Page 7

7

JORDAN

I take back everything I ever said about being clingy because, right now, I’m acting like a lovesick teenager.

After dropping Jordyn off at her class, I started to miss her. The only reason I resisted the urge to sit beside her and take a class in my free time was the fact that I didn’t want to scare her off. She wasn’t fond of people in general, and I was the sole exception. I wasn’t going to undo all my hard work by sticking to her side 24/7 like Velcro.

But she’s here. Maybe she misses me as much as I miss her? Maybe we can be clingy together?

“Baby!” I call out even as something nags at me.

Something’s wrong. I can’t pinpoint it, but I know by the subtle expressions on her face and the way she shifts from one foot to the other.

She doesn’t look happy. In fact, she looks far from happy. Her eyes are puffy, her nose red, and her freckles are more pronounced than ever. What the hell? A fierce surge of protectiveness thunders through me.

Forgetting Elena, I rush to Jordyn, only to see the exact moment she darts her eyes from Elena to me. In the space of a breath, I realize what it looks like to her, internally groaning at how stupid I’ve been and waving my hands. “Baby, it’s not what you think!”

“Ah, shit, no,” Elena says from behind me, realizing the same thing. “Jordyn, right? Whatever is on your mind, it’s not true. Come in, come in. Shit.”

She ushers Jordyn inside, and the sight of Jordyn’s tear-streaked face is like a gut punch. I don’t know the full story yet, but I have a sinking feeling I caused her distress.

Goddammit. The last thing I want is to hurt her, and yet, that’s apparently what happened.

After closing the door, I walk toward Jordyn, but she glares at me, stopping me in my tracks. “Explain, Jordan.”

My own girl, who screamed my name last night and clawed my back, scares the hell out of me. Angry Jordyn is my least favorite version of her, and I swear I’d avoid anything like this in the future.

I open my mouth to speak, but Elena beats me to it. “No, let me. This is all my fault.” She groans and scrubs a hand across her face, smearing her dark eyeliner to her temple. “My name’s Elena and I’m Jordan’s childhood friend.”

“You’re making it worse, El,” I say, my eyes never leaving Jordyn.

“Ah, fuck.” Elena, who has no concept of personal space, rests both hands on Jordyn’s shoulders. Jordyn immediately stiffens and holds her breath. Elena, of course, doesn’t notice and just stares at Jordyn a beat too long that I almost swat her hands off my girl. “Jordan is and will never be my type. If we got stranded on an island, just the two of us, I’d choose the chimpanzee or wild pig over him.” Jordyn just blinks, and Elena smiles sheepishly. I have never seen her sheepish ever. “I have a girlfriend back home.”

Jordyn rears her head back, her jaw hanging open, a flush of red creeping on her face and neck. “Oh. Oh.”

“I only came here because she’s on a vacation in Italy with her family, and I was bored to death.” Elena lets out a deep breath. “God, being so good-looking is such a curse. I always forget how hot I look and that everyone mistakes me for his girlfriend, which is eww, by the way.”

I shake my head in disgust. “Too much, El.”

“Okay, I’ll leave now. Please talk.” I have to bite my tongue when Elena takes Jordyn’s hands in hers. They’ve only just met, and she’s already touching my girl like they’re about to be the best of friends. “I’m so sorry, Jordyn. I saw you earlier but didn’t think too much of it. To be honest, we were talking about you—how he kept asking you out for lunch, and you kept saying no.” Elena drops Jordyn’s hands and points a thumb in my direction. “I’ve never seen this asshole this happy, so thank you. And I’m so, so sorry for the misunderstanding.”

Elena leaves without another word, and it’s just me and Jordyn.

A suffocating kind of quiet settles over us, thick with tension. I can’t stand it when she’s pissed at me. “Baby?—”

Jordyn holds up a hand, her gaze fixed on a spot over my shoulder. “Please let me talk first. I need to get this out of my chest. If you interrupt me, I might lose the courage to speak my mind.”

“Okay, do you want to sit down?”

She shakes her head, still not looking at me. “I’ve always wondered why you singled me out. It’s not because of my looks, obviously, because I can count more than ten girls who look ten times more beautiful than me.” I open my mouth to disagree, but she pins me with a gaze. “I buried those questions in the back of my mind, but they all came rushing back when this girl from class told me how you slept with ‘half of the female population in this school, including the professors.’” Jordyn lifts both hands to do air quotes, and anger shoots through me.

Who the fuck told her that? I sleep around? Since when? What other rumors are there about me that I don’t know about?

“And then,” Jordyn continues while I try to clear the fog of fury in my head, “I saw you with Elena.”

She doesn’t need to say more. I’ve gotten so used to how Elena and I behave with each other that I forget how it looks from the outside. She’s nothing more than an annoying sister, but that’s not what others see.

Jordyn’s shoulders slump, the confession taking so much from her. I can’t stop myself, so I wrap my arms around her and press my lips to her temple, her hair tickling my nose. “Baby, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. If you can’t believe anything else, at least believe that. The first time I saw you, I was almost knocked down to my feet, except I was sitting. You’re smart, kind, sweet, and even though you don’t like people, you let me in. That’s something I’ll always be grateful for.”

Relief washes over me when she burrows her face into my chest. “I’m scared.”

“I know. I am, too, but we’ll make this work. I’m too far gone for you to back out now.”

The words barely leave my mouth before I cup her face and kiss her. It starts slow, like I’m exploring her mouth for the first time, but when she moans, my hands tighten, and I wrap a hand around the back of her neck to push her to me.

The kiss deepens, our tongues tangling, and I swallow every moan and whimper coming out of Jordyn. Those are the only things I hear, so when Toby walks in on us making out in the living room, I don’t even stop as he yells, “Jesus Christ. Lock the fucking door!”

Jordyn pushes against my chest, but I still don’t let up. I chuckle and continue kissing her.