Page 84 of Own the Eights Gets Married
Jordan
Jordan stared at his phone, recording his every move, as his jump rope sliced through the air in quick, punishing whooshes.
“Double-unders are not for the faint of heart,” he bit out, keeping his body straight and his abs tight as the rope passed under his feet in two revolutions for each jump.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Whoosh, whoosh!
He dialed up his pace, demonstrating the CrossFit-style of jumping rope. But this video wasn’t only a tutorial for the blog. It was all he could think to do to combat the irritable buzz of nervous energy coursing through his body.
He hadn’t slept a wink all night—the night before the Shakespeare Shuffle also happened to be the night before what was supposed to be his wedding day.
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Elbows in. Light grip. Maintain those small circles with your wrists,” he bit out, going faster.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Whoosh, whoosh!
“There is no room for mistakes. This exercise demands precision and determination. CrossFit ropes are thinner than your average rope, so if you lose focus for even a second…Dammit!” he cried as the rope whipped his shins.
So much for precision and focus.
“Son, what are you doing?” his father asked with a groggy voice.
Jordan dropped the rope and rubbed his shins.
That was a great question. What the hell was he doing?
He’d been a wreck since he’d packed a bag and left the one person he didn’t know how to live without.
A wreck, not knowing if Georgie meant their time at boot camp was over, or iftheywere over.
During the drive back, after they’d been booted from wilderness boot camp, anger and humiliation had consumed him. But that heated emotion wasn’t what had compelled him to leave without a word between them.
Anger and humiliation felt terrible. And yes, he’d indulged himself by spending a decent amount of time countering every one of Georgie’s lemon verbena blog posts zingers with a zinger post of his own. But they could have worked past the tit-for-tat blog clash. No, what he feared went far deeper. It might even be ingrained into his soul.
Was she right to say it was over? Did she sense something he hadn’t realized until now?
His disappointment and his unchecked ambition had made him act like the one man he never wanted to emulate again.
Deacon Perry.
His former boss.
His mentor for more than a decade.
Deacon was the man who’d changed his life. The man who trained him. Deacon showed him not only how to transform his body but his entire life.
He’d idolized the man.
But he’d been blind to his faults.
A philandering husband. And absent father. He’d almost lost Georgie in his desire to follow in his former mentor’s footsteps.
But, at his core, was he any different from the man who’d let him down?
He’d left the bungalow for two reasons. First, he hadn’t had the strength to stay and ask her if it was really over. And second, he needed to know who he was before he promised to love, honor, and keep Georgie forever—if she’d take him.
