Read Online Drifting into Darkness by J.M. La Rocca - Free Book Online Page B

what he must have gone through with his parents. “What exactly did he want to major in?”
    “Mechanical Engineerin’,” she said with a smile.
    “Wow.” That would be a hard course. “You said he loved cars so I could see that as a career for him, but isn’t that tough?”
    She nodded her head and put her little fan away. “Yeah, but he would’ve loved it,” she said as she picked up another bag. “I’m totally not trying to be a Debbie downer either.”
    “No, I understand. I appreciate what you said. I know there has to be a way to get through to my parents because I definitely don’t have the money to pay for school.”
    We counted out corn and bagged up two more bags before she started talking again. “He asked about ya, ya know,” she said as she finished tying up her bag.
    I was reaching for some corn, but stopped to look at her. “He, who?”
    She laughed. “I’m sorry. I have a habit of blurtin’ shit out when I’m thinkin’ about somethin’, so just ignore most of the things that come out of my mouth.” She looked at me with a smile, and then reached for more corn to bring them closer to the edge. “He, as in Landon. I had dinner at the Johnson’s last night.” She turned to me. “I overheard Landon askin’ Derek about the ‘new girl’.”
    I raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay, so he was asking about me.” I didn’t see what the big deal was.
    “Landon doesn’t ask about girls. Girls are the ones who ask about him.” She dragged the bag of corn to the pile. “I just thought I’d tell ya,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “He might be extra flirty.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Oh, joy,” I said unenthusiastically. I was really in no place for a guy to be flirty with me. Especially now after everything I learned about Jason. “What’s the deal with him anyway? Has he always been a player?” I asked as I grabbed another bag and got it ready.
    She laughed. “That’s the thing. I wouldn’t really call him a player. The girls know he doesn’t date, but they throw themselves at him anyway. He’s the bad boy ‘round here so all the girls swoon thinkin’ they can change him.” She shook her head and laughed. “I told ya, it’s comical. You’ll see eventually.”
    “So he’s never had a serious girlfriend?” I asked, just as I heard a truck door close.
    “That my friend is a whole nother story.”
    I turned just as Landon walked in, and oh, my God. He was wearing the same thing he wore yesterday, holey dirty jeans, a fitted white t-shirt, and boots. But that was not what had me standing there with my mouth partly open. He was wearing a cowboy hat. I’d never seen anyone in real life wear one before and it looked damn good on him. I could feel the girly tingling in the pit of my stomach.
    He smiled at Lisa, as he got closer, only giving me a quick glance. Good, maybe I won’t get flirty Landon .
    “Hey,” Lisa said, “we’ve fourteen bags ready to go,” she pointed toward our pile.
    “Okay. Derek said he’d meet ya at the house,” Landon drawled in a deep raspy southern voice.
    Oh, boy, his southern accent sounds so sexy. This can’t be a good thing.
    I looked up at the ceiling and let out a slight sigh. Why do men have to be such assholes?
    “Hey, you all right?”
    I looked down at Lisa standing right next to me. “Yeah,” I said, wiping at my forehead. I looked at Landon who was scrutinizing me.
    “You might need some water, city girl. We don’t want you getting dehydrated on your first day.” His comment wouldn’t have bothered me if he didn’t have an edge to his voice.
    Where the hell did that come from? I raised an eyebrow at him and gave him my best ‘fuck off’ look. This was exactly why I was saying ‘screw you’ to all men. I was usually a nice, quiet person, but this guy was asking for my ‘fuck you’ persona.
    “Yeah, we do need some water. I’m sweating my ass off,” Lisa complained as she walked over to the small fridge on the