Toxic (Addiction #1)

  He was a giant ass and deserved it all.

  ***

  Quinn fled the bedroom she shared with Grey. She did it, she broke up with him. Shouldn’t she be feeling freer, a bit lighter, maybe not as worn down as she had been feeling? She thought so, but instead, she felt sick to her stomach, not wanted and almost…ugly.

  He didn’t like her new style. She thought she actually looked better, not so girl next door. He blatantly said he liked blondes better. She tried not to think it was a dig at her, pointing out that Willow was prettier than her, but she couldn’t help it.

  The party died down and she wondered where all the girls went. Cruz and Willow must have gone into one of their rooms because the Jacuzzi was no longer occupied. Quinn thought for a second that she might take a dip, but then thought about the activities and couple who were just entertaining each other in the hot water and decided to stay as far as way from the fuck tub as possible.

  The hotel was trashed. There were plastic cups scattered across the floor, snacks crushed on the floor from the dancers and random women’s thongs hanging from the ceiling fan. It really looked like a rock band’s party. She looked toward Landon’s room and wondered if he had a girl in the room with him. Not that she cared, but she wondered if he was finally getting lucky. The poor guy had been having a dry spell and she kind of hoped he got some female attention.

  There were crumbs all over the couch so Quinn took one of the pillows and dusted off the cushions so she could lay her head down. Her eyes were dried up from the tears that she shed over Grey’s words. He was such an ass. She knew she was probably hurting him by breaking it off, but in the long run, it was best for both of them. She did wonder what he would do now that he was no longer being pulled down by her. Would he go after Willow?

  Someone stumbled out of a room, wearing a hooded jacket over his head and holding on to his pants that were buckled, but it looked like he had a death grip on them. Landon poked his head out from the sweatshirt and surveyed the mess.

  “Jesus,” he muttered, as he headed to the bar and grabbed a bottle of water. He uncapped the bottle and took an extremely long swig. He looked around the room and startled when he saw Quinn sitting on the couch. He gripped his chest and then started laughing.

  “Christ, I thought you were one of those clingers. Man, am I glad to see you. I just had to fake passing out to get those whores to leave me alone.” He sat next to Quinn and then looked around again. “Where’s Grey?”

  “In his room.” She paused for a second as her voice caught in her throat. “We broke up.”

  Landon set his bottle of water down and pulled Quinn into his warm embrace. “What? Why?”

  “You know why,” Quinn said, as she sniffled. Landon was so warm and so easy to talk to. He was truly one of the only people who understood her.

  “How did he take it?”

  She rubbed her face against his strong chest and nuzzled in closer, but then pulled away and looked around. “Can we talk somewhere more private?”

  “Sure.”

  He grabbed her hand and brought her into his room, which looked like it had been ransacked by a bunch of horny women. There were clothes everywhere, the sheets on his bed were torn off and, for some odd reason, his shoes were scattered across the floor. He shrugged at her, not even trying to explain the mess, as he pulled her down to sit on his bed.

  “Crazy bitches attacked my room. Come here.” He pulled her close and leaned them against the headboard of his bed. “So, how did he take it?”

  Quinn recalled the fight and told Landon everything that Grey said. She felt him tense up as his breathing grew heavy when she told him what Grey said about her new look.

  Without saying anything else, Landon took Quinn’s shoes off, tossed them to the side, and pulled the blanket up and over them as she snuggled closer to his chest. He had similarities to Grey, but she could already tell that Landon’s chest was more broad than Grey’s, which was funny since Grey was the avid health nut and Landon just went along with the boys’ workouts when he felt like it. Apparently, Landon had one of those annoyingly perfect bodies.

  “Everything will be okay,” Landon whispered into her hair, as he placed a comforting kiss on her head. He was so soothing, so sweet, and so very safe. “My brother can be such an ignoramus.”

  Quinn chuckled from the throwback word he put out there.

