Chapter 32
Willow
They were going to leave her.
After everything, they were just going to leave and pretend nothing had happened.
There was no “everything”. I was just a fun toy.
Willow blinked back moisture gathering in her eyes and turned her attention to getting her apartment back in order.
Stahma had made a little bit of a mess with her food, maybe hoping that it would bring Willow home sooner.
Silly cat. She would need to go thank Helen later, but she didn’t want to see anyone yet.
If she kept busy, then she could keep her mind away from the reality of what was happening.
The look in Ryker’s eyes told her everything she needed to know.
They were dropping her. She could understand it, even if it fucking sucked.
They were involved in shady crap—they cut people’s fingers off. And they’d almost killed her.
No, she couldn’t let herself dwell. She wanted to do something—anything to keep them around her. Even if it was really stupid, she hadn’t felt that safe and cared for since before Billy.
A sudden buzzing jolted her out of her thoughts. Her phone was ringing.
She pulled it from her pocket and saw it was from an unknown number. Probably some scammer. She tapped the icon to answer, fully prepared to rant at a bot for no other reason than to let off steam.
“What?” she said with a groan.
“Is that really how you answer a phone, Crypty?”
Willow nearly lost her grip as she registered who was on the other end. Landon.
“Uh, no. I assumed you were a bot. I was getting ready to complain at you.”
“I take it you’re home?”
“Yeah. Why’d you call my phone?” She wasn’t about to ask how he’d gotten her number. For people like them, finding someone’s phone number wasn’t exactly hard.
“Um…” He hesitated. “I’m in Lakeview.”
For the second time, she nearly dropped her phone, her heart hammering. He’d never done something like this, or at least he’d never told her before if he’d been to Lakeview.
She tried to get a hold of her voice. “W-why? Why are you here?”
“I know this is fucking weird, but can we meet somewhere in person to talk? Wherever you want.”
Her mouth gaped as she tried to summon an answer. She never thought she’d meet him in person. The entire time they’d been friends, he’d lived abroad. He had never so much as hinted at wanting to meet before.
“Uh, K-Shop. It’s a Korean convenience store.”
“I’ve heard of it. When?”
That was strange too, K-Shop was only in this town. It wasn’t a franchise or anything. “One hour. I just got home and need to change and stuff.”
“Okay, I’ll be there.”
“How will I know it’s you?” They had never video chatted or sent photos to each other.
“I’ll get the blue lemonade and sit next to the window. If you decide to bail, that’s fine. I’ll wait there for thirty extra minutes, and then I’ll leave for good. I’m not trying to freak you out.”
“I won’t bail,” she said, sure of that answer. Of course, she had been curious about her mysterious friend. Why wouldn’t she take the opportunity to meet him?
“See you then,” he replied and hung up.
Willow stared at her phone for a moment before saying to Stahma, “Our lives are so weird.”
***
Sure enough, he was sitting next to the plate-glass window with a blue lemonade pouch propped so whoever was outside could see it.
He had sandy brown hair that had bleached from sun exposure and a reddish tinge to his tan.
His claim to be in his mid-thirties appeared to be true, but it was hard to determine the age of this guy who looked like a beach bum in the gloomy Lakeview spring.
He hadn’t peered outside the entire time she’d spent staring at him through the window, but she had a feeling he knew she was there.
Willow entered the shop, and once the little bell chimed, she caught eyes with him. His expression was difficult to decipher, but maybe it was relief.
She quickly purchased an ice cup with a pouch of decaf black coffee and took the seat across from her long-time friend. While pouring the contents of the pouch, she observed, “So you aren’t secretly sixty years old with a beer gut.”
He snorted, sounding the same way as when they spoke over voice chat. “And neither are you.” His eyes scanned her, but it wasn’t in a creepy way. It was more like calculating.
“So, why are you here?”
“My sister was murdered by her husband.”
Her breath hitched. What the fuck was this about?
