They pulled up to Stefan and Jordan’s and Landon took her hand, walking into the house. Everyone was there — not just some of them, all of them. “Where’s Joshua?”

“In the back bedroom,” Jason told him. “He needs you guys badly.”

“Will you be okay?” Landon asked Bree.

“She’ll be fine.” Stefan and Jordan’s youngest daughter, Charlie, took her hand. “We’re going shopping.”

“We are?” Bree looked at her.

“Yes, it’s on me.” Stefan smiled, handing her his credit card. “I’m Stefan Santorno, Landon’s grandfather.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Bree smiled, shaking his hand.

“Bree, is it?” Lily put her hand out. “I’m Lily. My dads are Heath and Caleb.”

“That would be us.” Caleb extended his hand.

“Oh, wow.” Bree looked up at him.

“I know, huh?” Heath smiled at his handsome husband.

“So, this is Landon’s girl,” Lorenzo said. “You are very beautiful.”

Charlie smiled as Bree stood there with her mouth hanging open. She pushed her jaw up. “I know. It happens a lot to him.”

Reece smiled. “It’s good to meet you, Bree.”

“I’m Phoebe.” Phoebe hugged her.

Bree couldn’t believe the number of good-looking guys in one room, and they just kept introducing themselves one after the other.

“You guys are overwhelming her. Hi, I’m Kat.”

“Yeah, so, mall time.” Phoebe grabbed Bree’s hand.

“Hold on a second. We haven’t gotten to meet her yet.” Jay and Greg came in from out back.

Bree could see Landon in his eyes. “He looks just like you.”

“Thank you.” Jay hugged her. “So, you know who we are, what we all do.” Jay motioned around the room.

“Yes, I do.” Bree nodded.

“I like her,” Greg said.

“This is my fault.” Andrei ran a hand through his hair. “Joshua is hurting because of who I am.”

“Joshua is hurting because of a girl, Mr. Panchenko, and the way she thinks, not because of you,” Bree told him.

“You do not care who I am, or what my husband and I do?” Andrei studied her.

Bree looked at the man standing next to him and recognized him right away. Vince Markov. “No, I don’t. You save lives; if you have to take others to do that…”

“Okay, guys, come on. I wanna go shopping.” Phoebe dragged Bree out of the house with Katiana, Katarina, Lily, and Charlie right on their heels.

Stefan sighed. “Let’s hope Joshua can recover from this.”

“He will.” Jason sounded convinced. “He’s a Reynolds.”

Landon crawled into bed with Joshua and pulled him over. He was still crying, and he pulled him against his chest, holding him tight. “God, I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Joshua.”

“She said I was sick.” Joshua cried.

“You are not sick!” Landon took his face in his hands. “If you are, then I am. Hell, we all are. You and I know better than a lot of people that there is no black and white. Some people were not meant to walk this Earth and we put them where they belong: under it.”

Joshua cried and Landon held him. God, he hated seeing him like this. He had finally opened up his heart to someone else and it had gotten ripped out and stepped on.

Katiana watched Bree shop. She was short, maybe topped out at five-foot-four. Her hair was loosely up on her head and she wore jeans and a T-shirt. Right now she was looking through a sales rack. She wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, and at this point Kat had wished she was. Bree Sinclair was adorable, which made it worse.

Landon hadn’t even looked her way when he had come in the house — he walked right by her right after he made sure Bree was okay. The jealousy was hitting her hard. Landon was supposed to want her, and only her, until she was ready to take him for herself. God, she knew what that sounded like. She sounded like a bitch.

The other part was what Paige had found so disgusting in Joshua. Bree couldn’t have cared less. She had actually been nice to all of them. This was bad… this was so bad.

“She’s cute.” Phoebe watched Bree shopping. “I like her.”

“I wish I could find something wrong with her.” Katiana sighed.

“How’s Joe?” Katarina asked snidely.

“Oh, shut up,” Katiana snapped at her.

“Meow! I like her too, she seems to like Landon a lot.”

“He likes her a lot. To bring her home to meet the family? Big step.” Phoebe could tell that Bree was doing the mental math in her head for her clothes. “Bree, just get it. Trust me, my grandfather isn’t poor.”

“I just don’t want to take advantage of him.” Bree blushed. “He’s very nice.”

“Don’t forget hot too,” Lily pointed out.

“I wasn’t going to say it.” Bree blushed. “But since you did, I’ll just agree.”

Lily took her hand. “You get everything?”

“Yep. I don’t know how long Landon wants to stay, so if I need more, I’ll go shopping again.”

“And I will be happy to come with you.” Phoebe laughed. “Let’s get back.”

Bree had dropped her bags off and went out to the pond. It was truly beautiful out here. She noticed a guy on the other side of the pond skipping rocks. She walked over and sat down next to him. “Joshua?”

Josh looked up and tried to smile. “Hey. You’re Bree, right?”

“Yes, the cheese.” Bree looked out over the water. “Where’s Landon?”

“He went to get me a drink. Thanks for coming with him.” Joshua leaned back and wrapped his arms around his legs.

“She’s wrong, you know,” Bree told him. “I know what happened, and she’s wrong.”

“I just thought, for once, I was moving on and finding someone who accepted me, my parents… and then…” Joshua trailed off. “She called me sick.” Joshua sniffled.

“You are not sick.” Bree took his face in her hands. “Some people don’t understand, Joshua. That’s all. They have one way of seeing things, and no matter how much you argue, they won’t budge. I don’t know you well, but I see it in your eyes. You are a very caring and loving person.”

“I can see why Landon cares about you.”

Bree blushed and backed away. “Sorry, I just get emotional sometimes.”

“Don’t be. You’re feisty.” Joshua chuckled.

Bree arched a brow. “Feisty?”

“That’s what Landon called you the first time he met you.”

“He was so annoying.”

Joshua noticed Landon coming back and he glanced at Bree. “I’ll let you guys spend some time together.”

“You don’t have to —”

“I’m good, Bree. Thanks.” Joshua hugged her.

Bree watched Josh stop and talk to Landon. They hugged, and then Landon joined her. Her heart was aching for Joshua, the pain he was in. She saw him with Katarina on the back porch and they hugged.

“Hey. You met Joshua.”

“I did. He’s sweet.”

“Do I have competition?” Landon arched a brow.

Bree took his hand. “Are you serious? He’s gorgeous, but he’s not you.”

Landon blushed and pulled her against his chest, cupping her face. He searched her eyes and leaned in to kiss her. Bree wrapped her arms around his neck as he picked her up.

Landon broke the kiss, smiling. “I don’t know what you said, but he seems better.”

“I just told him the truth: that Paige is insane.”

Bree was special, and for once, Landon felt like he had a chance at happiness. “Come on.”