Page 33 of Once Bitten
“Steve, wait!” Heidi called after him, but he shrugged her off. He was so focused on getting away from her that he bumped into Jamie, who worked in the station next to his. The tension was obvious. Jamie frowned, looking between Steve and Heidi.
“Hey,” Steve nodded at him before he started for the door.
Jamie shot a disapproving look at Heidi, who looked as if she might move to follow them. She stopped short, however, when Jamie caught her eye before he fell into step with Steve.
“She’s got it bad, man,” Jamie mused as they walked out into the evening air.
Steve shrugged, shoving his bag into the motorcycle’s side bag before glancing back at the shop. Heidi was good at what she did, yes, but she was also crossing lines. First, yelling at Jordyn and then, trying to push things with him. He didn’t want any of this to touch what he had with Jordyn.
“I don’t have time for that shit anymore. I want an ad out by the end of the week for a part-time admin assistant. We'll train the new hire up and get this bullshit out of the shop. We let it go on for too long already.”
Jamie raised an eyebrow at Steve's words, but he nodded. "You got it. I'll work something up."
"Thanks, man." Steve nodded, throwing a leg over his bike. He leaned back, looking up at the darkening sky with a sigh, his thoughts already moving on to Jordyn and the night ahead of them.
Jamie grinned at Steve and opened his car door. It was a nice night, so he rolled the windows down. “You got a dinner date or what?” Jamie asked with a laugh, turning the car on and fiddling with the radio. He looked back up when Steve didn’t answer immediately. “Steve?” he called, flipping off the radio.
“I just don’t want to fuck this up.” Steve’s eyes were still looking at the sky. He swallowed hard and looked down at the helmet in his hands, then back over at Jamie. “She treats me like I matter. I can’t fuck this up,” he said, looking his friend in the eye, his voice serious.
“You aren’t going to,” Jamie told him, but Steve let out a sigh, shaking his head.
“I always fuck it up,” Steve replied with a bitter laugh. He shook his head and then quickly yanked his helmet on. He started the bike with a jerk of his foot. Jamie watched Steve's movements in silence because he knew that Steve couldn’t hear him with the helmet on, so he only raised his hand in goodbye before his friend sped off down the road.
Chapter Eighteen
“Don’t cry,don’t cry, don’t cry.” Jordyn squeezed her eyes shut and flapped her hands at her face to stop the tears caused by the onions she was cutting. “Why did I choose something with onions?” she groaned, hopping from foot to foot, opening her eyes and looking up at the ceiling. She didn’t need to ruin the makeup she had put on in a rush, makeup that she thought looked damn good, just for that night’s dinner. She wanted to look hot, alluring, all kinds of sexy for her night with Steve but tear streaked makeup was not the way to do that.
Jordyn sniffled, and had just finished hopping around when a knock at the door sounded. Glancing at the clock on the stove, Jordyn frowned and blinked back her unshed onion-induced tears. It couldn’t be Steve, it was too early for that, but maybe he had managed to get off from work earlier than he thought? It was just after six, and he could have had an early day because of course he would when she was trying not to sob over a dang onion.
"Shoot, shoot." She took a deep breath, wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and gave the rolls in the oven a cautionary glance before making her way to the front door. She paused in front of the door because something just didn’t feel...right. There was something off about this if it was Steve. Why hadn’t he just texted her? He had been messaging her throughout the day, and she knew he would have sent her a text if he meant to come early. Walking up to the door, she opted to look through the peephole rather than blindly open and what she saw made her want to crawl into a hole and never come out.
Alex.
And the asshole wasn’t alone. Behind him were four church members that she recognized, and for that reason, and that reason alone, she opened the door. What did they think they were doing by coming here? She debated on not answering , but that wouldn’t do. If she did that, there was no telling what would happen in half an hour when Steve came over for dinner.
She didn’t want him having another run in with Alex. Even under the best case scenario she knew that would be a very bad thing, and so she yanked the door open with a glare.
“Hi,” Jordyn said, looking at the small group, her hand tight on the doorknob because she wasn’t above slamming it in Alex’s face if he came too close. She looked at each of them, meeting their eyes and hoping for clues that would tell her why they had come to her home with Alex. She didn’t find any answers, and when her eyes landed on Alex she felt her skin crawl and her stomach turn.
How could she have ever loved this man? All he had done was lie to her, and she had been too head over heels to even notice the half of it.
“Jordyn, hello. We hope that we aren’t intruding.” Marisa, the only woman of the group, gave her a tight smile. She was a small thing, petite and red headed. Jordyn had always liked Marisa, and she wondered how Alex had gotten the woman to come and be a part of this visit to her apartment. She glanced at the other three church members—Sam, Eric, and Taylor—and she wanted to sigh because, unlike Marisa, Jordan understood their role in this.
These three were Alex’s closest friends at the church and had been since they had gone to high school together. They were, she knew, going to be on Alex’s side entirely. They were here to make her evening difficult if she did not agree with Alex, and she knew she would not. Jordyn put a blank look on her face and prepared to face them down. She was done being forced into situations she did not want, done doing what Alex wanted, but even as she stood firm, she wished they weren’t so big. All of the men were easily half a foot taller than her, and with their wide stances and pointed stares, their presence made her want to retreat and slam the door.
Only Marisa’s small figure made Jordyn stay where she was. She looked at the other woman apprehensively. “Marisa…what are you doing here?” Jordyn asked, her grip on the doorknob tightening when Alex took a step closer.
“Stay there, Alex,” Jordyn snapped, and almost immediately, he froze, his eyes widening at the still unfamiliar tone of aggression in her voice. Alex wasn’t the only one surprised—the group all exchanged looks with one another before they turned their eyes back to Jordyn.
“We would just like to talk to you, Jordyn. May we come in I— have you been crying?” Marisa asked, her tone worried.
Fuck. The onions. Of all the damned coincidences to happen with Alex and his cronies on her doorstep.
"What? No, no,” Jordyn held out her hands.“This is just from chopping onions,” she said, shaking her head at Marisa's assessment, and for not the first time that evening, she wished she had thought to make something without onions for dinner.
"Jordyn, look, I'm sure all of this has been a lot for you to deal with," Marisa put a hand up to her heart and sighed. "We really just want to help you, Jordyn. You're crying home alone...is this because of that dangerous man that Alex said has been here lately? Did he hurt you?"
Jordyn felt her mouth fall open at Marisa's words. "Dangerous man? What? No, I told you this is from making dinner. It's from onions."