“Six years ago. Our parents weren’t supportive when she wanted to leave.
He was the sheriff’s son, so no one wanted to get on his bad side.
He had a habit of targeting people for tickets when they made him mad.
” Landon made a face as he looked away. “I tried to help and got my own ass kicked for it. It didn’t matter that her husband had jumped me. The cops weren’t going to touch him.”
Willow gripped her ice-cold beverage, though she didn’t feel like drinking it anymore.
“She got away,” he said finally. “But it wasn’t for long. His dad helped track her down by calling in his buddies from the other towns to see if they’d spotted her car. It was parked outside a hotel thirty miles away. His dad told him where she was.”
Willow swallowed hard. “Please tell me they didn’t sweep it under the rug.”
His jaw clenched. “He got out a year ago.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Obviously, she could see the parallels, but that didn’t explain why he’d traveled so far to get here.
“Because I was terrified you were dead. When we started talking, everything was still so fresh with my sister’s murder and the trial… That first time I heard you speak over the team chat, it just about ripped out my heart. You had the same voice she did toward the end.”
“Well,” she stammered, “you know Billy couldn’t have done anything considering he’s dead.”
Landon nodded. “I know. It just wasn’t like you to drop off like that. Especially with some of the scams you’ve pulled lately, I didn’t want to take a chance at failing someone else.”
“Thank you for caring. It’s nice that someone does.” She tried not to let that thought sink in too far. They weren’t ditching her because they didn’t care. It was because they did.
He took a sip of his lemonade, prompting her to finally take a drink of her beverage as well.
“So,” he started, “Want to tell me what happened?”
How the hell was she supposed to tell him that she was out getting double-teamed in the woods by a couple of killers?
“I was kidnapped by some guys who thought I was someone else.” She promptly took a long sip of her coffee. It could really use some milk, but the strong flavor was a nice distraction.
His eyebrows flew up. “You seem pretty unbothered.”
“Yeah, well… it turned out better than I could have thought that kind of situation would.”
“And you’re really okay?” he asked, his eyes disbelieving as they assessed her condition.
“I’m fine.” Her tone was firm in an effort to keep him from prying too much. His feelings toward her definitely leaned on the sisterly side, apparently and divulging too much would probably make him squirm.
Landon let out a long breath. “Do you know why they took you?”
“They meant to grab one of my neighbors.” She shifted in her seat and swirled the contents of her cup. “She caught them beating someone up.”
He scoffed. “So they were going to kidnap her?”
“Kill her. Actually.”
“What the fuck? How did—”
“Look, I handled the situation, and everything turned out fine.” She flexed her fingers around her cup, trying not to crush it out of embarrassment or frustration or whatever she was feeling.
With another scan of his light brown eyes, his expression changed. “Do you like them?”
“Well, you know I have shit taste in men, so what do you think?”
He deflected the self-deprecating comment. “Are they just regular thugs or are they working for someone important?”
The question caught her off guard, but she found no reason to lie. “Someone they kept calling ‘Xan’.”
A muscle in his jaw feathered. “Don’t try to stay in contact with them,” he said firmly.
“They aren’t bad guys,” she replied, exasperated.
“I’m serious. If they work for him, then they can’t be good news.”
“They aren’t some psychopaths. They could have killed me anyway, and they didn’t!”
Her sudden change in volume got them a side-eye from an older Asian man browsing the gimbap selection, but he only shook his head before going back to his search.
Landon ran a hand through his hair and replied, “I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“Do you really think I wasn’t going to do a deep dive?” She leveled him with a severe glare. “I’m not some kid. I know now you must see me as a sister figure, but I’m not her.”
The pain in his face just then cut deep. “Look,” she muttered, “I’m sorry. I care about our friendship, so… do you want to help me dig up their sordid pasts so I can know what was bullshit? Would that help?”
The muscles in his brows dropped ever so slightly. “Sure. I think I can live with that.”