“Have to go to work, baby,” I told him as I gave him a quick kiss before moving away, knowing if I lingered, I wasn’t likely to make it to the photo shoot anytime soon.
He groaned again. “Cannon and I have meetings all morning. Petrova wants to talk about the two of us doing another album together since we’re back to being friends again.” He sat up as I started for the bathroom. “Make sure your mom goes with you.”
I’d already texted Mom as soon as I’d confirmed the location with Gina, but I hadn’t heard back yet. Rolling my eyes at him, I promised I would.
But when I got out of the shower, it was to find Mom had texted me back that she had her own doctor’s appointment to go to that morning. It was her yearly exam, and she was already at the doctor’s office. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d gone to a shoot without an assistant. I wasn’t helpless. I could handle it on my own.
Not that I mentioned it to Jagger. If I told him Mom couldn’t go with me, he would get all growly because he hated it when I worked without either him or Mom with me.
He was still lying in bed when I came out of the bathroom. His pale-blue eyes hungrily ate up the sight of me with nothing more than a damp towel wrapped around me. “Blow off this job and come back to bed,” he urged. “I’ll text Ma and have her move my meetings.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Sorry, no can do. This is one of my biggest clients, and I can’t cancel.” I pulled out a pair of panties and then a bra. As I stepped into jeans, he jumped out of bed.
Squealing, I grabbed the first shirt my fingers touched and dodged him. “I love you,” I called over my shoulder while he growled behind me. “See you later.”
“Shaw, get your sexy ass back here,” he called from the door. He was completely naked and knew better than to walk around the house in so little. Luca would probably kill him if Violet saw him like that. I knew I would. I loved my bestie and knew she wasn’t even in the right frame of mind to even notice, but the thought of anyone seeing my man like that made me see red.
“Have a good meeting,” I called back with a giggle.
The shoot was taking place at one of the studios not far from Aunt Emmie’s building, so I parked there and then walked, hoping I might have time to go in and say hi to her afterward before Violet’s appointment. I got to set with only a few minutes to spare and was rushed through hair and makeup.
As soon as I got in front of the camera, however, I felt uncomfortable. It wasn’t the first time a photographer had given me the look I saw in the guy’s eyes, but it was the first time I’d seen it while not having backup with me. The photographer, Eric, was new to me. And according to the stylist on set, he was new to the client too.
Since they were doing this at the last minute to replace the pulled material from the racist actress, they had to get whoever was available that morning.
He was the definition of a narcissistic douchebag if I’d ever met one. With his expertly highlighted blond hair, turquoise eyes, and a face that had been surgically altered to give him a chiseled jaw and high cheekbones. I wondered if he was going for the Ken look, but I kept that question to myself as I ignored the way he kept flexing his muscles under his tight black T-shirt. His skinny jeans molded over his crotch area, showcasing his package that I’d heard the makeup artist giggling about earlier as she mused aloud if it was real or one of those prosthetics that gave the impression the guy had a big dick.
The outfit I was wearing for the shoot wasn’t even that suggestive. I had on silky white pajama pants that fit perfectly on my hips and a matching cami top that showed off a few inches of my stomach. The clothes weren’t the product of the client’s that I would be representing, however. It was a part of their skincare line, and all I basically had to do was hold the jar of moisturizer and smile.
Yet the way Eric kept leering at me made me feel like I was naked.
By the end of the shoot, I was so uncomfortable and pissed that I rushed off set before I said or did something that got me fired from the client. Without Mom there to smooth things over for me, I’d learned to keep my mouth shut so I didn’t ruin my career. If she’d been there, however, I wouldn’t have held back and already would have snapped.
In the dressing room, I stripped and reached for my clothes just as the door flew open. Shocked, I didn’t have time to cover myself as Eric lifted his camera and took at least a dozen pictures of me naked.
“You want these, come to my place tonight, and I’ll give them to you.” His wink made me sick to my stomach. With a laugh, he turned and walked out again, leaving me standing there shaking.
