Ice Cold - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Wren Ridley
Ever since Landon showed up in my dorm room on Sunday night, the two of us didn't spend a night apart. Whether we were sleeping at his dorm or mine, we were always together. I even drove him to therapy on Wednesday afternoon after a slight argument about it. He didn't want me acting as his chauffeur, but it was no bother to me. I drove him to practice afterward, kissing him lightly as he got out of my car.
"Have fun at practice my angel," I said as he grabbed his bag from the back seat.
Landon scoffed, but I could see the blush rising on his cheeks. He acted like he hated terms of endearment, but I had been trying different ones to see what stuck and he blushed every time. He wanted to hate it, but he secretly liked it.
"That's almost as bad as the last one," he said, standing outside the car and talking to me through the open window.
"I thought you liked pookie?"
"Absolutely not."
He absolutely did. I would have to start using that one more often.
Landon shook his head at me and made his way toward the practice facility. Once he was inside, I could move onto my plans for the afternoon.
Jess had been kind enough to give me some insight on this Cooper guy. Apparently, he lived in the same building as Jess, next to Landon's building, and lived with one of the other guys on the hockey team. According to Jess, Cooper and his roommate never locked their door. They were both too stupid to remember their keys, so they just always left it unlocked.
Also, according to Jess, Cooper still had to attend the team practices even though the coach wasn't allowing him on the ice. So, at this time, the room was empty.
I had debated in my head what I was going to do about this Cooper situation. My first instinct was to slash his tires, but that would have been too difficult. It wasn't like I could just slash someone's tires in broad daylight, and my nights were spent with Landon. I wasn't going to leave Landon one night so I could go seek revenge on this guy, so the logical thing was to do it when I was going to be away from Landon anyway, and when I was guaranteed not to get interrupted.
This time of day, it was quite busy on campus. People were going in and out of the dorms constantly, so it wasn't hard to get inside the dorm. Even if it was difficult to get in, Jess could have come to open the door for me.
I parked my car in a far spot in the lot, grabbed my bag, then snuck in the dorm past someone who was entering and made my way to the stairwell. Jess had told me Cooper's room was on the third floor, the last door on the left.
Luckily when I got to the third floor, the hallway was empty. I hurried down the hall, light on my feet, and made my way to the last door on the left. Sure enough, the door was unlocked.
I opened the door slowly, poking my head in to ensure no one was in the room before I entered.
The room was a mess, and I wasn't even exaggerating. There were clothes all over the floor, open bags of chips on the beds, trash around the trash can from these guys trying to throw it in and missing. It smelled foul like they hadn't done their laundry all semester.
I didn't even want to set my bag down anywhere, fearing the mess and stink would follow me out of here. But I had to do what I set out to because I couldn't just let what Landon had told me slide. The poor roommate would be collateral damage, but I couldn't find it in me to care.
I set my bag down and got to work.
First, I approached the desk on the left side of the room that had a laptop sitting on top of it and opened it. The screen lit up and John Cooper's name greeted me. Now that I knew which side of the room was his, I got started.
I couldn't go too far or do anything that would let Cooper trace this back to Landon. He would probably end up messing with Landon even more if he suspected that this had anything to do with him, so I had to keep it completely impersonal even though I wanted to warn him off of Landon. At least he would have to suffer a little.
I went to where my bag was and took the first bag out.
After class and while Landon was at therapy, I went to the pet store and bought bags of all the different kinds of bugs they sold to feed reptiles. I had crickets, roaches, worms, and flies.
The first bag I picked out had crickets, so I let those loose in Cooper's closet. I pulled out more bags and let the insects loose in various areas of the room. I tried to keep to Cooper's side of the room, but it probably wouldn't matter. Oh well.
Finally, I let loose some roaches and worms on his bed and that was the last of the bags I had. I didn't stay too long after that. I had to get out of there to keep from getting caught. Not that I wanted to stay long with all those creatures in there anyway. That room probably already had bugs before I let mine loose.
When my work was done, I went to the library back on my campus and started working on things for my finals. Only a couple of my classes had actual exams while the others had essays and projects. I was pretty much done with everything except for the exams.
