Chapter Seventy-Two: "Insight On The Past."
WHEN THE PLANE LANDED, it was about one in the morning. The flight was delayed due to some weather conditions in Alberta, so we were stopped at the airport for an hour and a half.
My team has already gotten together to discuss the rooms, and each girl is teamed up with one other member. Each girl had to have mutual agreement on sleeping together in the same room and bed, so I was glad to have Maya, Carly, and Becca as my roommates.
However, this arrangement is not going to matter anyway, since two of us have boyfriends, and we'd rather sleep with them.
The three boys ended up getting a few rooms two floors up, and it had already been discussed with Carly and Becca that we won't be sleeping in the room.
They've made promises to cover us in case our coach ends up checking up on us, but other than that, we shouldn't be bothered.
We have about two days of relaxation, aside from two hour practices a day, until our first game starts in four days, leaving us two to get healed from our workouts and to explore a little.
When the girls and I reach our rooms, we bid the boys farewell and that we'd arrive in their rooms shortly. The only thing about the rooms is that we have to be in our rooms while Coach checks us, and once we hear his door close, we'd sneak out.
It takes him about twenty minutes before doing rounds, in which he wishes us goodnight and to be ready for 10:00 a.m. practice since our flight was delayed. Initially it was 6:00 a.m., but I couldn't be happier with the time now.
"I'll call you if anything happens." Carly says. "If he ends up going around again, I'll just tell him you went out to get a snack."
I smile at her and hug her tightly. "Thanks, Carly."
She brushes it offs with a flick of the wrist. "Not a problem."
I text the group chat with Landon, Lance, Maya, and myself, telling them we're leaving and to be ready to come out because we don't remember their suite numbers.
Maya and I leave the room quietly, Carly softly closing the door behind us and we tiptoe sneakily past our coach's room before we book it down the hallway to the stairs after hearing a suite door open. I open the hallway door carefully, and Maya closes it behind her.
"Are they across from each other?" I ask as we sprint up the stairs. Sure there's no reason to run anymore but I'm eager to see Landon again and I'm feeling oddly kinky.
"I think they're diagonally across or down the hall. I'm not sure," she replies.
When we reach their floor, both boys are about two doors away, Landon on the left and Lance on the right, closest to us. Neither of them wearing shirts, or are dressed in their pyjamas whereas Maya is only wearing a tank top and long pants, and I'm wearing a t-shirt and short shorts for nightwear. I usually sleep half-naked because shirts make me feel weird, even if they're spaghetti straps or sleeveless. The only way I can sleep in a t-shirt is if I'm not wearing a braâwhich is now. Unless I'm sleeping alone, then I wear light, thin tanks to make me feel like I'm not wearing a shirt to help me fall asleep.
"See you in the morning?" Maya offers to me as she stands beside Lance and he wraps his arm around her shoulder.
"Bright and early," I wink, to which she does the same before disappearing into the suite.
I skip down the hall towards Landon who is staring at me with hooded eyes, but I ignore it, kissing him quickly before he pushes me inside.
When he closes the door behind him, he says he's going to go to the bathroom and brush his teeth, and I nod as I wait impatiently, tapping my foot senselessly and it feels like hours have passed by before he finally returns.
When he does, I take him by surprise and push him against the wall with as much strength as I can muster, and I'm more than satisfied when it's more like a slam, his back hitting the bare wall in shock, but I don't even give him time to question what's going on before I kiss him hard on the mouth, my hands pressing on his shoulders to guarantee he won't be going anywhere, though as if it makes a difference because if he wanted to, he could easily overpower me.
He kisses me back, his hands gripping my sides with the limited amount of movement I'm giving him.
He stiffens when I start peppering kisses along his neck and sucking and nibbling at some places, and I can feel his pulse start to quicken through my lips.
"You're so warm," I whisper through under his jaw.
He hums, "I like this side of you, Brooklyn."
I pull back and give him a flirty smile. "There's more to like if you're willing to try."
He smirks. "And what does that mean, Blue?"
"That depends," I whisper, brushing my lips against his then backing up teasingly since I can feel him growing beneath me, "is soon too soon?"
Landon's eyes are hooded and full of lust, his hair dishevelled from my fingers tugging and running through it, and his breathing is erratic, matching mine.
I trail my eyes down his broad chest, down to his six-pack abs and stop down at his waist, where it looks like a ruler is sticking out very noticeably but I obviously know it's nothing of the sort. It causes my stomach to clench in anticipation and sends all kinds of excitement through me.
