Tessa hadn’t planned on telling her anything. Her mom had enough on her plate. She didn’t need to worry about her twenty-six-year-old daughter.
“Don’t do that, Tessa,” she implored. “I’m still your mom. Don’t keep things from me. I need to know I’m good for more than sitting in this bed. Talk to me.”
Tessa saw the tears welling up in her mom’s eyes, and like a little kid who had a guilty conscious, she spilled her guts. It was good to share her fears with someone. She’d wanted to call Lindy, but it was difficult to connect with the time difference and their schedules.
“You need to hire a lawyer.”
Hearing the worry in her mom’s voice brought her anxiety roaring back. Her gut churned with the realization that she hadn’t been overreacting. Her mom was levelheaded. Even through her diagnosis and treatments, she’d been more practical than Tessa and Sophia.
Tessa swallowed her tears and took some deep breaths. It was time to stop freaking out. She needed a plan.
“I know. I’m going to find some names at SEC tomorrow. We’ve had more than one mom ask us for the names of divorce attorneys. I’ll find one.”
“How are we going to pay for it?”
That was the $10,000 question—literally—and something Tessa had been worrying about. It had kept her awake at night, ever since Jordan had crashed back into her life.
“I’ll get a night job. One that starts after my tutoring ends.”
Jessica narrowed her eyes. “And when are you going to sleep?”
That was the last thing that mattered to Tessa. “I don’t care about sleep. I care about keeping my daughter.”
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Chapter 10
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Jordan walked up the stairs to Tessa’s apartment. The air smelled like cigarette smoke, and he was sure it was the same dingy, thin carpet that had been there four years ago. His daughter—it still shook him to think he had a daughter—deserved better than this.
He couldn’t believe Tessa had walked out of his penthouse despite the warning. Jordan had always known Tessa as a people pleaser with everyone except him. Four years later, it was no longer charming that she wasn’t in awe of him. Now it was irritating and reckless on her part.
After she had left the penthouse, Jordan had gone to the basketball court to work off his rage. His team was in the off-season. Luckily, a few teammates had been at the arena when he’d arrived looking for a game. They’d played a no-hold bars game with no referee around to call fouls.
With a chunk of his frustration played out of him, Jordan felt a little more civil and was going to try one more time to talk with Tessa. The last thing he wanted to do was fight with his daughter's mother, but he would do whatever it took to be a part of Jordis’s life.
Jordan had grown up with parents who tolerated each other. As he got older, he understood that they were together for appearances, not because they loved each other. He’d never known anything different until he’d become friends with Deion in college.
Deion’s mom and stepdad were the real deal. Much to Deion’s dismay, they frequently exhibited public displays of affection. He’d been embarrassed, but Jordan had been fascinated. It was refreshing to go home with Deion and be welcomed with a friendly, casual atmosphere.
His home was always formal. You greeted your parents properly and didn’t mess up the immaculate interior of the show home or express overt emotion. Jordan didn’t want Jordis to experience that.
Ever since he’d seen the picture of her on Tessa’s desk, turbulent emotions constantly stirred in him, ready to explode at a moment’s notice. Today he was determined not to let Tessa push his buttons, even if she deserved every fucking bit of his resentment.
He rapped on the apartment door, but no one answered. Jordan was about to walk away when the door opened. For a moment he was confused. There wasn’t anyone there. Then he looked down. Curious, bright-blue eyes peered up at him. The same eyes he looked at in the mirror every morning.
All the anger he had been burying was knocked out of him as he watched a mini version of himself staring back at him without an ounce of reservation or shyness.
“You tall.”
Jordan took a step back and stared. It was Jordis, his daughter. She was beautiful. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but she looked at him with pinched eyes. He realized he hadn’t responded to her.
He cleared his throat and bent down. “Yes, I am. I play basketball.”
Well, those were brilliant first words to his daughter. However, it was like he had turned on a disco ball in Jordis. Her eyes widened, and she squealed, “Basketball!”
Did Jordis like basketball? He tried to think back. When had he first discovered his love of the game?
“Jordis.” The reprimand in the new voice was clear and drew his focus from Jordis. “You know not to answer the door.” A frail woman wrapped in a bathrobe appeared.
Jordis turned and pointed to herself. “I help.”
There was a slight softening of the woman’s features, but her tone was still stern. “You are my helper, but not with the door. You need to go back to Nana’s room and finish watching Brave.”
Jordis looked with indecision between him and who he had figured out was Jessica Parker.
“Now,” Jessica said. Only one word but filled with warning.
Jordan wouldn’t have argued with her, but Jordis stomped her foot in protest. Jessica didn’t seem fazed by this and spoke again, “You will do as I say, or I will tell your mom that you don’t get basketball tonight.”
“No! I play basketball!”
Jessica leaned against the wall and looked expectantly at Jordis. Eventually Jessica won the stare-off, and Jordis stomped away. Jordan stood up, and the two adults stared at each other across the room.
The silence was deafening, and for the first time that he could remember, Jordan wanted to squirm under her accusing stare. It was ridiculous. He’d done nothing wrong. He crossed the threshold and shut the door, well aware that he hadn’t been invited in.