  “Music to my ears,” he said, as he pulled her even closer, referring to her laugh.

  Her leg carried over so it was on top of his. For some reason, she felt the need to kiss him, but decided that probably wouldn’t be the best idea. She was clearly upset and vulnerable and to turn to her now ex-boyfriend’s brother for comfort was not only her worst idea tonight, but probably one of the worst thoughts she had in a while.

  “Why aren’t you with one of those girls tonight? Aren’t your balls two days away from expiring?” Quinn asked with a giggle.

  Landon tickled her on her leg, making her squirm.

  “Glad to see that my brother can keep his mouth shut. I wasn’t feeling it. None of the girls were good enough.”

  “You can’t be so picky,” she said, while she played with the zipper of his sweatshirt.

  “I can when I know what I want.”

  “And what do you want?” she asked, as she looked up at his face.

  Landon was silent as he looked her body up and down. His hand that was wrapped around her waist was gently stroking her side. Her shirt had lifted up slightly, so he was caressing her bare skin. The sensation was more thrilling than anything she had felt in a while. Was it because she was attracted to Landon or was it because his actions were almost forbidden?

  “What do you want?” Quinn asked again, hoping he would say what she was thinking in her head.

  “I think you know what I want, but we both know I can’t have it.”

  His hand slid up her shirt some more so now he was caressing her entire rib cage. She moved her hand away from his button and slipped it under his shirt. Her skin on skin contact made him inhale quickly and his eyes turn into molten lava.

  “You can have it.” She moved closer to his face and licked her lips, begging for him to kiss her. She wanted it; she knew she shouldn’t, but she wanted him, badly.

  “I can’t, but damn it, I want it so bad.”

  Courage boiled up inside of her as she swung her leg over his waist and straddled his lap. His erection pulsed against her center as she settled herself over him. His hands gripped her waist as his head bent back, as if he was trying to stay away from her but the rest of his body was telling her a different story.

  “Quinn, we can’t do this.”

  “Do you want me?”

  Landon shook his head no, making Quinn’s heart fall to the ground, but then he looked up at her with pleading eyes.

  “I want you so damn bad. I’ve wanted you since the minute Grey brought you home. I always knew, deep down in my heart, that you were with the wrong Cross boy. I knew it, but then you two got serious and too much time went by. I never took the chance I needed to in order to be with you and now it’s too late. I can’t do that to my brother; I can’t be with you, even though it’s all I want. You are so damn sexy.” He touched her short hair and caressed her face. “Then you have to go and get all super-sexy on me and God, it’s almost impossible for me to keep my hands off of you.”

  “You think I’m sexy?”

  “God, yes. I can’t get you out of my head. I must have whacked off to you in my head a dozen times since you’ve cut your hair.”

  “Landon!” Quinn said, while laughing.

  He shrugged. “It’s true.”

  “Well, then what’s stopping you from taking the real thing now?”

  “You know what’s stopping me. I can’t do that to Grey.”

  Quinn blew out a frustrated breath. She should honor the fact that Landon didn’t want to hurt his relationship with his brother. She wasn’t happy about it, but she would honor his feelings. It was
admirable that Landon wouldn’t take advantage of their situation and capitalize on his suppressed feelings. It made her want him even more, damn it.

  “Fine. Will you at least hold me tonight? I could really use some comfort.”

  Landon thought about her request for a second but then held out his arm, indicating to her to make herself comfortable. Quinn snuggled close to him and allowed herself to shut her eyes and bask in the warmth Landon was giving her. She snuggled with Grey almost every night and never felt the same way she felt when she was wrapped up in Landon’s arms. She always felt so distant from Grey, even though he was holding her. With Landon, he was fully there, fully with her and fully connected.

