by Kay, Amanda
“Jordan, if I leave Bethany isn’t on the market anymore. We have to leave together. I think it could help if he and Bethany get married since they’re both full…you know.” He shook his head fiercely at her. No, he wasn’t leaving, he didn’t care. “What are you going to do, Jordan? Watch them get married? Pine for the woman you can’t ever have. Watch them build a family?” All that would be heartbreaking for him, but at least he’d still be near her with a chance to run into her. For Jordan, that was enough. Hell, it was probably all he deserved after what he did to Tai.
Bethany
She was surprised when Jordan hadn’t arrived still. When she spoke with him earlier, it seemed as though he was rushing out the door to get there.
She dialed his number and got his voice mail. “Hey, Jordan, if you changed your mind it’s okay. Just let me know. Really could use your help.” She clicked the call off.
“Bethany,” her mother called.
“Coming, mom,” she replied.
“Still no Jordan?” she questioned with concern.
Bethany shook her head. “I just called him, but got his voicemail.”
“Hmmm….” Her mother responded pursing her lips. She liked Jordan, but Bethany could see she didn’t like that he was breaking a promise.
“I’m sure he just got hung up,” Bethany answered. Her mother nodded and began looking at the chart for her next patient. Bethany sighed and returned to the reception desk. ‘Where was he?’
Jordan
He heard a car pull up and knew it would be Raiden. Now, not only did he have to explain the kidnapping, but her desire to go home. Raiden had waited too long, and Kai screwed with her head. It was the only logical conclusion Jordan could draw on.
“Time to face the music,” he whispered to himself.
Jordan walked towards Raiden, “Is she okay, Jordan?” he asked after throwing open his door.
“Sore. I had to carry her to the car and the moment I lifted her she winced in pain.” Jordan watched as Raiden put his face in his hands. He hated hearing this, Jordan hated telling it.
“Did she tell you what happened?’ he asked.
Jordan nodded before speaking, “she said she got up before you and Lee for a change and wanted to make you all breakfast. She was getting things ready.” Raiden nodded and Jordan saw a light bulb go on. “Kai came to the door and kidnapped her.”
“How was she able to pop the trunk?” A logical question. One Jordan wondered at first as well. Jordan couldn’t help, but to smile.
“Kai didn’t think to tie her hands, she easily found the latch. And then she had to make a decision, go wherever Kai was taking her or jump. She chose to jump.” Raiden nodded and headed towards Tai, but Jordan knew he had to tell him the other part.
“Raiden, you should know one more thing she told me or rather asked me.” Raiden spun back around clearly annoyed Jordan had stopped him from getting to Tai.
“What Jordan?” he snapped.
“She asked me to take her home.” Jordan watched Raiden’s expression, he didn’t get it.
“You told her I was coming, right?” Jordan nodded he was going to have to stress this.
“Home, Raiden.” He stressed the word ‘home.’ Hoping it would sink in. Jordan watched as his words clicked in Raiden’s head.
“Why?” he asked, his tone giving way to how he was feeling. His world was being ripped apart. Jordan felt the same way.
“She thinks Kai would back off if you married Bethany since she’s a vampire.” Jordan looked down, he couldn’t help it. Raiden didn’t say anything else, but Jordan heard his footsteps march towards Tai.
Jordan slowly walked towards the car, but nothing more was said between the three of them. Raiden took Tai to his car and Jordan got in his to head to the clinic.
He glanced at his phone and saw he had missed her call. He quickly typed, ‘on my way.’ The full explanation would have to come at the clinic.
Bethany
She had received a text a few minutes ago, but couldn’t look till right then, ‘on my way.’ Really that was it? No explanation? “Asshole.” She cursed under her breath.
“If you mean me, beautiful, you’re right.” She looked up and saw him standing there. He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look mad at her either.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
“No apologies, Beth, but is there somewhere we can talk in private for a minute?” She looked at him curiously, and nodded towards her mother’s office.
