“What? No snarky comment?” He sounded amazed.
“Why would your tutor have a snarky comment?” Mrs. Davis breezed into the kitchen, directing her question at Jordan.
Tessa felt her cheeks heating up. Jordan grinned at her embarrassment. She ignored him and kept eating the lasagna.
Jordan told his mom, “Tessa was implying that I overeat. I had a pizza while she was going over one of my writing prompts.”
“Your food capacity is quite amazing during the season, but not out of line with the way you practice,” Mrs. Davis said matter-of-factly. “Are you on a tutoring break?”
“No, we’re done. Tessa’s car wouldn’t start, so she’s waiting for a tow truck.”
Chimes sounded throughout the kitchen. Tessa slid off of her stool, relieved to be saved by the bell.
Jordan stood and pointed at her half-eaten lasagna. “Eat. I’ll deal with it.”
“Jordan, that’s ridiculous. You don’t even know where I want it towed.”
“Sit and eat. I can supervise while your car gets hooked up.”
The chimes rang again and Tessa took a step, only to be stopped when Jordan demanded, “Tessa. Sit down and eat.”
She scoffed at his absurdity.
“Jordan, I don’t want him to go. I need to get to the door.”
“If you don’t want him to go, sit down and eat while I deal with it.”
Tessa sat down in a huff, and Jordan strode to the door. As soon as he was out of sight, she got up. Mrs. Davis stopped her.
“You might as well finish. If you go out now, he’ll know you didn’t eat,” she said without any warmth.
Tessa knew she was right, but it didn’t really matter. Jordan couldn’t force feed her. “I know, but I really do have to go. I’ll just put this back in the refrigerator.”
“Just throw it away.” Mrs. Davis seemed appalled that Tessa would put it back in the refrigerator.
Hiding her reluctance to throw away food, Tessa asked. “Can you tell me where the garbage is?”
“There’s one under the sink.”
Mrs. Davis’s cool eyes followed Tessa as she scraped her remaining lasagna into the garbage and rinsed her plate. She knew there had to be a dishwasher here, but the only obvious appliances were the cooktop and the microwave.
Mrs. Davis walked over and pulled open the dishwasher door, which was disguised as a cabinet. Tessa put her glass and plate in and stiffly thanked her.
She walked as fast as she could to the front door without trying to make it obvious how badly she wanted to leave. Thankfully her car was already hooked up to the tow truck and the driver was behind the wheel.
A big black vehicle waiting behind the tow truck snagged her attention. Tessa hadn’t seen a car like it before. The emblem on the front grate marked it as a Mercedes, but it wasn’t a cute, compact sedan. It looked like some sort of army truck but sleeker. It was a huge pickup with six wheels and wide fenders as well as a backseat.
The truck reminded her of its owner—sexy. Jordan leaned against it with a grin on his face. “Do you love it?” he asked as he gestured to it like a Price is Right model.
“What is it?” Tessa asked, walking toward him.
“It’s a Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6.”
Tessa rolled her eyes at the typical guy answer. It was just a bunch of gibberish to her.
“It’s nice.”
Jordan gaped at her lackluster answer.
“Well, I’d better get going.” As she turned, the tow truck started pulling away.
Before Tessa could yell after it, Jordan told her, “I told him to tow it to Jim’s Auto. It’s a shop by campus. I’ve heard he treats college students fairly.”
With every word he spoke, Tessa could feel her anger building.
“I don’t need you making decisions for me, Jordan. You insist I finish eating, then you take care of my car without consulting me. I was going to ride with the tow truck. Now I have to call an Uber.”
Jordan pulled the phone out of her hand.
“Seriously, Jordan? Give it back!” Tessa knew her screaming reaction was over the top, but she was irritated that she was stuck here. His high handedness wasn’t helping her stay calm either.
“Get in my truck, Tessa. That’s why it’s here,” he growled like he was the one who should be mad. Tessa tried to take a deep breath, but anger was burning in her. Mustering all of her patience, she stared him down.
