Beautiful Chaos/A Jordan Knight FanFic/ Book One in the Beautiful series. ✔️

11

Dallas

SO JORDAN KNIGHT IS IN MY apartment. I see everything with fresh eyes, and wonder how our tiny two-bedroom apartment with its flea market refugee furniture compares to the mansion I'm sure Jordan will head home to when he leaves.

"Here's the kitchen if you want to sit down to eat."

I point to the simple wooden table and three chairs in the little nook where San and I eat our meals. There's a fourth chair somewhere forever separated from its family, but I can't feel sorry for it. I haggled the guy down a few bucks when he couldn't find chair number four at his garage sale.

Jordan sits down in a chair. Thank goodness he chooses the non-wobbler. I grab a plate and transfer his burger to it.

"I can zap it real quick if you want."

"Yeah, that's cool." He glances around the tiny, linoleumed space. "Thanks."

I pop the plate in the microwave, reach for one of the Mason jar glasses I confiscated from Glory Bee, and rub it between my sweaty palms. I've kind of been nervous ever since he showed up at the restaurant, but my body is just now alerting me how bad it is. Jordan's in my house, like a poster on the wall come to life.

"Water? Juice?" I croak before clearing my throat. "Diet Coke?"

"Water's fine."

I get him some of our filtered water and plop the glass down in front of him, spilling a little . . . again.

"I keep spilling things, don't I?" I pull off a paper towel to clean up.

"Am I making you nervous?" Jordan frowns, glancing from the spill to my face.

"I guess it's just kind of strange." I toss the paper towel and sit across from him, set my elbows on the table, and rest my chin in my hands. "I didn't think I'd see you again after our last conversation, and then tonight was just . . . unexpected."

His opens his mouth to speak, but the beeping microwave interrupts. I spring to my feet to get his burger. When I set the plate in front of him, he grabs my wrist.

"Hey." His slow, easy, slightly tilted smile releases a fall of feathers in my belly. "Calm down. Sit down."

I heave a breath and sit across from him again. Why did I invite him inside? He was all set to go, and my crazy . . . heart? I don't know what part of my body or mind thought it was a good idea to invite him in . . . but it is in direct defiance of my common sense. He's eating his burger like this is normal. Like for him to be in a tiny kitchenette with a girl he barely knows is everyday behavior for him, when I know it can't be.

"I saw San today over at Grady's," Jordan says between bites. "Cool guy."

"Yeah." Just the mention of my best friend's name soothes me some, like he just walked in the door and started one of his legendary neck massages. "He told me he saw you."

Talking about San forces my mind back to the conversation we had before work. I blabbed details about Jordan that I probably should have kept to myself.

"I actually wanted to confess something, Jordan." He glances at me, both brows airborne.

"Confess?"

He may regret coming here after I tell him this. I don't know, but I'll tell him in case I divulged something that was supposed to be kept quiet.

"I told San that Grady is your uncle and that he's your dad's twin brother." Before he can respond, I rush on with the rest. "It may not be a big deal, or maybe you wanted it not to be public information, I'm not sure."