Keep Me Still Read Free Page B

minutes after me.
    “Yeah. I, um, got a ride.” Please don’t ask.
    “From?” she asks, sorting through the mail she brought in as she tries to look less interested than she really is.
    “Landen O’Brien.” And I can’t help it. Saying his name makes me smile. It also fills me with a warmth I’m not expecting. I have a friend. Sort of.
    At that my aunt drops the mail and stares at me. “Is he cute?” She’s probably turning cartwheels in her mind at the possibility that I might stop being an antisocial loser after all. Keep the dream alive, Aunt Kate.
    “No, he’s got this messed up grill and he walks like a hunchback actually.” Shuddering for emphasis, I bite my lip to keep from grinning.
    “You’re hilarious, Layla,” she says with an eye roll.
    “If I’m being honest, he’s way better than cute,” I say quietly, fully aware that my face is on fire. “And he’s new so…” So he doesn’t know what a complete freak show I am. But then, my aunt doesn’t know how bad it is for me at school so I just keep the rest of that sentence to myself.
    “Lay, I know you don’t want to hear this, but if you do keep hanging out with him, you’re going to have to tell him about—”
    “It was a ride home. Relax.”
    But for the rest of the evening, I can’t relax. All I can think about is Landen O’Brien’s sweet smile and the way he blushed when I put on Layla in the truck. Maybe Aunt Kate was right. Maybe I can do more than just get through .

“H ere, put this on it,” my mom says as she hands me a pack of frozen mixed vegetables for my jaw. Needless to say, when the Colonel called the Hope Springs High School athletic department to find out how my football tryout had gone and to get a game schedule, he was pretty pissed when the football coach mentioned that I was a no-show.
    “He just has high expectations for you, Landen. You know that,” she reminds me. Making excuses for him has always been something she was good at it. But her eyes don’t meet mine. Believing her own excuses, however, she’s not so good at.
    After I’d run the five miles for my punishment, I was stupid enough to make a comment about how it was my life, and with the Colonel already pissed, he jacked my jaw in response. I should know better by now. And I’m big enough to take him. But I just really don’t care anymore. And it would kill my mom to see us whaling on each other. So I suck it up like I’ve always done.

L anden’s mouth feels so good on mine, I almost feel sorry for any girl who’ll never get to kiss him. Almost. His hands are big and strong and warm on my hips, pulling me closer, as if that’s possible. My body molds into him, and a fleeting thought races past. What if someone sees us?
    I glance around the parking lot to see if anyone else has arrived but we’re still alone.
    Until a black Chevy Avalanche with tinted windows pulls up beside us. A man in a dark hooded sweatshirt jumps out and I recognize him but I don’t know from where.
    “Landen,” I murmur against his lips but he’s lost in our kissing. His tongue presses into my mouth when I open it and I can’t breathe. “Landen. Landen, stop.” I shove my hands against his chest but he doesn’t budge. His hands wrap around me, clutching me closer, too close. The man’s coming closer but I can’t warn him.
    “Landen!” I scream but it’s too late. The gunshots ring out and his body goes limp in my arms.
    “Landen!”
    I wake up grasping my comforter. It’s twisted and gripping me so tightly I can barely move to disentangle myself.
    Well, that’s a new twist on an old nightmare. Sweat soaks my t-shirt and I try to shake the images on the way to the shower. And now, for reasons that aren’t his fault in any way, I don’t want to see Landen O’Brien ever again.
    Which is unfortunate, because as soon as I step outside, he’s there. Waiting for me. Leaning up against his truck, looking like a magazine ad. Just like in my nightmare,