Edmund interrupted. “Mia, she’s safe now. Give her a little room.”
Mom threw her hands in the air. “Is anyone ever really safe in this City? We should think about moving.”
I went to my mom and hugged her. “Thank you for everything.” I smiled. “Don’t think it went unnoticed that you were up at six o’clock this morning.”
Mom pouted. “I would have puffy eyes for you every day if you needed me.”
I smiled and kissed her cheek. “I know you would.”
My mother’s apartment was seven stops away on the Six train, but I got off after five so I could walk a little. The late-morning sun cast a golden glow over Manhattan, making it feel softer than it was, and the normally bustling sidewalks were sparse even for a Saturday. Manhattan felt mellow, as if it were exhaling along with me.
A young woman in pajamas and Uggs walked a poodle with its tail dyed pink while talking on her phone. An older couple strolled arm in arm, him wearing a gray-checked newsboy cap and her a red fascinator. A woman smacked the hood of a taxicab that had almost run over her feet turning against the light. Everything felt almost…normal.
A block from my building, my phone buzzed with the Google alert I’d set up last night for Jagger’s name. My heart raced as I prepared to open it and find a headline saying he’d been arrested. But it turned out to be an article about Apex settling with the DOJ. Before I tucked my phone back into my pocket, I went to my contacts, scrolled to Jagger’s name, and hit call. It went right to voicemail, without even ringing, same as it had the dozen other times I’d tried since last night.
I stopped at the food truck on my corner and picked up my third—or maybe it was my fourth, I’d lost count—coffee for the day and waved to Nestor, the doorman, who was on the phone as I walked in. I stepped off the elevator and checked my phone for the gazillionth time, hoping maybe my service had been spotty on the ride up and a message had come in. No luck. Still no text from Jagger. But two strides down the hallway, movement up ahead caught my eye, and I froze for a heartbeat thinking it might be Silas. At least until I saw the man rise to his feet.
“Jagger!” I ran to him and jumped into his arms. “Oh my God. Are you okay? Did they just let you go?”
He nodded. “I came straight here.”
Jagger’s eyes were rimmed with dark circles, as well as being bloodshot and swollen, and his hair was sticking up all over. It looked like he’d spent hours pulling on it. Yet he was still the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
I pressed my lips to his, but when he didn’t kiss me back, my heart sank. He gestured to the door. “Could we go inside and talk?”
I swallowed. “Yeah. Of course.”
I unlocked the door, walked in, and put my keys on the kitchen counter. Jagger looked uncomfortable, standing just inside the doorway. “Do you want coffee or something?”
He nodded. “Thanks.”
He took a seat on the couch while I buzzed around making a pot of coffee. We hadn’t been together the last few weeks, but I thought him going after Silas had meant something. Perhaps I was wrong. He was a protective man, and maybe I’d read into his actions, making them mean more than they did. I’d been jumping out of my skin, anxious to talk to him, but now that he was here, I took my time preparing his mug because I was nervous about what he might say. Eventually, I couldn’t stall anymore.
I passed him his cup and took the seat on the chair across from him, rather than the couch. “Did they charge you with anything?”
He gulped down half his coffee and shook his head. “Not yet.”
“But they still might?”
Jagger shrugged. “My lawyer said it was a possibility. He doesn’t think the detective believes I didn’t do what the guy said I did, but I’m not sure they care.” He caught my eye. “Thank you, by the way, for not telling them what you saw when youwalked in.”
“It’s the least I could do after what you’ve done for me.”
Jagger looked down for a long time before meeting my eyes. “Come here.”
My heartbeat sped up. I wanted to be close to him more than anything, but I still had an ounce of self-protection left in me. “Why?”
“Because Ineedyou, Sutton.” His voice was raw and gritty. “So fucking much.”
I moved to the couch, but left space between us. Jagger looked at the gap, then me, then the gap, and shuffled closer. The simple gesture said so much—Jagger was the kind of man who took what he wanted. If he wanted me close, he normally would just pull me to him. But now he was giving instead of taking.
I shook my head. “I don’t understand what happened between us.”
He nodded. “I know. There’s a lot I need to tell you. Most of it doesn’t have anything to do with you, but it might explain why I am the way I am.”
“Okay…”
He reached for my hand. “Before I start, I need to apologize. I’m so sorry I hurt you, Sutton.”
