Alex’s blue eyes darted from Steve to past him into the apartment. “Where’s Jordyn?” Alex questioned, trying to peer around Steve, but he wasn’t quite tall enough to look over Steve’s shoulders. “I need to speak with Jordyn. If she doesn’t hurry up, we’re going to be late for the first service.” He sounded annoyed, like he was being inconvenienced, and Jordyn rolled her eyes at the sound of it. He showed up at her apartment...again,and he had the nerve to sound like she was holding him up?
“I’m not going anywhere with you. Are you delusional?” Jordyn asked from behind Steve. She put a hand on his back and drew the door open wider to see Alex. “What are you doing here? Are you trying to piss me off?”
Alex crossed his arms, taking in her appearance. It was plain to see that she’d gotten dressed in a hurry though for different reasons than she could see Alex putting together now. He looked positively scandalized, and she was only too happy to play along, jutting out a hip and leaning against Steve while he looked on.
“Look, Jordyn, I know that you’re…enjoying…yourself at nightwith this joke, but we have to go now. We have obligations to the church, and there are some rumors that you need to put to bed.”
Jordyn giggled at his choice of words. She couldn’t help it. The nerve of her ex-boyfriend to be standing at her front door and lecturing her on acceptable behavior. He had cheated on her—and on a copier! How had she endured this for their five-year relationship?
“To bed?” She snorted and shook her head. “I’m never setting foot in that place again with you, and if the rumor going around is that you have sex on copier machines, then, well, that’s ayouproblem.You can deal with the fall out on your own. I’m done with this. With you.”
“Jordyn, this is serious! I could lose my job!” he exclaimed, jabbing a finger at her. She flinched and leaned back, the gesture making Steve’s breath hitch. His voice rose as he came closer, but Steve moved in front of him. He froze, watching as Steve came forward and further blocked his view of Jordyn.
“You don’t come any further,” he growled, his eyes hard. “You don’t point that damn finger in her face and you lower your voice when you talk to her. You get me?”
Alex blanched and took a hasty step back, lowering his finger and smoothing his hands over the beige suit jacket he wore.
“Sure,” he replied. “I get you.” There was a tone to his voice, one that said he thought Steve was beneath him but he would play along. Jordyn noticed that he was trying to seem unaffected, but she saw through it. Alex was scared.
Good.
Rolling her eyes at Alex, Jordyn turned her gaze on Steve and almost groaned because she would have preferred Steve to pick her up, lock the door, and take her straight back to bed, rather than be arguing with Alex.Again.Why were they even doing this? She had said everything she needed to already, but here Alex was, acting as if none of it had ever happened. Steve moved, his hands were clenched into fists, stance wide, shoulders squared, causing the muscles beneath his shirt to shift and coil—oh, yes, she wanted to go straight back to bed with him, especially when she saw him clench his jaw at Alex’s next words.
She swore that jaw was going to be the end of her.
“Jordyn, are you even listening to me? This is my job.” Alex gestured at Steve. “What is he even doing here again? One-night stands are for one night, Jordyn,” he scoffed, which might have bothered her, before, but now she glared, forcing her attention from the delicious way Steve’s shirt stretched over his back.
“Sorry, I don’t have much experience having sex. ” She flicked a finger at Steve. “It’s just been with him and all.”
“Jordyn!” he gasped.
She shrugged. “Don’t sound so outraged. You’re the one who’s experienced, but you can keep your quick tips and tricks for hookups to yourself, Alex. I don’t need them.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Who says he’s a one-night stand? You’re the only one that’s ever said that.”
Alex’s eyes widened at her words. “Were you cheating on me with…” he glared at Steve angrily,“him?”He sounded so offended, so put out about the possibility that she would prefer Steve to him while they dated that Jordyn couldn’t believe her ears.
She would have never done such a thing. Alex knew that, but he on the other hand...
“I was nothing but faithful to you. We both know that. Don’t you dare try and spin this differently,” she held up a finger as she spoke, making her point crystal clear, “but that doesn’t mean this is a one-night stand. And his name isn’thim. It'sSteve.Get it right if you’re going to keep showing up atmy apartment.” She returned Alex’s angry glare with as much force as she could muster. The air between them filled with tension, she could have slapped him if she were any closer, and she was a pacifist! Alex was driving her out of her mind, so much so that she couldn’t remember a time when she’d actually been in love with the idiot. Jordyn was so focused in ensuring her glare was at maximum capacity that she was taken by surprise when Steve touched her waist.
“Go back inside, Jordyn,” he said, giving Alex a smile. It didn’t reach his eyes and that made her worry. Why would he want her to go inside? “I’m going to talk to him alone.”
Ah, there it was.
“What? Alone?” She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. Hadn’t he been listening to her when she’d told him Alex only wanted to lure him into being alone? This was exactly what he wanted. To get Steve alone, to make him angry, and get him to hit him, pick a fight, or whatever. All Alex would do from there was tell the cops, get Steve in trouble and be back here to bother her while he was out of the way. She knew it. She could practically see the wheels turning in Alex’s brain as they spoke, and she shook her head.
“No.”
“Jordyn, please.”
“I told you before. This is what he wants.” She glanced towards Alex who was staring at them with open displeasure. He had his arms crossed over his chest and sighed loudly at them while they talked.
“I’m right here, you know,” he said.
“A fact we’re both well aware of,” Steve replied, making Jordyn giggle. She sighed when Steve didn’t seem like he was backing down.
“Are you sure?” she asked with a worried frown. “I don’t trust him.”
“Good, you’re learning,” Steve said while Alex made a strangled sound that was somewhere between choking and outrage.
