“I can't do it.”

Landon could feel Velez looking at him, but he didn't turn to face him.

“You serious?”

“Serious,” he sighed, nodding his head.

“I fucking knew it. It's the girl, isn't it?” Velez chuckled.

“It's the girl.”

The girl in question was standing on the back of a booth, shaking her ass to a heavy bass line. Landon had seen Tori dance before, knew she had moves, but it was different now. He'd seen exactly what those moves looked like sans clothing.

The resort's night club had seemed like a good place for a clandestine meeting with Velez. Since his little breakdown in the town square, Landon and Tori hadn't been apart. They'd gone back to the hotel room, lugging her roughly two tons of souvenirs behind them, and spent the rest of the day and all the next there. Just talking. Just resting. Just exploring.

Not that everything was fixed, though. He still couldn't sleep, and the first thing he'd done the next morning was bang out a couple rails of coke. Just to take the edge off withdrawals. He felt better, which really wasn't a good thing. Doing drugs just to feel normal. He was still, and probably always would be, a bad guy. But just maybe he wasn't the worst guy.

And only the worst kind of guy would set up an innocent girl and make her unknowingly transport drugs for him.

He couldn't do it. He was an idiot, thinking he could just bring her to a foreign country and sleep with her and use her. He should've gotten them separate rooms. Maybe even separate hotels. How could he have possibly known she'd be the one to wiggle past his defenses? How could he have ever guessed that some chick who worked for his brother, some neighbor, could be the excitement he'd been looking for?

It made him nervous. When would it end? When would the feeling go away? Because feelings always went away. She would realize what a bastard he truly was, or he would get bored. Fuck up. Do something stupid to ruin it all. Landon had no illusions about the kind of person he was, and thus had made no attempts to offer himself to her. Yet still, he liked Tori, and he wanted to be around her, and he was scared of how it would all end.

“Man, this really fucks with my plans,” Velez sighed, and Landon finally glanced at him.

“I'm sorry. I can come back and try again, after I take her home,” he offered. “I'll just do it myself.”

“No, not that, I don't give a fuck about the coke,” his friend waved him away. “I meant my plans to sleep with her before you guys left.”

Landon smacked him across the back of his head.

“Fuck off. She thinks you're gone, anyway.”

“That does put a damper on things. I'm flying out tomorrow. You've got what, like three more days? Two?”

“Something like that.”

A busty redhead was walking across the room, eye-fucking Landon every step of the way. He stared right back for a moment, then mentally slapped himself.

Do not fuck this up. One slutty redhead isn't even worth half of the blonde-ish bombshell over there.

“Well, if this gig is off, then I really am out of here. Guess I won't see you again for a while,” Velez sighed as he turned to face Landon. “I gotta be honest – I'm glad you flaked out. This isn't for you, man. You were meant for greater shit.”

“I was meant for 'greater shit', what a horrifying thought,” Landon snorted as they shook hands.

“Keep yourself out of trouble, and keep an eye on hottie over there, alright? She's special.”

Landon glared, but he didn't argue as Velez started walking away.

I know she's special, that's my whole problem.

He started wading his way through the crowd towards where she'd been, but during his little talk with Velez, she'd jumped down from the booth. She was with a group of girls she'd made friends with, which normally Landon would think was hot, watching a bunch of chicks grind on each other. What wasn't hot, though, was the group of men they'd attracted, and among that group was the dude she'd been having dinner with the other night. He scowled and lurked around the back of their crowd.

“I haven't seen you in a while!” the guy was shouting over the music.

“Oh yeah?” she shouted back, still dancing from side to side. “Been busy! How was rafting?”

“Good, but it would've been funner if you'd been there!”

Landon rolled his eyes. “Funner” wasn't even a word, jesus.

“Probably,” Tori laughed.

“You leave in a few days, right?”

“Right.”

“We should hang out before then,” the guy continued. “I should get your info. Cali and Texas aren't all that far apart.”

Well, well, this was interesting. Landon was curious how she'd answer. Technically, they had no ties to each other, had made no real claims. Yet words had been spoken, feelings had been acknowledged. As he watched, she smiled slyly at the guy.

“Oh, you don't want my info,” she said while she pulled her hair up into a pony tail. “I'm bad news bears, sweetheart.”

“I think I'd like to decide that for myself, sweetheart,” dude laughed right back, then he took another step closer to her.

Landon snorted, over the whole scene. He didn't give Tori a chance to respond. She'd just barely opened her mouth when he sidled up to her, wrapped his arm around her waist, and proceeded to shove his tongue so far down her throat, he was pretty sure he could tell what she'd had for dinner.

“Hey,” he said, breathing heavy when he finally broke away from her. “I'm Landon. You are ... ?”

She blinked her eyes rapidly in stunned surprise, then burst out laughing.

“You know each other?” the guy asked.

“Saw her across the bar,” Landon said while shaking his head. “Thought she was hot. You were taking too long to make a move.”

“That's not cool, bro. You can't just grab -”

“I know him,” Tori interrupted, shoving at Landon's chest. “He's the guy I was telling you about, the one I came here with.”

