Jordie nodded as he looked to the left, fishing his keys out of his pocket. “I gotta go meet said prideful woman at the Mexican restaurant down the road, hand her my balls on a silver platter, and own up to my mistakes. Here are my keys. If she doesn’t show, I’ll take a cab home. Or if she tells me to kiss it, I’ll take one home.”
Karl laughed, slapping his shoulder. “I’ll go with you. If she shows, I’ll leave. If she doesn’t, we’ll eat and... Shit, I was about to say drink margaritas.”
Jordie laughed along with him. “Yeah, that can’t happen.”
“How depressing. Way to go, ruining the fun for everyone,” he said with a wink and Jordie grinned.
“You didn’t know? I’m a fuckup,” Jordie joked but Karl paused, shaking his head.
“No, Jordie, you’re not. Not anymore,” he said, squeezing his shoulder. “You’re a damn good man with a past that you’re working on. Now, come on.”
As he walked away, Jordie stood there and let his words sink in. He was right. He wasn’t a fuckup anymore. His past was full of all his mistakes, but he was fixing each one. But this one… The one that he made with Kacey was the biggest and the one he most regretted.
But he would fix it.
Why was she the only normal one in her family?
The whole way to Liam’s house, she replayed everything that happened and really didn’t understand how it had even occurred. She and Lacey were usually careful when they talked about Jordie, but apparently they weren’t careful enough. She still couldn’t believe that Karson hit Jordie repeatedly like that. He was a big doofus, but a sweet doofus, and, God, she loved him. But she still couldn’t believe it. Did Jordie deserve that? Oh, yeah. But did she like seeing him bleeding? No. Each drop of blood might as well have been hers. It was horrifying to see and all just so stupid.
But even with everything that had happened, all she could do was think about what Lacey had said to Karson as she tried to stop him. About forgiving Jordie and only caring about what he did after. After what? What was going on, and why did she seem to be the only one who was lost? Even her parents seemed to know what was going on. They were all nodding in agreement, and Jordie, he just looked stricken. She could tell that he hadn’t intended to hurt her or Karson. Before, he would have laughed it off. But when he said sorry, he meant it.
More so when he said she was enough.
Ugh, she could still feel his words absorbing into her skin. She had waited so long to hear him say it, to give some kind of explanation, and she was almost there.
But first, she had to break it off with Liam.
Parking her car near his, she shut it off and headed toward his door, trying to think of a nice and easy way to turn him down. She couldn’t think of anything but the truth. Before she could think harder, he opened the door.
“Hey!” he called out before glancing at his watch. “I expected you earlier.”
“Yeah, sorry, some family shit went down,” she said, waving him off. He leaned over, kissing her hard on the lips, but she pulled away just as quickly as he started, her hands coming to his chest as she looked up at his beautiful, chiseled face. He really was a handsome man and someone would really love him, but she just wasn’t the one.
“That’s not a good sign,” he said, standing up straight.
“Yeah, not really,” she agreed and then she stood awkwardly, crossing her ankles and leaning her arm on her hip.
“Well, come on in,” he said, but she shook her head.
“I don’t really see the point,” she said simply, and she decided the truth was the only way to go. “I thought I owed it to you to do this in person, but I’m sorry, I can’t go with you.”
He looked down and then nodded. “Can I ask why?”
“Because as much as I want to love you, I can’t. Not when my heart is still with someone else.”
“Jordie?”
She didn’t want to admit it out loud, especially to him, but soon her mouth was moving. “Yeah.”
“You know he won’t ever love you or treat you the way I can,” he said, and Kacey bit the inside of her lip.