“Like I said, you don’t get to make decisions for me, Jordan.”
He tilted his head, closing his eyes and squeezing the top of his nose. When Jordan opened them, he drilled her to the spot. His voice was so low it barely reached her.
“I thought what I was doing was nice. I’m sorry,” he gritted out. “Now, please, get in the truck.”
Even though Tessa wasn’t ready to let it go, she did. Arguing wouldn’t get her home any quicker. She stiffly walked over to his truck, lifting herself up to the running board and maneuvering the door open.
As she took a calming inhale, the distinctive new car smell hit her. Tessa looked around at the luxury surrounding her and decided his truck was more intimidating than his home.
Everything on the interior that wasn’t buttery-soft leather was a shiny button or touch screen begging to be pushed. The caramel leather seats were stitched in a crisscrossed diamond shape and had black piping. Not to mention that the seat molded to her body. Even the doors were covered in leather. Glancing down, she widened her eyes at the floor mats. They mimicked the pattern of the seats, and yes, they were leather.
“What are you looking at? Is there a bug down there?”
Tessa laughed as she pictured squishing a bug anywhere in this luxurious interior.
“Better. I like it when you smile.”
Jordan didn’t look away. Tessa could feel his eyes on her as she continued to take in his truck. Being the sole focus of his attention made her uneasy, and she looked back at him.
“What?”
“Seatbelt.”
“Oh.” Tessa looked over her shoulder expecting to find leather, but she was surprised to see the same seat belt that was in every other car she had ridden in.
Jordan started the engine, and the touch screen on the dash came to life. As he was navigating through the screens, he asked, “What’s your address?”
Watching his reaction, Tessa reluctantly gave it to him. Jordan typed it in without any acknowledgement that they were headed to the inner city.
“So, what’s the deal with you and Lindy?”
Tessa looked over at Jordan, confused. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
He threw her a quick glance before returning his eyes to the road. “Why do you guys share a car? How long have you been roommates?”
Tessa let her head fall back. “I told you that our moms both discovered they were pregnant at about the same time when they were only sixteen.”
Jordan nodded. “Yeah, I remember. But wow, they were young.”
“Both my grandma and Lindy’s grandma had also gotten pregnant as teenagers and were adamant they were done raising kids. Our moms could have lived with them, but they said there was no way they were raising babies in those shitholes. Scared and alone, they shared their stories with each other. They decided to drop out of school, get jobs, and move in together.”
She and Lindy had heard the story many times, along with more details of their struggles. It was their way of discouraging them from following the same path.
“They didn’t tell their moms they had dropped out of school. Our grandmas wouldn’t have cared, but our moms would have been expected to help with rent. Instead of going to school, they worked to save up enough money to move into their own place. They reached their goal and moved into a studio apartment with one mattress to share.”
There was silence as Jordan absorbed what Tessa had told him. She remembered when the four of them had driven by the building the studio apartment had been in. It had been and was still run by a sl
umlord. It looked like it would fall down with the first strong wind. The three-bedroom apartment the four of them lived in now was luxurious by comparison. Of course, she was changing her definition of luxury after spending one evening with Jordan.
“That’s really smart. Where did your moms work? Did they ever go back to school?”
Tessa was surprised to hear the curiosity and genuine admiration in Jordan’s voice. She had always been thankful for what their moms had done, but Jordan had grown up with a traditional family. He’d also had plenty of money and had never struggled the way Tessa and her family had.
“At first, they worked fast food. It was the only place that would hire teenage dropouts. At night, they attended GED classes. After they had their GEDs, they upgraded to cleaning jobs. They cleaned hotels but then realized the hours were pretty set. With babies, they needed more flexible hours, so they got hired by a service. The service cleaned houses during the day, but at night they did businesses. One of them could always be working while the other looked after us.”
“They sound pretty amazing.”
