Overtime

by Toni Aleo

  She beamed. “It is, but just wait. After dinner, we are going shopping.”

  Letting his head fall back in a dramatic fashion, he groaned loudly. “I don’t want to!”

  She kicked him under the table, grinning as he laughed, picking his phone back up. Scrolling again, he said, “Hazel?”

  “Hell no,” she shot down with a full mouth, and he scoffed as he scrolled some more. “So, I think I found a place for the gym.”

  He looked up, his phone falling to the table. Before he could say anything though, he noticed that she had guacamole all over her chin. Chuckling, he reached over, wiping her chin before she smiled sheepishly and he asked, “Where at?”

  “Actually down the road from Audrey Jane’s,” she said and Jordie smiled.

  “What, stalk the place for overweight people?”

  She gave him an annoyed look. “I was actually thinking that maybe I could do a thing—buy five classes, get a cupcake.”

  “Doesn’t that counteract your mission?”

  “No, everyone has to cheat sometimes or they’ll binge. Plus, Audrey has a couple healthy…okay, one healthy cupcake.”

  “No one wants a cupcake that’s healthy.”

  “Well, duh, but they could go and try.”

  Jordie laughed. “Yeah, okay. When can we go look at it?”

  “Tomorrow, if you’re not busy.”

  “I’m never busy for you,” he said with a wink before looking down at his phone. “How about Raleigh?”

  “I like Kaleigh more,” she said and he rolled his eyes as he kept scrolling. As he said every girl name he liked and she shot it down, he decided he might as well accept that this was going to be hell.

  “Are you excited it’s a girl?”

  He looked up, grinning. “I’m just excited that she is healthy, that I am marrying you, and that we are happy.”

  She shot him a grin as she leaned on her hand. “When are we getting married?”

  He shrugged. “Whenever you want. Do you want a big wedding or a small?”

  She thought for a moment. “Well, I’ve been watching Say Yes to the Dress a lot, and I think I want to do the whole big wedding production thing.”

  His mouth pulled up at the side. “I think you spent too much time trying to act like a boy and now you are making up for it.”

  She shrugged, her eyes falling to the ring he had given her. It fit her large, beautiful hands perfectly now and shined, even in the dim restaurant. “Probably, but I want my dad to give me away and all that sweet shit.”

  “Sounds good to me. Just set a day, and I’ll show up.”

  “Probably not in what I pick out for you,” she scolded and he nodded.

  “Probably not,” he agreed before he paused. “How about Avery Mae?”

  She tested the name a few times and shrugged. “I don’t like Mae with that, but I like Avery.”

  “Cool,” he said as she typed it out on her phone. As he looked for another name, his phone signaled a text, and he was surprised when it was from Natasha. He hadn’t heard from her in months and not for lack of trying. He had sent her a few texts, checking in, but she was always very short with him, one-word answers or sometimes not even answering him. Clicking on the text, he felt Kacey looking at him as he read it.

  Natasha: I’m in town.

  Licking his lips free of dip, he typed back quickly.

  Jordie: Cool, what for?

  Natasha: Medical conference at Vanderbilt.

  Jordie: Cool. I haven’t heard from you lately.

  “Who’s that?” Kacey asked and he smiled.

  “Just a friend,” he answered. “Just a second, babe.”

  Natasha: Yeah, been busy, but I want to see you.

  Jordie: Well, I’ll have to see when I can. Season’s in full swing and I have a lot going on.

  Natasha: What you mean is that your girlfriend won’t let you out of her sight.

  He rolled his eyes.

  Jordie: You mean my fiancée? And she would, she’s not crazy.

  Natasha: She looks it and sounds like a bitch.

  His brows came together in confusion, as Kacey asked, “What’s wrong?”

  He didn’t answer her, looking around, and then spotting Natasha rising from behind a booth across the restaurant. She looked beautiful of course, but that was Natasha. She was a hot chick, just not the chick he wanted. Brushing her dark hair off her shoulders, she was wearing a killer black dress that showed every curve of her body and a whole lot of leg, strappy heels completing the outfit in a way that would have had him in knots before. But now, he felt nothing.

