I shut off the shower and grab a towel, drying myself off. When I move back into his room, I find one of my dresses already on his bed, alongside some panties and a bra. Jagger is also fully dressed in a dark gray T-shirt and black jeans. The room smells of his cologne, and I can’t help but inhale. His scent has become so comforting to me. Last night all I wanted to dowas run to protect them, but in the light of day, I know I can’t walk away from any of them. I don’t want to. They’ve gotten under my skin, and I know I can’t live without them; it wouldn’t be living. An ache forms in my chest. I have no idea what to do.
My eyes meet Jagger’s. “I won’t run. I promise you. I don’t want to.”
“Good.”
“Tell me how the hell we get out of this mess though, Jagger, because I have no clue, and I don’t want to lose you,” I say, being more honest than I probably should with him.
He closes the gap between us. “It’s very simple, flower. You trust me. If I give an order, you follow, just like you do when I’m fucking you.”
“I’ve been the only one looking out for me for so long, it’s hard to give up the control to someone I hardly know.”
His dark eyes lock with mine. “You can’t pretend like we’re strangers anymore. You know us just fine.”
“I’m not pretending anything. You know me, and yeah, I know Asher and Cruz, but I don’t really know you. You’re still hiding from me.” I reach up and touch the side of his face. “You’re hurting. Olivia was more than just an ex-lover, and you lost her yesterday.”
He drops his gaze away from me and steps out of my hold. “She was a mistake. That’s all.”
“What happened to you? Who scarred you so terribly?”
He turns away from me, and I think he’s going to take off, avoid my questions. But he doesn’t put his hand on the door and turn the handle. “When my ma was killed, he blamed me.”
“Who?”
“Fucking Syd. The man who ran The Raven’s Nest before Sloane.”
“Your father?” I ask, confused.
“He might have fucked my mother, but that man was never a father. He raised all us boys to be ready to take over the shitshow he built. Iron Strykers was started by my grandfather and had been a reputable motorcycle club until Syd took over and turned us into recruits for the Moretti organization. The shit they wouldn’t scrape off the bottom of their shoes, yet capable of doing their dirty work when needed. I was twelve when he took me on my first job with him.”
“Twelve,” I mutter, but I don’t have to ask if it’s really true. I saw my own brother sneaking off in the late hours of the night with my papa when he was much the same age. Heard the rumors of what it meant to be associated with the Morettis.
“When the Morettis turned on him and tortured and killed our ma, us boys were out working a job. It was no coincidence. It was a carefully constructed plan. One Syd didn’t see coming and neither did I. By the time I got home, the club was in ruins, we couldn’t find Sloane, and ma was gone. Syd needed someone to take his frustrations out on.”
“Your own father was the one who burned you?”
“He wasn’t my father. Syd was the scum of the earth, and with no alliance to the Morettis anymore, he knew he and his club were fucked. Someone had to shield my brothers and sister from the monster he was becoming. Cruz and Sloane were only kids. I was a man and had to step up.”
I reach for him, lacing our fingers. “What did he do to you?”
“I suffered every fucking day, until I found a better solution and overturned his leadership, and the club forced him out of town. What you see was his parting gift to me.”
“I knew him. Not well, but he liked to hang at some of Valentine’s clubs. He was working for Emilio Moretti.”
“Yeah, working for him,” he mutters under his breath.
I pull back from him, my eyes narrowing. “See, that is the stuff I’m talking about. I’m trying to have a serious conversationwith you, and you toss out a comment like that when you know I have no clue what it means. I know you and the boys are involved with the Morettis somehow, you have known them a long time. It’s why I can’t trust you.”
He grimaces like he’s in pain. “I’m trying, Daisy, I really fucking am. But I can’t tell you my life history. There is shit in my past that has to stay under our code.”
“Your code. Come on, Jagger, because of you I’m about to be marrying into this family. Don’t you think I should be let in on all the secrets?”
His features grow more serious. “Absolutely not. You’re safe, you will always have our protection and our loyalty. We will kill for you and die for you, but there are truths you don’t need to know.”
“Like how you’re tangled up with the Morettis?”
He doesn’t respond, but the cold expression on his face tells me I already know the answer.
“And my family. You were working for my brother. Now you’re fighting with him?”
