She was pretty yesterday. This morning, my suspicion is blurring everything. All of a sudden, I’m twenty again and wondering where Cole’s mother was all night.
But Jordan’s not like that. She’s a good girl.
It just doesn’t make any sense she’d say she was with Cole when she wasn’t.
Unless she was up to something she shouldn’t have been.
I don’t want Cole to go through that with Jordan. Not like I did with his mother. What if he gets her pregnant and gets stuck dealing with a person like that? I don’t want him to be fucking alone forever, because he thinks he wasn’t enough for her.
I force my breathing to calm down. I’m jumping to conclusions. Relax.
She sees me approach, and her eyes light up a little. She opens her mouth to say something, but I speak first.
“Are you okay?” I ask. “Did you have a good night?”
She cocks her head, faltering a little. “Um, yeah, I guess.”
So nothi
ng bad happened then. She’s in one piece and seems happy enough.
“Did you and Cole have fun?” I press, my pulse starting to race.
She drops her head, avoiding my eyes as she sticks the glass under the bar. “Yeah.” She nods.
And I flex my jaw, my temper rising. She just lied again.
“Yeah, Cole seems to think he never picked you up.” I plant my hands on the bar and lean in. “He says one of his friends picked you up, but he didn’t see you the rest of the night, and you didn’t come home.”
She stares at me, a blush crossing her cheeks. “Um…Yeah, it…I… I was…”
She stammers, flustered, and I stand there waiting for the easy, simple explanation I know will come, but…
It doesn’t.
She opens her mouth to say something again, but then closes it, a slight wince in her eyes like she knows she’s been caught.
I even out my tone, trying to sound calm. “Where were you all night, Jordan?”
Her gaze flashes everywhere but on me, her shoulders tense, and her breathing gets heavier. She can answer the question. She just doesn’t want to.
“Jordan?”
“Is Cole home now?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Then we’re both fine. The rest isn’t your concern,” she states.
I narrow my gaze on her. “And my house isn’t a hotel, little girl.”
She could’ve stayed with her sister or a friend, but why lie about that? She’s hiding something.
She lifts her chin, continuing, “Where I slept last night is between Cole and me.”
I keep my face straight, but all that floods my head are the images of a very young and stupid me catching my girlfriend screwing some guy in a car in front of our apartment at three in the morning. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck…
Yeah.