"Soon isn't soon enough, baby." He says huskily. He catches me staring before I see him smirk knowingly and tear my eyes away. "Now get your beautiful ass over here."
I smile widely and walk back to him, pushing myself against him as our lips connect. His hands curl underneath the underside of my butt, easily picking me up and starts to kiss my neck much like I was doing moments ago, except what he's doing feels more intense. I was only teasing him before to see what his reaction would be to my proposal, but now that he's responding positively, there is no more teasing by gentle, barely-there kisses and pecks. This is a full blown we're-getting-down-to-business kind of kiss and I am feeling more than ready for him.
Hell, I was dripping before I even threw him against the wall.
Landon mimics exactly what I did by slamming me roughly against the wall opposite of the one I did, nearly knocking off the picture frame beside me.
I gasp in surprise and at the slight bit of pain rushing to my shoulders, but it disappears just as fast as it comes. Whoever knew that pain was so pleasurable?
As a result of my surprise, I'm placed back onto my feet.
"How does it feel to have a taste of your own medicine, sunshine?" He asks rhetorically in my ear, sending all kinds of pleasure and electricity through my body as he presses his whole frame against me.
I don't respond and push him away, causing him to back up. I know he's letting me have control, otherwise he wouldn't even be moving, which I'm thankful for because even though I'm not very good with seduction, dominance is just as effective and I'm glad he's giving me the opportunity to run things.
I push him more roughly, and he stumbles back and falls onto the bed. Not wasting any time, I follow suit and crawl over to him, straddling him while a huge grin makes its way onto his lips. My hair provides a curtain as I reconnect our mouths, my hands lost in his hair and his hands gripping my waist.
"So demanding," he murmurs teasingly.
"So chatty," I shoot back.
His hands travel below my shirt, lifting up the hem and running his fingers down my spine, causing me to shiver. He moves them up more, causing my shirt to ride up more before he slips it over my breasts and breaks the kiss to throw it off. My stomach muscles contract when he massages my belly, and takes me by surprise by pinching my sides, causing me to yelp.
Everything happens so fast when Landon kisses me harder and more roughly, grabbing my hips and flipping us over like a hot pancake.
He begins to trail his lips down my cheek to my throat, kissing my esophagus and the dip at the base of my throat.
I gasp, feeling him suck on the indent, and roll my eyes to the back of my head.
I think he and I both just found my very odd sweet spot.
"Yes," I find myself moaning out. I feel him smirk on my chest and he sucks harder, his nose brushing against a part on my neck that's very sensitive to touch and makes me squeal loudly, squirming to make it not tickle as much.
I can handle the typical ticklish spots: your sides, your armpits, your feet, your knees. But touch my neck in the middle of the side and I'll be giggling like a schoolgirl.
It's an embarrassing sight.
"Oh, this is a sight for sore eyes," Landon teases, using his body more heavily to stop my frantic movements.
I come down from my laughing high once he moves his face. "Shut up." I grin, my breath shallow.
"Why not?" He whispers huskily. "Do you know how beautiful you look when you laugh? Or when your eyes are filled with so much lust and want for me?"
"No," I murmur, curling my arms around his neck again after they dropped to fight his head away from my neck. "But I do if you're mirroring my expression. You want me just as bad."
He growls playfully and leans down, pulling my bottom lip in between his teeth and biting down. "I want you very bad, Blue."
"The feeling is highly reciprocated." I mumble before directing his mouth back to mine. I don't know what it is, but I just can't get enough of his kisses.
They're an addiction; I'm hooked and I don't think I can get off them.
His heated kisses move down my chest, stopping at my bust before he moves his fingers behind my back and drags his fingernails along my spine.
He groans as he stares down at my chest, running the back of his index finger over my nubs, having them painfully perk up before taking them in between his thumb and forefinger and rubbing.
A moan escapes my lips, and soon his mouth is over my nipple, alternating between sucking and gently biting, making me gasp loudly and slam my eyes shut in pleasure.
He takes in my other nipple briefly before his hands cover them as he moves down to my ribs, past my stomach, and down to my navel. Once his lips move further down, I moan even louder, a burning in my stomach telling me exactly what I need and his mouth is very close to it.
"Landon," I plead, bucking my hips in signal.
"This what you want?" He teases, running his finger along my opening.
"Yes, yes, please!" I moan out.
He pushes his finger further in, making me gasp and he comes back up to kiss me while he pleasures me, and I whimper against his lips when he adds a second finger, increasing the pleasure and pumping in and out, faster.
He breaks the kiss a few minutes later and trails kisses back down my torso until his head is in front of my burning heat.
