CHAPTER 43
LANDRY
I spotted Cashton’s Chevelle in the Astors’ driveway as I pulled up to the house, no other cars in sight. Parking across the road, I snuck through the gate and across the grounds, reaching the front door and peering through the decorative glass.
The lights appeared off, and I cautiously reached for the handle after not spotting any movement coming from inside. Turning it slowly, I kept my steps silent as I moved through the hall, hearing multiple voices as I neared the massive formal living room at the back of the house where we had shared tea with Amelia.
Keeping my back pressed to the partition wall, I tried to make out what they were saying to no avail. Instead, I slowly peeked my head around, not enough to be seen, but just enough to catch a glimpse of what was going on.
I spotted two grown men dressed in all black, dark bandanas covering the lower halves of their faces. Even with half of their faces being concealed, I could tell that one of them must be closer to middle-aged, while the other looked to be about my age.
And in between the two of them was Cashton, down on his knees with his hands locked behind his head in surrender. The younger man stood at his back, gun aimed directly at Cashton’s temple.
This was bad. This was very, very bad.
My heart raced, mind running a million miles a minute as I tried to figure out what to do. I had tried calling Kaptan and Zayn on the way here, neither of them having answered the phone. I was completely on my own. I knew coming into this that I would have no idea what I would be facing, but I couldn’t let anything happen to the man I was falling for. I had lost my mom and then my dad, and I wasn’t losing Cashton too. At the very least, I would go down fighting.
I was so focused on trying to find the best possible way to get the jump on them that I didn’t feel the movement behind me until it was too late. A large arm clamped around my neck, my hands shooting up on instinct to grab it.
“Well, well, well—What do we have here?” a deep voice whispered into my ear, my heart sinking to my stomach as he dragged me out from my hiding place and into the living room.
The men turned to face us, assessing me as I remained trapped and helpless in his hold. Cashton’s wide eyes met mine, a look of panic and despair like I had never seen taking over his features.
“Landry, what are you doing here?” he asked through clenched teeth, trying to sound calm though the panic in his voice gave him away. I opened my mouth to speak, but the arm around my throat only tightened, restricting my air.
“Well, if it isn’t Landry Andrews,” the older man in the center of the room teased, turning from Cashton to face me. Cashton’s panic was laced with rage as the man approached me, his jaw clenching as he practically growled “Don’t touch her.”
The man paid no mind to Cashton’s threat, his eyes roaming over me. I couldn’t see the lower half of his face due to the mask, but I knew he was smiling.
“Well, isn’t this perfect—Two birds with one stone. You just made our lives so much easier by delivering yourself right to our door. Thank you for that.”
“Who are you?” I growled, the arm around my neck loosening just enough for me to choke out the words.
“The funny thing is, Landry, that you and I have crossed paths on multiple occasions. I wouldn’t expect you to remember, of course. It wouldn’t hurt to be more aware of your surroundings, you know. And the night of New Year’s Eve—Well, I wouldn’t expect you to remember that one since you were out cold. I actually thought you were dead when I left you there, so imagine my surprise when I found out that you were attending Ivybrook this semester.”
I stopped breathing, and it had nothing to do with the arm around my throat.
“You were the one who ran me and my mom off the road,” I ground out. This was the man who had taken my mom away from me, who had tried to take my life as well. And now here he was, standing right in front of me.
“Let her go. I’m the one who dragged her into this, I’m the one who convinced her that there was more to it. You can kill me, but let. Her. Go,” Cashton pleaded, his gaze hardening as every muscle in his body tensed from silent rage.
We were outnumbered, not to mention the fact that they had guns and we didn’t. Quite frankly, we were fucked.
The older man seemed to think over Cashton’s request, tilting his head to the side in consideration.
“Nah. But here’s what we can do—I’ll kill her first, so that you get to watch,” he concluded with a mocking lilt.
One look from who I assumed to be the leader and the man holding me tightened his arm once more, this time harder than before. My airways were completely cut off as he lifted me, my nails desperately clawing at his arm as my feet kicked, meeting nothing but air.
“Motherfu—” Cashton started, attempting to stand as the younger male behind him grabbed him by the hair and forced him back onto his knees, pressing the gun firmer into his temple.
This was it. This was how we were going to die.
I desperately tried gasping in air, my lungs aching as I continued to struggle, stars beginning to dot the edges of my vision. I tried to reach for the man’s face, scratching and clawing at anything I could to get him to release his grip to no avail. Instead, he only chuckled, the entire room watching as my life slowly began to fade.
I let my gaze fall to Cashton’s as he sat there helplessly, the pain and desperation in those beautiful green eyes of his causing an ache to fill my chest as my heart began to shatter.