What the fuck just happened?
Did that guy really think he could take nudes of me and get away with it?
The alarm on my phone pulled me out of my stupor, reminding me I needed to get back to Santa Monica for Violet’s appointment. I hurriedly dressed and ran to my car. As I got behind the wheel, I glanced up at Aunt Emmie’s building.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the nudes Eric just took of me, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going to go to his place.
But what was worse, I didn’t know how I was going to explain this shit to Jagger without him either a) committing murder, or b) going even more apeshit about my career.
I was so stressed over it all, I ended up being late for Violet’s appointment. Thankfully, she was still sitting in the waiting room when I walked in. Luca stood in front of her protectively, leaving the seat beside my bestie for me.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said as I hugged her. “Remind me never to agree to a shoot with photographers I don’t know.”
Vi’s brow furrowed. “Why? What happened?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I promised her with a roll of my eyes. “I’m debating how much pain I want this guy to feel, though. Maybe I should leave him breathing, so I can tell my brother. But if I want him in the ground, I would have to tell my dad or Jagger.” And I really didn’t want to tell Jags, but I knew I couldn’t keep something like this from him.
What if Eric leaked those pictures on the internet? Fuck, Jagger was going to lose his mind.
“Want me to take care of it?” Luca offered, and I looked up to find him smirking.
“Nah,” I told him with a grin, trying to play it off like I wasn’t freaking out internally. “It will be more fun if my brother gets a few convictions under his belt.”
“Offer is always on the table,” he assured me.
I was able to pay attention during Violet’s appointment, but after we left—with Luca and Violet getting in the car Jenner was driving, and I got in my own—I felt like everything was suddenly pushing down on me again.
I was pissed and a little scared. Not just of how Jagger was going to react, but of what Eric might do with those pictures. It would be embarrassing to have nudes of myself out there for anyone to see and have fun with, but I also had clauses in some of my contracts that prohibited things just like that because the clients were “family-oriented” companies.
Fighting tears of frustration, I kept my car in park once I started it and called Mom.
“Hey, sweetheart,” she greeted.
“M-Mom,” I whispered, fighting a sob.
I felt the sudden shift in her mood even through the phone. “What’s wrong?”
“S-Something happened at the shoot this morning. And I… Fuck, Mom, I don’t know what to do to fix this.”
“Whatever it is, we can solve it.” She tried to reassure me, but I couldn’t hold back the sob any longer. “Baby, don’t cry,” she pleaded. “Mommy will take care of it. Just tell me what happened.”
I tried to calm down enough to tell her, and with each garbled word out of my mouth, the tension on her end became explosive.
“I want you to dry your tears, Shaw,” Mom instructed. “And then drive to my house. Daddy will be there, and he will make you something to eat. Stay there.”
“Mom…”
“Do as I say, Shaw,” she commanded. “I’ll take care of this.”
“But Jagger…” I sniffled. “What do I tell Jagger?”
“I’ll take care of that too, sweetheart.”
Chapter 40
Jagger
After the meeting, Ma took Cannon and me to lunch to discuss what Petrova had suggested. He wanted a two-album contract, and the money was a nice incentive. I’d enjoyed the solo album I’d done, and so had Cannon, but we both had to admit that we missed our collaboration. Performing with my friend—fuck, making music in general—was just more fun with him.
“So, you’re both in agreement?” Ma asked as she looked from me to Cannon across the table. “This contract is a sweet offer, but I won’t hesitate to turn it down for you both if either of you can’t agree to it.”
“I’m cool with it, Aunt Em,” Cannon assured her.
“Yeah, Ma. And with that contract, I can buy whatever house Shaw wants when we get married.”
She beamed at me. “Great. I’ll let Petrova’s people know.” She picked up her water glass just as her phone rang. Picking it up, she leaned back in her chair. “Hey, Dallas.” As she listened, I saw her expression change. The smile on her face dropped almost immediately, and a dangerous, crackling tension suddenly surrounded our table.