He hooks his fingers in the loop of my shorts, tugging them off and tossing them aside. He kisses my nerves through the cloth of my thong, causing me to arch my back in need and anticipation.
Peeling my underwear slowly off my legs, Landon's hands grab hold of my thighs, pushing them outwards and opening my legs further until he's satisfied, and he looks up, giving me a seductive wink before he gets right down to business.
***
"Landon?" I murmur softly, trailing patterns along his chest as we lazily lay in the bed, still naked from tonight's activities.
I have to admit, Maya was not wrong about Landon whatsoever. How she knows this information is beyond my knowledge but at the moment, I don't care.
It felt so different than it did with Taylor. It felt better, mutual, and like we were connected more deeply than Taylor and I were. Part of me wants to say it was because Taylor and I jumped right into the act since we felt obligated to before and we hadn't seen each other in a long time, whereas with Landon I saw him on a daily basis.
I knew him as him and not who he used to be.
This time I wasn't in a withdrawal, and this time, I certainly do not regret it.
"Hmm?" He hums, his eyes closed as he rubs my hip. His voice is thick with exhaustion, having ended our physical needs only minutes ago.
"I'm ready to talk about it." I whisper shyly. This will be the first time ever I repeated what happened all those months agoâI think I'm even ready to discuss what happened years ago.
Landon stiffens, knowing immediately what I'm talking about since he's made small hints on wondering what just happened when I showed up.
His eyes open and he shifts so that he's sitting up, but I think differently and pull him back down, laying beside me, facing one another.
The main reason why I want to lay down while I share my past is that I am still extremely sore.
Not only was the sex with Landon phenomenal, but he was also much larger than Taylor so my walls weren't used to stretching that much that quick.
He doesn't touch me, though, and instead leaves me some space, knowing how emotional I am about my history. He's still very close, of course, ready in case I need him.
"Three years ago, about a year after I met Taylor, he and I started dating. All was well, like how most couples are in the beginning, however I noticed he was secretive more about his home life. I was allowed to go over but not stay the night, he wouldn't tell me the occupations of his parents or why they sent him to a school far away from his house, stuff like that. So one night, I was having a bad day and decided to see if we could spent some time to help me calm down. Well, when I got to his house, I saw him leaving. It was past 11:00 p.m., so I was extremely suspicious, and followed him. He ended up at some dingy house that smelled like meth and beer. I spied for a good ten minutes before seeing Taylor get handed over two huge ziplock baggies full of smaller ziplock baggies with white crystalline and powder. I noticed marijuana in there as well.
"I was utterly confused; it didn't take an idiot to know that he was getting drugs, but I was still lost on why he wouldn't tell me. Why was my boyfriend drug dealing? Was this the secret he kept hiding from me? The largest man I noticed, handed Taylor a gun of some sort and that scared me away. I ran and was going berserk, having several panic attacks before finally going to him the next day, at his house around the same time, doing the same thing, except this time, I stopped him."
I take some deeper breaths, feeling my body shake at the memories. However Landon makes no move to touch me, and continues to watch me with unreadable eyes.
"I made a mistake stopping him," I continue in a murmur, looking deep into his eyes but not at him, like I zoned out. "He yelled at me to leave. We fought for like five minutes before some guy showed up and screamed at me for ruining 'business', so he says. Well, we went on and on until I gave up and let him deal. About a week after that, I found out that my dad's plane got into a plane crash on the way from Australia to somewhere in Indonesia, and that my mom was on that plane ready to do some business with China, which was the next stop. They. . . they were hospitalized and my mom was in a coma for months. My dad broke all of his ribs and had to undergo hours worth of surgery to get glass out from his skull.
"He wasn't supposed to live," I add, tears finally spilling out from my eyes at the memory of getting a call in the middle of school. "Neither of them were said to liveâor if they did, not long. It was a miracle."
"I'm so sorry," Landon whispers, outstretching his hand and squeezing mine.
I sniffle. "Well, someone had to pay for it. Sure our family made a lot, but not enough to have two adults go under a huge surgery and pay for hospital care while they recovered. I went to Taylor and demanded to get some business to help pay for their fees. I. . . even broke into a house and held people hostage at gunpoint while the crew stole jewelry and cash. I'd get a large sum of that just to pay for them to keep getting treatment otherwise I'd lose them both."
~~~FLASHBACK~~~
Staring at the board and writing my notes down, the sudden buzzing on the desk in front of me has me jumping up, startled. I furrow my eyebrows, reading the Caller ID and wondering why the hospital is calling me.