The sight of him offered me a brief moment of clarity, the emotions in his eyes wilder than anything I had seen before. I wasn’t going to let this be our ending .
Forcing myself to let go of the arm around my throat, I reached my hand down to my lower back, reaching for what I had placed there earlier. Sliding the kitchen knife out of the plastic sheath that I had haphazardly duct-taped to the inside of my denim shorts, I swung my arm with what little strength I had left and embedded it into the man’s forearm.
He released me instantly as I fell to the floor, taking the knife with me as my feet hit the ground and the man staggered backwards. Commotion broke out on the other end of the room where Cashton had used the distraction to knock the gun free from the younger man’s hand and was now in the process of bringing him down to the ground.
The leader still stood a few feet in front of me, and I watched in horror as he reached for the gun tucked into the back of his pants and raised it directly at me, the barrel staring me dead in the face.
Without thinking, I threw my leg into a high kick, a mix of cheerleading and the kickboxing that Cashton had shown me over the last couple of months kicking in to take over as my foot made impact, knocking the gun clean out of his hand as it flew across the room.
Holy shit, I had just done that. A smile bloomed across my face at the realization of what I had just managed to do. That was a total bad bitch move. Damn, I really was a badass—
A fist flew in my face, punching me straight in the temple as stars erupted across my vision. Pain instantly laced through my skull, the impact hard enough to send me flying backwards as I hit the hard ground.
“Landry!” Cashton shouted from somewhere, my vision slowly returning as I lifted my cheek off of the hardwood floor. I spotted my knife a few feet away, and I watched in horror as the man a few feet away—The one who had tried choking me—Came to the same realization.
His large hand was pressed to the wound in his forearm as he tried to stop the bleeding, but his eyes landed on me and then the knife that sat equidistantly between us. I scrambled to my knees, shoving myself forward as he did the same.
I got there mere milliseconds before he did, my hand wrapping around the plastic handle as I turned to face him, his form landing directly on top of me in the next moment. I didn’t waste any time, jamming the blade up from underneath him as it sank into his side, before pulling it out and stabbing him again.
He howled in pain, his body rolling off of mine as I scrambled to my feet, turning back to face the others. The leader had found the gun that I had sent flying across the room, and any hope I had left came to a dead end as I watched him lift it once more and aim it at me. I was across the room this time, too far away to do anything. I would be dead long before I could reach him.
Time seemed to slow as his finger moved over the trigger, my life flashing before my eyes. At the last second, a hard body crashed into him, Cashton tackling him to the ground. I watched as the man I was falling for drove his fists into the man’s face, each blow coming harder and faster. He was a wild animal. Rage shone in his features, his muscles bulging as he beat the man into a pulp, and I couldn’t seem to look away.
By the time the man went cold, his face was unrecognizable. Cashton breathed heavily, his chest moving up and down as he slowly stood. The silence in the space was loud .
“Cashton...” I whispered, bringing him out of the trance he seemed to be in. We had both just killed somebody. Maybe two somebody’s, in Cashton’s case, considering the limp body at the other end of the living room.
His eyes met mine before roaming over me, assessing for injuries. Relief flooded his features once he realized that I was okay.
He stalked towards me, wasting no time as he grabbed my face with both hands and slammed his mouth to mine. My lips parted, letting him in as he devoured me. Butterflies erupted in my stomach.
Breaking the kiss, he kept his hold on me as his eyes met mine. “Landry, what are you doing here? Why did you come?” he asked, worry etched in his features.
“Did you know that this was a setup?” I asked in return.
A mix of emotions flashed through his eyes. “I had an inkling, but I didn’t know for sure,” he finally responded.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” I asked, anger flaring through me.
“Because I knew you would insist on coming, and I couldn’t risk putting you in danger. I thought that I could get some answers, especially since we hadn’t had any new leads lately, but they got the drop on me when I got here. I didn’t expect three of them to show up.”
I kept my mouth shut, debating if I should stay mad at him or just revel in the fact that we were both alive.
“Landry, when I saw them bring you in… I’ve never felt fear like before. And when I thought you were about to die right in front of my eyes, that was the worst moment of my life. If I ha d lost you, I would have begged them to shoot me next. I don’t want to live in a world without you, I couldn’t endure it.”
He looked so vulnerable, it broke my heart.
“Cash…” I whispered, our lips inches apart. “I love you.”
So many emotions flickered in his eyes, but right as I thought he was about to respond, a noise behind me caused his eyes to jump over my head. Before I knew what was happening, Cashton had his arms wrapped around me as he spun us around, right in the same moment as a gunshot pierced through the air.