With her eyes shut, Tessa didn’t have to see the scenery whirring by. Unfortunately, it still felt like she had just turned one hundred circles before suddenly stopping. She settled her hands against her stomach in hopes of calming it down. Right now it was doing a slow gurgle while trying to decide if all its contents should be emptied.
“Are you going to be sick?” Jordan’s worried voice broke her concentration.
Tessa should have known Jordan was involved with her kidnapping, the jerk face. She was going to give him a piece of her mind as soon as she felt better. In the meantime, she settled for glaring at him through her closed eyes.
“Tessa?”
Jordan sounded unsure as he said her name. Against her will, a twinge of guilt worked its way through her soused brain for not answering him.
“I’m fine, jerk face. Just get me home,” Tessa grumbled.
“Jerk face?”
Tessa did not like his amused tone. Her building anger started drowning out her nausea. Without any sudden movements, Tessa cautiously turned her head and glared at Jordan.
Her indignation was wasted on him. He was looking at the road with a stupidly attractive grin plastered on his face.
“Yes, jerk face!” Tessa said with more venom.
It was her turn to smirk when he lost the smile and turned his head to her. She could feel his eyes, but his hat was preventing her from seeing them. Tessa reached out and flicked it off.
“What? What are you doing?” Jordan’s hand flew up, but he was too slow. The hat was gone. He turned his puzzled blue eyes to Tessa.
Tessa liked seeing his eyes. “That’s better,” she sighed.
“What’s better?”
She didn’t reply.
“Tessa!” Jordan snapped. Geez, he didn’t have to yell. She was in the same truck.
“Yes?” she said pleasantly. She watched Jordan narrow his eyes and flick them over to her before returning them to the road.
“What’s better?” Jordan asked patiently.
Hmm, she had said that. “I don’t remember,” she chirped.
Jordan tightened his hands on the wheel, and Tessa became fascinated with how large they were. Goosebumps covered her arms as she remembered how it felt when they ran over her body.
In a slow, tight voice Jordan tried again. “Why did you flick off my hat?”
Now she remembered and said triumphantly, “I wanted to see your shiny blue eyes!”
Jordan’s smile was back. “Shiny?”
She started to nod and then stopped when she remembered how she felt like barfing when she moved. Tessa became engrossed with staying as still as possible.
“Tessa? Shiny?” Jordan prompted.
“Yeah,” she said dreamily. “I love how they pop against your beautiful tan skin and dark as sin hair. I love how they make me feel when they’re on me.” Tessa stopped to shiver at the memory of them zeroed in on her at the party.
“And I love how they change temperature depending on your mood.”
Jordan raised his eyebrows. “Temperature?”
Tessa shrugged. “Your eyes are the windows to your soul. The first time you looked at me, they were blazing hot. No one has ever looked at me like that.” She remembered how transfixed she’d been watching Jordan suck that stupid girl’s neck and how hot she’d gotten imagining it was her neck.
“Remember Jordan?” Tessa said huskily. “You were making out with that stupid girl. For the first time ever, I was absorbed by a guy. I wanted to be that girl. I wanted to know what your mouth would feel like on my neck.”
“Holy fucking shit, Tessa. You can’t say shit like that to me while I’m driving!”
Tessa let his words wash over her and continued. “That same night, your eyes froze me out. I didn’t like that.” Tessa tightened her arms around herself, remembering how she’d felt like he’d put a knife in her.
She moved on to happier memories. “I like it when your eyes are twinkling. I make it my mission to see them twinkling. Twinkling is the best. Well, that’s a lie. They’re the best when you’re looking at me like you want to devour me.”
“Devour?” Jordan choked out.
“Yeah, devour.” Tessa looked over at him and explained intently, “The first time you looked at me like that was when we were at the party. It gets me all excited and tingly when you do.”
“Fuuuuck, Tessa. How much did you have to drink tonight?” Jordan sounded tortured.