And then it was time to pick Landon up from practice. I parked outside the facility and waited as other members of his team walked out. I tapped on the steering wheel as I waited until he eventually came out, looking freshly showered, his hair damp and his cheeks flushed.
I unlocked the door as he walked up to the car. After he put his bag in the back seat, he got in the passenger's seat with a tired sigh.
"They don't have hair dryers in there?" I asked, turning in my seat to face him.
He shot me a quizzical look.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"You're always coming out of there with damp hair," I said. "It's not good to do that when it's cold."
It was December now. The air was frigid.
Landon looked at me with disbelief like he couldn't tell if I was kidding or not. I clearly wasn't. It was freezing outside. The ends of his hair were a little frozen from his short walk from the building to the car, and they only began to thaw when he got inside.
"No, Wren, they don't have a hair dryer in there," he said slowly.
"Hm," I hummed. "Well, they should."
Just as I looked away from him, I saw Cooper walking out of the building with two other guys. I couldn't help the grin that creeped on my face at the thought of him going back to his dorm to the mess I created.
"That's Cooper, right?" I asked Landon, motioning toward him.
Landon nodded. "Yeah, why?"
"No reason," I said. "Are you buckled, sweetheart?"
Landon shook his head at me and buckled his seatbelt.
As soon as he was buckled, I started driving. I was sure to drive slowly by Cooper, watching him as we went by. He looked at me, his face filled with confusion, and I waved before leaving the parking lot.
"What the hell was that?" Landon snapped. "Don't do that shit."
"I was just being friendly."
"No, you weren't. You just want to start shit."
"He's the one who started shit if I remember what you told me correctly," I pointed out.
I hated that guy, and even the thought of him made my insides burn with rage. To take advantage of anyone the way he had was unforgivable. But the fact that he did it to Landon made it personal. Not only did he kiss him against his will, but he continued to mess with him, and that was downright idiotic. He was lucky Landon didn't go around punching people anymore.
"I can handle him myself," Landon replied, turning his head on the headrest to glance at me.
He didn't really look annoyed with me. I could always tell when he was actually annoyed versus when he was trying but failing to be. He liked to act like he didn't like me worrying about him, but it was a new and welcome thing for him to have someone worrying about him.
"What do you want for dinner?" I asked him after a few moments. I was driving toward the Brown campus since we stayed at Landon's last night.
Landon shrugged in response and looked out the window.
"We could get takeout," I suggested. "Or I can bring you to the dining hall."
"I don't want to waste my money on take out every night," he said.
"Well, obviously, I'd pay," I replied to which he rolled his eyes.
Landon hated when I spent money on him. He thought I was pitying him or something because of his situation, which was not the case. Not only did I have money from my parents, but I got a little extra from helping some other students with their work. Landon couldn't even have a job because of hockey.
Landon glared at me, but continued to listen to the takeout suggestions I was making until we finally decided on one. We agreed on salads, which was probably a good thing for me if the two of us planned on doing anything tonight. Once we picked up the food, we went back to my dorm where James was typing away on his laptop at his desk.
James turned to face us when we walked in.
"Did you bring me dinner?" James asked.
"No, why would I?" I asked him, setting the food down on my desk.
"I texted you!" he exclaimed. "I have to finish this paper tonight.  I can't leave this spot for even a minute."
I shrugged. "I'm sure we'll have some leftovers you can have."
James rolled his eyes. "Gee. Thanks." He turned back to his work.
"You should probably go to the library anyway," I said, motioning for Landon to sit down on the desk chair.
"Is this you trying to kick me out?" James asked, still facing his computer. "Now that you have Landon back, you want to make up for how mopey you were when he was gone?"
"I was not mopey."
James turned around with a wide grin and looked straight at Landon.
"He's such a fucking liar," he said to him. Landon looked between the two of us with a strange expression. "He was so not himself the whole time. He was avoiding me and Stella. He stole my vodka!"
Landon looked at me with wide eyes. "You what?"
"That's enough out of you," I snapped, pointing at James. "Don't you have an assignment to finish while we eat our delicious food?"