“Oh. The doctor non-friend-friend?” the dude asked, looking Landon up and down.

“That's mister doctor non-friend-fuck-buddy-friend,” he corrected him.

“Stop it,” Tori hissed. “He's an asshole, don't pay attention to him. Landon, this is Chris, he plays football at A&M. Chris, this is Landon, he's ... an asshole.”

“Uh, cool,” Chris said, shaking hands with him. Landon still had a tight hold on Tori's waist, keeping her pressed to his side.

“Super duper cool. And hey, in case you didn't get the hint, she's leaving this club with me, so you can run along now,” he suggested.

“Landon!”

“Whatever,” Chris grumbled. “It was nice meeting you, Tori. Have a great rest of your vacation.”

The footballer melted into the crowd, disappearing from sight quickly. When Landon finally turned his attention back to Tori, she was having trouble maintaining the scowl on her face.

“Feel good about yourself?” she asked.

“Actually, yeah, I kinda do.”

“Why didn't you just piss on me? Would've been a quicker and easier way to mark your territory.”

“Ooohhh,” he moaned as he slid both hands over her hips. “Now we're finally getting somewhere. I knew you had a kinky side.”

“Seriously?”

He ignored her, kissing her instead, all while pushing her backwards. She was wearing a pair of tall wedges, making her almost equal to him in height, and she stumbled as they moved. When he finally maneuvered her into the hallway leading to the bathrooms, he came up for air.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said.

“Oh, I like surprises.”

“I know. Do you ever wear underwear?” he asked, squeezing her ass. She was wearing a skin tight, high waisted skirt which stopped about mid-way down her thighs. Her strappy tank top was also painted on her body, and all of it left very little to the imagination.

“No, because someone keeps throwing them all away. What's my surprise?”

“I don't care for that tone at all,” he growled, shoving her roughly against a wall.

“What tone? You said ...” her voice trailed off when he put his hands flat on the wall on either side of her head before putting his full weight against her. An intimidating pose, for sure. He loved watching as her breathing quickened.

“You like that kid?” he asked, jerking his head back towards the dance floor. She burst out laughing.

“You know, you're almost sexy when you're jealous,” she snickered. He smirked back at her, then used his right hand to cup her breast.

“Almost, huh. What will make me really sexy, then? Breaking his fucking face?”

“Please, he plays football, he could kick your ass.”

The hand moved away from her breast and traveled down her body, smoothing around to her back and working its way between her and the wall. Then down over her ass, pulling up the back of her skirt.

“You have very little faith in me,” he whispered, fingers working their way to the bare skin between her legs.

“What else did you expect?” she chuckled, then gasped when he made contact with a very slick surface. “Landon, we're in the middle-”

He swallowed her protests, kissing her hard. He didn't care if they were in public, or that people were staring at them as they moved in and out of the restrooms. He never cared about shit like that, not when he had something so good standing in front of him. He felt her hands against his chest, gripping his shirt in her clenched fists. He yanked her completely flush with him, rocking the bulge in his pants against her front.

He really had no shame, and a minute or two more, he would've yanked her into the men's room and fucked her in one of the stalls. And she would've let him, because one beautiful thing he'd learned about Tori was that once he turned her on, she would let him do anything he wanted.

Before he could do any of that, though, a shriek pierced through the night club. They stopped kissing and both turned to look at the dance floor. A second scream followed the first, and then the music was cut.

By the time there was a third shout, Landon was already running. Shoving and pushing his way through a now motionless crowd on the dance floor.

When he finally broke through the people, it was to a clearing in the middle of the room. A woman was on her knees, sobbing and screaming for help. A man was writhing and twitching on the ground, then while Landon watched, he gave one last spasm before going completely limp.

“What's going on?” he demanded, dropping to his knees next to the woman. She was still crying, mascara running down her face.

“I don't know,” she said in a British accent. “We were just ... just dancing and he just ... just fell.”

“Do you know his name?” Landon kept going, and he leaned over the man on the floor, snapping his fingers over his face. “Hey buddy! Are you okay!? Can you hear me!?”

He barely noticed Tori getting on the floor beside the woman and wrapping her arm around her shoulders.

“His name ... is ... is ... Tony,” she sniffled.

“Tony! Tony, are you awake?” Landon shouted, all while ripping open the guy's shirt. “Hey, chick, does Tony have a history of epilepsy?”

“I don't know, I just met him a couple days ago.”

“Did he take anything tonight? Drugs, prescription pills, anything?” he kept asking as he pressed his head to the unconscious man's chest.

“He ... uh ...” the woman glanced around the crowd nervously. Landon scowled and sat up. He grabbed her jaw and yanked her around to look her in the eye.

“Hey! Tony isn't breathing, so you better decide what's more important – getting in trouble, or letting someone fucking die?”

She started sobbing all over again.

“The guy said it was ecstasy,” she cried. “I told him not to take it! I told him!”

“Fuck,” Landon growled. “Tor – go make sure someone called an ambulance, see if this place keeps a doctor on staff. Take her with you.”

“No, I want to stay with my friend!” the girl insisted.