He followed her down the hall past a few exam rooms. She tapped on one of the doors and slowly pushed it open. “Sorry to disturb you, Doctor, but we need your office a minute.” Jordan watched as Grace pushed her stool back more to see past her daughter. Jordan gave her a small shrug of his shoulders and she just nodded to them. Bethany shut the door.
“This way,” she said tugging his hand and pulling him to the end of the hall. Once behind closed doors she reached out and slapped him hard across the face.
“Ouch, beautiful. What the hell was that for?” He asked her as she watched him rubbed his face. She surprised herself hitting him like that, but she was pissed.
“You could’ve called and said you had gotten slowed down.” Jordan nodded to her. “That’s all I get a text and a damn nod? I thought I meant something to you!” She spat at him. She was sure that this was pent up rage from Kai just ditching her, but she wouldn’t go through that again.
“Are you done?” he asked crossing his arms. He was clearly annoyed now with her outburst. She bit her tongue and nodded.
“Tai was kidnapped this morning.” What? Was he being serious? “I have your attention I see.” She nodded deciding it was best to remain silent for the time being.
“I was on my way here and I got behind a speeding car. I was reaching for my phone to call the cops when Tai poked her head out from the trunk.” He paused and Bethany quickly found a chair. She couldn’t stand up anymore. Was Tai okay?
“Is she okay? What happened?” She started asking.
“She jumped and she’s hurt. I called Raiden he came and got her. My phone was in the car and I was with Tai while we waited for Raiden.” Bethany nodded, but remained silent. Shit! She had hit him.
“Bethany, there is one more thing.” He spoke softly dropping to his knees in front of her. Cupping her cheeks and taking a breath before speaking again. This wasn’t going to be good.
“What?” she asked unwillingly.
“She asked me to take her home, and I mean home.” Bethany closed her eyes she knew what Jordan meant.
“What did Raiden say?” she asked cautiously.
“I’m scared he’ll let her go, but I’m not going anywhere, beautiful.”
“I need to call Raiden!” she said in a panic. She jumped up from the chair and dialed him.
“Hi, Bethany.” The plainness in his voice confirmed her fears and what Jordan was saying. Tai had asked to leave and Raiden was going to let her.
“Raiden, are you really going to just let her go?” she asked and he sighed. This was not happening. He was not doing this.
“I don’t want to. I’m trying to come up with a plan.” It was her turn to sigh. He didn’t need a plan, was he that stupid?
She snapped, “You don’t need a plan, Raiden. Fuck, are you that dumb?!” Jordan quickly was behind her wrapping her tightly in his arms, but it provided little comfort. “You need to drop to one knee, take out your mother’s ring and propose.”
“I gave her the ring.” His tone did little to relieve her anxiety, but she had to ask.
“And…?” she pressed.
“And that’s it, she was pushing me away. I gave her the ring and let her go.” His sigh dragged on and Bethany tried to focus on facts.
“Jordan told me what happened, the kidnapping and all. You think Kai said something?” she asked. This didn’t seem real. Why wasn’t he fighting?
“He had to have. We talked last night about her doubts after she caught Gloria kissing
me…” Bethany jumped in. What the hell?
“What the fuck, Raiden?” Jordan let her go and moved in front of her. She knew he was trying to figure out what had caused the outburst.
“She set me up. So Tai would think I was cheating.” Kai and Gloria, damn them! They played to all of Tai’s insecurities in one move. “We talked and I told her I had a plan. I asked her to give me one more week, she agreed to trust me. And then today she told me I didn’t need another week. That my stalling meant something wasn’t right.” When he paused Bethany let it all soak in. Truth was, Tai was right, maybe there was something wrong.
“Tai’s right, Raiden. You should’ve proposed immediately. Raiden fight,” she said firmly before hanging up.
Jordan
He studied her in silence for a few seconds after she hung up the phone. “So…?” he pressed rocking on his heels.
“Go back to the apartment and pack.” She answered distantly.
“Excuse me?” Was she really kicking him out?
“I know Raiden enough to know he’ll let her go, so you need to leave with her.” Oh hell no! That sure as hell wasn’t happening?
