Wrecking the Homewrecker (BOOK 2) EDITING

46

Adora

I sighed, shifting from foot to foot outside Landon's apartment door.

"Coming!" He yelled, hearing the sound of the doorbell I'd rang a few seconds earlier.

He opened the door, wiping his hands off on his apron before looking at me.

I knew I looked a mess.

"Adds, what the hell!" He exclaimed, "come inside, it's freezing!"

He pulled me inside, his eyes darting down to my suitcase.

He just looked at me, making me avoid eye contact with him. I looked all around at his adorably decorated apartment, smiling a weak smile.

"Don't act like you're fine," he whispered, a hand on my shoulder, "not for me."

I just bit down on my bottom lip to control my tears, clearing my throat. "It smells great."

He hesitated before nodding. "Uh, yeah," he said, "it's ravioli. I ran out of ideas."

I smiled up at him. "Got enough for two? I'm starving."

"Of course, Adds."

I let go of my suitcase, making him look over at me.

He didn't say anything, just cleared his throat.

"The place," I said, nodding, "it's adorable."

"Thanks," he said, smiling as he scooped a spoonful of ravioli out of the dish, "I tried to make it as Landon-y as possible."

He handed me a plate full of delicious looking dinner.

I walked over to his dinner table and sat down, watching as he sat down in front of me.

He stuck a fork in his ravioli, taking a large bite before setting his fork down.

"Do you need marinara sauce, or anything?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I'm good."

He nodded, his focus going back to his food.

"So," he began, and my stomach began to hurt.

"Did you see BCBG's new collection? I'm gagged, literally."

My eyebrows went into a furrow, my lips pulled up in a grin. Landon Wolf knew me best out of anyone on planet earth, and he knew I was one to avoid my problems until I was ready to talk about them.

"I, uh, no I haven't yet. It's good, yeah?" I asked, taking a bite out of my ravioli.

"It's amazing," he said, "we should go to a fashion show soon. Just me and you."

I just nodded, a smile still on my face. "Sounds amazing, Lan."

"How's the job going?" He asked, making sure to keep my mind off of the problems him and I both knew I was having.

I nodded. "Good. I like my boss, he's really chill. I get paid pretty damn good to just sit at a desk all day and edit."

He smiled and nodded. "I wish."

"How's your job going?" I asked, "soon enough, you're going to own a Starbucks, you've worked at so many of them."

He laughed. "I wish, again. It's going nice. I also get paid pretty well, believe it or not."

"Yeah?" I asked, smiling as I bit into a ravioli square.

He smiled and nodded. We continued to eat the delicious meal he'd prepared, originally for only one person.

His phone began to ring and he immediately denied the call, making my eyebrows furrow together.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"No one," he said, shaking his head.

"Seriously, Lan," I said, "who was it?"

He sighed, placing his fork on his plate. "It was Nate. Seriously, it's n-"

"No," I said, "answer it. I want to meet him."

His eyes just bored into my own, eyebrows in a deep furrow as he concentrated on me.

"How about," he said, "I don't answer, and me and you just talk. Is that cool?"

I just smiled and nodded. "That's cool."

~*~

Santiago

"Mr. King."

I let out an aggravated sigh as I looked over at my doors, flexing my jaw muscle. "What?"

My receptionist just furrowed her brows together at me. "You have a guest?"

"Tell them I'm busy," I snapped, looking back down at the papers.

"Actually," I heard a familiar voice say, making my eyes dart over to the doorway.

Derek Novak strolled in, a cautious smile on his face.

"Sorry," he said, "I can leave, if you want."

I just furrowed my brows together. "No, it's fine."

He sat down in his usual spot, his lips pursed together.

"How's Adds?" He asked.

Did he really come here to ask about her?

"She's good," I answered after hesitating, my jaw muscle flexing as I looked away from him.

"That's good," he answered, "I'm glad you two are happy together."

I didn't respond, just watched as he pulled out his iPad.

"I just came here to talk about some business stuff," he said, "it's been a while since we have."

I nodded slowly. I simply wasn't interested in anything today, my mood had gone downhill, and I was tired.

"Okay," he said, "so the fundraiser day. When is that, again?"

