Landon's Obsession: An Endless Series: Book 3 (Series 3) (14 page)

     Todd leaned forward giving her a wicked grin. “And what
would tempt you to jump in?”

    My bristling amped up and I knew I was scowling.

     “Pool volleyball.” Maya answered instantly.

     Todd’s eyebrows shot up and I grinned at his surprise.
He wasn’t expecting that. The majority of women here would have come back with
some sexual comment.

     “That would be tempting.” He agreed with a smile before
turning his attention to me. “When was the last time we played pool
volleyball?”

     “Probably two years ago…” I thought hard. “At my house,
I think.”

     Derek laughed. “Shit, I remember that. Tommy got hit in
the nose and bled all over the pool. We couldn’t stop laughing, which had him
yelling at us for laughing, and he sounding all nasally because he was pinching
his nose, which had us laughing even harder.”

     We all chuckled in remembrance.

     Maya shook her head looking bemused. “Boys find the
weirdest things funny.”

     “Hey, it’s all fun and games until someone gets popped
in the nose, and then it’s hilarious.” I rejoined with a high five in Todd’s
direction.

     Maya grinned. “Is this what happens because of too many
video games, or is this normal male bonding behavior?”

     We looked around at each other and answered at the same
time. “Normal male bonding.”

     Maya laughed and it was deep, throaty and real, and all
the guys stared at her in palpable interest. I found myself scowling again. Why
was I so irritated? At first I’d been pleased that she’d been getting along
with my friends, but now I was all disgruntled because they were noticing how
interesting she was.

     “You still haven’t told us the truth on how you met our
boy here, Maya? Spill.” Todd demanded.

     “I told you the truth earlier. Landon did pick me up at
the corner of Washington Avenue and Linden. That is where I work.” She looked
around at them as though waiting for them to catch onto what she was saying,
but they just stared back and forth between the two of us in bug-eyed
curiosity, like maybe I had actually picked her up on a corner.

     I noted that she was ignoring Todd’s question on how we
had met and I wondered if she was doing it on purpose. Did she not want them to
know that she had worked as a maid for three weeks, or that her mom was our
housekeeper? I thought it might have something to do with inadequacy around
rich kids, but she didn’t appear to care if they found out she was a waitress
and I wondered what the difference was to her. 

     She huffed in mock aggravation which I thought was cute
as hell. “Come on guys; tell me you know what’s on that corner. Don’t make me go
on believing that you’ve lived in the city this long and not made your way over
there.”

     They all looked at her in confusion.

     Maya threw me an incredulous look. “It’s sacrilegious that
you all have been deprived.”

     I shook my head and grinned that she could say
something like that to four of the wealthiest individuals in the city. No one
but her would have called us deprived.

     Maya continued. “On that corner is The House of
Flavors, a place that makes the best ice cream in the world.”

     Todd expelled a loud sigh. “Seriously…ice cream!”

     Conner snorted. “Is it terrible that I’m disappointed?”

     “No…I know I am.” Derek announced.

     Maya shook her head and looked at me hiding her grin.
“You all have been hanging out too long together. You share the same depraved
thoughts.”

     “What’s she mean by that?” Todd asked me.

     “When she told me she worked at The House of Flavors
the first thing that came to my mind was that it was some kind of whore house.”

     The guys all broke out in uproarious laughter.  

     “It’s not that funny.” She muttered, and she looked
like she didn’t know whether to laugh along with everyone else or be offended.   

     They began calling out their preferences of women and
what they would like her to be talented in. I noticed Maya’s face flushing at
their explicitness and I frowned at the thought of her being uncomfortable with
this kind of talk. Any other girl at this party would have had no problem with
what was being said.

     “Guys…” I called them to attention. “I don’t think we
need to get that specific with our requirements.” I don’t know why I cared if
Maya was embarrassed, I just did.  

     I got three identical looks of ‘what the hell’
stupefaction.

     Maya scooted her chair back. “I’m going to go to the outhouse
again, and when I get back maybe we can get back to more serious matters; like
world famous ice cream.” She gave Derek, Conner, and Todd a mock glare, but as
she turned to leave she threw me a soft smile that had warmth unfurling in my chest.