  ***

  It was early in the morning and the Trinity River wasn’t looking as brown as it had yesterday. The fog was still lifting off the water and there was a bit of a nip in the air, but it felt nice. Maisy was wrapped up in one of Rook’s sweatshirts and a pair of her leggings, as well as her ever-present UGGs. Rook was getting coffee for them from the shop around the corner. There was a bench that was open that overlooked the river and Rook made her reserve the bench for them while he got them a drink.

  Rook brought his guitar because he wanted to play her a song he had been working on, so while she was waiting for him to return, she took out his guitar and started playing a couple of chords. If someone would have told her a year ago that she would be holding Rook Tyler’s guitar, playing it and waiting for him to bring her a coffee, she would have told them to lay off the hashish.

  “You Maisy?” came a raspy voice from behind her. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight in the air and she instantly became scared to turn around. Not wanting to piss off whoever was behind her, she turned around and made eye contact with a man that she could imagine being the devil.

  “Yeah,” she gulped and then thought, why the hell would she say yes? Probably because she was recognizable now and if she lied, the creeper would slash her in the throat instantly.

  “Prettier than I thought,” the man said, as he eyed her up and down and licked his lips.

  The man was about six foot tall, skinny, and disheveled. His clothes were dirty and his hair was a brown-ish grey that was messy, but not in a good way. What scared her the most was the look in his eyes, as if he was high as hell and ready to pull out a shiv and slash her life away.

  “Can I help you?” she asked cautiously.

  “Yeah, you can. You see I have this problem where I haven’t been laid in a while and a young little thing like you could do the trick.”

  Maisy instantly went on the defensive as flashes of her father started playing through her mind. No, she would not let this happen to her again. She quickly put Rook’s guitar back in the case and got up from the bench.

  “Where are you going, bitch?”

  Maisy didn’t answer him, instead she started power walking toward the coffee shop, praying Rook would already be on his way. She was a couple feet away when her head whipped back from her hair being pulled by the creep behind her. Maisy yelped from the pain that radiated from her head.

  Flashbacks of her dad pulling her hair whipped through her mind and she started to feel herself recess into her dark place, a place where she shut off the world, curled in a ball and cried. She forced herself to concentrate and not go back there. If she did, the guy would take advantage of her for sure.

  Fighting back the need to retreat into her mind, she swung the heavy guitar case behind her and nailed the man in the stomach. He let go of her hair and doubled over, as he tried to catch his breath. That was when she booked it. She ran as fast as her legs allowed her.

  She didn’t know where she was going or how far she had run until a big, strong pair of hands grabbed her. She freaked out and started screaming bloody murder. She didn’t want to be abducted, she couldn’t be. In the back of her head, she heard someone telling her to calm down, but she couldn’t focus on the voice; she just needed to get the hell out of wherever she was.

  “Maisy, baby. Calm down. It’s just me, babe.”

  Rook’s voice registered through her head and instantly calmed her down. She slumped to the ground and cried into her hands. Rook joined her on the ground and pulled her into his embrace.

  “Baby, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

  Maisy looked around to see if the guy had followed her. She scanned her surroundings frantically, looking for the man who represented the devil in her eyes. She didn’t see him, not one single trace of him, causing her to doubt herself. Did she have a flashback all by herself? Or was there an actual man there? She was running on such an adrenaline high, she wasn’t sure now.

  “Baby, look at me?”

  Maisy focused on Rook’s beautifully handsome face and was instantly sedated. His eyes were calming and full of concern. He kissed her mouth, expressing to her that he was there for her, he was going to take care of her. She wrapped her arms around him and started crying.

  Rook didn’t ask her what happened again; he just held her and then helped her back to the hotel. He held his guitar in one hand and her in the other. When they got back to their room, he undressed them both and pulled her close to him in bed, so his warmth radiated through her. He knew her so well because his skin on skin contact was exactly what she needed.

  She fell asleep in Rook’s arms, but then was rudely awakened by a pounding on their door. Rook shifted on the bed and sat up as he called out, “What?”

