CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 3 0
CASHTON
“Olivia!” I heard someone shout over the music, the partygoers looking around before going back to their conversations. “I need Olivia! It’s an emergency!” the voice continued to yell and I rolled my eyes, making my way to the foyer where the commotion was coming from.
“Olivia left over an hour ago, what the fuck do you want?” I snarled, irritated to be dealing with this drunk fuck. I was more irritable than usual lately, ready to pick a fight any chance I got.
I took note of the panic on his face as his eyes met mine.
“Some girl showed up at the front door asking for Olivia, she passed out and I don’t know what to do man, I don’t think she’s okay!”
I rolled my eyes. It wouldn’t be the first time that some drunk girl showed up on our doorstep. Making my way to the entryway, my heart rate picked up as I noticed the head of blonde hair splayed out on the ground. My steps picked up their pace, and my lungs stopped working as I found Landry laying on the ground right outside of our entryway.
She was soaked from head to toe, her pajamas drenched from the rain and lips so pale that for a moment I actually thought she might be dead.
I dropped down and dragged her into my lap, her eyes fluttering and breathing labored. She wasn’t completely out, but I was certain she wasn’t far from losing consciousness completely.
How had she gotten here? What the fuck had happened to her? My heart beat wildly in my chest, the noise around me fading out as all of my focus fell onto the delicate body in my arms, her beautiful face concerningly pale.
“What the fuck happened?” I practically screamed at the guy behind me as I wrapped my arms around her, lifting her off the ground and cradling her against my chest as I brought her into the house.
“I don’t know man! I heard a knock on the door and went to open it, she mentioned something about Olivia and then passed out right in front of me, I didn’t know what to do!”
I held Landry tighter against me, her wet body soaking through my hoodie as I passed Zayn and Kaptan who must have been following me. They took in the sight in front of them, Zayn’s eyes widening in alarm.
“Find out what the fuck happened,” I ordered Kaptan, his phone already lifting to his ear as he kept his calm composure.
Racing past them, I ran up the stairs and to the left, kicking open the door to my bedroom as I carried her to the bathroom. Making my way into the walk-in shower, I adjusted her in my arms so that I could reach out and turn on the shower, adjusting it as hot as it would go without scalding her.
Keeping Landry in my arms, I lowered to the ground and sat against the shower wall, fully clothed as the warm water and steam encircled the both of us. I tucked her in to me, needing to feel her heartbeat to reassure me that she was okay. Tucking a few strands of her wet hair out of her face, I noticed a few small cuts along her cheek and above her eyebrow. What the fuck had happened?
I cupped her cheek, my thumb grazing over her freezing skin as her eyes fluttered open once more. They looked bloodshot, like she’d been crying for hours. My heart ached at seeing those baby blues.
“Princess,” I whispered, my heart hammering as she blinked her eyes open further.
“Cash…” She whimpered and I tucked her further into me, my arms tightening around her protectively.
“It’s okay, you’re okay,” I tried reassuring her, hoping that it wasn’t a lie. Her eyes closed again, the color slowly returning to her features as the warmth thawed out her freezing body. She still shook, violent tremors wracking through her. How long had she been out in the rain? Where had she come from? I had too many questions, and I needed answers before I lost my mind.
A knock sounded from the doorway before Zayn entered, his eyes finding us sitting under the running water. Steam bellowed through the space, the mirrors fogging up as I desperately tried to raise her body temperature.
“Kaptan found her father’s address, which is where we guessed she’s was staying. Turns out he uses Zenith for his security systems, so that should give us easy access. He’s currently trying to hack into the house’s security feed, but it might take a little bit to get the footage since it isn’t live.”
I nodded, knowing that if anybody could get answers, it was Kap. Zenith was their family’s security company, one of the largest nationwide, so it was no surprise that Landry’s father used it for his properties.
Stepping closer, he looked over her small body in my arms, concern etched in his features.
“Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes,” I declared, trying to convince the both of us that it was the truth. It had to be. The alternative wasn’t an option.
Zayn ran a hand through his hair, offering me a silent nod as he exited back through the door. I adjusted Landry in my lap, gently rubbing circles over her back. The color had returned to her lips, her cheeks bright once again, and she had stopped shaking altogether.
