Safe (6 page)

“Yeah. Hot is putting it lightly. She is smokin’!” Renzo chimed in.

“You scored some serious points with that whole kissing the hand thing, Landon. I should have done that,” Lukas said, turning to look at me in the back.

“Shit, it was a spur of the moment reaction,” I replied.

“What the hell was that look on her face for?” Renzo asked.

“Hmm … She liked it idiot,” I shot back.

The hell I was going to tell them that my entire body caught on fire when my lips touched her hand. I felt as if I was burning alive from the inside out. The shocked look on her face told me that she felt it, too.

My lips still tingled from her touch. I wondered what it would be like to kiss those beautiful, full lips of hers. If her hand could make me feel like that, what would her mouth do?

Fuck. It was just lust. That was it.

Wasn’t it? Her eyes. It was what I saw in her eyes that drew me to her. I couldn’t read it, but it was there.

I needed to stay away. This couldn’t end well.

“Renzo, she was looking at you a lot,” I shot at him.

“I know. I liked it. I’m gonna make sure to get to know her better,” Renzo said.

“The hell you are, dick!” Lukas jumped in. “I get this one.”

“No you don’t, fucker. Just ‘cause you want her don’t me you get her,” Renzo bit back. “Not to mention, we all know I give the best orgasms anyway.”

“That’s not what the last girl you were interested in screamed to me last night,” Lukas said.

“I hate you,” Renzo fired back.

“You gonna get in on this, Landon?” Lukas asked.

“Nah. Go for it.” I turned and continued my gaze out the window from the backseat of the truck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brothers look at each other and shake their heads. I ignored them like always. They were morons.

Renzo was the oldest of the four of us. He was a royal pain in the ass. He oozed responsibility. While the company would be handed down to all four kids, we all knew that Renzo would be the main guy. How could he not? He was smarter than shit and had more degrees than I thought possible. Not to mention, he was the first-born.

Now if people tried to tell you that just because a kid was first born in a family didn’t give them any more opportunities than the others—they were lying to you.

It was just how it went. There was no changing it, and even if there were, I didn’t think I would want to. We were all going to be equal partners; Renzo would just have to handle more of the shit problems. I could deal with that.

Lukas was the youngest boy. He loved to party, maybe a bit too much. He still did his job with the company, but when he wasn’t there, I heard all kinds of stories. I tried and stayed out of his business unless he needed help. I figured he was a grown ass man; he should be able to work it out.

“So, let me get this right. You don’t wanna go for Sadie?” Lukas’s words pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Nah. Go ahead.”

“Fuck,” they moaned together.

“What the hell’s your problem?” I barked at them.

“Okay, dumbass, how often do you tell us to go for a girl that you think is hot?” Renzo said.

I just stared out the window. I didn’t want to answer. Normally, I would harass my brothers into giving up on a chick so I could have my way with her. But women all ended up the same. Maybe once or twice I’d screw them, and then they’d be gone—nothing ever serious. I knew deep down this one was not the “hit it and quit it” type.

Even in our brief meeting, she screamed this. She didn’t hang all over my brothers or me. She actually pulled away. She wasn’t rude about it, but she didn’t have the
I want to screw him
attitude at all. If anything, it was the opposite, as if she was trying to stay as far away as possible. And damnit, if that didn’t make my pull to her take root.

I couldn’t risk getting close to her. I couldn’t give any woman what they needed. It wasn’t my style, at least not anymore. No way was I having a repeat of Stacy. No woman would ever have that much power over me again.

“Yeah, Landon, you never blow off a hot piece,” Lukas chimed in.

“Thought I would throw you guys something,” I responded.

This got me another mutual, “Fuck,” from both brothers.

They had to know the reason was Stacy, and judging by their reaction, they were already getting the picture. Hell, if I was going to talk about it though; men don’t share their feelings with each other. Hell no.

Didn’t mean that I could shut my mind off.

In Sadie’s eyes was vulnerability, an almost skittish feel. I didn’t know if it was just me or the male population in general. She seemed to have a tough exterior, but interior—the jury was still out.

And truth be told, I didn’t want to be the one to break her if her interior wasn’t as strong.

Would I love to fuck her, hell yeah, but that was not in the cards with her. She seemed to be the type of girl where sex was more than sex. I couldn’t have that.

Lukas or Renzo could have her.

“What the hell is your problem?” I snapped at my brothers after their mutual groan.

“Nothing.”

“What the fuck is your problem?” I yelled at them both.

“I said nothing. Leave it at that,” Renzo shot back.

“Damn, are you on the rag or something?” I laughed.

“Laugh now pretty boy, we’ll see.” Lukas smiled and turned toward the window.

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, not willing to let this go quite yet.

“It means shut the hell up!” Renzo snapped.

“Whatever,” I mumbled and ignored them the rest of the way to the office.

Slamming down the phone on my desk, I was pissed, hot, fired up. The concrete foreman, who said we didn’t pay for them for the rebar, just reamed me out. I was sure we did, but trying to smooth things over with them until I could get the paperwork in front of me, didn’t go like I planned. Nope, he decided to call my family lowlifes and scammers, which I didn’t take kindly to.

My family was everything to me. They were all I had. No one ... and I mean no one talked shit about them. If we made a mistake, we would fix it. But I’d be damned if some asshole was gonna talk shit about my family.

Ending the phone call with an, ‘I’ll look it up and get back to you,’ didn’t sway my mood. I was fuming.

I needed to take a break, and then I’d find the paperwork. Spinning the chair from my desk, I looked out the large window over the town. Williamsfield wasn’t very big. Everyone knew my family; we’d lived here for generations. We knew everyone, and everyone knew us.