He moved towards her and backed her up against the wall. He pinned her against it with his body and kissed her hard and passionately. She owned him. If she hadn’t figured that out, he was going to make damn sure she knew.
She wiggled the whole time, but kissed him back. He finally broke the kiss, but the look in her eyes crushed him. “You choose him?” he asked stepping away from her completely.
“I don’t have a choice,” she spit back at him.
“The hell you don’t! You were fucking sixteen! Raiden would understand if we just left.” This wasn’t happening. He had made progress with her, now this.
“Get out!” she yelled. He took a deep breath and sighed. He would fight. Raiden might not, but he was going to.
“No! I’m going to fight! I love you, Bethany Donald.” The look in her eyes was begging him to just leave.
“I can’t! I won’t! The Lukas family won’t win.” She turned away from him and he got it. This wasn’t about what happened when they were sixteen. It was about what was happening right then.
“I’ll move out,” he whispered walking towards the door. “But I’m not leaving,” he said before closing her in her mother’s office.
Bethany
She sat down and just cried. She hated the way she just treated Jordan, but she didn’t have a choice. If she had to marry Raiden he couldn’t be in Aishan. She loved him.
“Bethany,” her mom said softly as she slowly pushed the office door open.
Bethany swiped at her tears. “I’ll be right out to handle reception,” she said quickly.
“What happened?” she asked, pulling Bethany into a hug.
“Tai is leaving. Raiden is just letting her go. I don’t have a choice, I have to let Jordan go too.” She sobbed on her mother’s shoulder.
“Oh, baby girl. I’m so sorry. I can’t fix this I’m sorry. Lee’s health took a big turn for the worse last night. Raiden needs you to come through more than ever.” Bethany nodded it was the first she heard of Lee’s health, but she knew where her duty was.
Jordan
The drive back to the apartment sucked. He walked up the stairs, but couldn’t bring himself to pack. He had packed once before, but for a completely different reason.
He wanted to strangle both Tai and Raiden. “Tai doesn’t owe you shit, man,” he mumbled.
He wanted to fix this, maybe finding Kai and killing him would do the trick. “That won’t help, dumbass,” he said out loud to the empty apartment. Jordan knew deep down that Kai was a puppet, as much as he had made Gloria one.
His phone started ringing, ‘Mom calling.’ He hadn’t talked to his mom since arriving in Aishan. “Hey, mom.”
“Wow, you sound defeated.” She had no idea.
“It’s a really long story, mom.” He sighed. He couldn’t deal with this.
“You don’t want to talk about it, do you?” she retorted.
“Not really,” he responded.
“Are you at least happy?” she asked. How was he supposed to answer that?
“I was, now things are complicated.” She sighed. Jordan couldn’t explain further. He would call her later when his world didn’t feel like it was spiraling out of control. Even with her cautiousness, he felt some control.
“Well call me later then,” his mom said breaking his thoughts. She hung up not expecting him to speak again.
“Thanks, mom,” he whispered. She always understood. Although, when she found out about him and Meredith, she nearly killed him.
Bethany
Her phone rang. It was Raiden again. She inhaled and then exhaled before answering. “When are we getting married, Raiden?” She had accepted that as their fate. She was crying, but didn’t care.
“Don’t know, Bethany. When are you and Jordan getting married?” What? What was he saying? “Tai and I haven’t set a date.” She gasped in surprise and Raiden chuckled.
“What? She’s staying? You proposed?” She was nervous but excited she just didn’t want to be too overjoyed.
“Yes, yes, and yes. And for the record she said yes too.” He was beaming, she could hear it in his voice.
“That’s great, Raiden. So shouldn’t you be celebrating?” She laughed. Why the hell was he on the phone with her?
“She’s in a lot of pain. I need your mom.” Right,,, the kidnapping. How could she have forgotten that so soon?
“Right, she jumped from the trunk of Kai’s car. Not the smartest thing to do with the speed Jordan said he was using.” Although she knew it was the best choice. “But the smartest decision based on the alternative.”