  She was a friend.

  “Who’s that?” Kacey asked, smacking his arm as Natasha made her way to their table. Natasha’s eyes locked on his, mischief and anger in the depths of her brown eyes as she strutted toward him. Something in her eyes though told him that this wasn’t going to be good, and when she opened her mouth, his assumption was correct.

  “I’m the chick he was fucking to forget you.”

  Well. Fuck.

  “Excuse me?”

  Kacey’s eyes widened as she cut a look at Jordie, heat creeping up her throat.

  “Oh, did you not hear me?” the gorgeous chick, who had obviously just stepped out of a magazine and into her favorite Mexican restaurant, said, her eyes dark and malicious. “I said that I’m the chick he was fucking when he was trying to forget you.” She said it like Kacey was dumb or didn’t understand, but she fully understood. She just didn’t understand why she was coming to their table with that.

  “I mean, there is no need for that. Natasha, what’s your problem?” Jordie said as he set his phone down, his brows furrowed.

  Kacey tore her gaze from his and back to Natasha’s, since she was staring at her almost as if she were sizing her up. “I heard you good and well. But why would I care?”

  Natasha laughed, and even her laugh was a soft, raspy sound that one would hear in a porno. “Because he loves me.”

  Kacey’s eyes widened more as she whipped her gaze to him, but he scoffed. “No, I don’t, and I told you that plenty of times.”

  “So you know her?” Kacey demanded and he shrugged.

  “Yeah, I hooked up with her in New Orleans,” he said simply, and she swore her blood pressure rose even more.

  “Remember, when you were texting him every five seconds, begging him to be with you?”

  Kacey’s head whipped back to Natasha, her eyes narrowing. “I never begged, and you don’t know me or my relationship with him. You were just a night of fucking.”

  “Oh, it was more than a night, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. So obviously I meant something to him if I was going to rehab to visit him.”

  Kacey swore her eyes couldn’t widen any more. Looking across the table at a gaping Jordie, she glared. “What!” she roared, and Jordie shook his head.

  “You are my friend, Natasha, or were. Because the way you are acting is not okay. I don’t love you. I never have, or will.”

  “She went to rehab to see you?” Kacey asked incredulously.

  “Oh yeah, girl. All those nights he needed someone to talk to, he called me and we’d talk for hours. I know everything about you two’s relationship and his alcoholism. And I helped him through that while you had no clue about anything.”

  Kacey’s heart was pounding in her chest because, surely, this wasn’t happening. Jordie couldn’t reach out to her, but he could to the porn star who was standing in front of their table.

  “He does love me. He’s just fighting his feelings, not realizing how good we are together and how he’s breaking my heart not wanting to be with me,” Natasha said then, her eyes falling on Jordie. “I know I haven’t been in contact, but it just hurts. You really mean something to me.”

  Kacey was sure she was having a panic attack as her heart jumped up and down in her throat, her belly turning. He trusted this person he didn’t even know—someone who started out as just a fuck—over her?

  “
I never meant to hurt you, and I’ve told you that many times. We are friends, Natasha. Stop trying to start shit.”

  Unbelievable.

  She meant something to him.

  Kacey could see it in his eyes. He might not love her, but he cared about her, and that bothered her more. Why was she special enough to get that piece of him Kacey wanted so desperately, to help, to be there for him? And why hadn’t he said anything about her?

  “You love me!” she yelled like a crazy-faced bitch and Kacey couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Natasha,” Jordie said calmly, his hands coming up. “Calm down. You know that’s not true. I told you that a long time ago.”

  “No, I know you do. You don’t share things like what you told me. You don’t tell me how it hurts to not drink, how you missed having sex with me, and then you come here, get back with her, and then drop me like a bad habit.”

  Jordie was shaking his head. “I was fucked up back then. I’m not that guy anymore, you know that.”

  “Sure, but I helped you. I was there for you when she wasn’t,” she said, pointing at Kacey. “Who talked you through her losing her shit on you because she lost your baby so long ago? Not her, but me!”

