“My mom is sick, and I don’t want you waking her up,” she blurted out. It wasn’t a complete lie.
Jordan tilted his head and stared down at her.
“Sick how?” he asked flatly.
“Rheumatoid arthritis.”
“Arthritis?”
Jordan’s disbelieving tone made her straighten her backbone. The suffering her mom had been through was not something Tessa would wish on anyone. His skepticism caused her panic to subside and be replaced with irritation.
“Yes, rheumatoid arthritis. It’s hard for her to sleep, and you will not wake her.”
Jordan’s face tensed with anger at her defiant tone, and he stepped closer until there were only inches separating them. Tessa’s annoyance slid away, and her alarm returned.
She stayed as still as possible, watching Jordan warily. To her dismay, her body started tingling as it recognized the only man who’d ever been able to bring it to life. Her brain warned her that the angry, intimidating man in front of her was not the Jordan she knew.
Tessa needed him to leave, so she ignored her body and glared up at him. He studied her face, then raised a finger and gently glided it from her temple to her chin.
Her skin jumped at the trail of heat Jordan left. Tessa struggled to keep her eyes open. She desperately wanted to relish the way her body came alive under his simple touch. Instead, she concentrated on her breathing and tried to cover the way it hitched when he finally dropped his hand.
“I’ll be at the Student Equality Center office from nine to eleven on Monday morning. If you don’t show up during that time, I will come here, and I won’t leave until we talk.”
Her brain didn’t know what to process first. Why meet where she worked? How did he even know where the office was?
Tessa shook her head, trying to grasp the right words. “Why there?”
Jordan’s self-satisfied smirk made the hairs on her arms stand at attention. “Oh Tessa, you should have stuck around for the big announcement.”
The smug look on his face dared her to ask despite the sinking feeling she had.
“Why?” she breathed out.
Jordan didn’t answer right away. His finger caressed her cheek again, and Tessa closed her eyes. It was a mistake. Instead of it being a way to escape his smugness, she became even more aware of his touch.
Tessa was lost in the heat traveling to every part of her body until Jordan’s answer tilted her world.
“I’m the new ambassador for the Student Equality Center, or SEC, as we insiders call it.”
Tessa snapped her eyes open and straightened her spine. She could not have heard right. “What?”
Jordan dropped his hand and put both hands in his pockets. He acted like this was just a casual conversation instead of a life-changing event.
“That means I’ll be visiting SEC and coming to some tutoring sessions to meet the kids. I’ll also be making several promotional videos.”
Tessa didn’t even know they’d been looking for an ambassador. Later, she would ask Laura to give her the details. Remaining calm in front of Jordan was all she could do right now.
“What do you think would happen if I told Laura your morals aren’t in line with their mission statement?”
Her heart stopped, and she choked out, “Why would you do that?”
Tessa couldn’t lose her job, even if it wasn’t full time. It was her only source of income, and even with Lindy’s mom Sophia helping, it was hard to get by. Her mom couldn’t work and no longer had insurance. The medical bills were piling up.
“Because it’s true. You pretended to be pregnant and then extorted money from my mom for an abortion. What do you think Laura would say if she knew? If you don’t show up on Monday, you can say goodbye to your job.”
With contempt filling his voice and one last hard look, he turned and walked away. Tessa wanted to cry, knowing she had lost the Jordan she knew and loved. Her Jordan would have treated no one with that callous coldness, especially not her. He’d always made sure she had never felt less than him.
When Jordan rounded the corner and Tessa was sure he’d actually left, she opened the door in a daze. As she sank onto the couch, she tried to figure out how her life had been turned upside down in a matter of hours. It hadn’t been great before tonight, but now she had to deal with Jordan, who didn’t believe she’d ever been pregnant. An angry and vengeful Jordan was not someone she knew how to handle. Until she figured out what he wanted from her, she needed to make sure he didn’t find out about Jordis.