Her eyes were hooded but open, silent tears wetting her face as she tucked it into my hoodie. Once I was confident that she had warmed back up, I lifted myself off of the ground with her still in my arms. Stepping out of the shower, I placed her in a sitting position on the counter before grabbing a hoodie, sweatpants, and socks from my bedroom dresser. Coming back into the bathroom, I gently grabbed her chin, urging her to meet my eyes.
“I’m going to dry you off and dress you, okay?” I asked. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen her naked before, but she seemed so vulnerable in the moment.
Her gaze was distant, her eyes empty as she wordlessly nodded. Her beautiful face lacked any emotion, all the fight that I was so accustomed to seeing from her completely drained. She looked solemn, her shoulders sagging and all energy drained from her body. What the hell had happened to make her like this? She looked… broken. And it completely shattered me.
I had once looked forward to the day I would see her break, but now that I was witnessing it, I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to put her back together, to protect her from ever feeling like this again.
Starting with her soaked camisole, I gently lifted it over her head, her arms slowly rising to help me. I grabbed her shorts next, slowly pulling them down her legs. She didn’t stop me, those eyes of hers dead, her gaze not meeting mine.
Walking over to the linen closet, I grabbed a fresh towel and began to dry her off, starting with each leg and then moving my way up her body before drying off her hair as best as I could. We didn’t have a blow-dryer in our household of guys, but I sent a quick text to Zayn to find me a hair tie from one of the girls downstairs. If I couldn’t get it all the way dry, I would at least put it up for her so that it wouldn’t soak through her fresh clothes. I almost shot a text to our cook before realizing we had let her have the evening off, so I sent a second text to Zayn, asking if he could try to find some hot food.
Pulling my hoodie over her head, I helped her get the arms through the sleeves, the fabric engulfing her. I pulled the sweatpants on next before helping with the socks, my hand moving to cup her face once I was done. I rubbed gentle circles on her cheek with my thumb.
“Hey,” I whispered, willing her eyes to meet mine. My heart physically ached with the need to see life come back to her .
“You’re okay. I got you,” I coaxed, hoping for any sort of sign that she understood me. But her gaze remained distant, completely dissociated. It was as if she had completely given up, numb to everything around her.
What the fuck had happened to make her like this? I felt this sudden urge to kill whoever had hurt her, to slaughter her demons one by one. I needed her to fight. The Landry I had come to know didn’t back down—She stood her ground even after everything that I had put her through. But right now, she was a shell of herself, and I couldn’t stand to see it. I would do anything to get her back.
Lifting her up, I carried her to my bed, gently placing her under the sheets before pulling the comforter over her frail body. Zayn entered a moment later, bringing me a hair tie and mug of warm chicken broth.
“Chicken broth in a mug?”
“That’s all I could find, man.”
Better than nothing, I guess.
Squatting down by the bed, I made quick work of pulling her damp hair into a messy top knot, then bringing the mug to her lips.
“Hey princess, I need you to drink some of this for me, okay? It will help warm you up.”
She tentatively reached out an arm, taking a small sip before handing it back to me as if she was on autopilot. I set it on the nightstand, standing up and walking over to Zayn in the doorway.
“I’m staying with her. Let me know if you hear anything from Kaptan, okay? ”
“You got it,” he replied, closing the door behind him on his way out. I turned to look at Landry laying in my bed. I had never let a woman sleep in it before. Never even let a woman in my room at all, actually. But seeing Landry in it felt right for reasons I couldn’t explain.
Making my way to the dresser, I changed into a dry pair of sweatpants, leaving my shirt off. I made my way to the bed and crawled into it with her.
I wasn’t sure what she needed, but I didn’t want to leave her alone in this state. Did she need her medication? I doubted she had anything on her, considering that I hadn’t even found a cell phone on her.
Reaching over, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her against me. She slowly lifted her head, briefly meeting my eyes before curling into my bare chest. She looked so tired, the exhaustion taking over. Her small hands curled up against my chest, the tears once again beginning to come down as they ran down her face and onto my chest.
