I licked my lips, savoring the salty taste and the memory of today. “No. Thank you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jagger
If anyone could work a miracle, it was Leah. No surprise she wanted to get in touch with my folks—Leah’s family was close, and there was nothing she cared about more than home. I wanted to believe that she could pull this off. I hadn’t talked to Ruby in years. Last time I had, she was still sympathetic. She didn’t understand, but she also didn’t inherit the rock in her chest my parents had in place of a heart like I did. Now I knew that my heart could beat again, if I let it. I hoped it ran in the family.
Leah had yet to mention whether she pulled it off. Half of me was dying to ask, and the other half didn’t want to know.
“I can’t wait until Shannon gets here,” Leah groaned, putting her head down on her desk. Claire had made good on her promise after she cleaned out half the gallery, furniture and art, including the lamps Leah had bought at the consignment shop. She told all of her friends about Leah. Suddenly, everyone’s house was in desperate need of a makeover. Since I was familiar with these ladies’ work, I knew it was bullshit. They wanted what Claire had, and they’d do anything they could to top it.
It had benefited me for years, and I was happy to see Leah reap the rewards now.
“One more week.” I sat on Leah’s desk and pulled a curl away from her hair, wrapping it around my finger, then giving it a good tug. I couldn’t wait for Shannon to get here, either. Leah needed the help. I’d do what I could, but I didn’t know the business like Shannon did. “What’s your plan for the day?” I asked.
“I have two consults, and then so much shopping.” She unwound my finger from her hair before picking her head up. “Then I can’t wait to pull your hair all night long.”
“I’ve got some things in mind that go with that plan nicely.” I went over to my desk, back to work. Yeah, right. It was impossible to concentrate on editing photos when the real beauty was a desk away. Unless she was in the picture, I couldn’t come close to topping that. “You can wonder all day what that will be.”
“Best news I’ve heard in a long while.” She laughed, grabbing her purse and heading for the door. “Doctor’s appointment next week, too. Maybe we can get the all clear for regular sex again.”
“Boring.” I laughed.
She walked over to my desk and sat on it. Her foot was on my lap, dangerously close to my cock. “Fucking you is never boring, Jagger.”
Our gazes locked. All that raw, unspoken energy between us made my mouth water. And it always would. “Get out of here before I show you what not boring is.”
“Yeah, I have to go listen to Claire’s friends gush about you. About how lucky I am. And I all I can think is how right they are.” She straddled my leg. Our foreheads touched but she didn’t kiss me. “I might be giving them a beautiful home, but they don’t get to come home to you.”
The heat of her body lingered long after she left. Pregnancy changed the note of her perfume—stronger, spicier. Sexier. My stomach rumbled thinking about it.
Leah made me want to take chances. I’d been scared moving in together would ruin the magic between us. It had been one of the reasons I’d been reluctant to work with her on the TV show. The pull I felt toward her was undeniable, but I wondered if some of it had been because I couldn’t have her all the time. The buildup, the anticipation. It was still there, we just packaged it differently. A brush against each other and a promise of what was to come. Living together changed things, but it gave me a million reasons to fall in love with her all over again. She sang when she cooked, not even realizing she was doing it. And she wandered around the house when she brushed her teeth, desperately trying to multitask. But my absolute favorite part of coming home to her was lying together on the couch, under the blanket and watching a movie, or on the chaise she’d bought for the balcony while we listened to the ocean and stared at the stars.
I opened my desk drawer and took out the little velvet box that had been waiting for the right time to make its debut. I wanted to make this special for her. To show her that it would be different this time. Having Leah wear my ring was the sexiest thing ever. My cock twitched at the thought of her wearing nothing but the thin, sparkling strip of platinum. I’d found it at a shop down the street. It looked like a flowering vine surrounding the diamond. A rebirth, something that was ever-changing. Something that told the entire world that she was mine.
Tonight was the night. I couldn’t wait to feel it scrape against my hand when our fingers were locked together, and forget where I ended and she began.
Claudia had a much deserved day off. I was glad to be alone today. After Claire’s raid on our inventory, there were three installations that needed to be updated and sitting areas that had to be reconfigured. We were running out of furniture, which was the best problem to have. Infusing the gallery with the design studio was the best idea we’d come up with. People loved it. They came in to escape the sun and get off their feet, giving us a chance to really talk to them. And once they relaxed, they appreciate the art.
We’d had a visit from someone who reupholstered old furniture, giving pieces the mid-century modern feel Leah loved so much. We were waiting for the first batch we’d ordered. They’d be perfect with my latest exhibit, some old photos I’d taken of round houses outside of Miami. I’d never incorporated any other artistic elements into my photography, and I loved combining the furniture with the exhibits. It was like putting a puzzle together. Leah approved of my work, and I loved it when she’d move one little thing and make the entire display perfect.
I brought my laptop out front, picking one of the couches near the front window. A thunderstorm raged outside, and no one would come in until it passed. Steam would rise from the sidewalk and fog up the windows until the sun burned it away. As long as I wasn’t on my bike, I loved it. It was the best weather to edit photos by. The city looked different in the rain.