"Uh, actually," I said, my head in my hand, "they cancelled that for this year."

His eyebrows went into a deep furrow. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah," I answered, my eyes closed. The sound of anyone's voice was getting on my nerves today, Derek Novak's probably the most annoying and overbearing.

"Damn," he muttered, "uh, okay. New plan."

"How about," I said, reaching inside my drawer to grab my checkbook, "I just write you a check and it's done with."

"N-"

I cut him off with my hand as I scribbled down an amount on the check, signing my name before sliding it across my desk to him.

"I'm not letting you just throw $25,000 at me," he said, "I'm not taking it."

"Well, it's not for you," I said, my eyebrows raised, "it's for the kids."

His eyebrows went into a deep furrow, his lips parted. "Okay, I, uh, I feel like I caught you on a bad day, so just get in contact when you're more free?"

I nodded, shooting him a tight smile as he stood up. I was pissed at the world, nothing against Derek Novak in particular had set me off.

"I'll see you, Santiago," he said, nodding as he straightened out his tie.

I nodded yet again, a relieving feeling washing over me at the sight of him walking out of my office.

~*~

Santiago

"What the hell," Alessandra muttered as I walked inside, "you left the boys here for hours, them waiting on you to show up-"

"Don't start," I snapped, "today is not the fucking day."

I brushed past her, earning a scoff from her. "Who the hell got your panties in a wad?"

I ignored her dumb remark, grabbing the boys' bags.

"Santiago," she said, her hand on my arm, "chill, I'll keep the boys if you want-"

"It's not about the boys," I snapped, yet again, "I want them with me."

She furrowed her brows together up at me.

"I just got sidetracked," I said, "I've been busy today."

"That explains the pissy mood."

I shot her a glare, my eyes cut at her.

The boys ran out of their rooms and smiled up at me. "Hey, dad!"

"Hey, guys," I greeted, somehow them being the only thing that could make me even think about smiling.

"I made another good grade on my math quiz!" Fred yelled, "look!"

I grabbed his paper and smiled down at it. "That's phenomenal."

They smiled and ran outside, making me sigh. I felt Alessandra's eyes on me, her jaw muscle taut.

"Santiago, I'll keep them," she said, her hand gliding down my arm, "seriously."

I pulled my arm away from her. "I don't want you to keep them. Get that through your head, I need them with me."

"Okay," she said, holding her hands up, "they're yours."

I flexed my jaw muscle and grabbed their bags.

"Santiago?"

"What, Alessandra," I sighed out, looking back at her.

"Whatever's going on," she said, "I hope it gets better."

I just nodded and opened the door, walking outside to my car. I threw the boys' bags inside, sighing as I leaned against my car and watched them chase eachother around.

"Come on, guys," I said, making them run towards the car.

We all slid inside, making me put the keys in the ignition.

"Where's Adds?"

I froze. I flexed my jaw muscle and looked out the window as I backed out of Alessandra's driveway. "She went on a little vacation with some friends."

I felt Fred's eyes on me and I avoided him, never making eye contact with them as we drove home halfway silently.

"Oh. Okay," Jo said, looking out of his window.

Fred just pursed his lips together and looked away from me.

I finally looked over at him. Fred was a smart kid, and so was Jo. Fred was just more in touch with the real world, he'd been since he was little. Jo was more of the dreamer.

Fred and Jo knew me better than I knew myself, so it was easy for them to detect when something was wrong, and I was afraid that Fred had already figured it out.

~*~

Hi guys! How did you like this chapter? You probably didn't bc santy and adora aren't together but the world isn't fun so

I got a lot of comments last chapter about people hating it, as I expected, but a lot of people also understood the situation. That's the thing ab love, it isn't always easy, and it doesn't always work out how you want it to.

I hope you guys sorta liked this! I promise, santy and adora both will dive into the situation and assess it instead of pushing it away.

ALSO Derek was nOT THE SPECIAL GUEST I WAS TALKING AB LAST CHAPTER SO DONT FREAK OUT... he's coming in within the next few chapters... just hold on. :) I'll give you a hint, we haven't been introduced to him yet 😊 but he's a very vital person

ok. Did u guys even fuckin like this

I love u guys so much even tho I know u still h9 me