The One who got Away

“Yeah? Well I may not be any good at marriage but I can sure as hell beat your ass,” he responded with a furrowed brow.

He stepped forward and swung hard as I leaned back. I could feel the air from his fist blow my hair up in the air. I lunged forward and punched him in the stomach, pushing him back against his car. I breathed heavily, stepping back and waiting for him to come at me again. He smiled, rubbing his gut before clocking me right in the face. I went down on one knee and held my cheek, feeling blood trickling down from my lip. I smiled and stood back on my feet, running forward and tackling Jordan to the ground. We rolled around on the ground, taking turns punching each other in the face. I could hear running footsteps behind me, but I didn’t care. Jordan’s cocky ass smirk kept me locked in on this fight. I rolled over on top of him and reared back, punching him across the face. We were both bleeding at that point, but my adrenaline was running so high, I didn’t feel an ounce of pain.

“That’s all you got,” he chuckled, wiping the blood from his lip. “Come on, little brother, I taught you better than that.”

His voice made me so angry, I could see red, but before I could get another shot off I felt someone grab me under the arms and pull me off the top of Jordan. It was my f

ather and the look on his face was a mix of anger and concern. He stood between us with his arms out as Jordan pulled himself to his feet. Jordan looked over at me as he spit blood onto the concrete. My father shook his head and put down his arms while I bent over to catch my breath, the pain starting to make an appearance.

“What the hell is wrong with you two?” There was a crowd gathering behind us. “This has gotten completely out of hand.”

He was right. It had gotten completely out of hand, but I didn’t feel bad in the slightest for throwing down with him. He deserved every punch he got, and I was so sick of Jordan playing the poor little victim, making Tiffany and everything she did look like the worst thing in the world. He was the one to blame for all of her heartache and stress, and I wasn’t about to let that go. My father shook his head and stepped back, gathering his thoughts.

“You two need to get your shit together,” he said, straightening his tie and wiping at the blood on his sleeve. “You need to work this out, or I’m going to be forced to fire one of you. I can’t continue to have this kind of disruption in my office. This is a business, not a school yard.”

“You know what? Fuck this shit, I quit,” Jordan said throwing his hands up in the air. “You and Tiffany can go live your happy existence without me in it. I’m tired of all the bullshit.”

“There wouldn’t be bullshit if you hadn’t brought it to the table,” I shouted.

“You think you are so perfect,” he laughed. “You think Tiffany is so perfect, too. Well, both of you can kiss my ass. I’m tired of trying to get out of your perfect little shadows, watching you walk around gloating that you have the life that I was trying to make. Yeah, I divorced her, but that didn’t mean she was there for you to go scoop up and save the day. I don’t have to play the victim. You make me look like it all on your own. If you don’t want to be the villain, then stop thinking with your dick and act like a real man.”

“Yes,” I said laughing. “Because you know so well how to act like a real man. Give me a break. There you go telling your bullshit sob story like we planned any of this. Like we worked so hard to deceive you. Open your eyes, Jordan. You did all of this on your own, and now you're angry because Tiffany is finally happy in life, and you're stuck looking for your next dumb broad at the bar down the street. You could have had the happy ending, but you picked the hard road.”

“Go fuck yourself,” he said, getting in his car.

We backed up and watched as he drove his car out of the parking garage, only stopping for a moment at the exit before speeding off into the city. He never could take an argument, and he was so damn stubborn that he was willing to give up his entire career just to prove a point. This time, though, I wasn’t going to go running after him, begging him not to go. This was his choice, and the repercussions were completely on him. I looked over at my father who was still breathing heavily.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I said, watching everyone disperse back to the building. “I didn’t mean for him to quit like that. I didn’t come down here for a fight, either. It just kind of happened.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said patting me on the shoulder. “Your brother has always been a little asshole, ever since he was a little boy. He will either come around and come back, or he won’t. That choice is completely up to him. I just hope that you guys don’t stay mad at each other forever. The family is important.”

He was right, family was important, and while I was here beating up my brother, Tiffany was at home, contemplating her new family. A family that I was part of. Well, at least I had been an hour ago. I knew how she felt about Jordan and me, and I also knew she was going to lose it when she found out we got into a fight.

Chapter 30

Tiffany

Jason’s door was open, so I walked around the corner and stopped in his doorway, looking over at him sitting at his desk. He looked angry, and he had several cuts and bruises on his face. I knew I should ask what the hell happened to him, but I already had a feeling that I knew. Everyone had been talking about a fight the night before in the parking garage, but I didn’t listen long enough to find out who it was between. Now, looking at Jason’s battered face and not being able to find Jordan made me think I missed out on more than after-work drinks when I had gone home after work. I cleared my throat, grabbing Jason’s attention.

“Where is Jordan?”

“He quit,” Jason said, looking back down at his file. “Why?”

I took two steps into the office and closed the door, lingering there for a second before turning back around. I walked over, squinting my eyes at Jason, wondering when he was going to look up at me. Whatever happened when I wasn’t here had put him in a foul mood, and to be frank, I was just completely fed up with everything going on. Right or wrong, I needed to work through these issues with Jordan if I ever wanted to have a chance at a happy relationship with Jason.

“Things will never be okay between Jordan and me if he and I can’t figure out our own shit,” I said sitting down on the edge of the chair.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I want to be on okay terms with Jordan. Not for me, not for the baby, but for you. If you and your brother continue like this, you’re going to end up hating each other. And then one day, you are going to end up resenting me for driving a wedge between the two of you,” I explained. “I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

“That’s just not true,” he said angrily.

“It is,” I replied. “Whether you can see it or not.”

I stood up and walked out of the office, shutting the door behind me. I grabbed a cup of coffee from the lounge and went to my desk, leaning back in my chair and closing my eyes. The last thing I wanted was for Jordan to quit. He loved this job with every fiber of his being, and I did not want to be the reason he walked away from it. I knew that Jason was worried that I wanted to get back together with Jordan, but that just wasn’t the case. I still wanted Jason just as much as I did at the beginning of all of this, I only wanted him and Jordan to be okay in their relationship. I would never be fully comfortable moving forward if I knew that I had been the root cause of them never talking again. It would change the entire dynamic of the family and cause tension in our relationship.

I went through the rest of the day trying to focus on my work. Jason didn’t come back out of the office after our talk, and I was almost sure that was a good thing. Everyone needed to cool off and take a breather. Even John had stayed locked in his office all day, and after what I heard went down in the parking garage the day before, I was surprised I wasn’t hearing it from him. I knew that it was me driving a wedge in their family, but I didn’t know what to do about it. When work was over, I grabbed my things and headed outside, hopping in a cab and heading over to Jordan’s penthouse. As I stepped out onto the curb, I looked up at the tall building, remembering just three months ago spending my first few days as a married woman tucked away in the rooms on the top floor. It was a strange feeling walking back in and having to ask the front desk guy to let me up the guest elevator. When I got to his floor, I walked over and knocked loudly on his door, assuming he would be there since he didn’t have a job anymore. When Jordan opened the door, he looked down at me with a stern face, a face I had only seen one other time, and that was when he had left me.