CHAPTER 82

JORDAN.

I CHECKED MY PHONE FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME.

There was still nothing from Blaine. I couldn't believe he was letting a girl come between us, even though it wasn't just any girl, but still.

The last time Blaine had been this sick of my shit was when we were in Arizona and I slept with a woman and daughter (separately) and left them fighting over me. In my defense, I didn't know they were related until much later. I digress. He should've called by now.

This wasn't him. I acknowledge that I lied to him but he was also taking it too far. The only person who’d stick with me, and I'd pushed him to his limit. I couldn't lose my best friend. I'd gotten this far mostly because he was there.

I let my head drop back against my chair and closed my eyes, wondering whether I should just neglect his privacy and make the calls that would let me know where he was. If I knew Blaine, he'd gone somewhere there was a branch of the company.

Like me, he was never at rest if he wasn't doing something. I could just call the branches and find out which one he was in, but I'd already fucked up once and I wasn't interested in prolonging the drama. I'll just have to wait for him to contact me. God. Friendships are complicated.

My mind wandered back to what he'd said about there being sexual tension between me and Melanie and my gut tightened. He couldn't possibly have meant it. Sure we'd had sex once, sure that one time lived rent-free in my head, sure I wanted to know if she still tasted as good as she did then, but that didn't mean there was sexual tension. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. I was excellent at lying to other people, but not to myself.

I thought back to all the times we'd come within three feet of each other and that electricity started to crackle. All the times we'd come close to letting go of our self-control and tearing at each other. I let out a sound as my groin tightened.

At the same time, my intercom buzzed and Melanie's silly smooth voice came through. Speak of the seductress.

“Jordan? There's someone here to see you”, she said and I frowned.

I had no appointments for the next two hours. “Who is it?” I asked, adjusting so the bulge in my pants was less painful and didn't show when I stood up.

“Um.. It's a girl”, she said uncertainly.

Annoyance spiked, bringing down my boner.

“I thought I told you children aren't allowed up here”, I snapped.

“I know, I know, but you might want to see this one. She says she's your sister...?”

I froze, unwilling to believe what I just heard. I felt cold and hot all at the same time. I stood up slowly and walked to my door feeling like I was in a fever dream and any moment I would wake up and all of this would have been a figment of my imagination. I pulled the door opened and stepped out. My eyes widened when I saw her standing there looking like she'd just been in a fight.

She was staring at me too with a hard-to-read expression.

“J- Jasmine?”, I hadn't stuttered since elementary school. She stared at me with that fierce expression as she walked towards me, and then she was hugging me.

That was when it dawned on me. She was real. She was real, alive and she was here. Years of exhaustive search and frustration that I thought were useless had resulted in something. I clutched her so tight, she probably couldn't breathe but she didn't complain.

I buried my face in her hair and told myself over and over that I wasn't dreaming. It was still hard to believe. That is, until she pulled back and slapped me hard across the face, then hugged me again. I fought the insane urge to laugh. Yes, Jasmine was here.

“I searched everywhere for you, Jasmine”, I whispered.

“I did everything I could, I swear to you”. I don't know whether I was trying to convince her or myself, but she nodded.

“Well you didn't search hard enough. She put me in a lame finishing school. I snuck out”, she whispered back.

I chuckled, “Of course you did.” It was only then I remembered we weren't alone.

I tensed and released Jasmine, glancing over at Melanie to see her staring at both of us with open and avid interest. Shit. The last thing I wanted to do was rope her into my family drama, but she was already in it whether I liked it or not. At least she was the only one here.

I cleared my throat, “Melanie, this is Jasmine Alonso, my younger sister. Jasmine, this is my personal assistant Melanie.”

Melanie glanced at Jasmine and gave her a nod, “Sup.”

Jasmine nodded back. “You’ve got pretty eyes”, she said and Melanie smirked.

“I like to think so.”

I shouldn't be surprised at how normal Melanie was acting after having a relation of mine appear from nowhere after she'd probably thought I had one, but there was no reason to be. Melanie knew how to take everything in stride. It was one of her better qualities.

“What’s this I heard about you not buying cookies from little Girl Scouts?” Jasmine said suddenly, narrowing green eyes so like mine at me and Melanie stifled a laugh.

“Jas, you haven't seen your big brother in about ten years, and the first thing you do is attack him”, I deadpanned.

“Fine”. She laughed, rolling her eyes. I couldn't believe how much she'd grown in the last ten years.

Gone was the little girl who'd cried until she was red and clutched at the little stuffed toy I'd given her when she was separated from me, and in front of me was still my little sister but much older, a warrior who'd fought her way to me.

“What?” she asked, noticing my perusal. I just pulled her close again.

“You’ve grown so much. It's hard to come to terms with”. I replied, running a hand through her hair. She smiled, then a hint of worry entered her eyes.

“Do you think she'll come looking for me? I don't want to go back to her. She's horrible, and her boyfriend is even worse. Don't let her take me back”, she pleaded.

I felt something in my chest crack at the desperation in her voice as I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

“I swear to you, Jasmine, I won't let her take you again no matter what. I'll take it to court if I have to. I'm not going to lose you again”, I vowed.