Jordan
I hope like hell Alex isn’t as mad at me as I think he is, or else using his file from work to get his address is really going to come back to bite me in the ass. It’s totally illegal. So fucking illegal that I would get fired in a heartbeat. It’s all I think about on the way to his house, outside of what I will say to him, that is.
All of that goes right out the window when I get out of my truck and hear sobbing and shouting from the side of his house. I go that way, thinking someone is hurt. Alex maybe. Only what I find is way fucking worse.
Of course, I know who Vance Harding is. Any hockey fan would. I used to like the guy. His stats are great and he’s a good captain, but he has his hands on Alex—and not in a good way. That would have pissed me the fuck off too, but this… this has me seeing red.
I don’t think about the repercussions that’ll come with this, I only act. That’s what I’m good at. Getting myself into shitty situations and burying myself so deep that I can’t get out. Then I just live there forever. I’ve been doing it my whole life. Avoiding the bad shit. Making things worse. Figuring out how to work around that, but then making things even worse… It’s just what I do.
Vance rears his arm back like he’s going to punch Alex, his other hand gripping his shirt to hold him in place. I grab a fist full of his hair, yank him back, and my hand goes around his throat, pressing him into the cold ground.
“Touch him again, and Iwillkill you,” I seethe.
His eyes are wide, confused, as if no one has ever told him off before. I’m sure they haven’t. He’s Vance Fucking Harding. But no one, and I meanno one, touches Alex like that. A ton of things about him start making some sort of sense, but there are too many questions that I need answered before I can paint a full picture. Dealing with that right now isn’t what I want to do. What I want to do is turn Vance’s face into pulp.
“Jordan…” It’s a soft voice that comes from behind me. “Jordan, let him go.”
“No,” I growl, tightening my grip on Vance’s throat. I’ve never considered killing someone before, but all the bullshit from my life swarms me at once, anger filling myveins, and I think how easy it would be to end this piece of shit’s life.
It’s then I see the true panic in his eyes. His hands claw at my wrist and he’s trying to get air, but I’m not letting him. I could kill him. It would be so easy.
That would be really stupid though. Stupidest thing I’ve ever done. It’ll really fuck up my life. Worse than anything else I could do.
“Jordan, please…” Alex says, this time pleading and his hand comes down on my shoulder.
I heave out a breath, staring down at Vance and lean in closer to his pathetic face.
“If you so much as think about Alex again, never mind speak to or look at him, I will fucking end you. I will chop your body up into little pieces and feed them to the pigs on the farm down the road, and no one will know any fucking better.”
“Jordan,” Alex says again, and this time I release Vance’s throat.
He rolls over, coughing and gasping for air. He’s shaking, and I get to my feet.
“Ge the fuck out of here, Vance!” Alex shouts, grabbing my arm and pulling me away. I hear the anxiety and fear in his voice, but he has nothing to be afraid of anymore because I will protect him.
Vance is still coughing and mumbling something as we walk away. I hear something about Alex being a uselessslut, and I shake out of Alex’s grip, run back at Vance, and stomp my booted foot right onto his knee. He yelps in pain, so I do it again until I hear a crack.
“Jordan, fuck!” Alex shouts, tackling me. I nearly fall to the ground, but shove Alex off me and go back at Vance, stomping on his other knee.
“Keep it up, you fucking prick. I’ll break every bone in your body!”
“Jordan, let’s go! Fuck, get in the house!”
Alex wraps his arms around my waist and tugs me after him until we’re in the house.
I’m sweaty, panting, my heart is racing a mile a minute. I don’t think I will ever unhear the crunch Harding’s knee made and I couldn’t fucking care less for what kind of pain he’s in. It’s the least he deserves, because now I know for sure that him fucking up Alex’s knee wasn’t an accident.
“What the fuck was that, Jordan?” Alex shouts at me.
“I should be the one asking you that!” I yell back.
“It was… nothing.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” I roar.
He blinks a few times, taking a step back. He says nothing. Of course, now’s the time he wants to be quiet. But I know the quieter Alex is, the worse it is.
“I came here hoping to talk to you,” I explain. “To apologize for being a dick the other day, and to tell youI broke up with Maggie, and I walk into… I don’t even know what!”
