Page 54 of Break Out

I rose and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, planning to keep her face pressed closed to me while I hustled her into the bedroom.

Jordan glanced at us from the corner of his eye. “God, is she even legal?”

Simone snapped, pulled free of my hold, and put a hand on her hip. “Yes, Jordan. I’m legal.”

“S-s-simone?” he spluttered.

“Yeah, Jordan. That’s me.”

“Why are you with him? How do you even know him?”

“Jade, head to the back,” I muttered, pulling her gaze from Jordan’s.

She opened her mouth as though she might argue, then nodded. “Yeah.”

Watching her saunter down the narrow hallway, I couldn’t fathom how Jordan could cast her aside.

Once the bedroom door closed, Jordan said, “You call her Jade? That isn’t her name.”

I met his angry gaze. “No, but it suits her.”

He sneered. “You know I lived with her for two years?”

I nodded once.

Disbelief clouded his face. “Do you know she’s pregnant?” His head turned a fraction and his jaw dropped open. “You’re the man from out of town, aren’t you?”

I bit my lower lip. “Why’d you come by, Jordan?”

He either didn’t hear me or ignored me. “How did you meet her? Or did you decide you wanted my sloppy seconds?”

I closed the distance between us. “Anyone else said that shit, they’d be laid out on the fuckin’ floor right now. You’re my son, and I’m giving you a pass, but that’s the last time you disrespect her or me. Now, what do you want, Jordan?”

He gaped at me as it hit him that I cared about her. “She’s my age!”

“I gave you the fuckin’ money, so what do you want?” I whispered.

It took him a moment to get his shit together. “It doesn’t fuckin’ matter. Mom was right, you always want the younger, prettier, shinier model. Said you love to rob the cradle. Hell, you killed a man for pointing it out when you were prospecting.”

I cocked my head to the side. “That’s a fuckin’ lie, Jordan. I killed a man. Not because of that, but because he bad-mouthed your Mom, and age had fuck-all to do with it.”

“Whatever,” he muttered, turned on his heel and left.

I shut the front door of the camper, locked it, and went to the small fridge for a beer. While I had it open, I grabbed a soda for Simone and moved to the bedroom.

She sat on top of the bed with her legs folded.

I put the soda bottle on the tiny end table next to the bed. “Know you heard all that shit. You got something to say about it?”

She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t hear all of it. Not after he said I’m his age.”

I swallowed a slug of beer. “Are you disgusted by the difference in our age?”

“Hell, no,” she said, unfolding her legs and scooting further up the bed.

“Are you pissed?”

“No, I’m… Did you want to hit him for calling me sloppy-seconds?”

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