Black Girls and Bad Boys: Stealing Loretta by Neneh J. Gordon

the
bank and men who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
    She got the new fuel gauge out and wiped
everything down ready to fix it in place. Then more thoughts of Jordan jumped
into her head and she nearly dropped it. “Bloody idiot!” she shouted at
herself. She put the gauge down before she did some real damage. It would take
weeks to get hold of another one of those.
    She was on edge again and she didn’t trust
herself to do much more than tidy up and cover Edna over with the tarpaulin.
Now what?
    She wasn’t hungry, but she had to eat something.
Shower first.
    As she got undressed, she could smell
Jordan on her skin. Memories of his body, his touch, his lips all came flooding
back and kindled heat between her legs. In spite of everything, she still
wanted him.
    But that was her hormones talking. She had
to stay in control and do what was right. Jordan was a criminal. He’d told her
as much himself.
    What chance had he stood though? Anybody
could have ended up in that situation. Drawn into the wrong crowd and in too
deep to walk away.
    She just hoped that wasn’t what was
happening to her now.
    After her shower, she heated a bowl of soup
in the microwave and sat at the kitchen table with it. But she kept thinking of
Jordan sitting across from her and pouring his heart out. In the end, she had
to go and sit in the living room.
    She switched the television on, but she
couldn’t concentrate on any of the programmes she turned to. Her mind kept
wandering back to Gina. She was so different to her – it was bizarre to think
Jordan could be interested in both of them.
    Perhaps he wasn’t. Perhaps he was still
lying through his teeth and he had no interest in her beyond her connections at
the bank.
    She remembered the way he’d kissed her.
Even that first time in the safety deposit room had carried some meaning. It
simply didn’t fit with a scenario where he was playing her.
    Dating the boss’s daughter. That was never
a good idea. But it didn’t sound like it had been Jordan’s brain doing the
thinking. Her mind just wouldn’t leave Gina alone, no matter how much she tried
not to think about her.
    When she’d finished her soup, she stopped
for a moment and followed the direction her brain wanted to go in. Couldn’t
Gina talk to her father about the situation? No. She’d hardly want to plead
Jordan’s case when he’d left her for another woman.
    But if she really cared about him... Would
she be happy to see him dead because he didn’t want her any more? It had to be
worth talking to her at least.
    She pictured the scene in her head. She
went over it several different ways, but she couldn’t imagine an outcome that
didn’t involve Gina kneeing him in the crotch. Everything she’d read about the
woman online after Jordan left confirmed her first impression – volatile, crazy
bitch. Not surprising coming from that family.
    But she didn’t know Gina. Maybe she was
projecting her own feelings onto her. There was no way to guess what she’d do
without actually talking to her.
    She pulled out her phone, glad she’d made
Jordan give her his number. He answered on the third ring.
    “Loretta, I’m on my way over.” He slowed
down and checked the road for cops. It would be just his luck to get pulled
over for using his phone while he was driving.
    “I’ve had an idea.”
    “Me too. We’ll talk when I get there.”
    It only took another ten minutes to get to
her door. He pulled onto her drive and strode up to the front door. She must
have heard him arrive because she opened the door almost instantly.
    “You need to talk to Gina. She might get
her Dad to back off.”
    “That’s not going to happen.” He followed
her through to the sitting room and flopped down on the sofa. “She’s sleeping
with one of the other guys in the crew.”
    “Oh.” She took a seat in an armchair.
    “But I’ve already spoken to Ursino.”
    She worried at her bottom lip with her
teeth, looking at him with wide eyes. “What did