52 - Landon

52

Landon

As far as days went, today had been pretty shitty.

Yeah, I knew we were at an expensive resort on a tropical island. Most people would kill to trade places with me. But none of that mattered because of what had happened this morning with Joanna.

I'd never been more confused about my emotions in my life. I felt like a sailboat adrift at sea without any wind to guide it. Joanna and I had kissed this morning, in bed. She'd practically thrown herself at me.

And then I'd rejected her.

It was such a confusing position to be in. I'd never been more attracted to a woman in my life. That morning, cuddling together in bed, I wanted her more than I'd ever wanted anything. Yet the thing she'd said…

I'd wrestled with my feelings all day. Trying to figure out what to say, how best to convey it all to Joanna without bruising her own ego. And now we were at the end of the day, standing on the beach, and I was beginning to realize what I needed to say.

I needed to tell Joanna the truth.

But before I could do that, Wanda pointed at her and shouted, "Joanna is cheating on Landon!"

She couldn't have created more chaos if she'd thrown a grenade into the middle of the group. Marisa let out a yelp of surprise. Danicka dropped her martini. The other dozen people responded with some mixture of confusion, shock, and anger.

And me? I felt numb.

"Don't you dare deny it!" Wanda shouted at Joanna. "I know what I saw!"

Joanna held out her palms. "It's not what you think. Theo and I…"

"Theo?" Wanda replied. "I was talking about Austin!"

Hearing the names pierced my numbness. I'd been wondering about Theo ever since Joanna muttered his name in bed the morning after the wedding ceremony. Something had happened between them, and it had been eating away at me to not know what it was. Which was stupid since she wasn't actually my girlfriend. I had no control over her life or actions. She could do whatever she wanted.

But I couldn't dismiss the deep sense of betrayal that I felt.

And now Austin was thrown into the mix? He'd carried Joanna on the beach when she injured her ankle, but aside from that I thought Joanna hated him. She'd been furious at him for convincing her to quit her job and come on the honeymoon. Now they were… what? Sleeping together?

I looked around. Neither Theo nor Austin were on the beach yet.

"I saw you and Austin making out on the stairs," Wanda insisted. "I heard both of you. This wasn't the first time. You were planning on hooking up tonight, too!"

My immediate reaction was shock. Which was probably a good thing, because that's how everyone else was reacting. And many of them, including my parents, were looking at me. Judging my reaction.

I felt a moment of dread. The lie I'd been telling for the past two weeks was unraveling before my very eyes. Everyone knew.

But wait a minute. They didn't know the real truth, yet. They only thought Joanna was cheating on me. My story was still intact. I could keep it going with a little effort. The situation was salvageable!

I turned to Joanna and demanded, "Is this true?"

She hesitated, looking into my eyes and realizing that I wanted to keep up the lie. "I… I was going to tell you."

Marisa covered her mouth. "You were my bridesmaid!"

"I'm sorry," Joanna said to me. There was genuine sorrow in her big eyes. It made it feel like we weren't just putting on a show for the others.

"I can't… I can't believe this," I breathed.

Theo came walking down to the beach with a frozen drink in each hand. "Anyone need a drink? I couldn't decide between a daiquiri and a margarita, so I got one of each."

"We all know, Teddy," Marisa accused. "Joanna has been cheating on Landon with you and Austin!"

Theo's smile slowly faded away. He looked like he wanted to throw down the drinks and sprint in the opposite direction.

"Well?" Chloe asked. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"It was just one time," Theo said, eyes flicking toward Joanna. "We didn't mean for it to happen. We smoked a little weed last night, and then things just sort of happened between the three of us…"

Marisa gasped. "You guys had a threesome?"

Theo's jaw hung open as he gazed around the group. "Can someone tell me exactly what I'm being accused of? I need to know how elaborate to make my lie."

"We knew Joanna was cheating!" Wanda exclaimed. "But both you and Austin… at the same time?"

"I knew something was up," Bradyn said slowly. "We all went back to the arcade, but Theo stayed in the room with Joanna and Austin. And you never came back down."

Was this really happening? Not only had Joanna been with Theo, not only had she been with Austin, but the three of them had hooked up together? In a threesome? No way. It was too insane.

Or was it?

Everyone from the honeymoon party was now gathered around except Austin and Wyatt. "Wow, that's going to leave a mark!" Uncle Robert said.

"Not the time!" Joanna hissed at him.

Uncle Robert rolled his eyes and gave everyone a "what's her problem?" look.

It wasn't over, yet. This was a disaster, but nobody knew Joanna was my fake girlfriend. I could still hold my story together.

"How could you!" I demanded of Joanna. "After we brought you on the honeymoon trip? After you were in all the wedding photos? After you gave a speech at the wedding?"

"Leave her alone!" Theo tossed down his drinks and moved between us. "You've always been a shitty boyfriend to her. This is as much your fault as it is hers."

"Excuse me?" I replied.

Theo grabbed a handful of my shirt, and leaned in close enough to whisper without anyone noticing. "Hit me. Make it real. I'll be the bad guy. It'll protect your story." Then he shoved me so hard I nearly stumbled in the sand.

I stared at him in confusion. Theo knew Joanna was faking being my girlfriend? I wondered when that had come up. But at least he was on my side, theoretically.

"Come on, big man!" he practically spat at me. "Or are you too afraid to shout at someone your own size?"

