The few hours that had ticked by had been agonizing, as the one looked for the other in the large maze of the English mansion. Though the task had been easy to dismiss the presence of the unwanted intruder, it was much harder trying to locate the heartbroken young man who had escaped to hide himself and the awful memories.
The crowds of intoxicated and rambunctious people had become suffocating, and the redheaded beauty had struggled to find her match to get him home. After much persuasion to him, but little to his mother, she had managed to pull him outside and down the road a little ways to where the city was. His balance was finicky as he gripped onto her firmly, every now and then a curse flying from his mouth at the way his feet refused to cooperate. All the way, she was patient and yet firm, directing him with such gentle orderliness that it put him at ease.
She stopped at a corner of the street, him slamming into her at the unexpected halt in their journey. With a raise of her hand, she hailed a cab and took a breath. She shoved him in ahead of her, trying to pry his hands off of her as he leaned over and took her wrists, laughing at some silent joke.
“To 1600, Ingram Drive,” she ordered the driver, and wrapped her thin coat around her more.
“You're cold baby,” the young man more stated than asked, pulling her into him.
Though both the action and the name were odd in his current stupor, she kept her mouth closed and allowed him to take control.
In a short time, the cab had turned down the familiar, short drive to the large house on the hill. With a “thank you” and handing the driver the pay, she ordered him out the door and helped support him up the front porch steps. She fumbled with the keys, uncertain of which one would open the door and spare them from the cold. It was getting harder to control him, and she knew the sooner she got him inside, the quicker he'd pass out and give her some relief.
The door unlocked and she kicked it open, pulling him inside with her. He attempted to pin her against the door as it closed.
“I want a kiss,” he pouted, but she only merely smiled and pushed him away.
“Maybe some other time,” she whispered and once she slipped him out of his shoes and coat, she lead him upstairs to his bedroom.
He ripped his shirt off and threw it on the floor, crashing onto his bed with an exaggerated sigh.
“Stay,” he begged as she had turned to leave the room and him alone.
With a quiet sigh of her own, she stepped towards the bed again and plopped down on it beside him.
“You're drunk, Landon. I don't know why you do this to yourself.”
His eyes turned lifeless at her words as he craned his neck towards her.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” he whispered, “I've always been too much work.”
A silent tear slipped down his cheek and she moved instantly to his side, wiping it away.
“No, never,” she said soothingly, “Never think that. Where did you get such an idea?”
He blinked his eyes at her, as they went in and out of focus. He had to see her. The mere sight of the angel in front of him could calm everything within his body all at once.
“Him. It was always him. He never wanted me and still doesn't.”
A look of sadness crept onto Alicia's face as she played daintily with his soft hair.
“Tell me about him. Please,” she begged.
The war within him was clearly visible, flashing across his features like thunder and lightning, his chiseled jaw clenching and unclenching with repetition.
“Can I trust you?” he whispered the same words he had said some time ago.
“With your life,” she stated the same pledge.
He pulled her down beside him so he could look into her eyes before starting.
“My father was an incredible man. If he had still been alive today, I could have learned a great deal. He was killed in an accident on the sea when I was 9. It was when he died that I lost the biggest part of me.”
She continued to play with his hair gently, her green orbs never leaving his face.
“It only took a year until my mom met him. Mr. Lewis, my step-father. From the very beginning I could tell he disliked me, but when my mother was around, he would act like the role model dad every son would be proud to have. When Mom let him move in with us I became angry. He treated me with total disrespect and no self-worth, and I lived with his stinging verbal abuse every hour of the day. I turned to everything I should have never had to go to and that's when the Ingram sweet, little 9-year-old turned into the rebel and angry person I am 10 years later.”
He waited for her to jump up in disgust or to throw a tirade of lectures saying that was no excuse, but she continued her relaxing touch with not even a hint of condemnation.
“What made him leave? Did your mother know?” Her quiet voice broke the silence.
It was shaky.
“Someone came to the door one day and heard it. They told my mom and she threw him out, but she still believes I should forgive him.”
She nodded in understanding, but he had so much more on his heart. He had to rid himself of the burden. He had to know if she'd leave like everyone else or care enough to put him back together.
“I am worthless, Ali,” his voice cracked. “Look how I treated you. I don't know how to react to people, I've hardened so much over the years. I can't find peace, I can't find the reassurance that I'm not a failure, that I'm not just a shattered piece of work unable to be put back together. I don't know what to do. I guess I need someone to teach me, teach me how to be a real man...”
His endless stream of words were cut off by her lips, and in the silence, she didn't pull away, just let him breathe her in and pull her closer.
“You are not worthless,” she whispered, placing a kiss on his jawline, then on his forehead, then lightly on his lips again.
He stared up at her, his blue eyes wide with her every movement.
“I just want to keep seeing the same Landon. The same quiet, broken, gentle, vulnerable, playful man lying here right now. I can't always promise a solution, but we can go through this brokenness together and little by little we'll be whole again.”
Her eyes were so filled with confidence that he couldn't help but believe in what she was saying. But he was scared, scared that slowly his faith was being placed in her, and just possibly, one day it would be crushed.
“Do you promise?” he searched her eyes, pulling her closer to him again.
“Yes,” she said, smoothing his hair. “I would never do otherwise.”
A smile played on his lips as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“My head hurts,” he whined, “and my throat feels like the Sahara desert!”
His voice was suddenly loud, and it made her cringe as she crawled off of him.
“I thought you were sober,” she grumbled.
“Just a little, love.”
She turned to look at him again at the use of the affectionate term, but he didn't seem to notice. He just stared up at the ceiling, humming softly.
“I'll get you some water,” she finally answered, and floated out of the room, her mind in a thousand places.
YOU ARE READING
One Day At A Time
Lãng mạn"I hate her. I'll hate her from the very beginning to the end. And no one can change my mind." Landon Ingram was determined to hate forever the young woman who had been suddenly tossed into his life. And nothing could melt his heart of ice. She fel...
