Landon (In Safe Hands Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

you’re so concerned I might not
show, you can relax. I have a car. It’s being repaired. I’ll have it back in less
than a week.”
    “Good
to know. Get your stuff. I’ll run you home.”
    I
couldn’t have shocked her more if I’d dropped my pants and shook my ass in her
face. “You don’t need to do that, I…”
    “Just
get your stuff, Ms. Difficult.”
    After
considering for a moment, she huffs, “Fine, thank you.” Well, that sounded like
it killed her. “For some reason, I pictured a sports car,” she says with a
small smile as we settle into my sedan.
    “Because
I give off a spoiled rich guy vibe?”
    “No,
your house does,” she replies with a giggle.
    “I
only inherited it a few months ago.” Why am I defending myself? I’ve never done
without anything, but I wasn’t exactly rolling in riches either. For some
reason, I don’t want her to see me as some rich douche.
    I
try to keep the frown off my face as she leads me into a neighborhood I
wouldn’t want to walk through unarmed. The houses are dilapidated, the yards
overgrown. A car alarm blares, almost drowning out the sound of a police siren.
“Turn here,” she orders. “It’s the apartment on the end.”
    “Thanks
for the ride,” she says, and pops open the door, eager to get out of the car.
    The
sound of my door slamming makes her turn around. “What are you doing?”
    “Walking
you to your door and making sure you get in okay. This isn’t the best
neighborhood.”
    I’m
rewarded with a long suspicious gaze before she relents and heads across a
crumbling courtyard. “Do you live here alone?”
    “No.”
    She
doesn’t elaborate, but her door opens as she approaches and a teenage boy gives
me a cautious look. “Everything okay, Zo?”
    “Yep.
This is my boss, Landon. He gave me a ride home.” She waves him into the house,
and he gives me a terse nod before retreating. “Thanks again for bringing me
home. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says, making it clear she has no intention of
inviting me inside.
    “Lock
your door.” The warning leaps from my mouth before I can stop it, and she
laughs.
    Her
voice softens. “I’ve lived here for over a year. I think I know to lock up.
Good night, Landon.”
    “Have
a good night, Zoe.”
    Though
I barely know her, I feel guilty leaving her in such a dangerous place. I’m
glad she isn’t alone, but who is the boy? He’s far too old to be her son. Her
brother, perhaps? Maybe she still lives with her parents and a sibling? No
wonder she seemed so happy with the twelve dollars per hour I offered her. Now
that I see where she lives, that she isn’t just a student looking for a little
extra cash, I’ll have to pay her more. Whatever I can do to help her get out of
that area.
    I’m
too restless to get any work done when I return home. Since it’s a warm night,
a run sounds like just the thing. Throwing on a pair of shorts, I grab a bottle
of water and head out the door.
    It’s
almost a mile to the canal and as always, I can smell the water before I get
there. I actually prefer the trail along White River, but lately it’s become a
hangout for drug dealers and the homeless. After three reports of people
getting jumped and robbed in the last week, the well- lit, heavily patrolled
trail along the canal is a better choice.
    A
few pale stars glow overhead as I jog along, lost in my thoughts. I can’t wait
to get out of here, to move to a more rural area. I’m no country boy or farmer,
but I’d like to see the stars at night, smell grass and trees instead of the
exhaust being belched out of trucks, or garbage piled by the street.
    I
have the funds to go anywhere I want. More than I could ever spend in a
lifetime, but I don’t think that truth has sunk in yet. I’ve always had enough
to survive. My parents had generous life insurance policies that paid off when
I lost them in a car crash six years ago, but nothing compared to what my uncle
Larry left me, the only remaining member of the