It was all too much for me. Everyone in my family, everyone gathered around us, now thought my girlfriend was cheating on me with this man. There was also the very real anger and jealousy I felt at Theo as he puffed up his chest. I took two steps forward, pulled back my fist, and slugged him in the jaw.

Pain flared in my knuckles, enough to make me double over and cradle my wrist. Holy shit, punching someone hurt . Why didn't they show that in the movies?

Theo staggered backward, then touched his jaw with his fingers. "I've taken better punches playing flag football."

I struck out with my other arm, a vicious backhand that knocked Theo sideways and caused everyone to flinch.

"Stop it!" Joanna shrieked while grabbing my arm. "Don't do this!"

She made a convincing picture: I couldn't tell if she was faking it, or being serious. I loomed over Theo, balling my hands into fists at my side.

"How could you do this?" I yelled at him.

Theo let out a roar and tackled me in the gut, sending us both to the sand. I tried to punch him again, but he was on top of me and was pinning one arm to the side.

"This is going great!" he whispered with a quick flash of a grin. "I think they're buying it!"

"You slept with her?" I roared at him, my own anger slipping out more than before.

That caught him off guard enough to loosen his grip on my arm, and I punched him in the jaw again. He groaned and shifted his weight, allowing me to roll him sideways and get on top.

"You're supposed to be a friend of our family!" I screamed at him. "What kind of a friend does this?!"

"I care about her!" Theo shouted back.

That gave me a moment of hesitation. Was he still acting?

"Stop it!" Joanna yelled, grabbing my arm and trying to pull me away. "Don't do this!"

"What the fuck!" Austin suddenly said. He and Wyatt were coming down the walkway to the beach.

"We know about you two!" Wanda said, pointing at him. "I saw what you and Joanna did!"

Theo reached for my face to get me off of him, and I shoved his hand aside. The two of us resumed scrambling for position, throwing half-hearted punches that never quite connected.

And then Austin was diving on us, shoving me off Theo. I saw red, and without thinking I threw a punch at the newcomer, connecting solidly with his stomach and doubling him over. I kicked out with my sandal, catching him on the shoulder and knocking him onto his back on the sand.

"What'd I do?" Austin groaned.

"Bro, what the fuck!" Theo shouted, shoving me hard in the chest.

Before we could devolve into a real fight again, the other men in the group rushed forward and pulled us apart. Wyatt grabbed Austin, Clark and Bradyn held Theo back, and Uncle Robert was the one to pin my arms behind my back.

"That's definitely going to leave a mark," Uncle Robert muttered behind me.

"FUCK OFF!" I shouted at him.

"Wow, what crawled up your ass? I'm talking about your black eye."

"Everyone stop!" Joanna shouted, jumping in the middle once more. "I can explain everything."

"Joanna…" I began.

"No," she shook her head at me. "I'm tired of lying, Landon. I can't keep doing it. I'm going to tell them all the truth."

To my surprise, it felt like a weight was lifting off my shoulders. We could stop lying. We could tell the truth about everything and all of this would finally end. After two weeks of this, it was very nearly a relief.

Joanna kept her eyes locked onto mine while she spoke. "I first slept with Theo two weeks ago."

Marisa let out a dramatic wail.

"It was totally a coincidence that he ended up being the best man at the wedding," Joanna continued. "We met on a dating app. Just a sick twist of fate. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

It was actually kind of a relief to hear her say it, especially since I'd had my suspicions since the wedding. She slept with Theo. It started before I even met her.

And despite all of that , I thought, she still wanted to hook up with me this morning .

"Same old Teddy," someone muttered behind me.

"Typical himbo," someone else replied. "Good looking, but nothing going on upstairs. Didn't even consider how it would affect anyone else."

Joanna must have heard that, because she turned in that direction. "All of you are wrong about Theo! He's not some idiot like you think he is. He's a dentist in Chicago!"

There were some chuckles at that. I wanted to join them. Teddy Manafort, a dentist? He'd been a friend of my little brother for a long time, and I just couldn't picture it.

"It's true!" Joanna insisted. "I'll prove it to you." She pulled out her phone and began typing. "I only have one bar of signal. For fuck's sake…"

"We don't have to do this, Joanna…" Theo said.

"No! I do have to do this! AH HAH!" Joanna held out her phone screen and slowly turned in a circle so everyone could see. "Now who's laughing?"

The photo was from an official dentist's website. Theo was posing for a photo wearing green scrubs, and the caption read: Theodore Manafort D.D.S..

"I'll be damned," I said.

"He's not just any dentist! He's the dentist for the Chicago Blackhawks!" Joanna added. "He gave me a blood-covered Bedard jersey last week!"

"You didn't wash the blood off first?" Uncle Robert asked.

"No!" Joanna shot back. "I want blood on the jersey! Yes, hockey fans are nuts! I don't care! All that matters is that Theo is a dentist! He's the sweetest, most genuine person here. At the drop of a hat, he would give anyone the shirt off his back and ask for nothing in return. And all of you have been treating him like a drunk Golden Retriever who does tricks for your amusement."

Joanna pointed a finger at the crowd, still turning in a circle. "You all… all of you are… you…"

Her gaze locked with mine, and I could see the complex maelstrom of emotions going on in her heart. That stare conveyed a lot to me. Information I so desperately needed before now.

"I'm sorry for lying about it," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Then she sprinted up the beach before we could see her cry.

I took a step to follow her, but my mom put an arm up to block me.

"Right now, everyone needs to take a deep breath," Mom told me. "Let her go."

Against my better judgment, I did.