Page 66 of A Million Times, Yes

That face.

That fucking body.

The way she moved so confidently around the room.

“Let me know if you need anything, Bettie. I’ll be right next door.” She was holding a small plastic cup as she started to turn and walk toward me.

There was no reason to stay hiding. Not now. Not when, at any second, she was going to walk into the hallway and see me.

I rounded the edge of the doorway and spread out my arms to either side, blocking it so she couldn’t get through. A smile covered my face as I looked at her. “Maya ...”

It took almost no time for her expression to change. For her eyes to widen. For her lips to part. For her chest to rise and stay high. “Jordan!” Her voice was low but sharp. “You can’t be in here.” She pointed toward the hallway behind me. “Come on. Out. Now.” When I didn’t move, she added, “Please.”

“But Icanbe in here.” My smile stayed wide, my focus only on her.

She stopped directly in front of me, and I inhaled her scent—more subtle than normal, but still present. An untrained nose wouldn’t have picked it up; I was just so tuned in to her.

“No. You really can’t.” She turned around and said, “Bettie, I’m so sorry about this, I’ll be right back.” And then she turned back to face me. “Follow me out into the hallway.”

She attempted to get by, but I wasn’t budging.

Here I thought the universe had brought her to me. Now I knew that was bullshit. The real reason was staring me right in the fucking face.

“I want to talk to you, and I don’t see why we can’t do that in here,” I told her.

Her hands went to her hips. “Do you have any idea how inappropriate you’re being right now? This is a patient’s room, Jordan. There are rules—”

“I’m not being inappropriate, Maya. Not at all, in fact. Not in front of you and not in front of her.” I nodded toward the back of the room.

She studied my face. “How can you say that?” She was trying to keep her voice down. “You came to my work to see me—how did you even find me here when I never told you what rehab center I work at?” She put her hand up. “Wait, I know ... you have plenty of resources to find whoever you want.” She rolled her eyes. “But to come as far as cornering me in a patient’s room? To talk to me? And refusing to leave? That’s messed up.”

Suddenly, everything clicked into place.

“Iamtrying to talk to you—you’re right about that,” I said. “But that’s the only thing you’re right about.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You think I’m lying?” My brows rose.

“I think you’d do anything to get what you want. And I don’t think anyone or anything would stop you.”

I chuckled. “You’re not wrong ... but you are about this situation.” I looked past Maya at the woman lying on the bed with a sly grin on her face. “Bettie, do you want to be the one to break the news, or should I?”

Chapter Eighteen

Maya

Bettie, do you want to be the one to break the news, or should I?

The room had turned silent, but the thoughts inside my head were screaming as I looked from Jordan to Bettie, back and forth, waiting for this to suddenly make sense. But the more I scanned between the two of them, the more questions began to accumulate, and neither of them offered any answers.

“One of you needs to tell me what’s going on,” I said.

Jordan crossed his arms over his chest, unblocking the door, but because he was so tall and broad and muscular, he still seemed to fill the entire entryway. “This is on you. Am I right?”

He wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to Bettie.

“Yes, honey. It’s all on me.”