We arrived at the elevator bank just as the doors slid open. It was pretty full, but there was room for two more.
“Can I give you a ride, please?” Edmund asked softly. “My car is in the basement garage.”
I knew he meant well, so I nodded. “Sure.”
Inside the car, I buckled and attempted to sound casual. “How was Jagger today?”
My stepfather put the car into gear. “How do you mean?”
I shrugged. “He was just…very stressed last night.” I left off that I had anything to do with it and added, “He told me about the meeting with MSL tonight and the DOJ Monday.”
“He’s got a lot on his plate, that’s for sure. But he didn’t seem any worse for the wear than he normally does.”
We got to the street-level parking garage gate, and Edmund inserted a card into the machine. The arm ahead of us went up, and we slid into the busy rush-hour traffic.
“I’m not going to lie, Sutton. When Jagger first told me about the two of you, I wasn’t exactly happy. He’s intelligent and hardworking, but he can also be difficult. Though now I can see he really cares about you. He has the DOJ on his ass, two little girls to take care of, and he was in my office at seven thirty this morning asking me to look after you. And that wasafterhe’d stopped at the police station.”
“He went to the police station this morning?”
Edmund’s eyes flashed to me and back to the road. “Jagger said he’d updated you on the status of things with Detective Wallace.”
“He did, but he didn’t mention he was going there today. Do you know what he went for?”
“To put pressure on them about the investigation, I assume.” Edmund smiled. “The things that I was concerned about between you and Jagger are actually coming in handy. He’s being difficult on your behalf.”
We rode uptown to Jagger’s building and collected my stuff from the spare apartment, then drove back down to Mom’s apartment where I’d been staying. I was nervous when we pulled up, but when I saw one of the guys from Jagger’s security team stationed in front of the building and spotted another positioned near the elevator bank, I relaxed a little, grateful that Jagger was as stubborn as he was.
Nestor tipped his hat as usual, and the ground didn’t crumble beneath me as I walked into the quiet apartment with my stepfather in tow. He stayed for a few minutes before I told him he should go home to his wife. He was gracious and told me to call him if I needed anything. Then I was alone.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t scared, at least not for my safety. I knew the security team downstairs wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Jagger had made sure of that. But as the hours went by and I still didn’t hear from him, my fears started to grow.
Those fears had nothing to do with the man who had assaulted me resurfacing and everything to do with the man I’d fallen for pulling away.
CHAPTER 33
Sutton
Saturday passed with only minimal contact from Jagger. He’d let me know he was back home from his trip now, and unfortunately, things hadn’t gone as smoothly as he’d planned. His sister had checked out of the hospital sooner than she was supposed to and disappeared, and Olivia had wet the bed while he was gone. There were more things on his plate than ever. Yet still, in my heart I knew none of those things was the reason Jagger was keeping his distance from me.
Saturday night, I had dinner with my mom. She was still on a high, thinking her daughter was dating one of New York’s most eligible, wealthy bachelors. I could’ve used someone to talk to about what was going on with Jagger, but I didn’t want to disappoint her or make her worry. So when I got back to the apartment at ten o’clock, I decided to call Miles.
He answered, took one look at my glum face, and jumped up from the couch like he was about to run straight to New York, three-thousand miles away. “What’s thematter? Did you get another envelope? Are you in your apartment alone?”
I attempted a smile, but it got tangled somewhere between my heart and my mouth. “I’m fine. Nothing happened.”
“Then why do you look like that?”
I sighed. “I think Jagger is going to dump me.”
“What? Why? That’s impossible. That man is so into you. I saw it with my own eyes last weekend. He went all caveman-like when you got that card. I don’t usually like the possessive type, but it was freaking hot.”
“I know. I don’t get it either. I feel like I have whiplash from how quickly things changed.”
“Break it down for me. Something must’ve happened. Start from the night I left. Did you see each other Monday?”
I went through my week—summarizing how Jagger had slipped into my bed each morning and come home to me each night before going up to his nieces—until I reached the night before he left for DC. “Everything was going really great, or at least I thought so, until I told him I wanted to move back home.”
“He’s an alpha,” Miles said. “He’s probably just upset that you’re not staying in his lair where he can protect you. He’ll get over it.”