The only plan she had right now was doing what she needed to do to keep her job. Losing it would force her to find another place for them to live. Somewhere cheaper. The only place more affordable was farther into the slums. Fearful apprehension slithered through her.
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Chapter 3
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Tessa stood with trembling legs when Jordan entered her work to a hero’s welcome. As soon as he’d walked through the door, Laura gushed her thanks and fawned all over him. It was the same reaction everyone had had upon seeing Jordan in college. Only now he seemed to revel in it instead of trying to escape it.
Tessa handled it like she always did, she thought with a quiet snort. She watched while everyone eagerly made their way over for an introduction. Jordan shook their hands, listened to their favorite stories about him, and smiled for countless selfies.
Then they reluctantly went back to their desks, but only after Laura promised to come by and reintroduce everyone. When his last admirer had left, Jordan scanned the room filled with partitions. Her cubicle was in a back corner, and Tessa watched as he methodically searched every space. When his gaze landed on hers, she lifted her chin and refused to look away. Jordan turned to Laura and said something.
Laura nodded, and they made their way toward her. The closer they got, the bigger the pit in her stomach became. Tessa turned away and pretended to straighten some items on her desk. She thought her eyes would pop out of her head when they landed on a photo of Jordis. Quickly placing it face down, Tessa stepped just outside of her cubicle and waited.
“This is Tessa Parker, our most sought-after tutor. Her patience and determination with our most challenging students are legendary.”
A warm, dimpled smile lit up Jordan’s face, and Tessa had to suck in a breath to help with her light-headedness. This was how she remembered Jordan. It was like having the sun shine on you after living under cloud cover for a long time.
To her astonishment, Jordan stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. Her body instinctively molded into his frame. He still smelled spicy. For a moment, Tessa allowed herself to believe it was a real hug. She took one last inhale and stepped away while struggling to keep her shaky legs under her.
“Tessa and I knew each other in college. It was a surprise to see her speaking the other night. The Tessa I knew never would have stood in front of a group of people.”
That was true, and she smiled tightly as she remained guarded. Why was he acting like they were friends? Laura laughed and set a hand on Jordan’s arm. Tessa couldn’t seem to drag her gaze away from the contact. When Jordan laid his hand over Laura’s, Tessa pressed her lips together.
“Oh, believe me, I worked on her for a solid month before she agreed to give the speech. She has a true passion for her work, and I knew that would shine through.”
Finally their hands dropped, and Tessa relaxed her jaw.
“I know all about her passion, and I agree it’s second to none.” The heavy undertone in Jordan’s words made the hairs on her arms stand up.
Laura looked between them and then focused back on Jordan. “Why do you say that?”
Tessa quickly intervened. “I helped Jordan write some essays, and he knows I feel strongly about my work.”
“So you two knew each other well?”
“We spent many nights together where she tried to get me to forget about my analytical tendencies.” Was it her imag
ination, or was Jordan’s voice a lower pitch?
Laura’s quizzical face turned to her, and Tessa knew she needed to speak up before Laura could ask any more questions or her heart beat out of her chest. She didn’t know where Jordan was headed, but it didn’t matter. It needed to stop.
“I won’t keep you.” Her high-pitched voice brought their attention to her. “I have to finish my lesson plans for this afternoon.”
To Tessa’s relief, Laura’s face cleared, and she turned back to Jordan.
“This is why I love Tessa—focused at work even though she takes care of her mom and has a three-year-old . . .”
Tessa’s world stopped. Jordan whipped his head toward her, and she took a step back and crossed her arms over her stomach.
He took one look at her white face and stepped around her and into her cubicle. Tessa watched as he picked up the picture frame of Jordis.
She vaguely heard Laura rambling, but all she could do was stare wide-eyed at Jordan as he white-knuckled the frame and stared at the picture. His nostrils flared, and he raised his head to glare accusingly at her. Tessa broke out into a cold sweat as he firmly gripped her elbow and tugged.