Tessa pulled her eyebrows together and pursed her lips. Lindy had kept putting drinks in her hand, so she wasn’t sure. Concentrating hard, she started to count her drinks. When she got to the glass Lindy had given her on the dance floor, she remembered.
“Wait! I’m mad at you. Don’t try and get me all hot and bothered.”
“Maybe you could tell me why I’m a jerk face,” Jordan managed to get out.
Tessa didn’t like the way he was trying not to laugh again. She sucked in a big breath and let him have it in one big huff.
“If you don’t want to be seen with me, I won’t be your girlfriend. Your stupid hot body and fuck me eyes might make me weak, but my mom taught me all about your evil powers, and I won’t be summoned and come running when you want me.”
“What the hell, Tessa?”
Tessa jumped at Jordan’s loud, hard tone, but she refused to say anything until he apologized. With her best mulish expression, she stared out the windshield to wait him out. Then they pulled up to Jordan’s house.
“I don’t want to be here! Take me back to campus!” Tessa screamed in such a high pitched voice that it hurt her own ears.
Jordan turned his stony stare back to her. “Get out of the truck so we can talk, Tessa.”
Tessa turned back to the windshield and calmly said, “No.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he opened his door and got out. Her heart started pounding when he went toward the back of the truck and she lost sight of him. Tessa jumped when her door opened, but she still refused to look at him.
Jordan leaned down, and she felt goosebumps appear as soon as she inhaled his spicy cologne. With her blood racing through her, Tessa tried to maintain her poker face when he calmly brushed his words across her ear.
“Get out of the truck, Tessa.”
“No, and you can’t make me.” Her snarky reply was quick.
All she heard was Jordan’s big inhale and resigned exhale before everything happened on fast forward. As the seatbelt was released, he put one arm under her knees and the other around her back, sliding her from the seat and standing her up. Before she could figure out what was going on, Jordan lifted her over his shoulder.
“Jerk face, put me down!” Tessa reinforced her demand by balling up her hands and beating Jordan’s back with them. She sucked in a startled breath when his palm came down on her ass.
“Stop squirming, Tessa. You don’t want me to drop you, do you?”
She stopped moving, but she was still mad. She was not thinking about the sudden burst of want between her legs. Her anger and desire dissolved when her stomach realized how much she was being jostled.
Tessa flattened her hands on Jordan’s back to leverage herself into a ninety-degree angle and get in a more upright position.
“Jordan, let me down.” The words came out strangled. Jordan ignored her and kept walking.
The multiple drinks Tessa had consumed were working their way up her throat. Frantically she said, “Jordan, you have to put me down or I’m going to throw up all over you.”
Her head spun with the force and speed at which Jordan complied. She bent over, putting her hands on her knees and drawing in some deep breaths to stop the nausea. When she felt it was under control, Tessa gently rose and took delicate steps toward Jordan’s door.
“How can I help, Tessa?”
“Bathroom,” she gritted out.
Jordan held the door open while she slowly but steadily made her way to his bathroom. As soon as she lifted the toilet lid, everythi
ng flew out of her mouth.
Once she was done, she sank to the ground and reveled in the silence around her. The world was still spinning, but at least she no longer felt nauseated. Jordan laid a soothing wet washcloth on her face. Tessa squinted, seeing his concerned face staring back at her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Jordan lifted the washcloth and whispered back to her, “Why are you sorry?”
Tessa closed her eyes. The world spun faster when they were open. “For throwing up in your beautiful bathroom. I’ll clean it up tomorrow.”
All she wanted to do was go to sleep, but Jordan’s voice drew her back to the land of the living.
“Come on, Tessa, let’s get you comfortable.”
She felt herself being lifted, but she didn’t want to go anywhere. “Jordan, leave me here. What if I throw up again? I can’t afford to replace your carpet.”
His voice drifted away, but Tessa could swear he sounded angry. “You are not sleeping on the floor, Tessa. And you are not cleaning my bathroom or replacing my fucking carpet.”
