Page 58 of Finding Fate

We were gone today for hours. I’m not one to find the ‘fun’ in hanging with two chicks while they shop and shit, but in some weird way, it was. It felt like junior high all over again as me and Maddox tagged along with them—a time when I thought having a girlfriend was appealing and commitment to one girl at a time was something I did, like everyone else in my grade. Parents dropped us off at the mall or the movie for an hour or so while we did exactly as we did today—walk and talk.

Fun. That’s almost laughable. That word hardly exists in my life anymore. I wasn’t moody and bitching and cussing, which basically means the same thing. Maybe it was tolerable because we ate at a place with sports on the dozens of televisions and bar food like burgers and wings. When we got home the other four were gone. When it became evident they had made plans for a double date, the alcohol started flowing, Paxtyn initiating it. It finally hits me that she’s serious. “Cancel the Uber.”

“What? I can’t. I already booked my flight. I don’t belong here, Landon. It’s less awkward this way. I just didn’t want to leave without saying anything to you. You’re the reason this trip wasn’t a total blowout. Gabby too.” She leans in and kisses me, reminding me how full her lips are, and silky soft. Then she smiles as she pulls away. It’s a real one. The girl is too hot to be seventeen. “So thanks. Take care of my v-card.”

V-card. Fuck. I’d almost forgotten. Almost. I thought this shit was going to go down tomorrow. I was prepared for awkward, considering the circumstances. Every other girl I’ve slept with I just tell to get the fuck out when I’m done. Not the case here. This wasn’t how I saw it playing out. My mind is spinning. I can’t think straight. What I do know is that a girl that looks like she does is not getting a fucking Uber. That whole system has serial killer and human trafficking trap written all over it. Our parents taught usnotto get in cars with strangers. “Cancel it. I’ll drive you,” I tell her, already sitting up and throwing my legs off the side of the bed, leaning over to grab my boxer briefs off the floor.

She stands to her full height as I shove my legs in my underwear, showing off the skin-tight leggings and the lowcut casual top that’s showing way too much cleavage. Jesus. I almost wish she was self-conscious about her amazing tits. Then they’d stay covered.

Had I known she was going to leave tonight I would have stayed up and made it last. “You don’t have to do that, Landon. I know how to get myself to the airport. I got myself here, remember? It’s one in the morning. Go back to sleep so I don’t regret waking you up. You said you were leaving to go back home tomorrow evening before you have to go back to work.”

I stand and pull the waistband up my legs, letting it slap against my skin at my hips, and then grab my jeans from earlier, pulling them on as my eyes burn into hers. “I said cancel it. I’m driving you whether it shows up or not. If you want the driver to waste a trip that’s your choice.”

She holds her hands back in surrender. “Fine. If you insist. I was trying to be nice.”

“We don’t do nice,” I tell her as I walk to my duffel bag and grab the first shirt I see, putting it on. “No sense in starting now.”

She grabs her purse and fishes her phone out of it, already navigating around the screen as she looks down at it. I shove my wallet and phone in my pockets and pick up her suitcases, already making my way through the basement. She’s wearing tennis shoes, but I can still hear her footsteps behind me all the way to the main floor. I set the suitcase and carry-on by the door and look at her. “Meet me at Maddox’s truck.”

She goes out the door and I jog up the stairs, quietly passing Riggan’s room, and then tiptoe run up to the third floor, opening Maddox’s door. He’s wrapped around Gabby like he’s scared she’ll disappear. I shake my head. That girl has always had his ass by the balls. I smack him in the shoulder so that he knows it’s me, unlike that shit Paxtyn was doing. “Maddox, I need your truck keys.”

He groans, both him and Gabby stirring, and he finally rolls over, rubbing his eyes. “For what? What time is it?”

“Drive the kid sister to the airport.”

Gabby jerks forward, now fully awake, the shirt on her way too big to be hers. “She’s sneaking off in the middle of the night? I thought she was leaving at like lunch.”

“That makes two of us.”

Gabby tosses the comforter back and scurries out of the bed. “Where is she? She’s not leaving without telling me bye. The bitch.”

I almost laugh. “Maddox’s truck.”

At least he chose one with a backbone. Makes me proud as pussy whipped as he is. Out of all the girls that live here, I like her the most. She’ll never know it. Girls don’t need that kind of power. I can tell she’s the strongest. Doesn’t put up with bullshit. Maddox is intimidating to the average person. His anger is unstoppable when he locks up the ‘good guy’. His strength is lethal. He’s bigger than all of us. When he’s jealous over her you’d think he was in the middle of a ‘roid rage. Gabby is like a five-foot ninja when she’s walking fast like she’s doing right now to head down the stairs, and she’s the only person that can break him down to nothing. It’s difficult to watch.

Maddox is still half asleep, yawning as he turns on the small lamp and grabs his keys off the nightstand, handing them to me, already looking for a pair of shorts to put on over his underwear, no doubt going to find his girl. “Thanks. I’ll fill it up with gas.”

He wipes his eyes once his shorts are on, nodding. “What’d you do to her?”

A laugh slips. My reputation precedes me. “Fuck you.”

He smiles. “Like it’s really that far-fetched. You’re a dick to girls. I have no idea how you get so much pussy. Oh, right, every girl you sleep with runs her mouth about your monster-sized dick.”

I roll my eyes. I have my reasons. “I have no control over that. I’m driving her to the airport. She was going to get an Uber. I’m being a fucking gentleman.”

He shakes his head, laughing. “Only because you want farewell pussy.”

“Good pussy is hard to find.”

He stares at me. “Who said you have to let it go?” On that note, I turn around and walk for the door. “Landon.”

“Don’t start, Maddox.”

“They aren’t all your mom,” he says on a sigh, halting me in my steps at the top of the stairs as I stare down at them. My blood runs cold, hand clenching around his keys, letting the metal dig into my palm. None of my friends have brought it up in years. I love my mom and would do anything for her, which is why I pay some of her bills since she helps my sister as much as she does. She’s never been a bad mother, has always provided for me and my sister, been loving, and still tries to be just that—a mother. But me and my mom haven’t had a close emotional relationship in years. She knows our relationship is what it is and why, and that’s not my fault. I’m not sure if it’ll ever change, but she won’t give up trying to salvage it either. “Some girls know how to say no. Based on her looks and body, I’m going to say there are probably plenty of guys that try. Virginity at seventeen looking like her says something.”

Like that thought hasn’t occurred to me, dipshit.

Long distance fuck buddies don’t make sense, and girls rarely keep things that way for long before they want to turn it into something else. I don’t want any semblance of a dating relationship. She lives in California. She’s also in high school. She’s going to want to go to proms and high school parties and shit. I’m past that point of my life. I don’t want to settle down but I’m not going back to high school either.

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