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"WHAT TIME IS it in Poland?"
"5:10 in the evening. What about in Texas?"
"A little past ten am. How's your jetlag?"
"I was actually just about to pass out before you called."
"Oh, shit– then go to sleep! We can talk later."
"Shuddup and let me talk to you, Zoë. I miss you so goddamn much already."
A smile spread across my lips as I tucked my hand under my chin and looked down at my phone where I was face-timing Alek while sprawled out on Dakota's bed.
"What are you up to? How's it going over at your friend's place?" Just as Alek posed his questions, a loud slam echoed from right outside Dakota's room. I whipped my head around, distracted by the sound which was most definitely a door being slammed shut. And considering that the only other rooms upstairs were a bathroom and Jordan's bedroom . . . "What are you looking at?"
"Huh?" Turning back to my phone, I blinked down at Alek. "Oh, I just heard a noice– it's probably nothing. What's up? What did you ask me again?"
I was hiding out in Dakota's room that morning because she had told me that it would be better if I stayed upstairs until Jordan and her dad talked. Apparently a lot of the tattoos I'd seen on him yesterday when he walked in on me in the bathroom were new and Nik Powell was not at all pleased with what his son had done to his body.
Alek and I talked for a bit more before I told him I needed to go downstairs for breakfast. When I padded out of Dakota's room a few moments later, my eyes warily watched Jordan's closed bedroom door as I moved towards the stairs.
Falling asleep last night had been ridiculously hard even though the four-hour car drive I'd made to get to Austin had exhausted me. Dakota's bed was far from uncomfortable, but I kept tossing and turning, feeling uncomfortable that Jordan Powell was sleeping a room down from me.
I knew I should have been more concerned about taking Dakota's bed and making her have to take the downstairs couch instead. But that only made me feel bad. Jordan made me feel unsettled which was a whole lot worse.
While in the bathroom with him yesterday, I had been determined to not let him see any sign of weakness by refraining from cowering under his scrutinizing eyes. Clearly, he thought he was hot stuff now that he cleared up his skin, got covered in ink, and found a new sense of style. There was nothing wrong in being confident, but the way he'd looked me up yesterday overdid it.
I didn't say anything about it then, but I was ready to give him a piece of my mind if he belittled me like that again.
"So, how did it go?" I asked Dakota as I entered the kitchen-slash-living-room area and found her setting up the table with breakfast alongside her dad. When she looked up at me, it was clear she understood that I was asking about Jordan and Nik's confrontation.
