything will only be considered hearsay. It is good to have all of this on record, and Mr. Brooks, your girlfriend needs to come in and get her statement on record.”

The cop rests back and rocks in his chair.

“As for the young woman who’s on this paper, we are aware of the situation, but she has a history of just taking off with no word for a few weeks. Her family doesn’t seem very concerned. Just a couple of roommates have come forward to voice their concern. She’ll likely show up in a few days to take her exams. Thank you for letting us know that Mr. Langston was involved with her. If something comes up, we’ll have a solid lead to start with.”

I grit my teeth and look at the guys and Coach. They all look as strung out about this as I do. They’ve seen what he’s done and viewed his habits up close and personal. I know there are procedures, but if they’d personally witnessed these things, they’d have their hackles raised too. They would take it more seriously.

We walk out of the station feeling disheartened, but we all knew there was a chance of this happening.

“So, since the police aren’t getting involved yet, all I can do on my end is suspend him for the shit he’s pulled with you, Landon. Unless he crosses a more physical line, the school isn’t getting involved. Without the police behind us, they’ll be even more hesitant to put anything into action. I am so sorry. I wish there was more I could do.”

He sighs in defeat.

“He’s going to be pissed about the suspension. I will warn him only one more time to leave you alone. I will mention that he needs to let this argument over a girl go and move on. Hopefully, in a way that doesn’t tip him off that we are aware of his stalking. I don’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble for Kate.”

“Thanks Coach. It means a lot that you have our back.”

“Call me if you need me. You all please be careful and keep me in the loop if more happens.”

We all nod back to him because hell, there’s nothing more to say or do at this point except wait and continue watching. I hate that it’s this fucking hard to get any help.