"Excuse me, Miss?" I shoot my hand up. "Can I answer this? It's urgent."
My Biology teacher nods, allowing me to exit. I usually was always allowed to be excused because I was an honour student with great grades, and was also a grade higher than she was supposed to be. When everyone was in grade 8, I was drafted to high school at the age of 12, since I have a late birthday.
I immediately answer the call. "Hello?"
"Is this Brooklyn May?" The voice on the other end asks.
"Yes." I answer. "Can I ask what this is about?"
"Miss May, I'm sorry to inform you like this, but your parents have gotten into a severe plane crash."
I feel my heart stop beating, my mind stop working, and legs give out. "What?" I choke out. "Are-are you sure it's them?"
"Aaron and Loretta May in Los Angeles, parents of Brooklyn Garcia Amadita May?"
Yep, it's them.
Tears start falling, but I'm still too stunned to think straight. "What happened?"
"An engine was blown. Your parents are in very critical condition and they are in surgery now in China. They're to be transferred after the procedures but the doctors don't think they will make it through the flight."
I feel a sob form at the back of my throat, feeling a severe panic attack coming on. "W-w-when are they coming back to the States?" I blubber.
"Tomorrow. The incident happened the day before yesterday but we wanted to see how severe it was. I'm very sorry."
"T-t-thanks for calling," I hiccup, ending the call and breaking down in the middle of the hallway. I cry for several minutes until my teacher comes out, hearing the commotion and freaking out on why her student basically dropped dead on the nasty school floors when only a minute ago she was calm and collected.
My teacher called Justin's parents, whom I was staying with until one of my folks returned, and had me picked up.
I cried all day and all night, wondering if whether I'll have one or none of my parents. Just the thought had me sobbing again and even though my parents and I haven't been getting along all too greatly, I didn't want to lose themâeither of them. I saw both of them three days ago, and they were supposed to be coming home after tomorrow; well, Dad was anyway.
And now I have them coming home, but in bad condition and neither are said to make it.
The next day, after spending all day and night cuddling with Justin because I didn't want to be alone the day before, I finally got the call from the hospital saying that my parents have arrived, but that my mom hasn't woken up still and that my dad was still out.
I raced to the hospital and broke down when I saw my parents, both in the same room, I'm assuming for my benefit.
My dad had a few IVs connections on his body and bandaging wrapped around his head.
I break down more at seeing my mother, who has a whole bunch of machines connected to her body, and a life support machine next to her, the only thing currently keeping her alive.
I was told that my mom needed to have fluid drained from her brain which resulted in her coma, and that my dad needed to have a surgery for removing the glass from his skull and another for having to remove a broken rib that managed to puncture his left lung.
Though my dad's injuries were serious, my mother's was the most critical, since the coma wasn't medically induced so anything could happen.
I stayed for weeks on end waiting for one of them to wake up.
Neither did.
~END OF FLASHBACK~
"I still stayed at the hospital," I say in a hoarse whisper. "Taylor called me one night, about a month and a half after the crash, saying that Riverton, the gang Taylor ran with that I started being involved in, had a huge job that could have me affording to pay for my parents' bills for over six months. Miraculously, my dad woke up a week before, but was still in a fatal state so the nurses had me removed to prevent 'trauma' like PTSD, though it happened anyway. So, I had to go get some money from this huge gang member, and had to go up and rob a dealer of his stash. Well, when Taylor and I and everyone else went in, Taylor made me stay back behind him and shit went down or something, either the man didn't believe our plan on owing him back money to stall long enough while the others steal because gunshots went off and I just keep remembering him screaming my name and to kill the guy before the cops raided us.
"I couldn't do it," I shake my head repeatedly, like I'm back in that thunderstorm and reliving the moment. "I had the gun in my hands, the safety off and magazine filled, but I couldn't do it. Anyway, we got away, after I broke some dudes nose on the way, and Taylor got arrested that night. I got picked up the next day in the morning while visiting my father.
"I guess I have a lot of regrets back then, but I don't regret doing what it took to save my parents. I regret the way it needed to be done, but not getting the payment, irregardless of the result. Without that money, they'd be dead and that's something I would never wish upon anyoneâeven Annabelle after she partially blinded me. It's something no one should go through yet I went through it painfully. I was petrified when I was told there was a bigger chance of my parents never waking up than there was survivalâmy mom more than my dad. And I guess what the absolute worst part of that day was that not only was my father awake when they stampeded into the hospital, but that that day was the day my mother woke up after being in a coma for six months."