    
What the hell was that about?

     “That girl is hot as hell, where did you find her?”
Conner asked.

     I pulled my eyes from Maya’s ass to find that all three
guys were ogling her ass as she walked away. It made the warmth in my chest
turn hot in anger. “Get your eyes off her ass.” I commanded without thought.

     Three pairs of eyes flew back to me in shock.

     “Am I awake?” Todd glanced around at Derek and Conner
in exaggerated astonishment. “Someone pinch me because I must be in a dream
where Landon is actually showing
feelings
for a girl.”

     “How about I punch you in the face instead?” I growled
in irritation, chugging my beer.

     He laughed. “Hey, can you blame me for being shocked.
The only emotion I’ve ever seen you expend toward a female is contempt, and
tonight you actually brought a female to the party, held her hand, and danced
with her,” he waggled his brows, “and barked at anyone that so much as looked
or talked to her wrong. I feel like I’ve entered an alternative universe.”

     I took another gulp of my beer not bothering to respond
to what I felt wasn’t an actual question.

     “Although, I can’t blame you for your interest. The
girl is mega hot.” I barely held back my glower. “As well as funny and
interesting. I have to admit, I’m jealous as hell at not finding her first.” I
delivered on my glower this time which had him chuckling in glee. “She also
appears to be half African American. She wouldn’t by chance be the one Hicks
bothered, would she?”  

     I still wasn’t certain if Maya was trying to keep that
a secret, but I didn’t have any problem telling these three. I knew they
weren’t going to go around telling everyone that Maya was our housekeeper’s
daughter. “It’s her.” I confirmed.

     Todd grinned. “No wonder you were so pissed.”

     I gave him a pointed look. “I would have been pissed no
matter what.”

     He sobered slightly. “Yeah, but I can understand better
now why you clocked him, and then continued to go after him.”

     “Maya and I weren’t even going out then, this is only
our first date. It could be our only one too.” If Maya gave it up to me tonight
it was quite possible this could be our one and only date. I would probably
lose all interest in her afterwards. The only reason I had stayed interested in
her this long was because she was different and a challenge.

    
And if I keep telling myself this I will eventually
believe it.    

    
Speaking of Hicks, was he here tonight?

     “Maya seems younger than what you prefer.” Conner
commented.

     “She’s only seventeen.” I muttered mechanically, my
thoughts elsewhere. Would Hicks bother Maya if he came across her again?

     “Shit, when was the last time you hooked up with
someone younger than you? They are normally at least two years older.” Derek
remarked.

     “She’s different.” I scanned the crowd to see if I
could find Maya.

     “No shit she’s different. We got that already since you
made an actual date with her, and are all over her. But I thought you didn’t do
chicks younger than you because they might expect something from you
afterwards?” Conner asked.

     “What is this, a fucking inquisition? She’s an
exception, okay.” I scowled in irritation at all their questions.

     “And quite an exception at that.” Todd taunted.

     I knew what he was trying to do so I just ignored him
drinking the dregs of my beer.

     “If this is your one and only date with her than she’s
will be back on the market tomorrow, right? I might have to go check out this
House of Flavors.”

     Todd’s continued taunts were making my blood boil over.
I
knew
that he was just trying to get to me…and he was doing a damn good
job at it.

     “Unlike you I might keep her more than one night
though.”

     Just the thought of Maya with Todd, or anyone else, made
my gut clench painfully and set off a fiery inferno of wrath inside me. I
slammed my bottle down on the table. “Todd, shut the fuck up.”

     Todd’s grin froze at my tone. I had tried to keep the
tenor even with just a faint growl of annoyance, but I think it came off as
more murderous instead.

     “Oookay, no sharing of Maya.” He mumbled with arched
brows. He raised his glass to take a drink and I didn’t miss the grin he tried
to hide as he swallowed.
Asswipe
!