Cannon and I shared a look, and both of us scooted our chairs back, knowing we would need to move fast. Ma was about to explode, and we either needed to duck and cover, or evacuate the building. But then her eyes shot to me, and I froze.
“Both Jagger and Cannon are with me. I’ll find out the fucker’s address, and the three of us will meet you there.” Ending the call and dropping money on the table, she stood. “Let’s go, boys.”
We jumped to our feet without hesitation. “What’s wrong?” I asked once we were outside waiting for Rodger to bring her SUV.
“I’ll explain once we’re behind closed doors,” she gritted out while she texted away on her phone so rapidly, it made me dizzy watching her fingers move.
Rodger pulled up in front of us, and Ma didn’t even wait for him to get out before jumping in the front seat beside him. She punched an address into the navigation while Cannon and I got in the back and then ordered the bodyguard to drive before putting her phone to her ear.
“Mieke,” she spoke into the receiver. “I need you to keep an eye open for anything concerning Shaw. If any pictures, no matter the context, show up online, I want them pulled until I tell you differently… Yes. No, I don’t care. Make it happen, please.”
“Ma, did something happen to Shaw?” I demanded as soon as she hung up.
She turned in the seat to face us. “I want you two to sit there and listen to what I’m about to tell you. If you lose your shit, I’ll drop you off right here and leave you there instead of taking you with me. Understand?”
Cannon nodded, but I wasn’t about to make any promises until I knew what was going on with my girl.
“Jagger,” Ma said warningly, but I only glared at her.
“Ma,” I growled back.
Her green eyes narrowed on me, but when I didn’t back down from her stare, she muttered a curse. “The photographer at Shaw’s photo shoot this morning, Eric, walked in on her while she was changing and snapped pictures of her naked.”
Cannon bit out a curse, but I didn’t immediately react, sure she was fucking with me. But as she continued to stare at me, I realized she wasn’t playing. Drawing back, I punched the window beside me. The glass was bulletproof so it didn’t crack, but I felt something in my hand break.
Ma screamed, and Rodger slammed on the brakes, causing the people driving behind us to have to swerve to miss rear-ending us.
“Shit, I think he broke his hand,” Cannon said. “Look at how swollen it is already. And it’s turning blue.”
“Just drive,” I snarled. I didn’t feel the pain in my hand, and I’d worry about it later. For now, I was going to take care of the motherfucker who’d taken pictures of my girl while she was naked.
He was a dead man. Not only had he seen Shaw without her clothes, then taken pictures of her like that, but as Ma explained, he’d then told Shaw if she wanted the pictures, she would have to come to his house to get them. And I fucking knew he wouldn’t have just given them to her.
“Ma, you better get a criminal defense lawyer ready,” I told her as Rodger pulled up in front of an apartment building. The place was low-rent, but there were girls in the pool splashing around and giggling while some guy in swim trunks took pictures of them with his camera.
Ma didn’t have to show me the picture she had of the guy for me to know this was Eric.
I opened the door with my good hand and took off running as Ma yelled after me. There was a tall iron fence between the parking lot and pool. I climbed it and jumped over. As my feet touched the concrete on the other side, I heard Cannon grunting behind me and knew he was following, but I didn’t wait for him.
A few of the bikini-clad girls laughed, and then one of them called my name, recognizing me. But my gaze was trained on Eric. His back was to me as he flirted with a few of the other girls, and I rushed him.
With a pained groan, he landed on the concrete, the skin of his bare chest and shoulders scraping. The first punch I landed to his face connected with his mouth. His teeth grazed my knuckles, the impact so hard I heard his teeth crack as my skin split open. I hit him over and over again, until the girls around us were screaming and crying as blood splattered over the concrete and my clothes.
