Ties of Bad Love (Book Two)

Chapter Five

                                                                                        Samantha

            Night had fallen and we all met back at the hotel we were staying in to have dinner in the restaurant on the lower floor. Dinner was exquisite but way too overpriced for my sake. When it was time for us all to head off to bed, I got a little nervous. Landon and I made it back to our room. He took off into the bathroom to take a shower before bed. While he was busy doing that, I picked up one of the many bags I had from where we went shopping today. The only thing that interests me in those bags were the few books I managed to pick up at a local library. The book I picked out was a favorite of mine. It was called Gone with The Wind. I find it to be one of the best romance novels I have read in my lifetime, and I have read many. Many of the romance novels today were great and all, but I enjoyed the classics. 

           I plopped down onto the bed, turning on the lamp beside me, and began flipping through the pages. When Landon appeared back into the room, I had not noticed until he spoke.

           “A little light reading before bed?” He walked over to the other side of the bed opposite me and laid down. 

           Instinctively I jumped up. “My turn to shower,” I said quickly before disappearing into the bathroom. The scalding hot water seemed to wash my worries from the day away. My mind still went back to Levi and our phone conversation. He was more relaxed than he normally was, and he sounded better than I would imagine he would have sounded after we ended things. I couldn’t help but be a little saddened by that. It wasn’t as if I wanted him to be miserable without me. Of course, I wanted him to be happy and thrive, but I wanted to be the one that made him happy. I forced him out of my mind and finished up my shower. I loved the Molton brown orange, and bergamot body wash that Landon helped me pick out earlier on our shopping adventure together. The sweet orange blossom aroma that was left stained on my body was delectable. I’m glad I let him talk me into getting it, though it was quite expensive. Landon wouldn’t let me pay for anything, which didn’t sit right with me, but there was no changing his mind about it.

           After putting my pajama’s on, I slipped out of the bathroom and laid down beside Landon, who was still up like he was waiting for me. He lifted the covers so I could slide in the bed beside him with ease. Once I was nestled inside, I flipped myself over, so I was facing the wall instead of facing him.

           “You smell like perfection. That body wash on you is my new favorite smell,” He said as he was touching my arm.

           It didn’t feel bad when he touched me, it just wasn’t the same as Levi’s touch. I know it wasn’t right to compare him in any way to Levi, but I couldn’t help it. Levi was the only one who had ever made me feel like I did. No one could compare to him. Man, I sure hope it wasn’t like this forever. Even if Levi worked on himself, it wouldn’t change the fact that we were not meant to be together. He made me happy most of the time, but I couldn’t ignore the bad moments. A part of me didn’t want Levi to change anything about himself. I fell in love with his ill-temper and his bad behavior. 

           “Why are you so quiet?”

           “I…am just ready for some sleep. Today took a lot out of me,” I said with a shaky voice. Never once had I been this nervous around Landon until now. Maybe it was because sharing a bed with someone was such an intimate thing, and right now, I wouldn’t be able to see Landon as anything more than what we were.

           “You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” When I turned around to him, he was staring up at the ceiling with an emotionless face. “I heard your phone call to him today, wishing him happy birthday. I will never understand what you ever saw in him, but I can also never deny the way hearing his voice makes you seem so happy. If it were up to me, I would be the one making you smile like that.”

           The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt Landon. Was I hurting him if he was pursuing me already knowing my feelings for Levi? I wasn’t so sure it was. Landon has known from the day we first met how I felt about Levi. 

           “I don’t want to hurt you, Landon.”

           “Then don’t.” He flipped over to me, both staring wildly into each other’s eyes. “Tell me that you feel nothing for me, and I will drop it completely. We will stay friends and nothing more. I promise you.”

           “Don’t make me say that because it will be a lie. You know that I care for you, but I love Levi. The way I feel about him isn’t going to magically disappear overnight. Levi is a part of me and always will be no matter what happens with us.”