He nodded his head. “Ms. Parker.”
Jessica slowly straightened from the wall and shuffled over to a chair as she gestured toward the couch. The same couch that had been there four years ago, and probably ten years before that.
“What brings you by unexpectedly today?”
Jessica Parker may not be healthy, but the narrowing of her gaze and her cool tone left no doubt her mental capacities were well intact. He remembered his promise to himself to be unemotional and made sure his face was blank and his words were steady.
“Is Tessa here?”
“No, Jordan, Tessa is not here. She is working. She is always working. She got another job to pay for a lawyer.”
His first instinct was to bite back, but based on Jessica’s heavy breathing and how she slumped in the chair, he decided discretion would be a better choice.
“There is something I need to discuss with her.”
Jessica snorted and looked down while shaking her head. She looked back at up at him like she was disappointed. “I thought you were going to be good for her. Draw her out of her shell and be supportive.”
A flash of anger lit up his body, and he stiffened. “Have you not heard about what your daughter did?”
Jessica tilted her head to assess him. “I know what you think she did. I understand why you believed it at the time. What I don’t understand is how you could still believe it four years later.”
Jordan snapped his jaw shut and ground his teeth to stop from giving this woman the put-down she deserved. He gritted out, “I’m not discussing this with you. It’s between Tessa and me.”
“Then maybe you should actually talk to her.”
“I did,” he barked.
“Did you?” she challenged.
What the hell had Tessa been telling her mom? It obviously wasn’t the truth. As he opened his mouth to tell Jessica exactly what her precious daughter had done, the front door o
pened.
Tessa stepped in and panic flashed across her features before she rushed over to her mom and slipped an arm around her. She helped Jessica stand, and with Tessa supporting her, they walked down the hall together.
Jordan stepped farther into the tiny family room and listened as she lectured her.
“Mom! What are you doing? Why did you answer the door?”
“Your daughter did,” Jessica sounded as exhausted as her body looked.
That had Tessa stopping momentarily to ask, “What?”
Jordan sat on the couch and watched her start to take small steps again. When they got to a room and stepped through the door, Jordan could no longer hear what they said. He lay back against the surprisingly comfortable couch and waited.
His gaze landed on the little basketball hoop hanging from the closet door, and he stopped breathing. His assumption must have been right. His daughter loved the same thing he did. The urge to pick Jordis up and help her dunk the ball was strong. Tessa diverted his attention when she stormed back into the room.
She stood in front of him, glaring down with her hands on her hips, which her washed-out jeans showcased nicely. Her short T-shirt hinted at the indentation of her waist. It made his hands itch to slide under the shirt and around to the small of her back. Would she still shiver when he touched her there?
“What the hell are you doing here, Jordan?” she whisper-yelled.
He raised his eyebrow and spread his arms out on the couch's back. “I came to talk.”
Her eyes bugged out of her head, and she glanced down the hall before snapping, “Did you think about calling? This isn’t a good time.”
He enjoyed seeing Tessa off-balance and riled up instead of feeling it himself. Maybe if she lost some of her control, she would admit what had happened four years ago.
“No, Tessa, I didn’t think to call. I had a feeling it would never be a good time. I wanted to meet my daughter.”
He took a moment to wrap his head around the fact that he had a child with Tessa Parker. Four years ago he would’ve been stunned and concerned, but eventually he would have accepted it and been happy to become a parent.
Jordan closed his eyes and breathed out the regret and soft feelings. He couldn’t afford to have any feelings for Tessa. He’d gotten screwed over once, and he would not be deceived by her again.
“You didn’t expect her to be yours, did you?” Tessa taunted him.
Her smug little smile turned his emotions to ice. Making sure his face was emotionless and his eyes were flat, Jordan coldly told her, “I knew she was mine, but I wanted everything to be by the book. I didn’t want any loopholes when you attempted to fleece me out of more money.”
The smile fell from her face, and he felt the satisfaction clear to his toes.
“I didn’t fleece anyone,” Tessa said stiffly.
Jordan purposely tilted his head and let his eyes drag down her body before returning to her face. “You’re right, you didn’t. You only thought you did. If you had demanded more, you wouldn’t look like such a mess now. If you’d taken more money and had some plastic surgery, you could’ve lured more than one victim your way.”
Tessa flinched and crossed her arms in front of her. “Leave. I told you before when you could treat me with respect, we would talk. You’re obviously not ready.”
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Chapter 11
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Tessa’s surroundings slipped away. It was like her life force was being sucked out of her. No one had ever talked to her like that, and she wouldn’t listen to it. She couldn’t believe those derogatory words had come from Jordan and with so much malice. The final bomb had dropped, and there was no more hope that he would ever believe the truth.
With every ounce of her being, she prayed Jordan would listen to her and go, but he didn’t. Instead, he sat on the couch glaring daggers at her. She couldn’t look at him, but she could feel it. The prickling along her skin was everywhere his eyes landed. It was the only thing stopping her from being completely numb.
