JORDAN
Raven’s laughter filled Jordan’s ears as he rounded a corner and stepped inside the gym. There weren’t many sounds like it—if any. It was the type of laughter he had been the recipient of years ago.
He was greeted with the sight of Raven fighting in a pleasantly revealing training outfit. The tight leggings and a sports bra she wore looked amazing on her. But an ugly thing bubbled up as Jordan realized her sparring partner was the cause of her laughter. And he wasn’t just anyone.
It was Vlad fucking Minstrel.
The night before, Jordan had looked at Vlad smoothing up to her. They had slept together before, seeing how Raven responded to his touch—how easily her smiles came for him.
It had irritated him to no end. In the end, she had looked at Jordan, longing in her eyes that wasn’t Vlad’s—and the fucker had seen it, too. He had been ninety-nine percent sure she hadn’t gone with him to the gods’ know where. Though seeing them together now, he wasn’t so sure anymore.
Though, if she had, he knew he couldn’t do or say anything about it. He had no place to speak his opinion. He had no business meddling with her relationships—telling her what she could and couldn’t do to spare his feelings.
Gods. Jordan was the most hypocritical person in the world. He was the one engaged to another.
Raven and Vlad looked his way, the latter smiling as Jordan nodded at them before returning to what they were doing, although Raven seemed a little less loud than before. That bothered him, too; being the reason her joy dimmed.
While Jordan trained, he looked at their fight on the mat.
Sparring felt like their thing—his and Raven’s—not her and fucking Vlad’s. He was weirdly possessive of it. Whenever he watched the man come close to her, touch her, and give her playful smiles, Jordan clenched his jaw at his irrational responses. He needed to focus on himself. Fix his own mess first.
But something in him made him continue to watch. He couldn’t help himself admiring her technique, the way she moved her lithe body. The growth she had been through over the years when it came to fighting was astonishing. Jordan couldn’t help but be proud of her. For her.
After an eternity, they finally stopped fighting and drank water together at the climbing wall. Vlad rubbed a towel over his face and threw it around his neck. Then he pulled her braid, and she pushed him away as he walked out of the hall with the biggest smile Jordan had ever seen on his face.
The hall was relatively big. Not as big as the hall at the main base, but still—the space seemed smaller now that the only two people left were him and her. Jordan pushed away from what he was doing and found himself walking over to her.
“Raven,” he said, and she turned around with a bottle to her lips.
She stopped drinking and said, “Hey.” A layer of sweat coated her face, and even her eyes gleamed more than usual. Jordan noticed her braid was still completely intact. He remembered that a curl or two would always escape when they fought together.
A tiny solace.
Jordan gestured with his head to the mat. “You done?”
“You watched me fight just now, right?” she responded, but her tone was teasing.
Jordan inclined his head. “Guilty.” He let his gaze travel down her body, past her hips and long, strong legs, back up to her beautiful face and hypnotic eyes.
Raven played with the ends of her braid; her cheeks were tinted a little pink from more than just working out. “What do you want, Jordan?”
Everything. The word lay on the tip of his tongue.
“A rematch,” he said instead.
Letting go of her hair, she seized him up. “I don’t think so.” And put the bottle back against her lips before wrapping a towel around her body.
Jordan stared at her and shook his head. “Where are you going, Renée? We’re not done here.”
Raven smiled but continued walking backward. “I’m going to get some rest, General. Tomorrow is an important day.” She saluted him, but her lips hinted at a teasing smile.
Something in his chest moved like a rabid animal at that smile. But she had already left the hall by the time Jordan could get anything past his lips.
That was the moment he realized Raven was going to be the end of him. He was far past the stage of mere infatuation. Staying away from her was like the ocean resisting the moon’s gravitational pull.
Impossible.
* * *
“Look, Sev!” Ashley said as soon as the call went through and showed her with Sev in her lap.
Jordan’s smile was instant as he watched his son claw at the screen. They sat in the study of Ashley’s parents’ house, where she and Sev had been staying since their fight about this mission and the engagement. He knew it had been the right decision to go, but he missed Sev a lot. He didn’t know how soldiers with children managed at 3B for an extended period.
“Hey,” Jordan said, smiling from ear to ear, waving at Sev and Ashley. “Man, you’re growing up way too quickly.”
“He is,” Ashley agreed, grinning down at Sev. She looked back at the screen. “He’s doing well. He’ll start speaking in coherent sentences in no time.”
“Not before I’m home he won’t. Right, Sev?” Jordan said, causing Ashley to chuckle.
Sev babbled something unintelligible, more interested in something offscreen as his blonde curls disappeared beneath the camera, but the sound of his voice warmed Jordan’s heart.
Jordan looked at Ashley. “How are you doing?”
Ashley swallowed, readjusting Sev in her lap, and pulled a hand through his blonde hair. “I’m doing well, actually. Been doing a lot of thinking.” She looked up at the camera. “You?”
“Yeah, me too.” Jordan scratched his throat. “We should talk when I get back.”
“We should,” she agreed, and he knew her well enough to see what lurked beneath the surface. Their relationship was broken. They had squeezed it for all its worth. They should end their misery, for Sev’s sake, and they both knew it.
Jordan was done trying to squeeze himself into this picture-perfect version of himself. It hurt Ashley, Sev, and everyone around him, including himself. And it had taken him thirty-three years to figure that out.