  Oh. Oh wow, Kacey thought as she slowly scooted out of the booth.

  “Because you are my friend, Natasha!” Jordie yelled, his temper getting the best of him, but he must have noticed Kacey moving because he reached out, taking her arm. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh, leaving, so you and your friend can catch up,” she sneered, but he wouldn’t let her go.

  “No, she’s leaving,” he said, looking back up at Natasha. “Go, you’re doing nothing but causing issues.”

  “Oh, what, I’m going to make your precious Kacey cry? If she meant an ounce to you, you wouldn’t have tried to forget her every second you got.”

  Kacey hadn’t even realized that she was on the verge of tears until Natasha said that.

  “That’s not true, and you know it. Stop this. Kacey, stay here,” he demanded, but she shook her head before ripping her arm from him.

  “Don’t push me away now that I’m telling the truth.”

  “You aren’t. You’re trying to cause problems because you don’t like not getting what you want. You aren’t going to get me, Natasha. Just stop.”

  “You never told me to stop before.”

  “Because I, for one, was a fucked-up mess, and, two, I wasn’t with Kacey.”

  “Yes, key words ‘not with her.’ And you were good then,” she said and Kacey wasn’t sure if Natasha was trying to convince herself or Jordie, but she was pretty sure that was a damn lie.

  “Are you serious? I had one foot in the grave with a bottle in my hand, and I must have been pretty fucked up to have dealt with you for as long as I did. Because now that I am stone-cold sober, you are fucking annoying.”

  Oh, there went his temper.

  “I can’t even believe I’m wasting my time on you,” she sneered as Kacey stood, fixing her shirt over her belly until Natasha started laughing. “Oh my God, you knocked her up?” she laughed. “Really, Jordie? What, you are going to be a husband and a daddy now? Do you really think you are ready for that?”

  “Um, yeah,” Jordie snapped. “This is what I’ve always wanted.”

  “Well, you’re doing it with the wrong person, that’s for damn sure. Because if she’s the one who drove you to drinking before, don’t you think she’d do it again?”

  Kacey didn’t know what came over her. All she saw was rage, her heart pounding, her blood boiling as her arm just pulled back and her fist connected with the hard surface of Natasha’s nose. Underneath her knuckles, she could feel bones crack, but then she swore everything went black because surely she didn’t just hit Jordie’s ex-lover.

  “Holy shit,” Jordie yelled before hopping up and blocking Kacey as Natasha tried to go after her.

  “You stupid bitch, you broke my nose!”

  “Damn right, I did! I would never do that to him, you stupid slut. Because, unlike you, I mean more than just a fuck. I’m a lifetime kind of chick, the one he is going to love forever, while he didn’t even mention you!” Kacey screamed as the waitress and two other waiters came over to see the commotion.

  “Señor, we need you to leave before we call the cops,” one of the men said, but all Kacey saw was the blood running down Natasha’s lips as she held her nose. Kacey felt like everything was moving at high-speed. Her heart was pounding, her body was shaking, and she felt like she was a rabid dog locked in a cage. The cage being Jordie’s arms.

  “Call them! I’m filing a report against this bitch!” Natasha yelled, but Jordie was throwing money on the table before escorting Kacey out of the restaurant. When the chill of the November night hit her in the face, she wished it would cool her down, but she still wanted to go in there and rip that bitch limb from limb.

  “Stay here,” he demanded, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you hit her.”

  “I can’t believe you fucking kept her from me! That you went to her instead of me,” she yelled and he held his hands out.

  “Baby, really? Do you know she did that to piss you off so we would fight? Use your big brain, Kacey. She didn’t mean anything to me, and you know that. She was my friend,” he said, his eyes pleading. “Now stay here so I can go calm her down so that my fiancée doesn’t end up in jail.”

  And she knew he was right, but that nasty sensation of rejection was blinking in front of her face, and she hated the way it made her feel. Yeah, that was what Natasha had planned and it had worked, but that didn’t mean Kacey wouldn’t be upset.

  “It doesn’t matter, Jordie, you chose her to help you get through your recovery. I was the backup batter.”

