by Toni Aleo
Now, he just needed the love of a good woman.
“Just a regular clean hairstyle? Or you feeling frisky?”
Jordie grinned. “Let’s do a Mohawk this time.”
“Frisky it is,” Billy Ray agreed before going to work. “How’s that girlie girl of yours?”
Karson made a face. “I told you about Kacey?”
“Um, yeah,” he said, looking back at him in the mirror. “Man, were you drunk all the time?”
“Basically,” Jordie said with a laugh. “But things are a little up in the air.”
“Really? You seemed pretty smitten with her.”
“I was, but I lied to myself and pushed her away,” he said, closing his eyes. He then explained the whole thing, thankful that the shop was completely empty. It was embarrassing enough to think about his mistakes; admitting them was much worse. When he finished, Billy Ray was standing there, the clipper by Jordie’s head as he stared at him in the mirror.
“So you knocked her up and then ignored her?”
Jordie nodded.
“Man, you did mess up,” he said, simply shaking his head. “I wouldn’t take you back.”
“Me either,” Jordie agreed and Billy Ray laughed.
“But if she’s anything like my Sarah, she’ll forgive you and take ya back.”
He grinned as he met the old man’s wrinkled eyes. “Oh, yeah?”
“Oh, yeah,” he agreed. “Sarah, man, she forgave me for the shittiest things. I was a bad guy when I was younger, into those drugs and drinking, bad. I never cheated, but there were a few times where she could have assumed I did. But still, she loved me. Never gave up on me. As soon as our little Amy came into the world, I cleaned up and then loved her extra hard for dealing with me for so long. Now, she says she has the best husband, and in return, I say I’ve always had the best wife,” he said with a little grin that brightened his eyes.
“Sounds like a real strong, good woman you got there.”
“The strongest. I asked once what made her stay, and she told me that you never give up on the person you can’t go a day without thinking about.”
“Wow,” Jordie said, a little bit in awe. He wanted that. The undying, stay together through thick and thin kind of love. If he wanted that with Kacey, he had to fight for her. Or woo her, as Lacey said.
Hey. Wait.
“Hey, Billy Ray, you know what wooing is, right?”
Billy’s brow rose. “Yeah, I woo the hell out of Sarah. Still to this day.”
Jordie’s grin grew. “Good. I need some wooing advice.”
He laughed. “Hoping to woo her away from the guy she’s with and into loving yer sorry ass again?”
“Maybe not woo her away, but rumor is it won’t work, they aren’t meant for each other. And when that does happen, you’re damn right I’m gonna woo the shit out of her. I’ll do anything to get her back.”
“Have ya thought about just telling her how ya feel?” he asked and Jordie shrugged.
“Figured I’ve always been about talking and making promises but never following through with them. I thought if I showed her how I felt, wooed her a bit, and then told her my feelings, it would work better.”
Billy Ray nodded as he brushed the hair off Jordie’s shoulder. “Good plan, I like the way you think.”
Jordie laughed as he nodded. “Thanks, now hit me with that wooing.”
“All righty now, listen closely, boy. I’m about to give you some winning advice, and I won’t be repeating myself.”
He wouldn’t expect him to, but Jordie did pray that Billy Ray’s advice would win Kacey back. It was honestly killing him knowing that she was with Kelly and not him. Yeah, he understood that he was late to the game, only realizing now that Kacey was it. But surely she hadn’t given up on him fully. So Jordie would wait, because good things come to those who wait. But he hoped it didn’t take long.
Because Jordie wasn’t known for being patient.
Kacey dragged herself into the house after a long day of training and massages and then an evening of meetings. When she’d started this job, she’d thought it was going be an eight-to-noon job, but she soon realized that the Assassins’ training team worked seven-to-eight in the weeks before the season started. It was intense, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t love it. She loved the guys, minus having to work with Jordie, and enjoyed the staff. They were a family, everyone was. It was fun, and she looked forward to her future with the Assassins.