Jordan stalked away with Tessa stumbling after him, leaving a dumbfounded Laura behind. Her heart raced, and little white spots danced in front of her as she tried to keep up with him.
A door shut behind them, and for once Tessa was thankful for the drab off-white walls surrounding them. She had always felt claustrophobic in the ten-by-ten conference room and often wished for windows. Today she didn’t mind as she sank down in one of the cheap office chairs and folded her arms in front of her.
Jordan remained standing, towering above her. “Talk,” he snapped.
Tessa closed her eyes and tried to take some deep breaths even though it felt like her throat was closing. It was imperative that she block out the fear screaming through her. This was the most important conversation of her life. For her and Jordis, she needed to push away her terror and focus on saying the right thing.
She snapped her eyes open when the picture frame slammed down in front of her, meeting the cold hostility in Jordan’s eyes.
Tessa looked down at Jordis’s face radiating happiness, praying it would give her the strength she needed. She craned her head to look up at Jordan and declared, “She’s yours.”
“I can fucking see that, Tessa!” he roared. He paced as he ran his hands through his hair.
Tessa swallowed the emotion bottling up in her throat and tried to relax her tense muscles. She watched and waited for him to calm down, praying that he actually would. Just as her nerves were about to snap, he pulled out a chair across from her and sat down.
The hostility radiating from him caused her body to lock up even further and made her more than ready to run from the room, but she knew it would be a futile effort. Instead, she sat ramrod straight in her chair with her arms crossed in front of her as she tried to pretend she wasn’t scared out of her mind.
Tessa had never seen Jordan this close to losing control. She sat as still as possible and continued to watch him. His jaw was locked, but she saw a nerve ticking. What concerned her the most was how he kept closing his hands into fists and then reopening them. Tessa knew he wouldn’t physically harm her, but the hate she saw in his face decimated her.
She had to remind herself that the day she’d gone to his house to tell him she was pregnant and ran into his mom instead, everything had changed. Tessa had made the only choice she could for her and Jordis. Now she had to convince Jordan of that, but she was scared. He obviously didn’t have any feelings for her anymore.
Her baby girl was the joy in her heart and the reason she hadn’t broken down and spiraled into depression. That Jordan still hadn’t said anything about how he felt made her nerves scream. She watched him draw in a breath and tightened her arms around herself, preparing for the anger coming her way. His jaw still ticked.
“What’s her name?” he demanded. Anger was still in his voice, but Tessa willed herself to meet his eyes. She had nothing to hide.
“Jordis.” She saw surprise flicker in his eyes, but then it vanished.
“How old is she?”
“Three. Her birthday is August 22.”
He clenched his jaw tighter and looked down at the picture between them. “It’s true. You were pregnant.”
It wasn’t a question. Tessa tried to ignore the knives poking her repeatedly and prayed her voice didn’t shake.
“I went to see you. As I stood at the pool house door, your mom came down the path and saw me. She told me you weren’t home.”
“Stop. Do not fucking lie!” Jordan’s voice boomed in the small room, and Tessa jumped. He vibrated with fury and looked like he wanted to kill her. Jordan gritted out, “You went to my parents’ house and specifically asked to see my mom.”
Tessa answered carefully, like she was talking to a wild animal. “No. I wanted to talk with you and . . .”
Jordan’s fist crashed down on the table. “Are you calling my mom a liar? The woman who gave birth to me, made sure I got to every basketball camp and practice, and came to all of my games? The one who had the courage to face me and tell me about my deceitful, money-hungry girlfriend?”
Tessa sensed the danger in the room and did not respond to Jordan’s comments. She did flinch when he finished softly, “The woman who stopped me from coming to murder you?”
Tessa was in a state of shock. Numbly, she tried one more time. “I have no reason to lie, Jordan.”
“You,” he sneered as she shrunk away, “will say or do anything that benefits you, Tessa. You are still fucking lying about that day.”
