Clenching my jaw, I didn’t try to defend myself. We both knew the truth, and I wasn’t about to discuss pointless shit with her.
“Okay, fine. So you want to show this girl you’re serious about her?” I nodded, and she smiled sweetly. “Then you need to come home and stay home. Be there for her, show her that you want her and only her. No more pictures of slutty redheads hanging all over you.”
I started to argue about the redheads, but she lifted both hands. “Yeah, yeah. I know your dumbass father has you wining and dining these girls to get their daddies’ business, but you’re going to have to choose who is more of a priority. The idiot who nearly lost the love of his life because he was without a doubt the dumbest motherfucker I’d ever met. Or the girl who could have her choice of any guy she wants and keeps running from you because she thinks you’re secretly in love with your best friend?”
Shock hit me, knocking the air out of my chest, causing me to wheeze when I whispered, “She thinks that?”
“Of course she thinks that!” Throwing up her hands, she glared at me. “I love you like you are my own, Jordan, but I swear you’re just as stupid as your father sometimes.”
Gritting my teeth, I ignored her continued verbal abuse of my dad. He wasn’t as stupid as she let on, just had made repeatedly stupid decisions where my mom was concerned all those years ago. But she was completely right. Apparently, I was just as bad as my father if I couldn’t stop fucking up with my girl.
How the fuck could she possibly think I was in love with Mia? Why would she even think that? I admit, fucking her was a mistake; I never should have done that. But she’d been hurting, devastated after finding out the future she’d always envisioned for herself was over. She’d needed someone to make her forget her broken heart for a little while. Honestly, it had been weird for me. Afterward, I’d felt sick to my stomach.
Mia was hot, smoking hot, but I didn’t love her like that. She might have gotten my dick hard, but a guy either would have to be related to her, gay, or dead not to get hard at the sight of her. Still, it had felt wrong, and I’d never regretted anything so much in my life.
Until now.
Now, I regretted every move I hadn’t made to make Arella mine.
Four
Arella
I woke with a start when I heard a giggle. My eyes snapped open, and it took me a moment to realize where I was. Beside me, Luca was softly snoring, a pillow under his head, while his huge body was stretched out on the floor. The television was still on, but the backlight was down low and the volume was muted. I wasn’t sure if Luca had pulled the comforter down over the both of us or if maybe one of his parents had.
The giggle came again, and then I heard Uncle Jesse’s deep chuckle. They were right outside the door and, by the sounds I was hearing, about to get hot and heavy. I cringed, not wanting to hear them going at it, and quickly reached for my phone.
Turning my head, I found it on the floor beside me and glanced at the time. It was a little after one in the morning, and I figured my aunt and uncle were just now getting home from Aunt Emmie’s party. I’d been asleep for at least two hours.
Sitting up, I pushed my hair out of my face and rose to my feet. By the time I got to the door and chanced sticking my head out, the master bedroom door was just closing. Breathing a sigh of relief that I wasn’t going to catch my uncle stripping my aunt in the hall, I quietly left the house.
Outside, I noticed that most of the vehicles were gone, and I rushed toward my car. But I’d barely gone a few yards when I remembered the stalker. What if he was watching me?
“Stupid,” I muttered to myself. It was the middle of the night, and no one was around that I could see. What if the stalker tried to snatch me?
My sprint turned into a full-on run, but when I got to my car, I realized my purse—and more importantly, my keys—was still in Aunt Emmie’s house. Groaning, I glanced at her front door, wondering if she was still awake.
“I got your purse earlier.”
A small yelp left me at the sound of an unexpected voice. Jerking around, I found Jordan had unfolded himself from the driver’s seat of my car and was standing there watching me intently. He held up my purse, and I could only assume my keys were in there.
Pressing a hand to my still-pounding heart, I glared at him. “What are you doing here?”
His jaw clenched so hard, I thought it might shatter if he gritted his teeth. “I was waiting for you so we could talk.”
A gust of wind blew, making me regret not having brought a jacket. Wrapping my arms around myself to fight off the chill, I ignored the heat pooling low in my tummy at the way his dark eyes were trailing over me. I hadn’t stopped to glance at myself in a mirror, so I had no clue what I might look like, but I’d bet my hair was a tangled mess and my makeup was probably smeared under my eyes.
The way Jordan was hungrily eating up the sight of me, however, told me he liked what he was seeing.
Need made my inner muscles clench hard, but I knew better than to think he would even make a move. And if he did, was it because he wanted me, or because he couldn’t have the girl he really wanted?
“It’s late, Jordan. I’m not in the mood to talk.” I walked around the car, expecting him to step back so I could get behind the wheel.
His arms wrapped around me so fast it was like a cobra striking, making me gasp. One second, I was a foot away; the next, my front was plastered against the front of his body while he pressed me back against my car. Liquid desire was already soaking my panties and smearing on my inner thighs. The cool night air flowing up my dress made me shiver.
Jordan pressed his forehead to mine and inhaled deeply. “Let me clear something up here and now,” he growled. The sound was sexy as hell, vibrating out of him and making my nipples pebble into painful little points against my bra. “Mia is my best friend. I love her.”
Pain ricocheted inside me, and it took a strength I didn’t know I possessed to hold back the whimper aching to be released.