“You can trust me,” he insisted, but Jordyn took a quick step back behind Steve when he made a step to come near her.
“I will never trust you again,” she told Alex. “But him,” she nodded at Steve, “him, I trust. So I’ll go inside.”
“This is ridiculous. You don’t know him.”
“Doesn’t change how I feel.”
Steve leaned in and kissed her cheek as she walked past him and back into her apartment. “Don’t worry. I was listening before,” Steve told her with a reassuring smile. “I won’t touch a hair on his head. I’m just going to talk to him.” He nudged her gently back further into the apartment.
Jordyn crossed her arms. “Promise?”
“Cross my heart.” Steve winked at her, and Jordyn felt the knot in her chest lessen, but even still she held out her pinky to him. This called for serious measures.
“Pinky swear it,” she said, serious as anything even with Alex spluttering at the exchange.
Steve wasn’t phased in the least and he hooked his pinky through hers squeezing it gently. “I pinky swear.”
“Okay. That, I believe.”
“Are you two serious? I’m standing right here. And what are you? In third grade?” Alex gestured between them with an incredulous look, but Jordyn ignored him. She’d quite had her fill of him and his rude behavior for the morning. She’d had enough of him to last a lifetime.
“I’ll see you inside.” Jordyn slipped past Steve.
“Where are you going?” Alex sounded frantic when he saw the exchange and realized that Jordyn had, indeed, gone back inside, but she kept walking, the door swinging shut behind her.
Whatever happened out there was between them. Steve had promised, after all.
Chapter Fifteen
“Don’tyou worry about where she’s going,” Steve said, rubbing his hands together. He pinned Alex with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He leaned back against the door and surveyed the other man. Preppy was an understatement. Shiny shoes, hair perfectly combed, not a hair out of place, not a trace of ink on this guy’s skin. Steve stilted his head to the side, taking in the tucked in dress shirt and finely pressed khakis. Were those pleats at the front of the khakis? Who in their right mind wanted to wear that?
He shook his head and met the prep’s eyes. “What you really should be worried about is the little talk we’re going to have. Not where Jordyn went.”
“Talk?” Alex swallowed hard as the door swung shut behind Jordyn.
“Yeah, a talk.” Steve took a step closer, and Alex took an equal step back. He smirked at the movement. The punk was scared of him. Good. He liked that. “You aren’t going to come around anymore, do you understand me?”
“Why not? That’s my girlfriend,” Alex replied stubbornly. He pointed at the door and kept speaking. “She’s my girlfriend. We’re just having a fight right now.”
“Ex-girlfriend,” Steve corrected, not listening to him.
“You don’t know what’s going on between us right now.”
“It doesn’t matter, and I don’t care.”
“She’s going to take me back in the end. Jordyn and I have a history together. We were together for five long years before you ever showed up. She wanted to marry me. Do you get that?”
Steve’s mouth screwed up because no he didn’t know that. He had just met Jordyn, but he didn’t much like thinking of what marriage to an asshole like this would have meant for her. She deserved better than someone who would cheat on her, someone who didn’t respect her boundaries. She deserved someone who could treat her right.
“I knew she didn't tell you,” Alex said, taking the look on Steve’s face for someone it wasn’t. Steve raised an eyebrow at him. He knew the man thought he was upset, or shocked, could see it in the way he carried himself a little taller.
He sighed at him. “She deserves better than a life of being tied to your sorry ass.”
“Really? I can give her the life she deserves.” Alex crossed his arms, his voice rising. “What are you trying to give her? A guy like you? Venereal disease?”
Steve barked out a laugh. “You’re a piece of work, man. Get the fuck out of here.”
“I won’t.”