But she was really looking forward to the beer she had been thinking about all day.
Because she needed it.
Watching Jordie struggle through her exercises was downright disgusting. He was better than that; she had seen him at his best before his injury. He could squat the most of the team, but today, not so much. Even the new girl was squatting more than he was. Kacey knew she needed to remember his knee was still getting used to everything, but had he been sitting on his ass for the last eight months? She knew his PT guy was hard on him, so what the hell had been going on?
It killed her not knowing where he’d been and what he had been doing. She knew she could ask him, but she was sure it would lead into them “talking,” something she was not ready for. She wasn’t ready to hear about all the reasons why he couldn’t love her but that he was sorry for all the pain he caused. She knew that was what he would tell her. It was the same story, yet she always fell into his tangled web of lies and deceit. And somehow, she still loved him!
She needed to go therapy or something because she was downright pathetic. No one should feel the way she did when she looked at him. She was like a sick little puppy, begging for a home and family, thinking Jordie was the answer to all her needs. She felt so many emotions that she found herself struggling to contain them. One minute, she was happy to see him, she missed him. But then she was instantly mad because he’d left her in his dust. Desire filled her belly because she wanted him more than her next breath, but then she felt stupid for feeling anything for him but a need to kick him in the balls. She just didn’t understand any of it.
Most of all, why was she still with Liam when she continued to feel all of this for Jordie?
God, Liam was a whole other issue. After walking her out to the car that night because, of course, he had waited for her to get done with her meetings, he’d given her a kiss on the cheek and told her he’d see her the following day. She’d actually stood there, shocked. Jordie would have thrown her on top of the car and done her right there. No cares that anyone could find them, because his desire was so great. She missed that. The anytime, anywhere kind of longing that hit her straight in the core. She had no clue what she was going to do, but she needed to figure it out. It wasn’t fair to anyone. Especially Liam. But still, her fear was that if she did break up with Liam, would she fall victim to the whirlwind that was Jordie Thomas?
She was clueless, but maybe he had changed his ways. Maybe he could love her because, hello, he cooked and did laundry. Two things Jordie had never done before…which again made her mad. Where had he been? What had he been doing? And why hadn’t he wanted her there? It was so frustrating, but Kacey was quickly learning that her life was a big ball of maddening things.
Shaking her head, she parked her car beside Lacey’s and headed in with her gym bag hanging loosely on her shoulder. Entering through the back like she always did, she found Lacey at the island, making a bottle.
“Hey,” she said happily as she shook the bottle.
It was like night and day with Lacey. If anyone had said Lacey would be grinning while making a bottle a week ago, Kacey would have laughed in their face. The girl was screwed up and had been since about day three of Mena being home. But according to Karson, she was finally taking her meds. She had even texted Kacey that she went to her After Breast Cancer meeting that morning, which was huge. After Mena arrived, she claimed she didn’t need the group, when really, she did. So the fact that she was going made Kacey’s heart a lot happier and her nerves a bit c
almer.
“Hey, you. You look great. Did you shower?” Kacey teased, throwing her gym bag down.
“Yeah, I told you I went to my meeting today,” Lacey reminded her and Kacey nodded.
“Oh yeah, did you take Mena with ya?”
“I did, and they all just gushed over her. It was wonderful,” she boasted before turning just as Karson entered with Mena in his arms. Taking the bottle from her, he kissed her cheek.
“You’re superhot,” he muttered against her lips. “Better be careful, I might try to make another baby.”
Kacey gagged as Lacey giggled. “Um, we can practice, but we aren’t having another one till Kacey has one,” she said with a huge grin at Kacey. “So get busy, lady.”
Kacey scoffed. “Gotta find a man first.”
Karson rolled his eyes. “And I’m out. Mena Jane, boys are stupid, but please don’t end up like your aunt with a billion cats watching a stupid movie about a hill,” he said as he walked away.
“It’s Notting Hill, asshole, and I don’t have any cats ’cause I don’t like them!” Kacey called at him, but he was too busy cooing to Mena Jane. “Your husband is a dick.”
