His Unexpected Queen

Chapter 2

Landrey's POV

I moved to Cedar Hills several months ago. My step brother was always watching me. I don't know how he always knew where I was but he did for some reason and so I did something I haven't done before. I moved to the town that he had just left. I watched him as much as he watched me. I wanted to be as far away from him as I could be. When I saw that his restaurant had been abandoned and there was no trace of him. I thought I might be safe here, for a while anyways.

Most places I went I didn't make friends. I never stuck around long enough to but after meeting Amaya at the bridal shop my life has gotten so much better. I have a decent job at Ellie's gym in the hotel and I'm also working at a bar on the weekend. This is the most breathing room with cash that I've ever had. I'm trying to save up and get a cheap car and keep some money put away when it's time to move again. It will happen, it always does.

My life wasn't supposed to be this way but my mom married his dad and life seemed perfect for a while but after he had sucked my mom into their life she was basically gone. He had money and the lifestyle she always wanted. She worked so hard when I was little to make sure that I was taken care of. My biological father split before I was born and so it was always just her and I against the world until I was thirteen and then she met Jerry and they had a whirlwind relationship and he gave her everything she ever wanted and me too. I thought we were going to be this big happy family. He had a son that was five years older than me and I was so excited for a brother but I didn't know how drastically my life would change.

It felt like weeks after they got married, I started noticing small bruises on my mom but she just said she ran into something or tripped. She was still the loving mother I always had but then she broke her arm one day while I was at school and they gave her pain killers and things were never the same. The pain pills they gave her led to an addiction that Jerry fed because if she was doped up then he could beat her more and she wouldn't feel it and she didn’t argue with him as much.

I know that he was responsible for her death but he had the cops in his pocket. She died when I was seventeen and he let me live at the house until I graduated high school and then he kicked me out but it didn't end there. Not even close. Dawson already had his claws in me and he was worse than his dad. I may have been on my own but anytime that something went wrong Dawson showed up on my doorstep and took it out on me. It didn't matter how many times I moved or tried to go to the police. He had them in his pockets.

Things slowed down after I turned twenty. That was two years ago. He hasn't come around for about eight months and I have never been so happy. I don't know what happened that he left Cedar Hills but I happily moved there in hopes that he wouldn't come back.

It was Saturday and those were my favorite because I didn't work at the gym and I didn't have to be at the bar until ten tonight. Today was the day that I slept in and then lounged around the house and went and got a few groceries at the store around the corner. I had rented an apartment in the crappy part of town. I found better ones that were cheaper in a place they called concrete row but the place kind of scared the s**t out of me. It wasn't a safe place that's for sure. Not that it was much better where I was at but I felt safer here.

After getting my groceries this afternoon I cooked some dinner. I tried to eat as healthy as I could afford but some weeks it called ramen noodles and water. I hated those weeks the most but lately I've had enough money to get some good basic stuff. I loved cooking. Being able to take a bunch of different things and make something that tastes good. Tonight, I was making tacos. Easy and good leftovers because I could make a taco salad the next couple of nights with the meat and if I still had left overs I could do nachos to finish it off.

I got everything ready and made myself a taco and sat down and flipped on my old ass television that was here when I moved in and got like three channels. I watched the news as I ate my taco. I didn't really pay attention to it but it was noise. I quickly ate and then headed and got into the shower. Life could be lonely at times but Amaya texted me frequently and Ellie always took me to lunch with the girls when they met weekly. At first it felt like they were just doing it to be nice and I felt very out of place but as time has gone on, I feel more like their friend and not some girl rescued from a crappy job.

While I still went to lunch with them, I had never been invited back to their house or any of their BBQ's they talked about and I had a feeling that it had to do with Amaya's husband. He thought I was going to hurt her somehow but I wasn't. I would never hurt them. They are the only people in this world I have and it sounded pathetic but I don't want to do anything to not have them. How sad of a life do I live? The only people I have are some random girls who invite me to lunch but not much else and I get an occasional text.

Before I had too much of a pity party for myself, I finished in the shower and started to get ready for work. I knew the better I looked the more tips I would get. I always curled my hair and put on more makeup than I would normally wear. It was like dressing up for a date which I hadn't done since I was nineteen. I had been asked plenty of times but I always turned them down. I knew I wouldn't be around long and I didn't want to put them in any kind of danger. One night stands now that I could get on board with but I was always too cautious and so it rarely happened.

I hated walking to work. It may have only been two miles but it was still nerve wracking at nine o'clock at night and depending on what time I got done at the bar I would walk home or take a ride share. If it was closer to early morning, I would walk but if it was middle of the night I took a ride share. I don't know why but bad things seemed to happen more at three in the morning than they did at five in morning or they did in my head at least.

I walked into work and it was busy already, I headed straight for our little lounge in the back and put my cell phone and purse in my locker and locked it back up.

"Hey, girl, Tabitha is in a mood tonight," Amanda said.

"I don't know what I've done to piss her off but she hates me." I told her. I had talked to Amanda a few times but I didn't know her that well.

"Oh, that's because any time you are here Jon checks you out and he gives you tables that used to be hers." she said.

"No, he doesn't." I said. I never noticed him doing that. I mean I did have good tables but I thought it was just because I was good at handling the high pressure of all the tables.

"Oh, trust me he does. He has the hots for you and she has been after him since she got here but he has never been interested."

"She can have him. I am not interested. I just want to work and earn my paycheck nothing else."

"Don't worry, I'm sure she will back off as soon as she realizes that you aren't interested." she said and I just nodded at her and went out of the room to start my shift.

I looked around the bar and it was packed tonight. It was always packed but tonight was even more than usual. The bar wasn't anything special but for some reason it attracted a ton of people. It looked like a dive bar and smelled even worse but there was plenty of booze and loud music which I guess brought the people here.

I checked the table assignments and I had my usual. I hung the clipboard back up and before I could even turn around Tabitha ran into my back pushing me up against the wall. She laughed and kept walking. I took a deep breath and walked over to my first table to check on them.

My night went by quickly with no issues from Tabitha but that was because we were so busy tonight. I made more in tips tonight then I ever had and decided that I would splurge and get a new outfit in the morning. I usually shopped at thrift stores but I was feeling good about things and so I was going to go to a regular store and buy something.

As soon as I had everything cleaned up, I went back to our locker room ready to head home. I grabbed my purse and phone out of my locker. I looked at my phone. I knew nothing would be there but I was hopeful that I would have something. I locked it again when I saw nothing on there and when I turned around Jon was standing there watching me.

"Hey I was going to see if you wanted to grab some breakfast?" he asked sweetly.

"Thank you for the invite but I'm ready to just go home and crash for a few hours." I told him as sweetly as I could but he didn't like my answer. I could see the disappointment on his face. He just turned and walked out of the locker room. I grabbed the rest of my stuff and got out of there, locking the back door on my way out.

I usually had a car here by now but he had distracted me and so I stood out back waiting for the car. The night time like this gives me the creeps. Every noise had me jumping until my car showed.

When I finally got back to my little apartment, I jumped into the shower since I smelled like work but made it as fast as possible. I was too tired to stay awake much longer.

I didn't wake up till midafternoon and I felt great. I was going to buy a new outfit but decided that I wasn't going to leave my apartment at all today and ordered takeout instead and found an old western movie on one of three channels I had. I didn't have social media either. There were two reasons for that. One my phone was a pay as you go phone and had very limited internet and two, I didn't want my brother to track me that way.