Love Shy

Chapter Thirty Eight

The rest of the meal went relatively smoothly but the twins were especially quiet and I couldn't ignore the way Jordan regularly checked our surroundings. It wasn't new to me as he had always been cautious but now he seemed distracted. He looked casual enough with his arm thrown over the back of my chair, his fingers tracing delicate patterns on my shoulder. But I knew in my gut something was wrong and my frustration built as my worry turned to suspicion. Images of Omari at Carina's New Year's party crept into my mind and Rios words sprung to the forefront making me cringe at the things I didn't know about Jordan."Your boyfriends got enemies shy." What kind of enemies could Jordan have? If he wasn't with me he was at the gym. His friends were very few and I'm sure they had met at the gym. I started to wonder if maybe they weren't his enemies but his brother's enemies. Every time I tried to ask him about his brother or dad he shut me down and even when he did make the odd comment he never allowed it to turn into anything more than a fleeting mention. I shivered as I let every worst case scenario slide over me. Jordan's hand flattened and rubbed up and down my shoulder in an attempt to soothe the Goosebumps and I looked into his beautiful grey eyes trying to gain a shred of understanding. He stared back at me steadily and I sighed knowing I would get nothing out of him.

"Excuse me love birds but we are doing the cake!" carina admonished obviously mistaking our mini stare off for something else. Jordan's face broke into an easy smile and his dimple came on display making me feel guilty for doubting him. This was my jords. Not some hood rat. He wasn't involved in anything sinister, besides my brothers wouldn't have allowed him back to the table if had been getting himself into trouble. I placed my hand on his thigh and squeezed gently and his stormy grey eyes came up to meet mine once again giving me a look that almost made me melt through my chair. God he's hot.  Anticipation rippled through me at the thought of being alone with him this evening. The cake was placed in front of me and my loved ones sang happy birthday loudly I think some other members of the restaurant even joined in and I felt my face turn scarlet. How embarrassing was this. After I blew out the candles and admonished carina and Kayla for taking unflattering photos of me we did a group photo and then had our desert. Half an hour later we were leaving the restaurant stuffed and all in good spirits. I left Jordan talking to my dad and huddled outside nandos with the girls. "Got everything?" Carina whispered and I nodded and gulped suddenly nervous and highly embarrassed that we were discussing the matter with my dad a few feet away. Kayla was looking off into the distance and ignoring us completely and I glanced in the general direction she was affixed onto and frowned. A black car had just rounded the corner out of view.

My stomach lurched horribly. It couldn't be could it? "I swear don't think I'm mad yea, but I could of sworn Jamal's car just turned round that corner. Why would he not say hi? That's bare rude, he's meant to be your brothers boy I thought?" I gulped at Kayla's confirmation that tugz had in fact been sitting outside nandos watching us and only left once we were outside. Why else would he not have stopped to say hello to my brothers. The twins were only home from uni for a few weeks surely he would want to catch up? Could he have anything to do with the boys that had been fighting Jordan? Uneasiness crept over me and carina looked at me puzzled. I hadn't told the girls what had transpired with the boys in nandos yet. I still wasn't sure what had happened myself. "You ok shy?" she asked concerned and I nodded turning to look for Jordan. He was still standing with my dad and Sean but his eyes were on me as he stood with his hands in his pockets and his hat on backwards, his curls peeping through the space in the snap back. He smiled lazily and I tried my hardest to return it but he noticed the change in me immediately and stood up straighter. I ripped my eyes away and looked back at the girls. "Yea I'm fine. Ill text you guys tomorrow ok? Wish me luck." "Good luck!" they both sing songed and I swiped at Kayla's arm as she attempted to do a subtle version of mimicking sex. Oh my god not in front of my dad. Hugging the girls tightly I spun about to say goodbye to my family. Thank god dads back was to us. Approaching them I said bye to Kieran and Sean first getting a simple hug from both of them. Troy and Reece grabbed my neck and roughly threw me between themselves singing happy birthday again before dad had to intervene and tell them to put me down. "Thank you for helping him" I whispered as they both hugged me at the same time. "Be careful" was Reece's reply whilst troy stayed quiet. I frowned at that but was quickly enveloped in dads embrace unable to quiz my brothers. "Happy birthday my baby queen" dad said softly and I smiled into his hug. "I gave Jordan a little something for you. You can open it when we have all left." Dad whispered and I hugged him tighter.  "Thank you daddy." I replied joining Jordan next to his car as he opened the passenger door for me.