“You’re okay. I got you,” I repeated, rubbing the back of her hoodie as my other hand held her head to my chest. A sob wracked through her, the sound causing my heart to shatter once more. She began crying harder, everything making its way out of her as I continued to hold her tight under the covers, desperately wishing that I could fix this. I needed her to be okay again. Seeing her like this was physically painful, one of the worst things I had ever felt.
We stayed like that for over an hour until Landry’s crying turned into soft snivels and whimpers, the tears having run dry. She had nothing left in her. I continued to rub her back, my other hand gently petting her hair until she finally fell asleep. I could feel her steady breathing, her heart rate evening out as the exhaustion pulled her under.
I stayed awake, lying there with her. I wouldn’t be sleeping, not until I figured out what had happened, but I wanted to make sure I was here in case she woke up at any point.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand, and I reached over to see it was from Kap.
KAPTAN: Found it. I’m in my office.
Setting the phone aside, I looked down at Landry to make sure she was fully asleep before sneaking my arm out from under her and slowly making my way out of the bed. Silently closing the door behind me, I made my way down the hallway and a few corridors before walking into Kaptan’s office, closing the door behind me to drown out the music still blaring from the party downstairs.
“What did you find?”
“He doesn’t have any cameras inside the house, but I was able to pull the footage from outside the front door. It’s enough to get an idea of what happened.” He sat at his desk, not looking up from his computer.
I came to lean over him, watching him drag the black and white video box to one of his larger monitors before enlarging it and hitting play.
A few seconds passed before I watched Landry run out of the house in the same pajamas she’d shown up in, tripping down the first set of steps, and falling to the first landing. I could make out her father, partially hidden from the camera behind one of the pillars, but enough to recognize Senator Andrews .
I watched as he berated her, clearly drunk from the way his words slurred, watching Landry recoil at each word. Though the video was black and white, the only lighting coming from the ground lights lining the stairs, I could practically feel her terror through the camera. The sound of her voice cracking as she begged him made my jaw tick.
I heard everything the bastard yelled at her, and when I watched the liquor bottle fly from his hand and shatter the car window next to her head, I nearly lost it. My fists were balled so tightly that my knuckles turned white, every muscle in my body tense. I was going to fucking kill him.
I watched as he told her to get out, letting her run away in the pouring rain. He was a dead man. I would make sure of it. And when he told her that she was nothing to him…
The exact same words that I had used on her. I felt like an absolute piece of shit. She had always seemed so perfectly put together that I hadn’t even considered the fact that she might already have her own shit going on.
It had crossed my mind, but I had forced myself not to care, too focused on getting the vengeance that I thought I was owed. But it had been a lie, because she was far from nothing to me. And realizing that had frightened me to the point of pushing her away.
But I didn’t want to push her away any more. I didn’t want to pretend she was nothing to me. She was infuriating, sure—And I had made it my mission to make her hate my guts, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it anymore. I had wanted to see her broken, but now that it had actually happened, I wanted nothing more than to undo it .
“What do you want to do?” Kaptan asked, and I realized I hadn’t spoken for a few minutes since the video ended.
“That fucking bastard,” I growled. “She’s not going back there, that’s for damn sure.”
Kaptan nodded in agreement.
“I don’t want to leave her here alone. I say we wait for Olivia to come over in the morning and then we go from there.” I continued.
“You think we should pay him a visit?”
“You don’t have to come, I can handle this myself. You’ve already pulled so many strings for me. I got this one.”
“Are you kidding me? This is my favorite part.”
Of course it was. Kaptan was a scary motherfucker, silent but deadly. I had to admit, having him by my side could prove to be quite the intimidation tactic.
“I’ll go see if Zayn wants in,” I started, turning to find him already walking through the office doors, twirling his zippo between his fingers.
“Whatever it is, count me in.”
With that, I headed back to my room, finding Landry still wrapped up in my comforter in the center of my bed. I slid in next to her, gently pulling her to me. She nuzzled in closer, her arms tucked against my bare chest.
Her hair was still damp as I pressed my face into it, the smell of her in my arms soothing me. I was going to fix this somehow. Whatever it took, I would put her pieces back together.