“Hey, he was your brother before he was my husband,” Lacey pointed out with a grin before grabbing the sweet tea out of the fridge. She offered a glass to Kacey, but she shook her head.
“Hand me a beer, please,” Kacey said, pulling out the chair and sitting down, letting out a long breath.
“We don’t have any,” Lacey informed her, and Kacey’s head whipped up just as the tea was placed in front of her. “We have tea, water, and Gatorade.”
Kacey made a face. “Where’s the beer?”
“Gone. No beer or any kind of liquor in the house.”
“Why?”
“Because there is a baby here,” Lacey said simply.
“Okay? I promise I won’t feed it to her!”
“No alcohol in my house,” Lacey said sternly. “Now drink your tea, it’s classier anyway. We are Nashvillians now. We have to be classy Southern bitches.”
Kacey glared as she swigged her tea. “Classy girls don’t say classy bitches.”
“This one does,” Lacey said and she took a sip of her tea with her pinky up just to show she meant what she said.
“Dork.”
“Hag,” she said with a wink. “So how was your first official day?”
Kacey leaned on her hand, letting out a long sigh. “Would be better if I could have a beer.”
“Go to a bar then,” Lacey suggested and Kacey shook her head.
“Rather not.”
“Then suck it up, cupcake. Run a bath or something,” she said and Kacey shrugged.
“Which would be ten times better with a glass of wine.”
Lacey ignored her and asked, “What made it so bad?”
“Jordie,” she answered simply and Lacey’s brows rose in confusion.
“What did he do?”
“Nothing,” she moaned. “Everything.”
Lacey leaned on her hand, obviously confused. “I don’t understand.”
Kacey let out a breath and shook her head, her voice lowering as she leaned in closer to Lacey to make sure that Karson didn’t hear them. “He’s everywhere. In my home, in my gym, and in my head, twenty-four seven! I don’t know what to do, because one second I want to slap him, but in the same second, I want to kiss him.”
“Oh,” Lacey said, leaning back some, her brows still raised to her hairline. “I thought you liked Liam?”
“I do,” she moaned. “But I don’t know. It’s more curiosity where Jordie’s concerned, I think. Like today, he couldn’t do a simple dead lift without taking a lot of weight off. That’s not Jordie. He could lift a house, he’s so strong and burly. It made no sense. Like what the hell has he been doing? I know his PT guy was hard on him and worked him like a dog, so why isn’t he in shape? It’s driving me crazy and I want to know.”
“Then ask,” she suggested and Kacey shook her head.
“I don’t want to know, but I do,” she admitted, tracing the brim of her glass. “He told me last night that he wants to talk.”
“Okay? So talk. It would be good for you to get the closure you want.”
She nodded. “I know, but I think if I do, I’ll fall for him all over again. He has my heart, Lacey.”
Lacey reached out, lacing her fingers with Kacey’s as she smiled. “Then why are you with Liam?”
“’Cause he’s safe. He won’t hurt me.”
“And Jordie will?”
“Exactly.”
“He’s changed.”
“So you’ve said,” Kacey said, leaning back and untangling her hand from Lacey’s. “If so though, how? Why? What was he doing? What woke him up?” When she met Lacey’s knowing gaze, Kacey pointed at her. “You know why!”
“No, I don’t,” she tried to lie, but Lacey couldn’t lie.
“Yes, you do! Tell me!”
“No way,” Lacey said, folding like always. “I can’t. Please don’t try to make me. I love you, Kacey, I do, but I promised to keep it a secret. If you want to know, you ask him.”
Kacey scrunched her nose up and glared. “But I don’t want him to tell me, because he’ll guilt me with those eyes, and I’ll be head over heels all over again while he’s just looking to screw.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe you should give him a chance.”
“No, I know him. More than you. He doesn’t do relationships, which is what I’m in the market for.”
