Nothing Less (Landon Gibson 2)

Just as I step over the doorway, Dakota is in front of me. “Is she okay?”

I nod, looking over Dakota’s head to search for Nora outside.

“Landon, I tried to warn you about Nora. I know you won’t believe me, but she’s been lying to you from the beginning.” Dakota’s voice is rushed and I can feel the anger radiating off her. “She knew we were together. She lied to me and to you. She’s—”

“Enough,” I say, not a drop of hesitation in my voice.

I look at Nora standing alone on the sidewalk, her lips parted, and her shoulders high. She’s working hard to keep the flat expression on her face. I can see her concocting all kinds of theories about me and Dakota in her mind. To make it worse, Dakota takes my hands in hers. Nora flinches, but keeps her face flat.

“I can’t believe you would still see her and bring her to your place when I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day. It would have hurt less if you would have just told me. I’ve had to guess and be an obsessive ex because I get no real answers from either of you. You both have spun a web so intricate that you can’t get out.”

Noticing for the first time Dakota’s outfit, I try to figure out what her plan was tonight. She’s wearing a slim-fitting shirt with a serious V-neck. Her tight black jeans are a far cry from her usual workout pants, and the makeup on her skin is glowing under the street lamp.

What was she thinking when she came here? Was she going to try to seduce me into going to Michigan? Or to stay away from Nora?

Or both?

“Dakota”—my anger peeps out from behind each letter of her name—“I said that’s enough. You can’t just come here and act like this outside my apartment. This isn’t Saginaw—instead of people just listening to our business, they’ll call the cops on me.”

“Landon”—she squeezes my hands, but I pull away—“ask her about her rich family, about her even richer husband. He . . .”

Dakota’s voice is still going, moving through one hole in my head and out the other. But I can’t hear a single word she’s saying.

Husband?

“When we kicked her out, she acted like she didn’t have anywhere to go. But she did—she has a mansion outside of the city. I’ve seen it.”

Scarsdale. The way she changed her clothes. How come she wouldn’t let me follow her.

Something, something, something . . .Dakota goes on. Nora is looking up at me and her brows move together. I can feel my face changing, I can see it in her confused eyes.

She’s married?

Of course she is.