“JMH Design and Gallery,” I answered the phone. I wasn’t used to the new name. We decided to keep it simple since the gallery was already established. It looked like one entity, and there was no need to make people think any differently.
“May I speak to Jagger Holiday, please?”
“Speaking.” Weird. No one ever asked for me by name on the business phone. They either wanted to talk to the owner or Leah. Anyone looking for me called my personal phone.
The woman on the other end exhaled loudly. “Nice little trick you pulled last week.”
“Excuse me?” I racked my brain, trying to remember who’d been in the gallery recently. It had been a little busier than usual, and we couldn’t afford to have one pissed off customer.
“Your girlfriend. She didn’t even try to be sneaky. I knew exactly who she was, anyway. Your faces were plastered all over TV for a month. Tell her to stay the hell away from Jacob. Next time she offers me money for my son, I’ll have her arrested for attempted kidnapping. You think that lawsuit was bad? It will seem like a walk in the park when I’m done with her.”
Fuck. I hadn’t recognized Kim’s voice. In the last decade it had become more weathered with tones of sandpaper and whiskey.
And I had no fucking idea what she was talking about. Leah was a pretty easy target. So this could be complete bullshit. Last week . . . Leah had gone to Orlando with Kari.
Fuck. One of them was lying to me.
My money was on Kim, since she’d been doing it the entire time I knew her. It could be a coincidence that the timing lined up with the only time Leah had been away from me since she found out about Jacob. I was hopeful, but I wasn’t stupid.
There was no showing Kim weakness. She’d feed off it and cultivate it into its own evil entity. I’d fallen into her trap too many times, thinking if I played nice, she’d bend. But instead, she broke me. Every time.
“Don’t even think about it,” I growled. “If you do it, I’ll have access to all your information. I’ll take you to court f
or a paternity test. You can either explain to Jacob why he’s never met his father, or you can leave my girlfriend the fuck alone.”
Kim scoffed. “You act like he’d even want to know you. Believe me, he doesn’t.”
Didn’t matter if I bent or not, she got a crack in, close to my heart. I had my guard up, and she wouldn’t kill me, but the sting would linger long after this conversation. “Compared to his mother?”
“Don’t you dare judge me. You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
I put the laptop down beside me so I didn’t throw it across the room. The storefront window was completely fogged up. I’d been separated from the rest of the world and I was slipping into some forgotten vortex of Hell. “I don’t care what you’ve been through,” I seethed. She tried to protest, but I wouldn’t let her. “I’m only concerned with Jacob. What do you have to be afraid of? He’s either my kid or not. We do the test, and get this over with.”
“This was your plan all along. Send that little bulldog bitch after me so you could take my son away. I’ll make sure you both rot in jail. And you’ll never, ever see Jacob.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Leah
I’d been distracted all day. Before I headed to the Design District to scout for these two new projects, I had to clear my head. The contact info Jagger had for Ruby, his sister, was seriously outdated. No big surprise there. The bigger surprise was that I actually convinced Kari to go back into her illegal vault to dig up info on another long lost woman from Jagger’s past. She didn’t believe I had his blessing, and more than that, I didn’t have her blessing.
“It will break your heart,” she said before she caved.
It would be broken either way. Especially after what happened with Kim, I was a fool to think Jagger’s family would welcome him back into the fold with open arms just because I snapped my fingers. There was a reason they’d walked away from each other. As much as I thought I’d prepared myself for hearing their side of the story, after my run-in with Kim that was impossible.
I tried to put myself in their shoes, thinking of how I’d react if Raven told me she was selling her body for sex. If I’d believe all the things Jagger had convinced himself of if they came out her mouth. I shivered despite the sultry afternoon air. This wasn’t just learning about where Jagger came from—I had to face a lot of hard truths about myself. The similarities between Kim and me. And if I was blind to the obvious because I was in love with him.
Whatever it was, ignorance was bliss. Jagger deserved another chance. If his family could see what they’d done to him with their own eyes—watch the wall go up, and the light fade from his entire being as he tugged on his hair in frustration. Witness him choke on his fear of expressing his true self and of being rejected, again. Then maybe they could find it their hearts to change their mind.
He was far from perfect. But so was I.
The apartment wasn’t the right place to make the phone call, neither was the gallery. The botanical garden was on my way to the Design District, and I pulled over as soon as I found a parking spot. I wandered down one of the paths, thinking about what I wanted to say.
I’d never be ready, and I just had to do it. My body was completely numb as I hit send.
The call went to voicemail. Of course it did. No one answered a call from a number they didn’t recognize. In my all of my preparations, I’d forgotten all about the possibility of leaving a message.
“Hi, my name is Leah Godfrey. I hope you’ll give me a call back. I have some questions about your brother, Jagger.” I gave my phone number and pressed the phone to my chest when I hung up. It was out of my hands now.
