Chapter Eight
Laci
I yawned, rubbing my eyes with my hands as I flopped back against the pillows.
“Still tired?”
I glanced up at Jordan. He’d just gotten out of the shower and he paraded across the room naked. Dragging my gaze away from his muscular body was an act of willpower. I’d never seen a man like Jordan before – heck, I didn’t even think men like Jordan existed outside of the movies. As he pulled a shirt over his head, the delicious muscles in his torso rippled and a warm feeling of desire began to grow in my belly.
“Yes,” I said.
“Enjoying the view?” Jordan smirked as he pulled a pair of trousers up his muscular thighs and belted them around his waist.
I flushed hotly. “Maybe,” I said coyly. “It’s sort of hard to look away.”
Jordan grinned. He yanked the sheet off me and stared down at my body until I was squirming self-consciously.
“I know what you mean,” Jordan said. He dipped his head to my belly and kissed the exposed skin. The rough stubble on his jaw scratched my tummy and I shrieked and giggled, pushing Jordan’s head away. Jordan growled and crawled on the bed, pushing me into the mattress. He took my chin in his hand and kissed me, pushing his forehead against mine and staring intensely into my eyes.
“I have to go,” I shrieked, still giggling. “I told Jenna I’d meet her downtown!”
“I think I should keep you here all day,” Jordan said. He winked at me and dipped his head to my neck before nipping at my collarbone. “I like you in my bed. In fact, I don’t think I should ever let you leave.”
“I’ll lose my job,” I said, pretending to pout. Jordan rolled over and sat up, straightening up his shirt. He reached for his discarded necktie and wrapped it around his neck.
“Yeah, well, at least you’re not wearing a noose every day,” Jordan said. He groaned. “I swear, that’s the worst thing about my job.”
I laughed. “You own the firm,” I said. “Why not just skip wearing a tie?”
Jordan laughed. “Yeah, and be chased out by my own secretary, more like,” he said. “That’s the thing about working in a trading firm. You have to look like you’re about to meet a client – like, all the time.”
I shuddered. “I couldn’t wear heels every day,” I said. “That would honestly make me want to die.”
Jordan grinned. “You look wicked sexy in heels,” he said. He leaned down and kissed me again, adjusting the knot of his tie until it was perfectly crisp.
I flushed. “I really should go,” I said. I yawned again. As much as I knew I had to get up, the thought of leaving Jordan’s warm, cozy bed was torture. Outside, it was a windy, rainy spring day, and I had no desire to huddle under a giant umbrella while traipsing around campus with Jenna.
“Stay here for a while,” Jordan said. He shrugged. “Just lock up when you leave.”
The idea was awfully tempting. “No,” I said firmly, shaking my head as if to persuade myself further. “Jordan, I really can’t. I promised Jenna.”
“She’s an adult,” Jordan said. He raised an eyebrow at me and slid his phone into his jacket pocket.
“I know,” I said. I frowned. “I just feel guilty.”
Jordan shrugged. “Do what you like,” he said. He leaned down and gave me one last, lingering kiss before grabbing his briefcase and sauntering out of the condo. As soon as he’d gone, I relaxed back in the nest of pillows I’d built for myself. I knew I had to get going, but it was next to impossible when I was so comfortable.
After a few delicious minutes, I forced myself to get up. Jordan kept the air conditioning in his condo at a frigid sixty degrees, and my teeth were practically chattering as I pulled on the sundress I’d worn the day before. It wasn’t really appropriate for the rain, but I didn’t have another choice. After strapping my sandals on, I washed my face and left Jordan a note in the bathroom. As I left his condo, I felt a twinge of regret. Jordan was right, I thought as I reluctantly walked to the elevator bank and waited. Jenna is an adult – and maybe it’s time I started treating her like one.
By the time I made it downtown to the city college where Jenna would be attending, I knew something was wrong. The sky was still heavy with clouds, but the campus was surprisingly empty. I frowned as I walked through the common buildings, looking for groups of bright-eyed new students with nametags and branded backpacks.