           He pulled on his hair in frustration. “Why him?!” He started shouting, raising from the bed until he was in a sitting position. “Someone like him doesn’t deserve someone as special as you. Look at what he has done to you! You are broken now because of him, because of what he did to you.”

           My first instinct was to protect Levi. “He has hurt me in many ways, but he is also the only person I have ever felt this way about. Yes, we fight, we scream, and we drive each other f*****g crazy, but all of those things are what has brought us closer together. As I have told you before, you won’t be able to understand it because you weren’t there from the moment we met.”

           Landon pulled me over to him until I was almost straddling him. “Let me kiss you. One time. If you tell me that you felt nothing, then I will no longer pursue you. I know that I can make you happy if you give me the chance. I’m am exactly right for you.”

           On paper, Landon was right. He was exactly right for me. Levi and I were total opposites, but somehow it worked. I shook my head, yes, giving Landon the okay to kiss me against my better judgment. I needed to not feel anything, that way I can tell him that what he feels for me is misled. When he placed his lips to mine, Levi faded into the back of my mind. I couldn’t explain it, but when Landon kissed me, it made me temporarily forget about Levi. Whether that was a good thing or bad thing was still left to be determined. His lips were soft to the touch and inviting. His lips made me want to taste more of him, and it was then I knew I was screwed. It had only been eight days. How could I be kissing any guy besides Levi after only eight days? What did that say about me?

           As he pulled away from me, I was relieved but also wanted to feel his lips on mine again. “How was that?” I didn’t respond, instead, I crashed my lips back over his. He pulled off his shirt before doing the same with mine. He hissed when he saw me in my bra. He pushed my ass up until I was now over him. My legs folded behind him as he rocked his hips into me. I could feel his length between the thin fabric of the pajama bottoms he was wearing. I closed my eyes and pulled away from him before standing up from the bed.

           “This isn’t a good idea.”

           Landon came over to me, pulling me into him for a hug. “I’m sorry, Sam. I got a little carried away. It will not happen again.”

           Did I want it to happen again? I wasn’t sure. It felt nice having him so close to me, but I couldn’t distinguish if that was because I liked him in the way he liked me or if it was just a nice distraction from thinking about Levi. Just then, my phone started ringing. Landon eyed me and I him before he jumped over the bed and reached my phone before I could. What the hell was he doing?

           “Hello.” Landon placed it on speakerphone. 

           “Landon? What the f**k are you doing in Samantha’s room this late?”

           “We are sharing a room. Yeah. Didn’t she tell you? With only one bed, which we are also sharing by the way.”

           “Landon! Stop this!”

           “No, Sam! You shouldn’t have to worry about this prick anymore. He doesn’t dictate what you can and cannot do anymore. Why do you care what he thinks if we were just making out or how I had you sitting on my lap with your shirt off?”

           Oh god! This was a nightmare. I was in a state of shock. I never thought Landon would stoop so low as to do something like this. 

           Levi came over the phone. I had momentarily forgotten he had even called. “Put Samantha back on the phone.”

           “Why? So, you can scold her until she is left feeling so bad, she breaks down again? She shouldn’t feel bad about this because you two are not together!” He then hung up on Levi and crashed my phone against the wall. I watched as it was broken into pieces, and there I was left almost in tears. Not because of Levi this time, but because of Landon and how he handled that situation. “Damnit, I’m sorry.” He began to touch me as I still stood frozen.

           “Don’t f*****g touch me! You are a lunatic!” I reached on the bed and pulled my shirt back over my head. I then ran into the bathroom, closing and locking it behind me. 

           Landon pounded on the door. “Sam, please open the door. I’m sorry that I did that, but he needed to know. It seems like every moment I have with you is ruined by him. I only want the same chance given to me as you gave to him.”

           I had sunk onto the bathroom floor, placing my head against the door. My tears were threatening to flow, but I refused them this time. After thirty minutes, Landon had given up on getting me to come out of the bathroom. The first thing I would do when I woke up in the morning was to get my things and fly back home before he had the chance to wake up.