Page 8 of Exhale
“Yes, you still have a crush on him, don’t you?” She asked.
“I don’t think he feels the same way, so…bringing him here probably isn’t going to happen,” Jordan hedged, cracking open the bottle. It gurgled and fizzed, and he sipped at the lime flavor.
“Aww, come on. You’ve liked him since forever,” she said with an eye roll, leaning her elbows on the granite island bar.
“Owen doesn’t know that,” Jordan reminded her and took a swallow of his bubbly water.
“Well then, you’ve got to have courage and say something,” Zoey insisted.
Jordan burped loudly instead of answering and smirked.
“Ew, gross,” Zoey giggled and smacked him on the arm.
“Leave him be,” Marsha scolded. “It’s time to eat.”
Dinner was lively, and the next several hours flew by.
He ended up in the garage that served as a weight training room, along with a large mat for sparring. He spent an hour with Zoey going through techniques she had memorized.
After Zoey’s abduction, her father had asked him to teach all of their kids some self-defense skills. And Jordan had and still spent time doing just that through the years.
Zoey caught him off guard because he was distracted and sent him tumbling to the mat. Winded, he gazed up at her and snorted a laugh when she giggled and held her hand out. He let her pull him to his feet, and they went at it again.
Before he knew it, it was time to leave and make the drive home to California.
“Please come for the Thanksgiving holiday if you can,” Marsha said, hugging him tightly.
“I’ll try,” he promised with a smile and hugged each one before he made his way to his SUV.
They were grouped up beneath the porch light, waving as he pulled away.
A lump grew in Jordan’s throat as the distance stretched between him and the Richardsons.
And he wondered if he would ever have a family of his own.
Two days later…
Owen pulled into the Pegasus parking lot and parked.
Jordan was just getting out of his vehicle, and Owen had noticed an unkempt guy standing at the gate when he’d pulled through. The man had followed his truck through the gate.
Owen slid out of the vehicle and shut the door.
He approached Jordan and caught the man’s arm.
“Stay here, I’ll take care of it,” he said, gesturing to the man walking toward them.
Jordan rolled his eyes, checked the clip on his weapon, and followed. No way was he going to sit back like a damsel in distress. He tucked his weapon into the back of his pants beneath his shirt and followed Owen across the parking lot.
“This is a restricted area,” Owen told the guy, gesturing to the closing gate.
“Jordan?”
Jordan squinted at the sound of his name being whispered. He cocked his head, searching his memory as he combed over the face before him.
Oh my god.
“Lucas?” Jordan asked incredulously.