There was no sign of Jenna anywhere. I even looked in the bathrooms, dipping my head down to check under the stalls.
“Jen?” I called. “Are you in here?”
There was no reply. Biting my lip, I pushed open the bathroom door and stormed into the common room.
I spent an hour walking around campus, looking for my sister, before I decided to give up and go home. My phone was dead – I’d spent the night at Jordan’s without my charger. It was raining harder than ever by the time I got off the bus and climbed up the stairs to our apartment.
Jenna was on the couch with a bowl of popcorn on her lap. She didn’t look up when I walked in.
“God, it’s raining cats and dogs out there,” I said, kicking off my sodden sandals. My feet were wrinkled and pruned on the bottom from hours of walking though the rain. “You were smart to skip that college thing.”
Jenna didn’t say anything. She took the remote in her hands and turned up the volume of the television until it was earth-shatteringly loud.
“Jenna,” I said loudly. “Come on, we have neighbors!”
Jenna stood up and threw the remote at the wall. It cracked open with a loud pop! sound and plastic flew everywhere.
“Jenna!” I yelled. “What the hell is your problem?”
Jenna glared at me angrily. She was breathing so hard that her nostrils were flared. I stormed across the room and yanked the television’s cord out of the wall. The screen went black and the apartment was filled with silence.
“I can’t believe you,” Jenna said. “You missed my college orientation! What, let me guess *** you were with that guy, Jordan?”
“Yes,” I said sharply. “And I didn’t miss it! I took the bus and got there at noon!”
“It was over at eleven-thirty!” Jenna yelled. Her face was turning red and purple. “Laci, what’s the matter with you? What, did you suddenly forget that you have a little sister?!”
“No,” I snapped. “I didn’t forget – and what do you mean it was over?”
Jenna grabbed a crumpled flyer from the coffee table and threw it at me.
“Here,” she said in a sulky voice. “If you don’t believe me.”
Before I could stop her, Jenna stormed into her room and slammed the door. The walls shook and a few seconds later, I heard music blaring from inside.
With a sigh, I grabbed the flyer and looked down. Sure enough, the orientation had begun at eight-thirty and ended with a brunch. My stomach twisted unpleasantly and I sat down on the couch, biting my lip and gripping the flyer with stiff fingers.
I can’t believe it, I thought as I struggled to make sense of what had happened. I’m the world’s worst sister! The guilt was eating me alive. I’d done what I’d always said I’d never do: break a promise to Jenna. And even worse, I’d broken it because of Jordan!
I walked over to Jenna’s closed door and knocked gently. When there was no response, I knocked again.
“Go away!” Jenna yelled. “I don’t want to talk to you right now!”
“Jenna, I’m sorry,” I said. I sighed and rested my forehead against the door. “I really am, okay? I didn’t mean to forget – it was in my calendar and everything. I must’ve just gotten the time wrong.”
Jenna turned down the music a notch. “Well, too bad,” she said sourly from the other side of the door. “I’m sorry you were too busy fucking Prince Charming to remember your sister!”
“For god’s sake,” I snapped. “You’re an adult, remember? You’re the one who’s always so keen on reminding me of that!”
“Don’t turn this around,” Jenna said. “You told me you’d be there, and I waited for you like an idiot! Everyone else was with their family!”
I sighed. I knew she was right, but I couldn’t deny that I was frustrated with her for treating me like this.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “It won’t happen again.”
“It can’t happen again,” Jenna said harshly. “That was it – there’s no more orientation. I start classes next week.”
I leaned against the door and crossed my arms over my chest.
“And I think you seriously need to consider slowing things down,” Jenna continued loudly. “I mean, if you’re already forgetting your sister, what else are you forgetting about?”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have to dignify that with an answer,” I said angrily. Turning on my heel, I went to my own room and slammed the door, just like a teenager.
The next morning, I wasn’t feeling much better. Jenna was still ignoring me – she hadn’t emerged from her room by the time I left for school – and the rain hadn’t lifted. By the time I got to my classroom, my hair was a frizzy mess around my shoulders.