He pushed his chair away and towered over her. Tessa’s heart thumped so loudly in her head that she had a hard time concentrating on his words. “You never came over without calling or texting first because you didn’t want to see my mom. I know you two didn’t see eye to eye, and to think I took your side. If you were coming to see me, you would’ve texted first. You went to my house to see my parents. You went to get your payday.”
Tessa knew that it didn’t matter what she said. Tears of frustration and loss rose, and she knew she had to get out of there. She stood up, each of them watching the other warily as she walked to the door. Then Tessa tried one more time to reason with him.
“I’m not lying, Jordan, but I understand why you think I am. When you’re ready to calmly talk about this, you can call me. I have the same number I did in college.”
His parting words caused terror to strike her body and tears to fall. “We’re having dinner at six tonight, Tessa. You’d better be ready to talk, or the next time you see me I will have lawyers with me.”
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Chapter 4
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Tessa vaguely remembered mumbling something to Laura about not being in later for her shift. After her life-changing confrontation with Jordan, she knew she wouldn’t be in the right frame of mind to do her job, especially with worry about what had just happened and what would come tonight ravaging her insides.
When she got back to the apartment, Tessa checked on her mom. Relief flowed through her when she saw she was sleeping. An elderly neighbor was watching Jordis, and thankfully Sophia was at work. Tessa lowered herself down to the couch and unclenched her muscles as tears ran down her cheeks again.
The anxiety twisting her gut, coupled with her exhaustion and the shock of seeing Jordan filled with hatred toward her, were more than she could handle. For the first time in four years, Tessa gave into the need to fall apart. She curled up into a ball and let all the memories she had delegated to the back of her brain rush in.
When she had driven away from Jordan’s house four years ago, she’d been scared but determined to make it work. Her mom had done it with just a GED. There was no reason she couldn’t do it with a teaching degree.
The plan had been to move out of San Jose. She didn’t want to risk running into Jordan or anyone in his
family, especially since Mrs. Davis had made the assumption she was going to get an abortion. That had never been Tessa’s intention, but she’d had enough sense left to know Mrs. Davis wouldn’t have stopped tearing her world apart until she had convinced Tessa otherwise.
Seeing the disappointment on her mom’s face when she’d told her about her pregnancy had cut her. Sophia had been there and had quickly pulled Tessa into a hug, whispering, “I love you. We will give this baby everything it needs.”
Tessa started adjusting to her new reality. The insurance she received with her new job would cover the birth. A plan came together with her family’s help, and Tessa breathed easier. She had gained the confidence that she could do this and was even beginning to get excited about the pregnancy. And then life happened again.
For months her mom had been battling severe fatigue. Tessa had been unaware, but she couldn’t conceal the weight loss. When Tessa confronted her, she finally told her what was going on.
Besides the fatigue, she’d had fevers and was frequently weak. Tessa encouraged her to go to the doctor. After what seemed like thousands of tests later, they diagnosed her mom with rheumatoid arthritis.
It was a relief to have a diagnosis, but it all went downhill after that. The pain came and continued to increase in strength. It wasn’t long before her mom couldn’t work at all, and she lost not only her paycheck but her benefits.
Tessa gave up her teaching job to find something with more flexible hours, which was how she ended up working at SEC. She would be at home during the day, and Sophia would be there at night. Money was tight to say the very least, but they were squeaking by. At least Medicaid helped pay some bills.
Now she had to deal with a furious Jordan Davis. Tessa was already weighed down most days. It was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when she had to worry about her mother, the bills, and being a good mom.
It seemed impossible to fit another crisis into her life, but she didn’t have a choice. Jordan was not going away now that he knew about Jordis. Somehow she had to find the strength to deal with him. Right at this moment, Tessa wasn’t sure she could. The one thing she knew was that crying wouldn’t help.
Jordan's Justice: A New Adult Sport Romance (Tessa and Jordan Book 2) Page 2