A walk through the garden would do wonders for my head and my heart. I couldn’t exactly get down to business as usual after that call. I took some time to think about Ruby listening to the message. How she’d react. When my thoughts took a left turn into not getting what I wanted, I made myself think about work. Claire’s friends asked for some cool stuff. Being back in the thick of things was exactly what I needed. I thrived on being busy—the baby, planning a wedding, starting a new business—bring it on. I’d done all these things before. I was far from an expert, and I was lucky to get a second chance to do it all over. The hardest part of doing anything new for me was not knowing what I didn’t know. Now I did. But the rules were different this time.
The phone buzzing in my pocket could’ve short-circuited my heart. It was Ruby. I didn’t sound like myself when I answered.
“Hi, you just called me about my brother, Jagger?”
“Yes, hold on.” I needed to sit. My rehearsed spiel was a jumble in my head.
“Is he okay?” she asked when I didn’t say anything.
“Yeah, he’s great, actually.” She gave me the in I needed. “Which is exactly what I wanted to call you about.”
Silence. Not that much of an in.
“I know the two of you haven’t been in touch for a while.” Talking about the past was dangerous. The future was still up for grabs, so I focused on that. “I’m calling because we’re getting married, and we’d really like for you and your parents to come.”
More silence. I had to look at the screen to make sure we hadn’t been disconnected. “Please say something,” I added.
Ruby sighed. At least she was still there. “You’re the one from TV, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t have to tell you what my brother used to do. Although, now the whole world knows.” She grunted, her disapproval clear. “My parents are still devastated. He fought them tooth and nail when he was a kid, doing everything in his power to piss them off. I know, that’s what kids do. But Jagger had a way of making it stick. They gave him a lot of chances. But whoring himself out . . . how could he have any respect for us if he didn’t have a shred of it for himself? He put himself in danger, not caring who he hurt. We had to separate ourselves. It wasn’t easy. We didn’t forget about him. Then he turned up on TV, and it was all fresh again. It doesn’t matter that he uses a made-up name. Our family, our friends—the people who matter—they know.”
Apologizing seemed like the right thing to do. It couldn’t come from me, it had to come from Jagger. I didn’t believe he was sorry for what he’d done, but I’d be shocked if it had been his intention to hurt anyone that loved him. And I convinced myself that deep down inside they still did.
“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to put myself in your shoes. I have a daughter that’s about the same age Jagger was when he began sex work. It’s easy to say what I’d do when it’s not actually happening. He’s not an escort anymore. He’s a talented photographer, and he’s opened an art gallery in Miami.” I debated adding the next part. “And he’s going to be a dad.”
“Honestly, when I heard your message, I was afraid he was dead. I’m glad it seems like he’s changed.” Ruby hesitated. “But I’m not surprised you’re calling me instead of him.”
“He doesn’t think you want to hear from him.” The conversation was going better than I’d expected. I’d prepared myself to be shut down from the get-go. Jagger pushed both of us out of our comfort zone.
She snickered. “That’s the thing about my brother. He thinks he knows a lot of things, and he’s not willing to listen to anyone who wants to tell him otherwise.”
“I think . . .” I hesitated in venturing away from fact into emotion. The place where things got messy. “Jagger was afraid to take chances for a long time. He’s come a long way. Now that he’s starting a family, I think he’d appreciate having his own family behind him.”
I began to expect Ruby’s long pauses. From this phone call, I could tell she was a lot like Jagger. “I miss him.” This pause was much more comfortable. “When he showed up on Great Start Today, I almost fell out of my chair. My daughter asked me what was wrong. At first I didn’t know what to say. In my shock I told her truth. That he’s her uncle, my brother. She thought I was crazy, but she told all the kids at school she’s related to a movie
star.”
Cute. “How old is she?”
“Four.” Which meant Jagger probably didn’t even know she existed. Every time my heart mended when it came to that man, it broke all over again. “I was looking forward to the renovation show,” she said.
“Me too. We’re still working together. We’ve combined his gallery and my design business. It hadn’t been our intention, but with a baby coming, it was the best thing. I just moved to Miami, and I’m starting everything from scratch.”
“I’d love to see it,” she said. Yes. I got side-eyed by a passerby when I did a mini victory dance on the bench. “How did he get involved with your TV show? Was he pursuing acting?” she asked.
“No.” I was surprised she asked, she must’ve shut herself down when the scandal broke. “I hired him.”
“Oh.” Another long pause. “That’s right. And you’re . . . still with him.”
“Yeah. You know what they say about finding what you want in the last place you expect to find it.” I didn’t make any assumptions about her life, but she had to understand. “I hope maybe you can see him the way I do.”
“It sounds like you really care about him.”
“I do.” Time to level up. “Do you think your parents might come to the wedding? We’re planning to have it at Christmas, in the Keys. I know that’s hard for you with a little one, but I promise Santa goes everywhere. Jagger hasn’t had much of a Christmas for a long time. I want to make this one special for him.”
It may have been cruel to throw that last bit in there, but I had a feeling without Ruby, all negotiations with his parents were dead in the water. And she needed to know that he’d been hurt, too. If I told her the only person he had to stand up for him was a former colleague that he barely tolerated, she’d never believe he’d changed. But I couldn’t tell her I thought she and her parents were the reason for that. The whole thing would slip through my fingers. I had one chance to get this right.
Ties That Bind (The Escort, #3) Page 14