Cannon picked up the camera and went through the picture history. “She’s not the only naked girl on here,” he growled as he dropped the camera on the ground. I heard the satisfying crunch as the expensive device shattered under Cannon’s boot. “All right, Jags. You can let him go now, man. I took care of it, and I have the memory card.”
But I wasn’t done. I wanted this fucker dead. I wanted to watch his life fade from his eyes as I beat him to death.
“Jagger!” Cannon yelled and grabbed my arms, trying to pull me off the photographer.
“Hell,” I heard Rodger groan as he attempted to help my friend. But I was too enraged.
“Jagger.” Ma’s voice was right beside me, the sound like a whip.
The red haze cleared from my eyes enough that I looked up at her. Her face was pale, and her eyes were an intense, bright green as she stared down at me.
“That’s enough, baby boy,” she said in a calm, soothing voice. “Let him go.”
The sound of sirens finally reached my ears. I looked around to find several cop cars were now in the parking lot, and a few officers were standing nearby with their guns aimed at me.
Rodger and Cannon pulled me away from Eric, but I shrugged them off, knowing what was about to happen.
Ma sighed heavily as two of the officers in uniform stepped forward. One cuffed me, and the other read me my rights. “I’ll meet you at the station,” she promised.
“Actually, you should meet us at the hospital,” the officer who cuffed me said. “Looks like he broke his hand pretty good. And he’s going to need stitches by the looks of these cuts on his knuckles.” He nodded his head toward Eric. Another cop and an EMT were working on him. “Hope it was worth almost killing that guy.”
“I didn’t finish the job,” I told him with a shrug.
“What the hell did he do to you, man?” the officer who’d read me my rights asked as he led me toward an open gate.
I clenched my jaw, refusing to answer. My lawyer could answer all of their questions.
An hour later, I was still in the ER. I’d already had my stitches. Twenty total, with several in each of my four knuckles of my broken hand. Now I was just waiting for them to tell me whether or not my hand needed surgery or a simple cast.
All I’d seen were the two cops who’d brought me to the hospital and the doctor and nurse who were tending to me. I’d heard Ma’s voice out in the hall a few times, but the cops had refused to let her in to see me. The only people they said could come in were medical staff and my lawyer.
&n
bsp; When the door opened and a blonde in medical scrubs walked in, I grinned. “How’s it going, cutie?” Aunt Dallas asked as she came over.
“Been better,” I muttered. “How is she?”
“Haven’t told her yet,” she said with a shrug. “But she’s home with her dad, so she’s fine for now.” She picked up my hand, eyeing the stitches. “Pretty clean work. But this hand is all fucked up. You do this on his face?”
“And a window,” I answered honestly. “Might have punched one when Ma told me what Eric did.”
“What did Eric do?” the cop on my right asked, not for the first time. He was the guy who’d cuffed me earlier, and I’d learned his name was Officer Pope.
I pressed my lips into a hard line, and Aunt Dallas smirked. “He did what he needed to do to protect what is his,” she told Pope.
Behind her, the door opened again, and this time, a man in an expensive suit walked in with Ma right beside him.
“Officers, I am Peter Kratt.” As soon he spoke his name, the two cops stood up straighter. “I would like a moment with my client, please.”
Without a word, the two cops stepped outside, making sure the door closed behind them.
I leaned back on my gurney. I was just starting to feel the pain in my hand, and it was throbbing. The doctor had asked if I’d wanted something for the pain, but I didn’t want anything that was going to fuck with my clarity, so I’d told him no. The nurse had given me an ice pack when I’d first arrived, but it had melted since then.
Peter Kratt glanced at Aunt Dallas and cocked a brow. “If you’ll excuse us, Nurse.”
“Nah, I’m good,” she said as she leaned against the wall beside me. “I think my future son-in-law wouldn’t mind too much if I’m here anyway.”
“Nope. Not at all,” I told her with a wink.
Ma crossed to us and picked up my hand. “What do you think, Dallas? Is he going to need surgery?”
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