“I feel that way too,” he sighed.
Her mom had one last patient, for the moment at least, it had been a busy morning and early afternoon. “Raiden, give us two hours. Mom is currently with another patient but then we’ll be there.” She was going too. She had to check on Tai and help Raiden focus.
“Okay, Bethany, text when you arrive don’t have to tell you the house is…” She finished for him remembering what her mom said about Lee.
“Locked up tight because of your dad and now Tai. Be there soon.” She hung up and stared at her phone she had to send one text. ‘Don’t leave.’ She hit send and off to Jordan it went.
She got up and checked herself in the hall bathroom before heading the checkup room her mom was using. She knocked before opening it and peeking in.
“Mom, we have to make a house call next. Raiden’s fiancée needs a doctor.” She smiled as her mom’s eyes widened. She shut the door right as a text came through.
‘Told you I wouldn’t.’ She half smiled, half frowned because she knew he was crushed. But he was fighting for her; that made her feel like the luckiest girl on earth right at that moment.
Jordan
He stared at her text after he replied. ‘Don’t leave.’ That was what it said. There was nothing else. He hoped this was good, but with everything that had happened today, he really wasn’t sure.
She had crushed him beyond repair already. His heart couldn’t take much more. His phone rang, ‘Meredith calling.’ He groaned. He was not answering that. No way in hell was he taking this call. If she wanted to, she could talk to his voicemail.
He thought about his reply to Bethany’s text. ‘Told you I wouldn’t.’ He hoped it would show her his commitment to her. Things were so messed up though and he just wasn’t sure how to reach her.
Bethany
‘Just pulled up.’ She texted as she put her car in park in front of Raiden’s house.
The door opened, “Thanks for coming,” Raiden greeted, allowing them both to step inside.
“Of course, Raiden, Bethany says your fiancée was kidnapped this morning that resulted in her jumping from the trunk of a moving vehicle.” Bethany had explained everything on the drive over. She saw Raiden smile when her mom used the word fiancée.
He was happy, so was she. She loved Tai, she love Raiden. They deserved the best. Most importantly she loved Jordan. She wasn’t ready to tell him, but she was glad he already had told her.
“This way.” He gestured so they would follow.
When they reached a closed door that she knew was his room he slowly cracked it open and whispered, “Sweetheart, the doctor is here.”
“Hello,” Tai said as they stepped into the room. She looked bad. Poor Tai was all she could think about. She wanted to kill Kai Lukas. What the hell was he thinking? Had he really sunk that far down?
“It’s nice to meet you, Tai. Both Raiden and Bethany can’t shut up about you.” Tai gave her a smile. Yep, that was her mom, Doctor Grace Donald.
“Tai sweetheart, do you want me to stay?” She looked at him and shook her head. That was a good thing. Bethany could tell that Raiden needed to vent and watching Tai get checked over was only going to grow the hatred inside of him right now.
He bent and gave Tai one last kiss before following her out of the room and letting her mom do what she did best. They stepped outside and Raiden closed the door before she spoke.
“Damn it, dude. She looks super sore. You know how fast he was going?” He answered her with a shake of his head and shoved his hands in pocket. This wasn’t good, he couldn’t bottle it up. He had to talk about it so he could go back to Tai and be what she needed.
“Let’s talk about it, Raiden. You need to air it all out so when mom comes out you can go be what she’s going to need you to be,” she pressed, “So yell and scream, air it out right now.” He nodded at her and his eyes went towards the back porch. She followed him downstairs and outside in silence.
“Shit, Bethany. I nearly lost it when I saw the front door open and knew her cell phone was here. When my phone started ringing and I saw it was Jordan I wasn’t going to answer.” She understood that. “I just thank God he ended up behind them somehow.” Bethany was too. Raiden sighed pulling Bethany back to her task.
“Dude, she’s going to need you to keep the fact that you want kick Kai’s sorry ass in check.” Hell, she wanted to kick Kai’s ass, but it wouldn’t solve anything. “I know you want to. Hell I want to, but we can’t stoop to Kai’s level.”