“Okay, if you know all that, then why are you worried about it? You are way too concerned with him for someone who is dating someone else,” Lacey pointed out and Kacey’s glare deepened.
“Shut up and you know why. He was really my first true love. It’s hard to get over that. I’m trying, but it’s hard.”
“Because you believe in him.”
Kacey didn’t answer as her eyes clouded with tears. She didn’t believe in him. She knew the real Jordie—he just piled all kinds of cocky-ass behavior and bad choices on top of himself.
“You know, that’s how it was with Karson and me. I never stopped loving him,” Lacey said, looking out into the living room where Karson was sitting with Mena Jane cuddled into his chest. Looking back at her dipwad brother, Kacey’s heart skipped a beat. She’d always known he was going to be a good daddy. He took care of her like she was his. Sometimes it was annoying, but she still was thankful for everything he did for her. She respected him and looked up to him. He liked Liam, approved of them, so she knew what the best thing for her to do was. But for some reason, Jordie wouldn’t get out of her head.
“I can’t trust him,” Kacey said then, bringing Lacey’s attention back to her. “He hurt me so bad. Broke me.”
“I know,” Lacey said with a nod. “And, believe me, you don’t owe him anything. I’ll be the first to tell you that, but I would talk to him. I would see what he has to say and then make your decision after that.”
Kacey eyed her, knowing that Lacey was up to something. Or maybe the meds were making her loopy. “You know what he wants to talk about.”
“Maybe,” Lacey said with a sly grin.
Why did that piss her off? “When did you two get so close?”
“When I saw the real Jordie, the good Jordie. I think if you gave him the chance to show him to you, you’d forgive him.”
“I have forgiven him. A long time ago. But I can’t let go of him. No matter how hard I try.”
“So maybe that should tell you something,” she said and shrugged. “Or keep dating Liam and see how that goes. Either way, I just want you to be happy, Kace. That’s all.”
“I know,” she moaned, dropping her head to the island. “I just want to be happy.”
“Then follow your heart,” she said just as the back door opened. Kacey didn’t have to turn to know it was Jordie. Plus, Lacey greeted him with a bright grin and said, “Hey, Jordie! Whoo-weee! Someone went and saw Billy Ray.”
Sitt
ing up, Kacey turned in her seat, and it really took everything out of her not to turn into a puddle of goo before sliding off the chair and just dying. It was downright wrong for someone to be as fucking hot as Jordie Thomas was. Standing before her in a thin gray shirt and athletic shorts was the man she fell in love with so long ago. His beard was trimmed up to perfection, not too long or short, just perfect and shiny. His hair was in a badass Mohawk and he was simply beautiful. She’d always thought he was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen—and she still thought that. But at that moment, she could see how much weight he had lost.
God, what happened to him?
Looking away to keep the tears at bay, she turned in her seat, biting her lip and wishing that things had played out so differently. That she was the one wearing a grin and running her fingers through his beard, holding their child while being indescribably happy. It was a dream, one that she had thought was within her grasp, but apparently, she hadn’t wished on the right star. Fucking Disney really set her up for failure.
Getting off her stool, she went into the living room where Karson and Mena were. He was just getting up as she entered, and she held her hands out.
“I was gonna put her to bed,” he informed her.
“I can,” she offered and Karson shrugged.
“I do need to take a leak,” he said before handing her Mena.
“Nice to know,” she muttered as she gathered Mena close and then headed down the hall to her room. Taking her to the changing table, she got her ready for bed in her “I Love My Auntie” onesie before laying her in her crib. Mena was wide awake and didn’t look like a kid who was ready for bed, but it was well past her bedtime.
Running her finger along the curve of the baby’s cheek, Kacey whispered, “I hope when you get older, you don’t have to deal with heartache. But I’m pretty sure you will, and let me tell you, it sucks. But you just come to Auntie Kacey, okay? We’ll watch Notting Hill and eat lots of ice cream together. No matter what, I promise I’ll always be there for you, Mena Jane. Always.”