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The party is in full swing which, of course, means the bathroom isalwaysoccupied. After what feels like the 14thtime of trying the door and finding it locked, I head to the kitchen to complain.
Hannah is assembling a plate of cucumber roll-ups when I burst through the doors like Maleficent crashing a party she wasn’t invited to.
She glances back over her shoulder. Seeing it’s only me, she dismisses the show of drama and continues assembling snacks for Anae’s guests.
“Two things,” I say, holding up two fingers.
“What’s up?”
“One, I don’t know if you want to do anything about this, but Arden is getting a blow job in the library. He’s sitting in front of the fireplace in one of the wing chairs. He didn’t even bother to close the door.”
She rolls a thin slice of cucumber and secures it with a toothpick. “Well, tell him the girl better swallow because I’m not cleaning that up.”
“The second thing is that the bathroom down here isstilloccupied and my bladder is going to explode.”
“You can use one of the upstairs bathrooms, just take the back staircase so no one sees you go up. I’ll have enough clean-up to do when this party is over. I don’t need people making messes upstairs, too.”
That’s what I was leaning toward, I just wanted to clear it with her first because I intended to take the main staircase and knew people might see me go up.
I’ll take the back one since she asked me to, but making my way through dark, isolated corridors at a party Landon is also attending isn’t something I’m excited about. I find him in the crowd and make sure he isn’t looking my way before I disappear down the hall.
I have noticed him keeping an eye on me tonight.
And he has been drinking.
When Landon drinks, his inhibitions go right out the window.
Malek is supposed to drop him off after the party. I haven’t figured out an ideal way to time my exit. Do I leave first and risk Landon following me? Or do I wait for him to leave and give him enough time to get home before I do?
Imagining him lying in wait for me is no more reassuring than the thought of him following me.
I really, really wish he would have just followed the rules for once and abstained from drinking at this stupid party.
Since thoughts of the present trigger immediate dread and anxiety, I shift my focus to the future.
We’ll both be off at college this time next year. I don’t know where Landon is going, but I’m certain it’s not where I’m headed.
I only have to keep the peace long enough for Mom and Hayden to tie the knot. It’s not like I’ll have to deal with his shenanigansforever.
As I make my way down the corridor away from the party, my mind teases me with a “what if?” scenario of if Idid. If Mom and Hayden get married, but Landon never stops being a terror.
It’s Christmas a decade from now. I’m visiting Mom with my loving, supportive husband who never terrorizes me. Landon is there with some Playboy bunny-looking date. Not the one he brought last year, of course. Landon isn’t married in my daydream, he just flits from knockout to knockout, always leaving before anything can get real.
Every year, we come home for the holidays and I pretend everything is fine for Mom and Hayden—who are still so happily married it makes unhappy couples sick—and each year I have to be careful not to bump into Landon alone because he pulls the same shameless shit regardless of our parents, my husband, and whichever cute little bunny he has brought with him that year.
Daydream. More like a nightmare.
I shake it off as I approach the massive wooden doors that lead to Hannah’s library. It used to be her dad’s study, but the room is mostly unused now that he’s gone. It’s a travesty, too, because it’s an amazing study.
Before I head upstairs, I swing into the library to relay Hannah’s message. I’m no voyeur, but Arden isn’t remotely seeking privacy.
No one else is in the library (which is why I wanted to come in here and wander around away from the party when I first stumbled across him), but the door is wide open. I knock on it to alert them that someone’s coming in just in case they care.
Arden’s attention doesn’t even flicker in my direction. Some girl in an olive green crop top kneels on the ground between his legs with her long dark hair fisted in one of Arden’s hands. He uses the makeshift ponytail to guide her head up and down, and I try to ignore the wet, sloppy sounds as I walk closer to them.
“Hannah said you better not leave a mess for her to clean up in here.”
Arden’s head falls back, and he shoots me a roguish smile. “You tell Hannah not to worry her pretty little head. Any girl lucky enough to have my cock in her mouth always swallows. Maybe I’ll show her firsthand someday.”