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Chapter 21
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The next morning, Tessa’s eyes sprang open like a vampire awakening at dusk. Where was she? What time was it? Her pounding head and rolling stomach reminded her that she was now twenty-one.
Tessa closed her eyes and tried to forget about how awful she felt and figure out what had happened last night. The impressions that flashed through her head were vague, but she did remember throwing up in Jordan’s bathroom.
She gingerly sat up in bed and maneuvered her way to the edge. Based on the indented pillow beside the one she’d used, Jordan had been here. Tessa turned on the lamp and was blinded by the light. After her shocked pupils adjusted, she dropped her arms to her sides and looked down at herself.
Her shoes and jeans were off. At least her underwear and shirt were still on, but so was her bra. Now Tessa understood why her breathing felt constricted. She had a sudden desire to rip off both her shirt and bra and search for one of Jordan’s t-shirts. First, Tessa needed to figure out if she was still welcome.
She shuffled to the bathroom to relieve her bladder and splash some water on her face. Then she needed to find coffee, water, and Tylenol. The Post-it stuck to the mirror caught her attention.
Do NOT clean the bathroom.
She definitely did need to clean the bathroom, but she didn’t have it in her to do it now. Tessa took the note as a reminder to come back later and do it. She trudged out to the kitchen and found a coffee cup, a bottle of Tylenol, and another note.
There is bottled water in the fridge. Drink the whole bottle. Coffee is warming in the pot.
Tessa smiled at the sweet but bossy notes. After chugging half a water bottle and downing two Tylenol, she felt a little better. Relief swept through when she spotted her brown leather crossbody purse on the table.
There wasn’t much in it, but it did have her bank card and some cash. The money was still there, but no phone. Crinkling paper caught her attention, and when she pulled it out, it was yet another note from Jordan.
I have your jeans and shoes hidden. Stay put until I get back from practice. I should be home by 11:30.
Tessa glanced at the clock. It was ten-thirty. Why would he hijack her clothes and not just ask her to stay? She closed her eyes and thought back through the night. As she pieced together the evening, her queasiness turned to anger.
Jordan hadn’t wanted to be seen with her. He’d pushed her away when she’d tried to kiss him and then had pretended to have an urgent call. Apparently it was okay to be with her in private, but not in public.
There was no way she was going to stay here. Her hand flew to her purse to get her phone. Tessa shouted out her frustration when she remembered it wasn’t there. Forcing her anger to the back burner, she tried to remember the last time she’d had it.
“Crap!” She stomped her foot.
That had been when she was texting Jordan and Lindy had taken it away. Tessa searched the kitchen looking for a solution. When her gaze landed on a landline, she made a beeline. She said a silent thank you to the moms for making her memorize the family’s cell numbers.
Tessa grinned with glee when Lindy answered sounding like death had rolled over. Making sure her voice was extra loud and perky she said, “Good morning, sunshine! Guess who gets to come get me since she took my cell phone?”
Lindy answered in a tortured whisper, “I don’t have a car.”
“Where are you, Lindy?” She had driven them to the bar, so why didn’t she have the car?
There was a long pause before Tessa prompted, “Lindy.”
“I’m at Deion’s,” she reluctantly admitted.
“What!”
Tessa’s disbelief was followed by a long groan from Lindy. “Jordan took you, and then Deion took me to his car and said it was time to go. I told him to take me to the dorms, but the next thing I knew, we were at his house.”
“You weren’t fit to drive, so that was probably for the best.” Tessa conceded that Deion had done a good thing for Lindy. She snorted. “Thanks for letting me get kidnapped, by the way.”
Lindy groaned. “I wanted to go after you, but Deion assured me you were alright. Are you okay?”
Jordan had taken good care of her, but she wasn’t going to let go of what had happened at the bar. “I’m fine. Can you give me the number of a taxi?”
Wait, she didn’t even know Jordan’s address. Frustration boiled up. “You have my phone, right?”