     Maya was taking too long. She should be back by now. I
scanned the area searching for her but didn’t see any sign of her. “Something’s
wrong.” Pushing my chair back I stood up.

     “What’s wrong?” Todd’s asked.

     I continued to scan the party. “Maya should be back by
now.” I looked at Derek. “Is Hicks here tonight?”

     He frowned. “Yeah, I saw him earlier.”

     My gut tightened in uneasiness. Just because he was
here didn’t mean he was harassing her again. I wouldn’t put it past him though,
or any of the other douches’ that came to this party. I headed toward the johns
berating myself; I should have gone with her just to make certain no one messed
with her. Hicks wasn’t the only one that would cause her trouble, there were
quite a few people that would get in her face just for being here with me.

     I jogged around the side of the house and nearly ran
into a circle of people eyeballing some commotion in the center. Instinctively,
I made to go around but stopped when I heard what was being said in the center.

     “Are you seriously a maid? Landon must have reached the
end of the 0-niner phone book to have lowered himself to fucking the staff now.
This is priceless.”

     A red haze filled my vision as I shoved people out of
my way to get to the middle. Just before reaching it I heard Maya’s voice
retort. “I’m having a difficult time understanding your problem with me; is it
because I’m a maid, or because Landon is with me, or is it a combination of the
two. Maybe it’s just because you’re PMS’ing and need a carbohydrate fix? I hear
you 0-niner girls don’t get an adequate amount of carbs in your diet. Do you
want me to go get some for you?”  

     The crowd was finally moving out of my way as they
realized who I was and I strode forward to see Maya facing off against Crissy,
Tara, and two other ho-bags. I didn’t miss Hicks standing off to the side
holding his phone smiling like the fucking Cheshire cat. No second guesses on
how the bitches had found out she was a maid.

     Crissy didn’t seem to appreciate Maya’s snarky
comeback, she stepped closer raising her finger and wearing a malicious sneer.
“Your kind…”

     “Shut your fucking mouth, bitch.” I declared coldly.
Marching forward I batted her hand away as I stepped in front of Maya, blocking
her from any further direct insults. Crissy wisely stepped back in trepidation,
as did Tara and the other two, who I vaguely knew and most likely fucked at one
time.

     “You bitches really don’t think before you act, do
you?” I sneered. I was barely holding back my desire to do physical harm to
them all. And not just the four bitches in front of me, but everyone that had
surrounded her trapping her in a circle and not doing anything to help.

     Crissy’s expression smoothed out and went bland. “What
the hell is your problem, Landon? I was just asking this…person, why she
thought she had a right to be here. I mean, are we really inviting servants to
our parties now? Am I going to see my gardener and cook at the next party I go
to?”

     “No Crissy, you won’t.” She smirked slightly thinking I
was agreeing with her. The girl was too dumb to live. “Because you’ll be lucky
to get another invite to anyone’s party this summer.” Her smirk promptly
disappeared. “I’m declaring right now, in front of all these recording phones,
that Crissy Dore, Tara Hyde, Hicks Kelly, and whoever those two bitches are,” I
waved in their direction, “are as of this moment blackballed from any further
parties that I am invited to this summer. And since I’m pretty much invited to
them all I’m thinking you might need to make some out of town plans for the
rest of the summer, that is if you want to have any sort of fun.” I looked past
the girls shocked expressions to observe Hicks’s pissed off one. Fucking
asshole thought he was smart standing off to the side.        

     “Landon, I didn’t say anything.” Tara whined.

     Todd stepped from the crowd looking annoyed. “Tara, shut up. He warned you, and I warned you, but you just couldn’t restrain the bitch
inside you. Well, now you’re paying the price. Think of it as a learning
experience.”

     Having shut them all up I finally turned around to face
Maya. She’d stepped three feet away from me and was staring at me with a frown,
a confused and angry frown. Yeah, I got it; worst date ever.

     Fury was still pumping through me in waves. I wanted to
take her hand and lead her out of this gawking crowd but I would likely end up
hauling her after me as I stomped away. Instead, with a granite jaw I waved my
hand toward the driveway. “Are you ready to go?”