  Cruz peeked his head through the door. “Dude, sorry to interrupt, but there is someone to see you outside and we can’t get rid of him.”

  Cruz looked serious, for once in his life, and Rook must have sensed it because he said, “Give me a second.”

  The door was shut and Rook turned to Maisy. He cupped her face and looked deep into her eyes. “Are you doing alright, boo?”

  She nodded her head even though she was still shaken. She knew if she told Rook she wasn’t alright, then he would stay with her and not help the band with the problem they were having, so she sucked it up, gave him a kiss, and told him she was fine.

  He looked at her one last time before putting on a pair of jeans and a shirt. He leaned over the bed and kissed her deeply. His hand ran through her hair as his lips worked magic against hers. Instantly, all the fear and anxiety that was building up in her body dissipated and instead she was filled with love, Rook’s love.

  “I’ll be back, boo.” He stroked her face before giving her one last kiss. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Rook walked out of the bedroom, where she heard Cruz tell him their visitor was in a conference room on the third floor. Maisy was extremely curious as to who was visiting Rook, but decided not to think about it. Instead, she rested her head on the pillow that she and Rook shared and breathed in his scent as she closed her eyes for a little bit of extra rest.

  Chapter 22

  Grey sat on the couch in the main living area as Cruz took care of Rook’s problem with him. Cruz was the only one who could really help Rook out at the moment, so Grey wasn’t going to butt in. Instead, he thought about last night, how Quinn broke up with him and how Willow spent the night in Cruz’s arms. He didn’t know what he was more upset about, which upset him even more.

  Did he really not love Quinn as much as he thought he did? Was he really just going through the motions with her? He was upset that Quinn was no longer with him; he had an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach, but was it because he felt like he lost his best friend or because he lost the love of his life? He was so damn confused and upset; he wished that his brother would stop being a lazy ass and get up so Grey could talk to him.

  Grey thought about busting through his brother’s door to talk to him but on the off-chance that he actually might be with a girl, Grey refrained. Instead, he sat on the couch, nursing an orange juice and stewing about his screwed up life.

  Landon’s door cracked open and Grey smirked to himself. He hadn’t seen a walk of shame in a while and he
was curious to see what kind of girl Landon finally gave in to last night. He wondered if it was the brunette he danced with all night or the little Latina with the giant ass. Grey’s money was on the Latina.

  It wasn’t until Quinn’s face registered in Grey’s brain that he realized she was the girl that was leaving Landon’s room, shoes in hand, and hair all rumpled. Landon came out of the room and said, “Hey don’t forget…” His words stopped immediately when he made eye contact with Grey.

  Blackness crept over Grey’s body as he started connecting the dots of what was transpiring in front of him. Grey shot up from the sofa and ran right after Landon. He tackled his brother to the ground and threw a punch so hard at his brother’s face that he thought he broke his hand right there on the spot.

  Blood from Landon’s nose scattered across the floor, painting the bright white tiles with red. Quinn screamed in the background and attacked Grey’s back, trying to pull him off his brother.

  “Grey, get off of him. What the hell are you doing?”

  Her voice didn’t even register in Grey’s mind. All he could think about was his double-crossing brother. His fist connected with Landon’s face again, as Landon struggled to get out from under Grey. His last punch didn’t have as much effect as the first one because Landon was able to tip Grey’s fist.

  All of a sudden, hands grabbed Grey off of Landon and threw him to the side. Kaid stood next to Landon, blocking his friend from Grey’s attack.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Kaid shouted. He was wearing only a pair of boxer briefs and Grey was actually kind of impressed with the physique Kaid was sporting. He never would have guessed.

  “You’re dead to me,” Grey shouted at Landon.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Landon replied, while wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

  “Don’t fucking lie to me. What the hell was she doing in your room?”

  “She came to me because you’re a giant fuckhead and you can’t appreciate something when it’s standing right in front of you; instead, you fantasize about someone who you can never have.”