With a shaky hand, I take the water, gripping it tightly with both hands as I sip, trying to get my body to stop freaking the hell out. “Is he going to be okay?” I whisper, so worried about him. I know I have no right to be, I hardly even know him, but I can’t help this pull I have toward him and this feeling deep down inside that tells me he’s someone important to me.
Asher smiles kindly. “Ricky knows what he’s doing, this isn’t his first rodeo.”
Jagger waltzes back into the kitchen, looking me over with fresh disgust. “Take her back to bed. She shouldn’t be here for this.”
I look up, making sure to meet his eyes, glaring at him and his snippy attitude toward me. Screw him. “I’m not going anywhere until I know he’s okay.”
His dark eyes narrow in on me, and he moves swiftly, his fingers pressing into my arm as he pulls me out of the chair. “You will do as you’re told, and that’s final.”
Asher gives Jagger a look, one that tells me he doesn’t agree with his brother but he’s not going to challenge him on it either. “I’ll come give you an update when Ricky is done.” He takes my hand, pulling me from Jagger’s harsh grip as he wraps an arm around me. He leads me back into the bedroom.
I want to fight him on it. But the truth is, I don’t want to distract Ricky while he is working on Cruz. This isn’t about me and what I want right now, and I can’t help anyway. “Jagger is an asshole. I don’t know why you all let him boss you around.”
Asher smiles, and I know he agrees with me. “Try to get some rest. I’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.” He tucks me into bed, pulling the covers up.
I sigh heavily and roll away from him, done with trying to smile and pretend I’m okay. Tonight has been too much, and I just know they are keeping stuff from me.
Chapter 15
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Ashercrawledbackintobed with me sometime in the early hours. He said Cruz was stable and sedated back in his own bed, then he took my hand in his again and passed out cold. His quiet snores should have lured me into a deep sleep, but I couldn’t sleep a wink. My mind was racing with everything that happened in such a short space of time. With how deeply tangled I’m becoming in their lives and they mine already. I need to distance myself. Put up a proper barrier before this situation gets even more out of control.
When my alarm went off this morning, I reluctantly got out of bed and had a shower. Asher didn’t stir at all, and I wasn’t going tobother him, knowing him he would’ve asked to shower with me, just as friends or some shit like that, and I wasn’t taking my chances.
I dress in yesterday’s dress since that’s all I have left out of the belongings I brought with me. As soon as I get a chance, I need to take Sloane up on her offer of a shopping trip. One I can fund myself with the money I made last night. Heading past Sleeping Beauty and into the kitchen, I grab myself a bowl of cereal, chopping a banana on top, and then make a coffee. It’s nothing like the brew I would have been served back in Italy by one of our many staff, but it’s drinkable and will do this morning. Or afternoon, as it’s now midday. I don’t have to be at the club until three, and I’m half considering hitting the shops quickly before work. I can’t keep reusing the same outfit repeatedly. Well, I guess I could if this place had a laundry. The truth is, it would be nice to buy a few items with my own money, even if I earn them letting some guy play with me. Some guy who can’t be Jagger, even if I was so convinced it was last night. In the light of day, I have decided that was just a delusion. There is no way that asshole is capable of such unbelievable pleasure.
As I finish my cereal and coffee, I make up my mind. Shopping trip it is. But first, I need to make something right. Something that has made me uncomfortable since I found that stash of cash in my passport. I find a notepad on the kitchen counter and scribble out a note.
Cruz,
Thanks for the bus ride and the best kiss of my life. You gave a girl faith in humanity when I was losing it. Hope you’re back to your annoying self by the time I get home tonight.
Daisy
I question if I should leave an X as well or not, but after the comment he made to the doctor last night, I don’t want to blur the lines even more. He’s my roommate, and that’s all he can be.
I stop back into my room and grab my wallet and my sneakers. Asher rolls over but doesn’t wake up. I creep back out, not wanting to wake him, because if I do, I know he won’t let me leave without him giving me a ride, and this morning, I just want to be alone, even if he does somehow manage to put a smile on my face every time I’m with him.
Before I leave, I stop into Cruz’s room. He’s fast asleep and looks the most peaceful I have ever seen him. So different from when he’s awake. His face constantly shows an internal struggle, as if he’s weighing chaos versus control. It must be exhausting to be him. I take the stash of five hundred dollars I made last night from my bag and wrap it in the note I wrote him, then slip it under his phone on his bedside table. Then, I close his door and creep down the hallway.
I slip on my sneakers and grab my keys. As my hand turns the front door handle, I’m shoved back into the wall. Jagger stares down at me with a grumpy-as-all-hell expression on his face. “What are you up to?”
I blink back up at him, confused. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Little Miss Innocent and oh so stuck up, you turn up here and all hell breaks loose.”
I pull a face, unable to help it. Guess it’s nice to know what he really thinks. Asshole. “What are you going on about, Jagger?” I mutter, not up for his grumpy attitude this morning, when I’m exhausted already.
“You’re a Moretti, don’t play dumb with me.”
I stare up at him, so damn confused. “Not sure how I have offended you so badly, but I’m here because your sister wants me to be.I wasn’t a Moretti by choice and never privy to anything Valentine was up to. I was just a stupid girl, after all.”
“Both my brothers have been injured because of you this week. And you’re fucking with them, getting Cruz all lovesick, and then sleeping with Asher while he was out.”
I almost can’t believe what I’m hearing. Is Jagger jealous? “Sounds like you’re the one with your panties in a twist, not either of them.” That comment makes him growl, actually growl at me. But I don’t stop. I’m not done. “And for your information, Jagger Stryker.” I dig my long nail into his chest. “I didn’t sleep with Asher. Sleptnextto him, yes, because you left him as my babysitter, but that was it. And Cruz, I don’t know what ideas he has in his head, but that’s all on him. I’m not his girl, and you and I both know it.”
His face grows harsher, if that’s even possible. “Now that you are earning your own money, I think it’s time you moved out. I can’t have you here distracting them, getting them fucked up in your name.” His eyes roam down my body like he can’t stop them, and I find what looks like desire. But I know that can’t be, this man hates me.
