Page 40 of Jordan

18

VAIL

Jordan made himself scarce after what happened between the three of us. We saw him for the dinner Irene prepared, even though I offered. She shooed me out of the kitchen and told me to rest. The kitchen was where I felt good though. Where I could channel the thoughts swirling around my head into something other than wondering what Jordan was thinking. I wasn’t home. I didn’t have a spare bathroom to tear apart and put back together. There was nothing for me to do here but rest.

Today, I wasn’t sitting around any longer. I’d had enough of the silent treatment from Jordan. He could shove his attitude right up his ass. How he went from saying he couldn’t deny me anything to barely acknowledging my and Hartley’s existence was beyond me. Hartley could do what he wanted where Jordan was concerned. I was done.

Hartley and I exchanged numbers yesterday and sat up late talking about when we were younger. I told stories about his brother while he shared what it had been like for him in fashion. I was getting to know the adult Hartley, a man I was completely attracted to.

If Forest wanted to give me shit for liking his brother, he’d have to climb out of the bottom of the bottle he currently lived in. Forest had bigger problems than me, and I had too many of my own to fly across the country to save his ass.

I grabbed my bag and descended the stairs. Hartley was still in bed with his door closed when I walked past. Tahoe hid on the other side of the couch where he didn’t think I saw his paws sticking out past the couch’s leg. He and Latte became fast friends, causing more chaos than behaving. The dog walker Jordan paid was happy to take Tahoe as well. He got the exercise he needed when I didn’t have it in me to do the walking.

Jordan’s office door opened the moment my feet hit the first floor. I didn’t look his way. There was nothing for me to say to him. It was pretty damn clear I wanted him.

“You’re leaving?” he asked from behind me.

“Yeah, it’s time for me to go.”

“But…”

I turned. “But what? This is the most you’ve said to me since whatever that was that happened yesterday. I refuse to feel like I’m being used.”

He stiffened. “I wouldn’t use you.”

“Then what would you call it? Because I thought we had a moment, then you had one with Hartley, which I was game for as well. In the blink of an eye, you bolted, and we’ve hardly seen you since. Unless you tell me what’s going on in your head, I’ll make my own conclusions.”

“You’re still recovering,” he said between clenched teeth. He didn’t like that he couldn’t keep me here.

“I’m much better. I only have a lingering cough. The medicine did its job.”

“Alton should see you before you go.”

“I don’t need your doctor to clear me. I’m a grown man who’s been through far worse than the fucking flu.” I faced the couch again. “Tahoe, let’s go.” I heard him whine, but he didn’t move. When I rounded the couch, he faced away from me like I couldn’t see him lying there. “We’ll go for a ride.” That got his ears up. I’d already ordered a car to pick me and Tahoe up.

“Reghan can drive you after you see Alton.”

I balled my free hand into a fist. I wasn’t a fighter, but I was pissed. “I’m quite capable of getting myself home.”

“I could?—”

“No!” I didn’t like to yell, although I would if the person I was speaking with wouldn’t listen. Reghan sucked in a breath near the door.

“Don’t yell at me in my home,” Jordan bit out.

“Why? What are you going to do? Nothing could come close to what I’ve been through in the past.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Then why can’t I fucking leave, Jordan?” It would be a miracle if I didn’t wake Hartley.

Jordan stalked to me, getting in my face. If he were Gil, I’d shrink into myself. Deep down, I knew Jordan’s words were true. He wouldn’t hurt me. Fear wasn’t what I felt when I was close to him. Not even now, as he seethed with barely controlled anger. “Because you’re mine,” he ground out.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Are you serious? I’m yours? How do you figure? I didn’t feel that way after everything yesterday. I sure as fuck didn’t feel that way this morning. If you can’t get out of your own way long enough to treat me how I deserve, then you don’t get to see me at all. I won’t be controlled ever again. And do not call me yours in that tone. Gil used to, and I saw how well that ended.”

With that, I turned on my heel, grabbed Tahoe’s leash from where it hung near the elevator, and got us ready. I was damn sure not going to stand here and have Jordan think he could lay claim on me like he did. If he said it with lust, if he treated me like I mattered since yesterday, it would have been different. But I felt like nothing more than a toy he tossed aside because he’d had his fill.

“Vail?” I heard a soft voice ask. “Are you leaving?”

---