“Fine,” he says. “Now you can leave.”
“Why are you rushing me off? Aren’t you tired of her yet?”
“Listen, Felicia, I’ve had it up to here with your bullshit. You need to back off,” I say moving forward to face her.
“And what exactly are you going to do?” She walks around me with a look of disgust in her eyes.
“That’s enough,” Jordan warns, but we both ignore him as we circle each other.
“I don’t have to do anything but sit and watch you make an ass out of yourself, parading around for a guy who wants nothing to do with you. Who does that?” I smirk. “You’re just a pathetic, selfish bitch who’s too stupid to walk away with her head held high.”
Felicia’s eyes go dark and her nostrils flare, but I continue to smile shaking my head.
“You’re the bitch who’s selfish,” she says as she charges forward, catching me off guard. I fall to the ground hard as she scrambles on top of me. Before she can throw a punch, Jordan pushes her away, causing her to stumble against his desk.
“Are you okay?” Jordan says, hunching over me.
“I’m fine,” I say, placing my hands behind me and pushing myself off the ground. He grabs me and helps pull me to my feet, then we both turn to Felicia, who’s leaning over his desk with her back to us.
“Get out,” he roars.
“Jordan,” she sings. “Come on, baby. You know this is a game.”
“No,” he says, walking up to her. She stands tall but begins backing away. “I’m never getting back together with you.” He continues to walk forward as she backs toward the door. “It’s not happening. It should never have happened to begin with, I should've stayed gone. But you’re right. I was bored, and you were easy,” he says.
Felicia’s eyes are wide as she looks at him. Her mouth opens and closes as if she’s trying to find her words but is having a hard time.
“I would feel bad if I thought for a second that you were doing all this because you had feelings for me, but you don’t,” he says. “You’re just being a bitch because you’re mad you lost.” She bumps into the wall near the door and he reaches around her to open the door. “Now get the fuck out and leave my girl alone.”
Felicia stands in the doorway, her eyes moving back and forth between us, anger plain on her face. A second goes by and it seems as if she’s going to say something else. But she looks at us, shakes her head, and storms down the hall.
19
JORDAN
The engine roars as I press the gas, banking around a curve onto a straightaway. Cherry lives about thirty minutes outside the city and I have always enjoyed the ride out here. I wouldn’t say that Chrome Hills is a small city but there is a lot of stop and go traffic. The green of the trees starts to blur as I speed down the small road hitting eighty miles per hour. Xia hates riding with me out here. I can understand why but it’s the only time I drive a little recklessly. I know what I’m doing. I hoot as the warm air pours through my windows and blows in my hair.
It’s the night of Cherry and King’s engagement dinner. They haven’t announced the engagement to their families yet and wanted to do something formally with just their friends first. I have a feeling that there are some nerves at play. Because of this, her parents have no idea how important this night is to them and are yet again running late coming home to care for little Kenzie. The restaurant is not far from Cherry’s house, so instead of going straight there, Roman and I have decided to meet the couple at her parents’ house and leave together.
Easing my foot on the brake, I slow the car and zero in on the street I need to turn on. Cherry’s family lives in a large house next to the river. The only way of accessing it is down a dirt road designated by a small brown sign next to a tree. I’ve missed this turn many times in the past but her neighbor down the road has a racecar mailbox and I started using that as my landmark.
After a bumpy ride over the long driveway through the trees the road turns from dirt to asphalt and I glide to a smooth stop in front of their driveway. Roman, King, and Cherry’s cars are all parked in front of the closed garage door with Roman’s in front. Turning off my engine, I grab my phone from the mount on my dashboard and check it for a text from Xia. Originally we were going to ride together but she had some last-minute errands to run for her mother and insisted on meeting us at the restaurant. She’s supposed to let me know when she’s on the way.
She hasn’t texted yet so I slide my phone into my pocket and head to the front door.
“Jordan, Jordan, wanna play?” Kenzie says holding a Barbie doll, its hair sticking out in all directions.
“Sure, sweetie,” I say, leaning down toward her. “Go grab Cherry and tell her I’m here.”
“Okay.” She grins, killing me with her dimpled smile.
I make my way through the foyer and toward the living room, passing a large mirror above a small table with a bouquet of flowers on top. I love coming to Cherry's house. It’s so homey. Her mother always has some wonderful smell in here. Roses, linen, cherries, and there is always clutter. Just enough to let you know the house is lived in.
Kenzie pads away from the foyer and straight up the steps. Her doll flops in her arms as her little feet move as fast as they can.
“Cherry,” she calls, her squeaky voice fading the further away she gets. “Cherry… Roman and Jordan are here.”
“Hey, man,” Roman says, flopping down on the leather sofa holding a small bag of chips.
“Hey, how long have you been here?” I ask sitting next to him.
“Not long, about five minutes.”
"Okay, she's coming," Kenzie says, appearing in front of us with even more dolls.
Roman and I look at each other then back at her as she shakes the half-dressed Barbies in our faces.
"Oh… look," Roman says, right before he pushes a massive amount of chips into his mouth. “More dolls.”
"This is Missy and this is Karen. They are best friends but are in a fight because Karen likes to play with Ken more than she likes to play with Missy."
"Well sometimes playing with boys is a lot more fun," Roman mumbles. I jab an elbow in his rib causing him to cough.
"What do you mean?" she asks, lowering the dolls.
"Nothing, sweetie. Ignore him. How long do we have?” I say, looking over to Roman.
“Well, King said that Cherry's parents are on the way, so maybe ten minutes.”
“Okay.” I smile, looking back at Kenzie. “It looks like we have just enough time to play for a while.”
“Yay!” Kenzie shouts, her face bright as she squeezes in between Roman and me. Roman narrows his eyes. He's a little less patient when it comes to kids, and he’s never enjoyed the idea of playing dolls with Kenzie. I don't mind it. I've always wanted to have a kid sister, and I think she's adorable.
“Whatever gets us out of here faster,” he mumbles. She produces a boy doll from a little cart she had along the corner of the room and Roman and I play some sort of backwards game with her dolls. The two girl dolls fight. The boy doll, who's controlled by Kenzie, stands there smiling back and forth, trying to get everyone to quit. Oh little girl, do you know how close to accurate you are?