Page 58 of Once Bitten
“Hey, Monica,” Steve greeted the woman, a blonde with a wide smile. The greeting was so casual Jordyn almost thought she was wrong, but then she saw the pinched look on her boyfriend’s face and knew she wasn’t. He turned, quickly tossing the avocado in the bag he held. His shoulders were up and hunched and her normally relaxed boyfriend suddenly looked as if he were trying to take up as little space as possible. He definitely did not want this woman around him.
“Hey there, sexy,” Monica returned with a wink, and Jordyn swallowed hard. So that was why Steve didn’t want to be around her. Monica inclined her head and glanced at the bag Steve was holding. “Never figured you for a cook,” she said, her eyes moving to take in the cart beside him.
“I’m not,” Steve told her, eyes still on the bin of avocados in front of him while Monica tossed her honey blonde hair over her shoulder and trailed a hand up his arm. Jordyn felt the breath in her lungs turn to lead at seeing the other woman’s hand on Steve, but she didn’t move.
“Interesting,” she said, leaning over in front of him to pick up an avocado. Steve cleared his throat and sidestepped away when Monica came closer, as if she were looking at the avocados as well, and incidentally rubbed her breasts against his arm. Jordyn felt her heart squeeze when he whipped the cart beside him in between them. Monica leaned her hip against the bin and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Very interesting,” she said, giving the shopping cart a tap.
Steve gave a noncommittal shrug and went back to staring at the bin of avocados, trying to look casual. Jordyn knew better. He was tense.
“So, it’s been a while…” Monica sighed, pouting. “I’ve missed you. Why haven’t I seen you lately? You know my door is always open to you, Steve. Always as been, always will be.” She punctuated her words with a tap of her finger.
“Things changed, Monica,” Steve replied. He reached into the bin and began to just toss whatever he came across in the bag before tying it off with a jerk of his hands.
“Like what?” She asked, leaning over the cart between them. A move that showcased her generous cleavage perfectly to Steve’s eyes.
“Like, I’ve got a girlfriend now.” He dropped the bag into the cart and crossed his arms, watching Monica carefully. Jordyn felt the breath she had been holding whoosh out in relief. She hadn’t even thought she’d been holding her breath.. She closed her eyes and shook her head, hating that she was lurking the way she was, but this whole scene...it made her think about Alex and the signs she had probably overlooked in favor of trusting him. She could trust Steve. She knew that before, and she knew it even more now.
Steve was not Alex. He would not cheat on her. He would not betray her.
Monica laughed and shrugged. “So what?” she asked, and Jordyn’s eyes popped open to glare at the woman.
“That bitch,” She grit out. Just because she could trust Steve didn’t mean she could trust this woman as far as she could throw her.
“The ‘so what’ is that I’m not gonna be coming around.”
“Well, not yet, anyway.” Monica smiled, seductively. Jordyn’s blood began to boil and she walked out of the aisle towards them. She had listened for long enough. It was time to get Steve the hell out of this woman’s reach. There was nothing but bad energy around her and whatever she was trying to pull Steve into. She bit her lip at the thought, the ‘whatever’ was to not name it. To not thinkaboutthat.Thatbeing Steve cheating on her.
“Not at all, Monica,” Steve said firmly. “Not interested.”
“What’s with you?” Monica cocked her head to the side, examining him. “I know you, Steve. You aren’t the kind of guy who does forever. That isn’t in your nature. So, you know what? I’ll make this really easy on you, okay? Open invitation, whenever you want, no questions asked. I’ll even keep my mouth shut, so your little girlfriend never has to find out.”
“Monica, lo—” Steve began, putting his hands up, but she cut him off.
“Don’t say anything right now, okay? Just keep what I said in the back of your mind. I don’t want forever from you, so go ahead and…” She glanced down at the shopping cart between them before she moved around it. “Pretend that you go for the all-American girl standing behind us who's been eavesdropping. But just know that I’ll still fuck you, and you can go back to her whenever you want.”
Jordyn nearly skidded to a halt and when Steve whirled around to look at her, she saw that he was pale. He knew she’d heard every word Monica had said. They both stared at one another in silence while Monica kept talking.
“Don’t be a stranger, Stevie.”
Jordyn’s chest went tight at the use of a nickname she thought had been only hers to say, only hers to give. Hadn’t he said that to her? She was the only one to call him that? Why was this woman saying it and with such familiarity?
Monica grinned and winked at him before sauntering off with a barely audible “oops” and a side look at Jordyn. Jordyn might have broken her gaze away from Steve’s to give the other woman a murderous stare, but she didn’t have it in her. She also didn’t a damn about the woman, not when Steve was in front of her looking like a deer caught in headlights.
“Baby…” Steve took a hesitant step toward Jordyn, his hands open at his sides. He hadn’t missed the look in her eyes when Monica had called him Stevie.
Why had that woman called him that? Why was she here and just messing their day up? Jordyn bit her lip, wishing away the thoughts that were now alive in her head, thoughts that maybe Steve hadn’t been entirely truthful with her, gaining strength with each passing second.
She cleared her throat and looked away from him. “I think…I think I’m done grocery shopping,” Jordyn whispered, putting the spices in her hand down on the nearest display. “I’m going home.”
“Doll,” Steve said, rushing up to her, but she stepped back and shook her head.
“I need some time.”
“Jordyn, that’s not what you think. It was nothing.”
“What was that?” she whispered, looking after Monica, who lingered nearby with a smirk on her face.