James narrowed his eyes at me then shut his laptop and stood up.
"You know what? I'm going to go get dinner then go to the library," he said, gathering his things.
"That sounds perfect," I replied, happy he would be leaving.
"You're so mean sometimes," he muttered before leaving the room.
"You were drinking alcohol?" Landon asked as soon as we were alone.
"He exaggerates," I assured him. "It was a sip."
"Do you wanna, like, talk about it?" Landon asked awkwardly.
I paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. I didn't want Landon worrying about my behavior from when we were separated. It was a useless thing to worry about, really.
"There's nothing to talk about," I eventually replied. "What I would like to do is eat dinner."
I grabbed James's chair and dragged it over to sit next to Landon. The two of us ate quietly for a little bit.
"Do you like your food?" I asked, noticing he was eating slowly, pushing the food around.
He looked up from the desk. "Yeah, it's good."
"Do you still have problems eating certain things?"
He looked surprised at my question, and I hoped it wasn't insensitive of me. I wanted to be more careful about what I said to him. Thankfully, he didn't look angry with me.
"Sometimes, I guess," he replied. "But therapy is helping with the whole self-hatred thing. And with getting my father out of my head."
"You know, you can talk to me about these things. If you need to or want to."
Landon stared at me for a moment then nodded. "I know."
The two of us eventually got onto the topic of the impending winter break which was only two weeks away at this point.
"I have to stay in the dorms," Landon told me. "I still have hockey. I'll have Christmas week off."
"And what are you doing for Christmas?"
Landon leaned back in his chair, done with dinner. There was still some left on his plate, but I was surprised at how much of it he actually ate. I didn't comment on it.
"I don't know. Probably spend it with the Hansons. I know they'll want to go to church, but I don't think I can. And then they'll feel bad and stay home with me even though they really wanna go."
"Why don't you just come over to my house while they go to church?" I asked. I said it without thinking, but I didn't take it back. I just subconsciously assumed that the two of us would spend Christmas together.
"You want me to come over for Christmas?" he asked, disbelief clear in his tone, his eyebrows lifting.
"Yeah, why not?"
"Would your parents be okay with that? After the whole Thanksgiving weekend thing?"
"Fox pissed them off that weekend, not you," I reminded him. "I'm sure as soon as I tell them I'm bringing my boyfriend over for Christmas, they'll be thrilled."
Landon's eyes widened. "Boyfriend?"
"That's what we are, aren't we?"
Landon grinned. "Yeah, that's what we are."
Then I remembered I hadn't even told my parents I was bisexual. Now I had to decide if I should tell them or if introducing Landon as my boyfriend was the best way to go about it.
"So, you'll come over?" I asked in a hopeful voice.
"Yeah, if it's okay."
"It will be," I assured him. "The only problem is Fox."
"I think me and him are okay," Landon said. "I think."
"I'll believe it when I see it."
"Seriously, I think he's more concerned about you being okay than he is about me."
I had no idea what the two of them said to each other, but it was hard for me to believe that Fox was just suddenly okay with my relationship with Lanodn. He was so stubborn and set in his was. It took a lot to change his mind, and I wasn't sure that one talk with Landon had done it. As long as he could be civil during Christmas, it wouldn't be an issue.
"What about Olivia?" I asked him, suddenly remembering his sister still being stuck in that house with their parents.
"I'll have to see her while I'm home," he replied. "But she'll be stuck with our parents for Christmas."
Landon and I cleaned up and got ready for bed after that, though I knew we didn't plan on sleeping yet. I took an extra-long shower, getting myself ready for whatever could happen next.
When I got back to the room, Landon was lying in my bed, one hand behind his head propping himself up. He looked me up and down, his eyes catching on the towel wrapped around my waist. I grinned at him and got up on the bed. His eyes widened.
"What are you doing?" he asked, his eyes wandering down to my bare chest.
"Whatever you'll let me," I replied.
Landon brought his eyes back to my face, his stare intense. He pulled me down on top of him and caught my mouth on his. His lips moving against mine were hurried like he was worried I'd slip away if he took his time.
