Overtime
Page 47

 Toni Aleo

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“Kace—”
“Hey, babe, you almost done?”
Jordie held her gaze despite the interruption of Liam. He begged her with his eyes to tell Liam to go somewhere, but when he saw the tears gather in her eyes, he had to look away. Call him a coward, but when that girl cried, Jordie felt smaller than a flea.
“Yeah, fine, Jordie was just leaving,” she said, looking toward the wall. “Let me clean up and I’ll be ready to go.”
“All right, baby,” he said, then looked to Jordie. “She has great hands, right?”
Jordie swallowed his explicit retort and glared as he hopped off the table, grabbing his shorts in the process.
Looking back up at him, he said, “Fuck off, Kelly.”
Well, he tried to swallow it.
“Jordie!” Kacey scolded, but he ignored her as Liam sputtered, looking like a complete doofus.
Jordie then turned to Kacey, grasping her shoulder as her eyes met his, still full of tears. Holding her gaze, he said, “I do know you, and I’m sorry it took me so long to say that.”
Her eyes widened as she shook off his hand, her eyes turning to slits, but the sadness in them still blinded him.
Instantly, he felt incomplete.
She was what he needed to feel complete, but she had a barrier the size of the Great Wall around her heart and he was the one who helped build it.
But what goes up, must come down.
And Jordie was going to bust right through that fucking wall and get his girl.
As Jordie walked out, his shorts in his hands and his shoulders back and taut, Kacey wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and cry. Alas, her boyfriend was standing in the doorway, hopelessly confused. She knew she needed to say something, anything. But not only could she not move for the simple fact she was worried she’d chase after Jordie, but she couldn’t get his words out of her head.
I do know you, and I’m sorry it took me so long to say that.
But really, why did Jordie have to say things like that? It made her hope that he was being true. That he really meant it. But if he did, then why did he throw her to the side the way he did? Why was he messing with her? Fucking with her head!
But really, why did she fucking care!
She had Liam. And he was…
Ugh.
“Um, Kacey, what is going on?”
Drawing in a deep breath through her nose, she just wanted a moment. Just one. To breathe and figure out her next move. A part of her wanted to demand to know what Jordie was saying, the other part of her was scared to know. She knew Jordie, knew what he wanted from the opposite sex, so what the hell was he saying? She just wanted to know, but at the same time, she didn’t. Letting Jordie in again would be a huge mistake. One she couldn’t afford to make.
She needed to just ignore him. Completely shut him out the way he did her. She had a good man who wanted her. She needed to stick with that because Liam wasn’t capable of what Jordie was. He also didn’t make her feel what Jordie did, but that was beside the point. She needed to stay clear of Jordie and try hard to fall for Liam. Her mother would love him, so would her father, she just knew it. She just had to let him in. Stop holding him at arm’s length and enjoy a man who actually wanted her and the things she did. It was so hard to find a man nowadays, and she was getting older. She couldn’t let him go. Not yet. Love grew, it did. And it would for her.
Turning to do damage control, she could not only to see that his face was twisted in confusion but also that he had brought her a bouquet of wild flowers.
Ugh, she didn’t want any more flowers.
Shit, that made her a bitch.
Fuck, she was trying to stop cussing.
Shit!
Shaking away her thoughts, she placed a smile on her face. “Oh! My fave,” she said, coming toward him and taking the flowers. Smelling them, she grinned up at him and then kissed his lips softly. “Thank you.”
She turned, taking them to her desk, where four other bouquets were there to brighten her day. But when her eyes fell to the Snickers that looked out of place, it was what brightened her day. Jordie knew that she loved food. That it was the way to her heart. She actually hated flowers, not that she had told Liam that.
Turning back, she threw him a grin and said, “So I think you’ve filled the quota for flowers this week.”
His brows were together as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I asked you a question,” he said sharply for the very first time.
Her brow rose. “And I’m choosing to ignore it.”
“Why?” he demanded.
“Because I don’t want to talk about it.”
“But I do.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
He gave her a deadpan look and then asked, “So I’m just supposed to ignore the fact that my teammate told me to fuck off for no reason at all, while you stood there almost in tears?”
Kacey nodded. “Exactly. If you want to chase after him and ask him why he said that to you, be my guest, but my issues with Jordie are off-limits.”
“Why?” he asked again. “Do you two have history?”
Letting her head fall back, she sucked in a deep breath and then let it out. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, I think you need to start talking because I’m upset. I feel like you’re hiding something from me, and I don’t like that,” he said impatiently. But didn’t he know that that sentence would have meant so much more if he’d added a few curse words?