“Sam,” he said firmly, “will take you home.”
Something inside me stirred at the sternness of his tone. I liked it.A lot. Though I also found that confusing. If I’d told Brendan I was going to do A, and he’d told me to do B, it would’ve only made me want to do A more. Yet I found myself nodding and liking the smile on Jagger’s face when I didn’t put up more of a fight. “Okay.”
“Good. He’ll be here in five minutes.”
Too soon, he walked me to the door.
“Thank you for saving me from making a fool of myself tonight,” I said. “And for dinner.”
“Not a problem. I enjoyed the company.” He paused and caught my eye. “A little too much.”
I tilted my head. “Is there really such a thing as enjoying yourself too much?”
Jagger smiled ruefully. “There most certainly is, Ms. Holland.”
CHAPTER 12
Jagger
14 years ago
“Oh my God. What the heck did you do?” Lexi demanded as I walked in. She was sitting on the couch in Zane’s garage while Zane and Ryder played pool.
It was eleven o’clock in the morning, and we were all supposed to be in school, but Zane’s father had a new girlfriend and didn’t give a shit about much else. He’d been sleeping at her place the last two nights.
Lexi walked over and rubbed my stubbly head. “I loved your hair. Why did you shave it?”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“Did you lose a bet or something?”
That was a good guess since Ryder’s eyebrows hadn’t fully grown back in yet—the result of a wager we’d made about who would win the Knicks game last month.
I shook my head. “I joined the Marines.”
Lexi’s eyes bulged, and my two buddies’ heads swung toward me, their game forgotten. “What?” they all said in unison.
I shrugged. “Fucking Judge Hanover. He gave me two choices—prison or the military. I’d rather be the government’s bitch for four years than the bitch of some three-hundred-pound biker named Viper doing life.”
“But…but…what about us?” Lexi whined.
I liked Lexi. She was fun and up for anything, but the two of us weren’t going anywhere except the backseat of her car. “Sorry. But you’re better off. Maybe you’ll meet a nice guy who isn’t a fuckup.”
“But I don’t want a nice guy. I wantyou!”
Zane and Ryder walked over. Ryder even put down the beer he was drinking—before noon. The two of us had gotten arrested together for breaking into the school. He raked a hand through his hair. “Fuck. You think he’s going to do that to me, too?”
I shook my head. “Probably not. It was your first time being arrested. You’ll just get a slap on the wrist—some community service or something.”
“Are you fucking with us?” Zane pointed to me. “You got lice or gum stuck in your hair, and you’re just being your usual asshole self, aren’t you?”
I sighed. “I wish I was, buddy.”
“Damn, man. The Marines? That’s some hardcore shit. Maybe you could be a SEAL or a Green Beret guy like one of the Hemsworth brothers was in12 Strong.”
“SEALs are Navy, and Green Berets are Army.”
“So what the fuck are you going to do then?”