Sometimes this was good, like when the sheriff caught me speeding and let me off. And sometimes bad, like the second time when the sheriff’s baby girl was the one in my passenger seat while speeding. That one didn’t end well for me. A few hours behind bars, and Renzo had to come bail me out. Which he still gave me shit about!

Talk in this town was atrocious. Everyone knew everyone else’s business all the time. There were no secrets, which sucked. Everyone here knew my past. I couldn’t run or hide from it. It was always there staring me in the face.

The people here didn’t talk directly to me about it, but I heard their whispers and stupid shit like that. Not that I gave a flying fuck.

I’d come to terms with it, to a point. I couldn’t change it, but it had changed me. I didn’t want one woman or love. It hurt too much. Why would I want to hurt myself any more than I already had?

“Son!”

I immediately jumped out of my chair. “Shit! Sorry, sir. What’s up?”

“Son, heard you slam the phone, just wanted to come and see what’s up,” Dad said casually while moving to sit in the chair in front of my desk.

“I can handle it, Pop,” I said calmly. I knew my dad meant the best, but the fact that he still had to micromanage everything drove me nuts. I wished he would just trust me to handle it, but he never did. At least it wasn’t just with me; it was with my brothers, too. So that made it a bit better.

“I know you can, I just want to know,” he said sternly.

Shit. “Jameson called and said we didn’t pay for the rebar on the Snider project. I told him I would have to get the paperwork and call him back.”

“And …” Dad knew there was more.

Resigning myself to tell him, I just let it rip. “He’s an ass pop. He started saying stuff about the family, and you know how I am with that.”

“What did he say?” I knew it wasn’t a question but more of a demand from him.

“Come on, Pop. I’ll take care of it.” I knew I wouldn’t get far with him, but I had to try. My brothers and I tried to handle anything stressful without him knowing, but he always found out. Always.

“What. Did. He. Say.” Each word was bit off as they came out of his mouth. It was his
if you don’t tell me now, I’ll cut your balls off
way of getting information.

“He said we were lowlifes and scammers. I’ll take care of it, Dad.”

“No son. I’ll take care of it. I’ve known Jameson’s dad for more than fifty years. There’s no way I’ll let this slide.”

With that, my dad stood up and left my office, shutting the door behind him.

“Shit,” I muttered to myself.

I grabbed the phone and called Renzo and then Lukas to tell them what happened. They both said the same thing.

We knew that dad would handle it. It just wasn’t good for his blood pressure to get all riled up. But he was an old coot who didn’t take to his family getting pushed around. He always said that he worked too hard to have anyone disrespect his family.

A soft knock came from the door. “Come in,” I called.

“Hey baby,” a soft feminine voice said. Whipping my head around, I cringed.

“Hey Meg, What’s up?” What the hell was she doing here and why was she calling me baby?

“I wanted to see if you’re playing tonight and if you needed a date after,” she purred.

“Yep and no thanks. I’ve got plans.” It was one thing to have her come and watch my band play, a total other to have her go
with
me.

“Oh. Can we meet up for a while?” Her seductive smile was full blown. We hooked up from time to time, but it was purely sex.

I had absolutely zero feelings for her, which I knew made me an asshole, but I told her what we had was just sex. “No. We had our fun, and you knew the score.” I didn’t want anything from her anymore, and how dare she just show up at my job.

“What?” she retorted.

“Look, we had a few nights together, and you knew I wasn’t looking for anything long term,” I responded.

“So, I gave you sex, and now you’re done, so you’re just gonna treat me like garbage?” She was practically yelling at this point.

“No Meg. When we hooked up, we talked about this. I told you up front that this was strictly sex—that was it. No happily ever after. No white picket fence. No two-point-five kids and a dog. None of it.”

“I know, but I thought you’d change your mind once you got a taste,” she whined.

I didn’t respond. Her taste wasn’t one to keep me hooked, but I didn’t dare say that to her.

“Damn it, Landon!”

“I’ve never lied to you. I’ve always been upfront with you. There’s no reason for you to be pissed off, and quite frankly, I’m not in the mood to deal with it,” I said.

“That bitch really did a number on you,” she whispered.

“It’s time for you to go,” I demanded.

“Fine. I’m glad that bitch left town. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Great.”

Meg turned and left, almost running into Renzo on the way out.

“Damn bro, you’re such a heartbreaker,” he said, watching Meg’s ass as she walked out.

His snide comment pissed me off. “She knew what she was getting into. I didn’t tell her we would have a happily ever after or any of that shit. I just told her sex. How the hell did she get in here anyway?”

“Hell if I know. But hey, Pop’s pissed about Jameson. What are we gonna do?” Renzo asked, leaning against the doorframe of my office.

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing?” he barked back.

“I mean nothing. Dad will handle it, and it will be done, just like always. Stop worrying.” I knew he was worried about his health, but trying to stop Dad or interject would just piss him off more. So it’s easier just to let him do it, and get it over with.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m not. You know how this works. Just let it go.”

Renzo let out a deep sigh, and I knew he conceded.

“What time you going on tonight?” Renzo asked.

“Eight,” I replied.

“I’ll be there. You think Lauryn will bring Sadie?” He smirked.

“I don’t know.”

“You serious about not wanting Sadie?”

Just her name on his lips made me want to beat the shit out of him. I wanted all of them to stay the hell away from her. Shit. Where the hell did that come from? Shaking my head, “Yep,” was all I could come up with.

“You like her,” he said with a smirk on his face.

“What the hell do you not understand about not wanting someone? I don’t even know her,” I fired back.

Renzo shut the door and moved to the same chair that pop left a bit earlier. “I mean you haven’t turned down the opportunity like this, ever. She’s new, knows no one, hot as hell, killer legs, and I bet money on it that she’s great in the sack. You don’t just say no to that.”