Page 84 of Ghosted By Texas

“I’m headed upstairs to study. I’ll have my headphones on, so no worries about bothering me when Becs gets here.”

“Night,” I called out as he headed up the stairs toward his bedroom. It was weird that Houston really didn’t seem bothered. It was almost like he just didn’t care and maybe that was worse. He was still too numb from the whole Samantha thing.

I managed to grab a beer from the fridge, and sit in my comfy chair in the corner of the room to take a load off, when I heard the key turning in the door. That was weird, considering Houston was upstairs and the only other people who had a key had been Samantha, before she became Houston’s ex, and Jordan, who was only supposed to hold my extra key for emergency situations. It couldn’t be her anyway, since she was supposed to be out of town.

When I glanced up, the beer nearly slipped from my fingers at the sight that greeted me. Jordan stood there in nothing more than an open coat and some very tiny, baby blue lingerie.

“What in the hell are you doing here, and dressed like that,” I asked her.

Jordan grinned at me. “What are you doing sitting all alone in the corner of your living room on Valentine’s Day?”

“Honestly, Jordan?” She nodded her head quickly, apparently waiting to hear that my night went to shit, and I no longer had a girlfriend.

“My girlfriend is dealing with a mess her best friend made tonight, and when she’s done, she’s supposed to head over. So, what I’m doing is sitting here waiting for her. What you’re doing right now is trying to ruin everything.”

She rolled her eyes as if I was being ridiculous. “Did it ever occur to you that your supposed girlfriend and friend messed things up tonight on purpose?”

“What the hell do you even know about tonight?”

“I know what your sister told me. That bitch’s bestie was supposed to be Houston’s blind date. I went to that party to see you, to apologize for how I reacted before.”

“Why the fuck would you go there to do that on Valentine’s Day when you knew I had a date?”

“Just shut up and listen, I’m getting to that.”

“Fine, but hurry up, because Jordan, if Becs shows up and you’re still here, especially looking like that,” I pointed at the almost non-existent clothing she wore, “things will not go well. If you ruin this thing I have with her, we won’t go back to being fuck buddies because we will no longer be friends.”

“Nice to see who your priority is,” she sniffed. “Anyway, your girlfriend and her buddy set you up.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” My calm tone belied the war raging in my mind. I sat my beer down on the table beside the chair and kicked back, legs spread, in what I’m sure looked like a relaxed position, but was more about keeping my ass in the chair instead of strangling the woman I once called my best friend.

“You humiliated her when I was there after your movie date that night. Truthfully, you humiliated me too, but that’s something I can get over. Apparently, she couldn’t. She told you about her saintly friend, but have you ever even met the woman?”

Shit. Jordan unknowingly hit a nerve. I wondered why Becs spoke so highly of Clea, who happened to be her roommate and best friend, yet she seemed to go out of her way to keep us from interacting. I’d been wondering why lately, but when she suggested setting Clea and Houston up because they sounded perfect for one another, I thought maybe it was just me overthinking things.

“You never met her because you weren’t supposed to. They’ve been plotting a way to get back at you. A woman like Becs doesn’t give men second chances. She has a reputation on campus of going through men like water. Usually, she’s the one to do the dumping and humiliating.”

That last part didn’t sound right at all, but I wasn’t about to stop whatever tear Jordan found herself on.

“They planned it out,” she insisted when I said nothing.

“What do you think Becs will say about that accusation when she gets here? That is, if she’ll even entertain hearing me out considering you’re standing in front of me wearing only a couple scraps of lace.”

“She won’t show up. That’s why I’m here, wearing this.” Jordan waved her hands in front of herself, indicating the ensemble she chose to wear that night. “I didn’t want your Valentine’s Day to be completely ruined by that hateful woman who only pretended to be understanding about our relationship.”

“You have that much wrong. She never pretended to be okay with you, or your place in my life.”

Jordan huffed. “That’s exactly why she’s playing this game, Aus. She realized that you would never let me go. I’m too important to you. I am more important than she’ll ever be. She can’t compete with our history or the link we have with our families, and how they’ve wanted to see us together from the very beginning.”

It was disconcerting to hear Jordan’s twist on the same worries that Becs had thrown in my face about my best friend and what my family thought of her. My girlfriend had been right about the problems she would face in a relationship with me if Jordan remained a part of the equation. Jordan had just proved that point herself.

“When was your ex-girlfriend supposed to show up?”

I glanced at the clock on the wall, above where Jordan stood, and ignored the way she added ‘ex’ before girlfriend when she asked. It had been an hour and a half since I left the party. That meant Becs was thirty minutes late already. A quick peek at my cell phone showed no missed calls or messages. There was no way Jordan was right about all this. There had to be a plausible explanation. I continued to think that as Jordan finally took a seat on the couch. My best friend stared at me, as if waiting for me to come to the realization she’d presented for me.

Three hours later, my phone was still dark, Jordan had fallen asleep on the couch, and Becs never showed up. An ache developed in my chest the likes of which I thought would send me to the hospital. Was it possible for someone in their early twenties to have a heart attack? It sure the fuck felt like it. I rubbed the spot over my chest as my brother came strolling through.

“Sorry, thought you went to bed already,” Houston whispered before he glanced down and noticed Jordan sleeping on the couch. It was the first time I’d given anything more than a modicum of attention to her. Her legs were splayed, the coat she’d been wearing earlier was discarded on the back of the couch, and every asset she had to work with was available for anyone to see.

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