After a long, tense silence, Tessa knew Jordan wouldn’t leave, so she would. She turned around and headed to the bathroom, the only place she was guaranteed to be alone. Jordis and her mom couldn’t see her like this, and she didn’t have the fortitude to hide her emotional upheaval.
As soon as she had taken a couple of steps, he finally spoke. She could tell it was through gritted teeth.
“I came here to talk about Jordis. Can we just do that and not bring anything else up? I don’t want her picking up on this animosity between us. It would be in her best interest if we can resolve this instead of getting lawyers involved.”
She stopped and stiffened. He was the one who kept tearing her down, not the other way around. Jordan made it sound like she needed to control herself. Still, he had said the magic word—Jordis.
Tessa had gone to see a lawyer named Emma Little. She came highly recommended, but Ms. Little charged $300 per hour. Tessa had started cleaning office buildings when she got done tutoring, hoping it would be enough to pay for the lawyer.
Five nights a week, Tessa cleaned. After tutoring, she went home to spend a little time with Jordis before putting her to bed. Then she cleaned until one o’clock in the morning. Even after a full week at her second job, she only had enough money to pay for one hour of Emma’s time. There was no way she could afford a full custody battle.
If Jordan truly wanted to work this out between them, she had to dig deep and do everything in her power to make it work. Drawing in a ragged breath, Tessa tried to push the hurt and anger crawling up her throat back down. This wasn’t about her feelings. It was about Jordis.
Tessa turned back to Jordan. “So you don’t want to involve lawyers?” She was getting whiplash trying to keep up with him.
“No, but I will if we can’t come to an agreement.”
Hope welled in her, but she beat it down. She couldn’t trust him.
“I want to do that, but we can’t discuss it here. It has to be somewhere private.”
“Agreed,” Jordan responded immediately. “Get your stuff, and I’ll take us to my penthouse. I want to get this done so I can get to know my daughter.”
Tessa bit her tongue at his demand. She wanted to declare that she couldn’t tonight, but there wasn’t an actual reason she couldn’t.
Tessa did need time to put herself back together. She hugged herself so that he wouldn’t see her shaking hands. With one more snide comment from Jordan, she wouldn’t be able to stop the tears from falling.
“I’ll take a shower and come over in an hour.” She was proud that her voice was steady and even.
“Why don’t I stay and get to know Jordis? When you’re ready, I can drive us both.”
Panic flooded Tessa, and her hand came down in a chopping motion as she shouted, “No!”
Jordan tensed, and his eyes narrowed.
Tessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In a much calmer voice, she tried again. “I agree that you need to get to know her, but we still haven’t discussed how to do this. She will ask questions, and we need to agree on what those answers will be. We have to be on the same page, or it will affect Jordis.”
She held her breath but maintained contact with Jordan’s probing stare.
“We will do it your way this time, Tessa. If you are one second late, I will come back, and we will do things my way.” Without waiting for a response, Jordan stood up and opened the door, slamming it behind him.
With his warning ringing in her ears, Tessa leaned against the wall and tried to get her jackhammering heart under control.
Eventually it stopped feeling like it was trying to escape her chest, and she took a quick shower. After making sure her mom was okay to watch Jordis, Tessa left the apartment. She sprinted to the bus stop to make sure she made it to Jordan’s before the hour deadline.
For Jordis, she needed to keep a level head and keep her emotions out of it. Based on her interaction
s with Jordan so far, it was going to be a challenge. She wasn’t even there yet, and her gut clenched so hard that she felt like throwing up.
She desperately wanted to work this out with Jordan, or at least buy some time so she could save more money. But the disdain he had displayed toward her tonight was not something she thought would ever leave him. There was no way she was ever going to convince him she had not taken money to get an abortion or to stop her from going to the press.
Somehow she had to forget about what they once had. It obviously hadn’t been love on Jordan’s part if he was so willing to believe everything his mom had told him. It was time to accept things would never be the same and move on.
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Chapter 12
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This was it. Tessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She reminded herself one last time to be calm and collected regardless of what Jordan said or did.
Before she could chicken out, Tessa stabbed the elevator button and wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans. When the shiny stainless steel doors opened, Tessa felt like it was hell's doors tempting her to go inside. She shook off the morose thoughts and strode inside. The doors whooshed shut, and Tessa concentrated on not hyperventilating.
She cleared her mind and counted with the display telling her which floors they were passing. To her surprise, Jordan wasn’t lording over the opening when she arrived. Tentatively, she left the elevator and took a couple of steps onto the marble floor.
“Hello? Jordan?”
Nothing. Tessa stood indecisively. It seemed wrong to wander into the lion’s den unaccompanied, but she couldn’t leave. She knew the discussion would be combative, but it would be nothing compared to what would happen if she left. Snorting to herself, Tessa headed to what seemed like the appropriate room—the office.
This time she took in her surroundings as she walked. Everywhere she looked, there was steel. Steel in the furniture, steel surrounding the artwork, and even the cold gray walls that looked like steel. The cushions on the couch didn’t even seem to be welcoming. They were white and structured, nothing that invited you to sink into them at the end of the day.
Jordan's Justice: A New Adult Sport Romance (Tessa and Jordan Book 2) Page 5