  He glared. “Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah, I chose her for the beginning, but I chose you, need you, for the rest of my recovery. For the rest of my life!” he yelled, his face turning red. “Now, put your damn pride away and tuck the jealous in a bit and let me go talk her down before she does something rash.”

  But Kacey wasn’t listening. Her heart felt every bit of the rejection and, yeah, her pride was dented that that bitch had been there for him when she wasn’t. That he chose her. And call her green with envy, but that pissed her off. She’d wanted to help him, she’d wanted to be there for him, and he chose that bitch over her. It wasn’t right.

  “No, I’m leaving,” she snapped, turning and heading to the street to get a cab. They didn’t drive around much on this road, but hopefully she’d get lucky.

  “Kacey, stop. Don’t be so damn dramatic!” he yelled, trying to stop her, but she smacked him with her purse.

  “Dramatic! You broke my heart, Jordie. Back then, I gave you another chance and I let you take my heart again, just to learn that every time something happened, something bad, you went to her?”

  He shook his head. “No, the last time I talked to her was a few days before we got back together. I haven’t spoken to her much since.”

  “But did you tell me about her? About your friend?” she snapped back. “No, you hid her because you knew that it would hurt me.”

  “No, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think about it, because she doesn’t matter! All that fucking matters is you, Kacey. You’re it!”

  But she shook her head, unable to accept what he was saying. “Go inside and calm your friend.”

  “No, not till you promise you’ll be out here when I come back.”

  Looking back at him, she could hear and feel her heartbeat in her ears. “I can promise you I won’t be here when you come back,” she said, her eyes in slits.

  “Kacey,” he said, but she cut him off.

  “Go, Jordie,” she demanded and he shook his head.

  “You are being childish, Kacey, seriously.”

  “Childish, huh? Well, you’re a dick,” she sneered, her arms crossing over her chest. He stood there for a second, and she could feel his anger coming off him like thunder. But she was mad too, a
nd hurt. The pain was almost as bad as when he’d cut off all communication with her. In a way, he replaced her with that bitch, and that wasn’t okay. When she glanced to the side, she saw a taxi coming toward them and she threw her hands up in relief. She had to get away from him before she did something drastic.

  Like, break up with him.

  “Don’t get in that taxi, Kacey,” he demanded but she scoffed as she pulled the door open and got in, slamming the door despite his yelling at her to get out of the cab.

  “Go, please,” she said, looking away before rattling off her address.

  “Boyfriend troubles?” the cabbie asked as he drove off, and Kacey shrugged as her hands cupped her growing belly. Her ring caught the light of the sun and her eyes clouded with tears. She was supposed to be happy, excited for her future with Jordie, but she felt like everything she’d thought was good was a lie. That the foundation of their relationship was built on dishonesties. For the longest time, she had thought it was the help of AA and therapy that had gotten Jordie through his problems at the beginning, but instead it had been Natasha.

  Someone he cared for.

  Someone he hid from her.

  Someone who wasn’t Kacey.

  Wiping away her tears, she guessed the other shoe had finally dropped.

  Screaming out in frustration as the taxi pulled away, he turned just as Natasha came out, a napkin under her nose as she glared at him. But he didn’t care. He could give two shits that her nose could be broken or that she was mad, because he was furious.

  “How dare you?” he sneered and she shrugged.

  “You are making a mistake,” she said nasally. “You love me.”

  “No, I do not!” he yelled. “I don’t fucking love you, not even a little bit. I love that woman, the one that just got a cab to go home because of the shit you started. Do you know how fragile pregnant women are? Oh wait, no, you don’t, because you don’t have kids or even want them because you don’t get close enough to anyone to even start to have a relationship.”

  “I got close to you!”

  “But I don’t want you!” he yelled back, his heart pounding as his mind reeled with ways to handle Kacey. She was overly emotional all the time, with good reason, and he knew he was in deep shit. She was right; he should have told her about Natasha, but honestly, he never even thought of her. He was so happy with Kacey that he didn’t need Natasha anymore. He knew that sounded horrible and maybe made him an ass, but he only needed Kacey.