He shrugs, a stupid grin on his face. “Sounds like a solid idea to me, Bro.” He pats Jagger on the back as if to thank him. And of course he would, he thinks what happened this morning is going to continue.
A fresh wave of anger rolls through me, and I want to slap him as well. I would if my hands weren’t trapped. “What the actual hell, you two are screwed in the head.”
The front door opens, and Sloane walks in, a total breath of fresh air in her white wide-leg pants and black off-the-shoulder top. She looks us over, a knowing smile crossing her peachy lips. “You ready to go, girl? I can come back if I’m interrupting something.”
“Give me five seconds,” I seethe. I’m so angry my hands tremble. I reef them out of Jagger’s grip and storm back into my room, grabbing my ballet flats and my bag.
“What are you doing here?” Cruz asks his sister.
“Saving Daisy from you two,” she snips back, sounding bitchy as all hell, and I love her for it. She’s the kind of girl I need on my side right now. Someone to pep me up and empower me to be able to deal with these guys.
“She doesn’t need saving. I had plans for her this afternoon,” Cruz complains.
“Reschedule,” she bites back. “The girl needs a break from whatever this is.”
I walk back into the living space to find the two of them having some sort of stare-off. Jagger grins at me, not affected at all by my hate toward him. He thinks he has won something, what I don’t know, because all he has done is solidify in my mind that the next time the mystery man books me, I will say hell no. I don’t need an orgasm that badly. “Screw you,” I mouth to him.
It only makes his grin widen. “You wish,” he mouths back.
“Let’s get out of here,” I call to Sloane, and she breaks her concentration on Cruz, coming to my side.
As we make it to the door, Cruz runs after us. Grabbing my hand, he pulls me back and then kisses me. For a second, I’m momentarily in shock and kiss him back, but then I realize what he’s doing and shove him away. “You’re on my shit list along with your brother.” Even more so now, after he just kissed me in front of his sister when he knew how I felt about that.
He smiles cheekily, not letting go of my hand. “Come on, little darlin’, you know you can’t resist me.”
“Can and will, Cruz Stryker. Maybe you can use this time alone to research what boundaries are.”
Sloane stifles a laugh. “Leave her alone, Cruz. Go get researching.” She pulls me from his grip, and the two of us are out the door.
“Good to know this is amusing for one of us,” I mutter, throwing my shoes down and slipping them on.
The elevator arrives, and we both hop in. Sloane leans against the wall. “I’m sorry, sis, it’s just watching my stupid brothers fawn over a girl. I can’t even tell you how unusual it is. I would expect this from Asher, but not Cruz and Jagger.”
“Jagger isn’t fawning over me,” I huff. Who knows what the hell he’s doing, but it’s not fawning; it’s more like toying with me for sport.
She raises a brow like she doesn’t believe me. “Whatever, girl. I saw how he was looking at you, all lovesick and shit. He’s got it bad.”
I shake my head and huff out a laugh. “Not lovesick! Thank you for saving me, though. I was close to murder.”
“Ahh, welcome to my world. They are truly infuriating.”
“Why on earth did you leave me here with them?”
“Because they are the best people I know, and they would do absolutely anything to protect their people. And now that’s you as well.” She smiles softly, and I know it wasn’t out of malice in any way. She thinks I need protecting as well. I wonder what she knows that I don’t.
Chapter 20
Straight Up
Aftershoppingthemorningaway, Sloane and I end up nestled in the front window spot of a quaint coffee shop. Sloane is munching on a fetta-and-spinach muffin while I indulge in a massive slice of chocolate mousse cake. We have perused almost every shop we could find, and I have spent a stupid amount of money on myself, doing everything I could to avoid any conversation about her brothers.
I throw down my fork when I have one more mouthful to go. “I can’t eat another bite.”
“Told you to go for something healthy.” She laughs, finishing hermuffin.
“I have no self-control.”
She purses her lips. “Is that so? You keep on skirting around the topic when I bring it up, so I’m going to be more direct. Since we talked in my office yesterday, what happened with my brothers? It’s pretty clear I walked in on something massive this morning, and you have been holding out on me. Jagger was holding your hands, and if I’m not wrong, there was a nice slap mark on his face.”