“I think so. Let me go check my purse.” There was some rustling, and after a moment Lindy said, “Yes, I have it.”
“Can you look up the number for a taxi and then look in my contacts for Jordan’s address?”
After Lindy did what she asked, Tessa called a cab and was told it would be twenty minutes. Now she needed to find her jeans. If necessary, she would grab something of Jordan’s, but she didn’t want to explain to the moms why she had on different clothes. It was bad enough she looked like something the cat had dragged in.
Fifteen minutes later, Tessa let out a sound of triumph. Her belly crawl to look under the bed had paid off with the discovery of her jeans and shoes. She scurried to the street, keeping an eye out for Jordan or his mom. Tessa did not want to run into either of them at this moment.
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Chapter 22
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It took a couple of hours, but Tessa’s hangover was dissipating thanks to a hot shower, clean clothes, and a stomach full of bacon and eggs. The one thing she couldn’t get rid of was her anger toward Jordan.
Every time Tessa remembered how he had kept ducking his head and looking around, her irritation flared. She was mad at her drunk self too. It was embarrassing how she hadn’t been able to take a hint and kept throwing herself at him.
When someone knocked on their apartment door, Tessa didn’t think anything of it. Neighbors dropped by from time to time to ask favors or chat, so she continued stewing on her bed.
There was a brief knock on her door before her mom entered. “Tessa,” she began in a puzzled tone, “there’s a Jordan Davis here to see you?”
Tessa sat up in her bed, clutching the covers. She wasn’t ready to talk with him. Why would he come here? Now she was going to have to answer questions about him. She could already see the curiosity and the hurt in her mom’s eyes.
“Tessa, do you not want to see him?”
Her mom could apparently see her indecision. Tessa pulled herself together. She wasn’t the one who should be worried about talking. With renewed determination to give him a piece of her mind, she swung her legs out of bed.
“Yes. I’ll get my shoes on and be right out.” They would not be staying in the apartment to have this conversation.
Her mom was no one’s fool. “I’ll let him know. Tessa, we will be talking about this later.”
Her stomach tightened, but Tessa knew there w
ould be no getting out of the conversation. “Okay.”
With one last stern look, her mom turned and walked out of the room. Tessa slid her feet into a pair of flip-flops, grabbing some money and putting her phone in her pocket before walking out to the family room. If a room crammed with a couch, a chair, and a TV stand could be classified as a family room.
“I’m a computer science major, Ms. Parker.”
“And what exactly would you do with a computer science degree?” Her mom’s tone was polite, but Tessa knew she was grilling Jordan, the first boy to ever come to the apartment to see Tessa.
“My dad has a company that I’ll eventually be joining. They develop different apps and software.”
“Eventually?”
Tessa quickly stepped into the room and with a cheery greeting pretended that she didn’t know she was interrupting a conversation.
“I’m ready to go.”
She didn’t give anyone time to reply and walked the twenty steps to get to the door. Tessa let out the breath she had been holding when she saw Jordan was following her.
“Where are you going?” her mom asked.
“We’re getting some ice cream and going to the park.” Tessa had blurted out the first thing that came to her head.
“Not Stockholm Park?” Her mom asked, concern lacing her voice.
Stockholm Park was the closest park to them. It was also a well-known place to get drugs. Tessa saw the look on Jordan’s face and almost laughed out loud. He was probably confused about why her mom was concerned about going to a park. Most people would think the park was a fun, safe place to go. Not Stockholm Park.
“Of course not, Mom. We’ll head further out.”
Her mom relaxed and looked between them. “Okay, I’ll see you in time for dinner?”
Tessa rolled her eyes at the subtle hint. “Yes, Mom. I’ll be back for dinner.”
She quickly opened the door and stepped out. Tessa did not want to give her mom a chance to invite Jordan back for dinner or ask him more questions.
Breaking Tessa: A College Sport Romance Page 14