The towel was barely covering me anymore, so I used one hand to throw it on the floor and situated myself better on top of Landon. My lips eventually matched the pace of his, and I could feel him hardening beneath me.
Landon grabbed me by the back of my thighs and flipped us over so now I was on my back beneath him. He moved his mouth to my neck as I pulled at his shirt, hiking it up until he eventually pulled away long enough to take it off.
"You can take your pants off too," I said in a teasing tone.
He was about to oblige, but paused for a moment.
"Wait, what about James?" he asked.
"Is this you asking for a threesome with James?" I sat up.
Landon glared at me, shoving me lightly back down.
"No," he said. "What if he comes back while we're..."
"He won't," I assured him. "He'll be out for a while."
Landon didn't look convinced, but he took the rest of his clothes off anyway. While he did that, I reached into my nightstand to get a condom and lube then handed them over to him.
He stared down at the things in his hand then looked at me.
"Do you need me to, uh, get you ready?" he asked awkwardly.
The look on his face was so sweet I almost laughed, but I stopped myself. I didn't want him thinking I was making fun of him.
"I did in the shower," I told him. "But I'd never say no to your hands on me."
He rolled his eyes, but grinned down at me as he opened the bottle of lube.
Then he slowly put his hands on me, and I felt like I couldn't breathe for a moment. He only had one finger in me, and it was enough to interrupt my breaths.
"Is this okay?" Landon asked. This time I did laugh.
"Yes," I said, grinning. "It's perfect."
This encouraged Landon to keep going. He added more fingers, leaving me squirming beneath him, until he finally hiked my knees up closer to my chest and entered me.
I let out a loud moan as he moved in and out, looking directly into my eyes the whole time. It was the most intimate sex I'd ever had. I didn't think I'd ever looked someone in the eyes like this because it never mattered to me who I was with like it did now.
When the two of us finished, Landon cleaned us up with a cloth and threw the condom away then got back into bed with me, kissing the top of my head as he pulled me close to him. I kissed his chest before laying my head on it.
The two of us stayed like that all night, and we were sleeping peacefully until the next morning when we both woke up to banging on the door.
"James, open the fucking door!" Anthony yelled, slamming his hand on the door.
I picked my head up from Landon's chest and looked over at James who woke with a startled look on his face.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"What did you do?" I asked.
James didn't answer. He just got up from bed with a sigh and went over to open the door. As soon as the door was opened, Anthony pushed his way inside and shut it behind him, pushing James further into the room with his hands on his chest.
Landon and I shared looks of confusion before turning our attention back to the spectacle happening in the middle of the room.
"You are obnoxious and so infuriating!" Anthony yelled, his hands in fists. "And you have no right! No right!"
"Anthony-"
"Shut up, James!"
It was sort of comical watching the two of them argue. Anthony was so much smaller than James. Looking up at him probably strained his neck.
"You have no right butting into my life!" Anthony continued. "Warning guys away from me at the bar? Seriously? What the hell is the matter with you!"
"Can we talk somewhere-"
"I don't get it. You don't even want me!" Anthony exclaimed.
I nearly laughed at that. Of course, James wanted him. That was obvious.
"You-" Anthony started again, but was quickly cut off by James cupping his face in his hands and planting his lips on his.
Anthony's eyes went wide as James kissed him, but he did nothing to pull away.
"Oh shit," Landon whispered.
James pulled away, keeping Anthony's face in his hands.
"Can we talk somewhere else?" James asked.
"I..." Anthony trailed. "I have to go to work."
He stepped away from James and looked over at the two of us.
"Just pretend you didn't see this whole thing," he said to us, going toward the door. "I'm sure I'll see you at the coffee shop later."
"Sure thing, my favorite barista," I replied.
Anthony sighed and turned his attention back to James.
"You I will talk to later." And with that, he basically vanished from the room.
"Well, that was entertaining," I said as James walked back toward his bed. Landon elbowed me lightly, but he had a slight grin on his face from my comment.
"Not one more word," James mumbled, dropping himself face first onto his mattress.
Landon and I got out of bed and got ready for our run, which was now something we did together every morning.
And spending all my time with Landon was something I was afraid I was already used to.