Landon chuckled. “Thanks. I think.”
We ate in silence. Once we finished, I scooped up our plates and carried them to the sink to rinse and load them in the dishwasher. Landon came up beside me and leaned against the counter as he finished his coffee. Needing to keep busy, I scrubbed down the stove, table, and countertops, then used a bleach wipe on everything. My phone was dead on the counter, so I took it into my room and plugged it in, returning to find Landon still loitering in my kitchen.
“Beth is probably worried about you,” I said. “Thank you so much for your help—and for breakfast—but I really can take it from here.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Mercy, whether or not you want to address it, you have a situation.”
“I do?” I asked, widening my eyes to emphasize my sarcasm in case my tone wasn’t enough.
The tick of Landon’s jaw was my only indication that he was losing his patience with me. I didn’t care because my patience with him was long gone. Like he needed to be. Preferably, before Ben woke up.
“I’m not leaving while you’re in danger.”
Head cocked to the side, I studied him, wondering where he found the audacity to refuse to leave my home. “Sorry, but I missed the part where you had any claim on me or my apartment whatsoever.”
Rather than seeing reason, he doubled down, folding his arms across his chest. “You saw what they did to Ben. You think the people who did that will treat you any better?”
I was intelligent enough to admit that he made sense, but stubborn enough to hold out. Besides, in my experience, adding a man to my situation with Ben never ended well. “They won’t find him. I can protect my brother.”
Landon closed the distance between us so quickly, I instinctively took a step back, running into the fridge. He slid even closer, cupping my jaw with his hand, and asked, “But who’s gonna protect you?”
A throat clearing drew my attention to Ben, who was watching us from his bedroom door. My brother’s gaze collided with mine, and the pain and betrayal I saw in his one open eye punched me in the feels. Leaning against the wall as if he lacked the strength to stand, he scowled at Landon and shook his head, muttering under his breath.
I braced myself. The proverbial shit was about to hit the fan.
9
Mercy
“BEN!”
MY VOICE was annoyingly cheery—even in my own ears—as I broke free from Landon and bum rushed my brother.
Keeping one hand wrapped protectively around his midsection like he was trying to hold his ribs in, he flung up the other to stop me from hugging him.
Hurt and a bit peeved by his gesture, I respectfully paused and clasped my hands in front of myself to keep them contained as I studied his black eye and the impressive collection of bandages covering most of his bare chest. He’d left some clothes here and had donned a pair of baggy black sweats. “How you feelin’?”
“Sore.” With a side of duh in his tone.
“Right. Let me get you some ibuprofen.” I marched into my bedroom and snagged the bottle off the top of my dresser, raising my voice to ask, “You hungry?”
Ben didn’t answer, and when I hurried back, I found him locked in some sort of staring contest with Landon. Impressive, considering one of Ben’s eyes was swollen shut.
“What’s goin’ on here?” I asked.
Ben jerked his chin at Landon and asked, “Who is this?”
“This is Landon.” I swooped in, trying my hardest to form a wall between them as I shook three pills into my hand. My smile was so wide it hurt my cheeks. “Beth’s son. You remember hearing me talk about Beth, right? She’s our cook at the school. The best one I’ve ever known. I spent Thanksgiving with her, remember? Because you spent it with Ashley’s family.” I was rambling, and I couldn’t seem to stop.
“Why’s he here?”
That shut me up.
Landon cleared his throat, and I jumped to step between the two.
This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have in front of anyone, but especially not with Landon hanging on our every word. The man needed to learn to respect boundaries.
“Thanks again for your help,” I said with a nod to the asshole currently leaning against my counter with his arms folded across his chest. “We can take it from here.”