The end of the school year was rapidly approaching and the kids could practically smell their freedom. It took me over ten minutes to get my class corralled, and by the time the bell rang, I was feeling more like a rookie teacher than ever.
At lunch time, I met Taylor in the teacher’s lounge. She barely looked up when I sat down next to her and started unwrapping my brown paper bag lunch.
“Hey,” I said. “Everything okay?”
Taylor glanced up and sighed. “No, not really,” she said. She yawned. “I was up literally all night doing those stupid Massachusetts Advancement Test prep exercises, and my period started today.” She unwrapped a wax paper sandwich and took a bite. The smell of tuna filled my nostrils.
I frowned. “But those aren’t due until next week,” I said. “Are you busy this weekend or something?”
Taylor narrowed her eyes. “Laci, I think they’re due today,” she said. “The principal said he wanted everything submitted by close of business.”
My heart lurched in my chest and my palms began to sweat. Forcing myself to take a deep breath, I shook my head.
“That can’t be right,” I mumbled, reaching into my bag and pulling out my phone. “What do you mean, due today? I know we had more time.”
Taylor gave me a suspicious look before taking a huge bite of her sandwich and chewing thoughtfully. “I’m sure you’re probably done with yours, though,” she said. “You could always just finish them up in planning. How many do you have left, like two?”
I pictured the empty papers tucked aside in my desk – I’d barely even looked over them since I’d gotten them the month before.
“Um, a little more than that,” I said weakly.
“How many?”
I swallowed. “All of them.”
Taylor’s eyes bulged so wide that for a moment, I was afraid they’d pop out of her face.
“Laci!” She shrieked. “Are you serious right now?”
“I must’ve forgotten,” I said nervously. My own untouched sandwich was sitting in front of me, but suddenly I no longer had an appetite. All I could think about was how much trouble I was going to be in – and how the hell I was going to do all of that work in a single night.
Taylor sighed. “You’ll be okay,” she said. She tossed her hair over one shoulder as she started nibbling on the crust of her sandwich. “You’ve never really fucked up. The principal likes you. I know he does. You’ll be fine.”
The more she said it, the less I felt like it was true. As I sat there with my head spinning, a horrible thought came into my head. What if Jenna – and by extension, Taylor – was right? What if I was letting my new relationship with Jordan completely take over my life?
I didn’t want to stop seeing him…if anything, I wanted to see him more. But I couldn’t keep making these stupid mistakes. I couldn’t keep forgetting about my own sister, or my responsibilities at work.
Plus, there was all of the secrecy. I didn’t know what to make of that. I didn’t like that Jordan wouldn’t tell me about his own family, or his past, or even how he’d grown up. Despite feeling like I was falling in love, I realized that I knew very little about him. It was troubling. He was obviously keeping something from me – maybe even more than just one thing – and here I was, walking along like an idiot with my head in the clouds. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to get my heart broken.
“Laci?”
“Huh?” My head snapped up and I saw Taylor frowning at me with concern. “Sorry,” I muttered. “Drifting off. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
Taylor nodded, but she didn’t look any less worried. “Are you okay?”
I thought about Jordan. I thought about how I felt when I was with him – like I was on top of the world, like I was the luckiest woman alive. I thought about his rock-hard body, his sexy intense eyes, and his close-cropped hair that made him look like a total badass.
And then I thought about how closed-off he became whenever the past came up. The mere mention of the word “family” was enough to make him clam up tight. And he’d acted so strange on the phone the other day! He hadn’t even told the person on the other end of the line that he’d been on a date!
My heart was aching as I realized that if I didn’t want to get hurt, I was going to have to pull away from Jordan before it was too late. I’d been so stupid and naïve before, thinking that love would magically be enough to make something work between a girl like me and a man like Jordan West. There’s no way this is going to work, I thought as the feeling of heartbreak grew realer and realer.
“Laci?” Taylor asked again. “You can talk to me, you know.”
I blinked back the hot tears that had suddenly sprang in my eyes. “Yeah,” I said softly. “I know.”