“Yeah, they are,” Tessa said wistfully.
The conversation drifted off, and they rode in comfortable silence. She relaxed back into her luxurious seat and let her thoughts drift.
“Tessa, you’ll have to tell me which building.”
She was disappointed that the drive was coming to an end. After getting her bearings, she told Jordan to pull over at the first spot he saw. He inexplicably frowned at her as he pulled into a parking space. As Tessa pulled at the door handle Jordan called out her name, halting her movement.
Her face heated up when she glanced over and saw the fifty Jordan was extending. After making the long drive to tutor, Tessa had forgotten to ask for her payment. She would definitely need the money to help pay for the tow and the hopefully cheap repair work.
“Thank you for the ride,” Tessa said as she tucked the money into her pocket. She opened her door and saw Jordan doing the same.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m walking you to your apartment.”
“You don’t want to do that.”
Jordan’s eyebrows shot up to the top of his head. “Care to share why not?”
Tessa glanced around, and he did the same. They weren’t in the worst part of the city, but it was still apparent they weren’t in the best part either. Most of the cars and trucks around them had plastic covering a broken window. Some had dents or so much rust that it looked like they would fall apart.
“I’m pretty sure your truck won’t be in the same condition as it is now when you get back,” she pointed out.
Jordan stared harder at his surroundings and then back at her. “How far away do you live from here?”
Tessa shrugged. “A block.”
“So I should be more worried about my truck than making sure you get home safe?”
That was the last thing she expected to come out of his mouth. Tessa wasn’t sure how to handle an upset Jordan, so she tried logic.
“Jordan, if I had driven, I would have parked here and walked. I’ve lived here for a long time.” She tried to inject some humor. “In case you didn’t realize, my car fits right in with the rest.”
When Jordan continued to stare at her, she tried again. “Your truck is sitting here just asking for someone to lift parts from it.”
He listened attentively to her speech, or at least she thought he did, until he didn’t answer. Instead, he opened his door and came around to open hers. Okay, she’d tried to warn him. Tessa slid down from her seat and led them to her apartment. When they were in front of the building, she turned to Jordan.
“Thank you for walking me. You didn’t have to.”
He looked at her with an intensity she hadn’t seen from him. “What do you think would have happened if someone saw you leaving my out-of-place truck and then walking by yourself?”
Jordan spun on his heel and walked away. Tessa was too stunned to do anything other than watch him. He was right. She would have been a target for a mugging. For the hundredth time that night, she felt like an idiot. Jordan stopped halfway down the block and turned to glare at her.
“Would you get inside?”
Make that one hundred and one times.
__________________
Chapter 9
__________________
When she finally got home, Tessa tossed her backpack to the floor and threw herself onto her bed. It was comforting to see Lindy on her bed painting her toenails. She was back in the world she knew.
“Hey, chica. That was a pretty big sigh. Tutoring didn’t go well? Was he an arrogant prick?”
Tessa scooted up until her back was against the wall. “Tutoring was fine. Jordan was actually receptive to what I told him. I was the idiot.”
Lindy looked up from her toes. “What? How?”
Tessa grabbed Pumpkin, her soft, worn stuffed elephant, and squeezed it to her chest. Thinking back on the night, she confessed, “I was so intimidated, Lindy.”
Lindy pushed herself up and walked on her heels over to Tessa’s bed. Sitting on the edge, she leaned over and gave her a hug. “Why?”
“He lives on a freakin’ estate, Lindy! There was a gate at the entrance to their property. Once I figured out how to get through it, I swear I had to drive another mile before seeing the house. Then I didn’t even know where to park.”
Tessa paused, remembering Mrs. Davis’s reaction to her Honda.
“Once Jordan’s mom got done looking down her nose at me, she told me how to get to the pool house, which Jordan lives in by the way.”
“Nice,” interjected Lindy.
