Her breath hitched. What the fuck was this about?
“Six years ago. Our parents weren’t supportive when she wanted to leave. He was the sheriff’s son, so no one wanted to get on his bad side. He had a habit of targeting people for tickets when they made him mad.” Landon made a face as he looked away. “I tried to help and got my own ass kicked for it. It didn’t matter that her husband had jumped me. The cops weren’t going to touch him.”
Willow gripped her ice-cold beverage, though she didn’t feel like drinking it anymore.
“She got away,” he said finally. “But it wasn’t for long. His dad helped track her down by calling in his buddies from the other towns to see if they’d spotted her car. It was parked outside a hotel thirty miles away. His dad told him where she was.”
Willow swallowed hard. “Please tell me they didn’t sweep it under the rug.”
His jaw clenched. “He got out a year ago.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Obviously, she could see the parallels, but that didn’t explain why he’d traveled so far to get here.
“Because I was terrified you were dead. When we started talking, everything was still so fresh with my sister’s murder and the trial… That first time I heard you speak over the team chat, it just about ripped out my heart. You had the same voice she did toward the end.”
“Well,” she stammered, “you know Billy couldn’t have done anything considering he’s dead.”
Landon nodded. “I know. It just wasn’t like you to drop off like that. Especially with some of the scams you’ve pulled lately, I didn’t want to take a chance at failing someone else.”
“Thank you for caring. It’s nice that someone does.” She tried not to let that thought sink in too far. They weren’t ditching her because they didn’t care. It was because theydid.
He took a sip of his lemonade, prompting her to finally take a drink of her beverage as well.
“So,” he started, “Want to tell me what happened?”
How the hell was she supposed to tell him that she was out getting double-teamed in the woods by a couple of killers?
“I was kidnapped by some guys who thought I was someone else.” She promptly took a long sip of her coffee. It could really use some milk, but the strong flavor was a nice distraction.
His eyebrows flew up. “You seem pretty unbothered.”
“Yeah, well… it turned out better than I could have thought that kind of situation would.”
“And you’re really okay?” he asked, his eyes disbelieving as they assessed her condition.
“I’m fine.” Her tone was firm in an effort to keep him from prying too much. His feelings toward her definitely leaned on the sisterly side, apparently and divulging too much would probably make him squirm.
Landon let out a long breath. “Do you know why they took you?”
“They meant to grab one of my neighbors.” She shifted in her seat and swirled the contents of her cup. “She caught them beating someone up.”
He scoffed. “So they were going to kidnap her?”
“Kill her. Actually.”
“What the fuck? How did—”
“Look, I handled the situation, and everything turned out fine.” She flexed her fingers around her cup, trying not to crush it out of embarrassment or frustration or whatever she was feeling.
With another scan of his light brown eyes, his expression changed. “Do you like them?”
“Well, you know I have shit taste in men, so what do you think?”
He deflected the self-deprecating comment. “Are they just regular thugs or are they working for someone important?”
The question caught her off guard, but she found no reason to lie. “Someone they kept calling ‘Xan’.”
A muscle in his jaw feathered. “Don’t try to stay in contact with them,” he said firmly.