“Get the fuck outta here!” he shouted. She tried to argue more, but Tori was well practiced in dealing with unruly drunk people. She kicked off her heels and yanked the girl to her feet before dragging her into the crowd.

Shit, this was not good. The guy hadn't been breathing for a solid minute. Landon edged up right next to him and placed his left hand towards the bottom center of the dude's breast bone. Then he put his right hand on top of it, laced his fingers together, and started pumping his arms up and down. Rapidly, and hard enough he felt a rib bone crack.

“Ambulance is coming,” Tori sounded out of breath as she fell to the ground next to him. “And you're the only doctor, Dr. Edenhoff.”

After thirty compressions, he put his ear over the man's mouth. Still no air. Felt for a pulse, found a trembling one. So he tilted the man's head back, pinched his nose shut, and gave him two quick resuscitating breaths.

“What can I do to help?” Tori asked, watching as he worked.

“Nothing. Shut up and watch for the ambulance,” he replied through gritted teeth while he continued with the compressions.

“Is he gonna die?” she whispered.

“Not right this fucking moment, but he will if you don't let me concentrate!” he yelled at her.

At compression number thirty, he stopped to give more breaths, but just as he was checking the man's pulse, he sucked in a gasp of air. Tori gave a startled yelp and fell backwards, but Landon stayed right where he was.

“You had a seizure,” he spoke loudly and clearly while he stared down into the man's eyes. “You stopped breathing.”

His pupils were seriously dilated, but that was to be expected if he took ecstasy. He also seemed to be trying to speak, but he kept coughing. Landon decided to take a chance and he rolled the guy onto his side, helping him to hack up bile and phlegm.

“Can you tell me your name?” he asked. “How old are you?”

“T-T-Tony,” the guy gasped. “Twenty ... twenty ... twenty-three.”

“Okay, Tony, twenty-three,” Landon repeated. “Do you have any allergies you want the paramedics to know about?”

“P ... p ... p ...”

“Penicillin?”

“Y-yes,” Tony was still finding breathing difficult, and he pressed a hand to his chest.

“How else are you feeling? Numbness in your arms or legs? Chest pains?” Landon asked, feeling for his pulse again.

“My chest ... tight ... heart is fast ...” Tony gasped.

“I think you're in shock, Tony. You had a bad reaction to whatever was in those drugs. I need you to stay calm,” he instructed.

“They're here,” Tori's voice was suddenly at his back. “There's a stretcher coming.”

“You're gonna go to a hospital now. I'm gonna tell the paramedics what you told me. Just stay calm and everything will be okay.”

Landon stood to the side and let the paramedics do their job, then followed them out to the ambulance. He told them everything that had happened, everything he'd learned from the patient, then produced a plastic card he kept in his wallet which proved he was licensed to practice medicine by the Medical Board of California.

After the ambulance took off, the adrenaline rush which had been fueling him suddenly evaporated. People were slapping him on the back and congratulating him, but it all felt like noise to him. Static. He stumbled away from the crowd, shouting at everyone to fuck off. He finally got free from the club, made it a couple steps around the side of the building, then dropped to his butt. He leaned his back against the wall and took deep, calming breaths.

“You okay?”

She asks that a lot. I wonder if I'll ever start answering truthfully.

Landon didn't respond, just kept his hands pressed over his face. After a minute or two, he felt Tori sit down next to him.

“Don't say anything that's gonna annoy me,” he finally grumbled.

“Hey, I'm not saying a peep,” she replied. He scowled and finally looked over at her. She was staring up at the sky, smiling to herself.

“You look like an idiot.”

“Such a sweet talker.”

“You're not off the hook, you know,” he warned her. “Just cause some guy almost died doesn't mean I'm not getting laid.”

“Oh, don't worry. You are definitely getting laid, Dr. Edenhoff,” she chuckled.

“Shut up.”

“Pretty impressive, Landon,” she sighed, still not looking at him. “Up until that moment, I genuinely thought you didn't care about anyone but yourself.”

“I don't. I was just doing something I've been trained for years to do,” he replied. She shook her head.

“You heard screaming and ran. Not a cry for help, not someone asking for a doctor, just screaming. I was ready to bolt out the back door, thinking it was a gunman, but you? You ran straight towards it, didn't even hesitate. Same with that guy. I was standing there thinking he had Ebola or something, and you just dove right in and gave him CPR.”

“Just doing my job,” he whispered, joining her in gazing at the stars.

“I think,” she whispered back. “You're very good at your job, doctor. And I think you like it very much.”

“I think I do, too,” he said.

When he was dealing with his own personal demons and bullshit, it was easy to forget he liked being a doctor, or that he was actually a good doctor. It had been a long time since he'd done something like that, since he'd saved a life. He hadn't thought it was in him anymore.

“Can I say something that might offend you?”

“Oh, jesus.”

“I'm proud of you,” she said softly. “Not that you need me to be, or even want anybody to be, but I am. I'm proud of what you just did, and I'm proud I get to say you're my friend.”

Landon took a deep, shuddering breath, then he reached between them. Grabbed her arm and pulled it away from her body. Found her hand and linked their fingers together.

“Thanks for that, Victoria.”