Figuring he was one of Barrick’s men, I stepped toward him. “Arella Stevenson. You know her?”
He tilted his head to the left. “She went with her cousin to the Thorntons’.”
“Lyric?” Luca hadn’t been home for Christmas in a few years, from what I understood.
“No, sir. It was Luca.” He opened a car door and got behind the wheel. “I guess they’re doing some family bonding. Hadn’t seen each other in a while, from what I heard.”
“Thanks,” I told him, but I just stood there, trying to decide what course of action I should take. Go to the Thorntons’ and carry her out? Wait for her? Go to her place and ambush her there when she got home?
“You look like a stalker standing out here glaring at nothing,” a soft voice said behind me.
Sighing, I turned my head to find Aunt Gabs standing on the sidewalk beside me. I hadn’t even heard her approach. “Don’t be surprised if I suddenly turn into one,” I grumbled before bending my head to kiss her cheek.
“Girl trouble?” she asked with amusement lighting her brown eyes. My only response was to grunt, causing her to laugh. “That’s the response I get whenever Asher has the same problem.”
“Yeah? And what advice do you give him when he has these problems?”
My rocker aunt lifted her brows in surprise. “If you need my advice, sweetheart, all you have to do is ask.”
“Aunt Gabs,” I groaned. “Just tell me what I should do to make my girl—”
She gasped. “Your girl? You’re claiming this one?” She gave a happy little dance. “Does LeeLee know?”
“Mom doesn’t know. Yet.” No one but Mia knew the truth, and I wanted to fix that. Arella needed to know I wanted more than just her friendship before I told my parents…or hers. “As soon as I get this girl locked down, I’ll tell Mom. I promise. Until then, maybe you can suggest how I could go about doing just that.”
“What, locking her down?” I shrugged in answer, and she sighed dramatically. “If this girl is who I’m thinking it is, you aren’t just going to ‘lock her down,’ as you so crassly put it. The way you appear in all those stupid tabloids, I honestly thought you were smarter and smoother than this Jordan.”
“You know none of that filth is true,” I scoffed. “I can’t even stand those girls.”
“Yet you’re in so, so many pictures in nightclubs, or coming out of nightclubs, with them. Usually with their lipstick on some part of your face or clothing.”
Clenching my jaw, I didn’t try to defend myself. We both knew the truth, and I wasn’t about to discuss pointless shit with her.
“Okay, fine. So you want to show this girl you’re serious about her?” I nodded, and she smiled sweetly. “Then you need to come home and stay home. Be there for her, show her that you want her and only her. No more pictures of slutty redheads hanging all over you.”
I started to argue about the redheads, but she lifted both hands. “Yeah, yeah. I know your dumbass father has you wining and dining these girls to get their daddies’ business, but you’re going to have to choose who is more of a priority. The idiot who nearly lost the love of his life because he was without a doubt the dumbest motherfucker I’d ever met. Or the girl who could have her choice of any guy she wants and keeps running from you because she thinks you’re secretly in love with your best friend?”
Shock hit me, knocking the air out of my chest, causing me to wheeze when I whispered, “She thinks that?”
“Of course she thinks that!” Throwing up her hands, she glared at me. “I love you like you are my own, Jordan, but I swear you’re just as stupid as your father sometimes.”
Gritting my teeth, I ignored her continued verbal abuse of my dad. He wasn’t as stupid as she let on, just had made repeatedly stupid decisions where my mom was concerned all those years ago. But she was completely right. Apparently, I was just as bad as my father if I couldn’t stop fucking up with my girl.
How the fuck could she possibly think I was in love with Mia? Why would she even think that? I admit, fucking her was a mistake; I never should have done that. But she’d been hurting, devastated after finding out the future she’d always envisioned for herself was over. She’d needed someone to make her