Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
What did he do now?
Since he’s with Malek, there’s a good chance they did something idiotic.
“Yes,” Hayden says. “Of course. I assure you it won’t happen again. And please extend our apologies to Javier.”
Javier?
My heart sinks. I drop the towel to my side, damp hair forgotten, and approach Hayden as he ends the call.
“What did they say?” Mom asks.
“What happened?” I ask, since I need them to start at what I missed while I was swimming.
He answers Mom first. “They won’t be pressing charges.”
Pressing charges?!
“What happened?” I demand again, eyes wide.
Hayden sighs tiredly and uses one hand to massage his temples. Mom moves behind him and gently massages his shoulders to help ease the tension. “It appears that when Landon ‘lost his phone’ he also stole an entire bottle of Johnnie Walker from behind the bar. After draining half of it, he decided to pull a prank on the valet. He found his way to the employee area in the back and broke into Javier’s locker so he could plant the stolen bottle there. Then, he called to report that when we used the valet service for dinner tonight, he thought he smelled liquor on the guy’s breath. When management looked into the report, they found the liquor in Javier’s locker and fired him.”
I gasp.
Hayden holds up a hand. “Since he was innocent, Javier fought it, and when he pressed the issue and told them he’d be happy to take a breathalyzer test to prove he was sober, management decided to review the tapes. Of course, the security footage did not show Javier stealing the liquor and stashing it in his locker. It showed Landon doing it.”
“So Javi isn’t fired?”
Hayden shakes his head. “It’s all straightened out now. We’ll have to give him a hell of a tip next time we have dinner there,” he adds dryly.
“Is Landon even allowed back?” Mom asks.
“Of course.” He says it so casually, as if it was the only expected outcome. “You throw a little money at these things and they’re settled pretty easily, but that’s not the point.” He shifts his attention back to his phone. “I need to call my brother. Parker, can you do me a favor?”
I nod.
“Can you run upstairs and pack Landon a bag?”
My heart drops. “A bag?”
“He has a brown leather weekend bag in his closet. Just fill it with his toiletries and enough clothes for a couple of days.”
I bite anxiously on my bottom lip. “Where’s he going?”
“He’s grounded. He’ll be staying with his cousin.”
“Okay… Should I pack electronics? Does he have a laptop or an iPad I should…?”
“No. Pack his charger for his phone, and if you see his school bag up there, bring that. He doesn’t need anything else.”
I don’t know how Landon will feel about me going into his room when he’s not home, but I don’t say that. I know I’m not super comfortable with it, but that’s mostly because I feel like I’m going where I shouldn’t be, and I’ll be paranoid about him showing up while I’m in there and trapping me.
I know he won’t, though.
Hayden is downstairs, and if Landon does show up at the house, I’m sure Hayden will deal with it.
Landon’s door is closed, of course. When I push it open, all the scents I associate with him waft my way.
It’s dark outside now, so the only light in this space is from the moon. Landon doesn’t have an ocean view like I do. That strikes me as surprising.
I don’t turn the light on right away.
I probably should. I have no idea if Landon is tidy or more of a slob, but I imagine there are piles of things I could trip over on my way to the window.
Since I’m here, I can’t resist looking out and seeing what he sees.
My stomach drops when I get to the window and immediately realize he has a perfect view of the pool. The lights were off when I looked so I assumed he was asleep, but the lights are off now, and I couldn’t ask for a clearer view of me slicing through the water.
Well.
That’s not great.
I guess I’ll never be able to take another late-night swim again in my life.
Realizing I wore a bikini because I thought no one was watching makes me feel even more embarrassed about it.
Ugh.
Sighing, I cross the room more quickly than I made my way to the window and flick on the light.
I’m a little surprised by what I see. I guess I expected Landon’s space to be chaotic like he is, but his bedroom is sleek and modern with high ceilings (like the rest of the house) and an entire wall of windows behind the bed.
His bed is huge, too. Maybe it’s only king-sized to fill the enormous space, but it looks cozy with six pillows lined up against the headboard, a perfectly made bed with the comforter turned down, and a fuzzy blanket laid across the bottom in case he wanted something a bit cozier.