“Yes, it was nice, which is why I freaked out when I got inside. The pool house is the size of two of our apartments. And everywhere I looked it was white or gray, including the furniture! Everything looked new and expensive. All I heard was Mom’s voice telling me to take my shoes off and not touch anything or get it dirty!”
Lindy cut to the heart of the matter. “To quote our moms, more money doesn’t mean better.”
“I know.” Tessa paused to try and explain. “I know that kind of wealth exists. It’s just the first time I’ve actually witnessed it.”
Lindy patiently waited for Tessa to elaborate.
“I don’t know. I guess it was overwhelming to actually see that much money and be hit in the face with how different Jordan and I are.”
Lindy tilted her head and directed a small smile at Tessa. “You like him.”
“I don’t want to,” she confessed.
Tessa knew Lindy had heard her, but it took a minute for her to prod.
“Why?”
“Jordan would never be interested in dating me, Lindy.”
“Why not?” Her stern tone put Tessa on notice.
“He’s the life of the party, and I don’t even like to go to parties. He’s a basketball star, and I don’t know anything about basketball. His truck is probably worth more than our whole apartment building. My car had to be towed from his house. His mom was the definition of casual chic. I looked frumpy next to her.”
“There is so much in that ramble to talk about, but I will sum it up with this: Jordan would be lucky to have someone as genuine as you.”
It was still hard to absorb the differences between them.
“What happened to our car, and why was it towed?”
Tessa explained how Jordan had found her in front of his house and then given her a ride home. The mechanic’s shop had closed for the night, so they would have to hitch a ride with one of the moms to campus tomorrow.
As Tessa and Lindy caught up, the tension in her chest loosened and finally left. When they reached a lull in the conversation, Lindy sighed and dropped her feet to the floor.
“Okay, I’ve put off homework long enough. I’d better get at it.” She stopped at her desk to grab her laptop and headed over to her own bed. As she opened her computer, Lindy looked over solemnly at her.
“No one is
too good for you, Tessa.”
She let the words warm her heart and then teased Lindy. “You might be a little biased. Besides, this crush is one-sided. Jordan just sees me as a tutor.”
“Oookay,” Lindy responded, but she sounded skeptical.
_________________________
The next day, Tessa’s mom dropped them off on her way to work. Lindy went to class while Tessa walked to the garage to pay for the tow and see what was wrong with the car.
“We haven’t had time to take a look at it yet. If you leave a number, we’ll call with an estimate before we do anything,” the stereotypical-looking mechanic told her. He had on greasy jeans and a blue button-up shirt with a sewn-on name tag identifying him as Ron.
Tessa gave him her number and asked him how much she owed for the tow.
“Nothing.”
“But I didn’t pay the driver.”
Ron looked through some papers. “According to the credit card receipt, Jordan Davis paid for it at 7:58 p.m.”
She quickly thought about the timeline and realized he had paid while she had finished eating. Why hadn’t he said anything? She would just pay him back. “How much was it?”
“$103.”
“Thanks. I’ll wait for your call.”
Tessa texted Jordan while she walked to class.
T: Where can I meet you to pay you back for the tow?
She checked her phone periodically all morning but never heard from him. On her way to meet Lindy for lunch, Tessa stopped at the campus ATM and pulled out a hundred dollars.
By three p.m. Tessa’s classes were done, and she walked to the mechanic’s shop. Her car now had a brand-new battery. Tessa breathed a sigh of relief that it had been a simple fix. She and Lindy couldn’t afford any significant car malfunctions.
After she picked up the car, Tessa was going home for a rare family meal. It didn’t happen very often that all four women were home at once, but tonight was one of those nights. She was excited about a home-cooked meal that wasn’t taken out of the freezer and reheated.
As she walked, Tessa dug out her phone, hoping to see a text from Jordan. It was grating on her nerves that she hadn’t heard from him all day. She didn’t like owing him money.
Breaking Tessa: A College Sport Romance Page 6