15. Lyric
LYRIC
“ A sher is married to Lennie. She’s got family from Wyoming that semi adopted her and her sister, Minnie, without the papers since they’re older via her husband, Clay.
The Johnsons will be down here soon because Lennie is pregnant, and her aunt’s house is next door to them for anyone to use.
” We never got to talk on the porch. I gorged my food, eating more and faster than I ever have before.
The pizza, salad, and breadsticks we had delivered to my house last night had long since left me.
The sun started shining through the trees, beating down into my eyes, and Jagger started sweating, causing us to come back inside.
We tag teamed the kitchen, putting away what was left yet making it easy enough to pull out in case anyone stopped by, and then loaded the dishwasher.
Jagger is truly Eleanor Steele’s son. She taught him from a young age to take care of what needs to be taken care of.
He’d already cleaned the majority of the workload before I got here .
“Wow,” I say with a soft sigh. I’m lying on top of his body, my hands crossed over one on top of the other on his chest, my chin on them, listening as he gives me the updates.
“He’s also a firefighter, pulls his weight at Jagged Edge when he can, and Lennie works for Luke at his obstetrician and gynecologist office.” He takes a breath, then lifts his head up for a minute to prop another pillow behind his neck.
“I can move,” I offer.
“Not on your life. I like you exactly where you are, feeling every inch of your body.” He gives me a wink, then continues on, “Alright, Trent is a police officer but on the detective side, doesn’t go undercover anymore since he’s with Asher’s sister, Kennedy.
They have Briar, who’s a spitfire and will be over here any given time to use me for my pool or eat my snacks.
She’s also from Kennedy’s previous relationship, but Trent formally adopted her, and Kenny is pregnant, too. ”
“Holy shit, how did Asher take the news that his best friend and sister got together?” Asher and the guys were very protective of her, more so than I’ve ever seen before. We weren’t in the same age group or friend group back when we were kids, and of course, we moved when I was fifteen.
“Asher didn’t give two fucks. After Briar’s dad, anyone would be a step up. Trent, though, he’s the real deal, took care of Kenny when she was stranded, helped her get out of trouble when shit went down at her job, and loves her and Briar more than anything on this earth,” he says with conviction.
“I have no doubt. You all might have been a bunch of teenagers at one point, but you’ve always loved deeply.” I lick my lips, and Jagger tracks the movement.
“You’re not tempting me yet. Still have blue balls from my mother calling earlier, asking where you were when she didn’t see your Tahoe at the house.” His muscles flex as he puts his hands behind his head and laces his fingers together.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep my hands to myself.” It’s a lie, and we’re both well aware of the fact. I probably should have told Eleanor my plans, except in the excitement to get to Jagger, I kind of forgot.
“Sure. Where was I?” He pauses for a moment.
“There’s Johnny. He owns the night club Undercover Lovers.
That also has a bottom floor that’s called Night Moves.
It appeals to a certain lifestyle, exclusive, and no way am I taking you there.
Anyways, Johnny married Winnie. Shit went down with her sister, and she left for a few years.
The sister passed away but held her own kid over Winnie’s head to keep her from leaving until drugs ultimately took her.
Winnie came home, Johnny found out, and now they have custody of Sebastian, her nephew.
She’s also pregnant. That’s the short story of a much longer, much more detailed saga. ”
“Damn, that had to be a lot for all three of them. I couldn’t even imagine watching a family member go down that road, plus to have a child involved.” My heart hurts for the three of them.
“They made it out on top and are tighter than ever, which is saying something because before shit went down, they were rock solid.” I’d imagine they had to be, kind of like Jagger and me, and while neither of us has said the same words that were repeatedly said in our teen years, it’s in every look, every touch, and every breath.
“Tysen is a pilot, went commercial and hated every minute of it. Finally went private. Maci entered the picture, they had a one-night stand, lost touch for all of a minute, it seemed. She showed up on his plane at Vaughn Elite, Tysen figured out she was pregnant, both of them fell for one another, and now they’re well on their way to getting married.
” Damn, these men have done very well for themselves, as I’m sure their ladies have, too.
“Is everyone a business owner or super successful?” I ask the question that’s been on my mind.
“Yeah, I guess so, now that you mention it. We all started Jagged Edge together. It transcended into their own thing, whether it’s because one had the capital or they needed the money to get their own venture started.
We all put in the effort, and luckily, it paid off.
” I’m not sure it’s got anything to do with luck; it’s clear these guys work, and they work hard.
I may have left college when Mom got sick, but I still kept at it, transferring to a local college, and enrolled in classes that wouldn’t interfere with doctor’s appointments and spending time with her.
It meant it took me longer, and I’d been well on my way to starting on my next leg of the journey when Dad’s diagnosis came through.
I’d had dreams and aspirations; my next stop was to get my bachelor’s degree, then master’s, and from there, I’d do my clinical fellowship to finally become a speech therapist. Things changed, life happened, and while I could still go back to school now, the thought no longer appeals to me.
I’ve been around enough doctors, patients, medical staff, and hospitals to last a life time.
“You okay?” Jagger asks when I remain silent.
“Yeah. Thinking about my own life and how things change so quickly.” I shrug my shoulders. “Please continue. I want to hear about everyone else. There’s Matthew, Jude, Crew, and Luke, right?”
“We’ll come back to that. Matthew is an estate lawyer but has no problem dabbling in other areas, family law to be exact.
He’s stepped up for Kenny and Winnie without blinking an eye.
He’s still single. There’s been chatter about his cleaning lady, but nothing’s confirmed yet.
Which leads me to Jude. The man is like a dog with a bone.
He let me know the minute the house was transferred into your name and when you came back.
He hacks everyone’s shit, phone included.
The only way to get away from him is to turn off every single device, put it in a different location, and he’ll be none the wiser. ”
“Wow, I mean wow . You probably knew about the house before I did. I found out through the reading of the will. Mom really dotted all her i’s and crossed all her t’s .
Her best friend, Naomi, didn’t even know.
Apparently, the money Dad made was put into an account to pay the bills down here, and I controlled the ones in North Carolina as his power of attorney.
She made it nice and easy probably because when she was sick, Dad was already in the early stages of being diagnosed.
Mom knew I would take care of him, so she tried to relieve me from dealing with everything else.
” I absolutely hate that she did all of this instead of focusing on herself, except that’s who my mom was, and I’ve got a lot of her in me.
“That’s what she wanted, though, Lili. You know that, right?
” Jagger’s hand circles the nape of my neck, where he flexes his fingers, then he shifts his hips, and I get the hint.
He wants me closer. His lips touch mine, soft and sweet, and my eyes close.
Jagger reads me like a book, always two steps ahead of what I need.
“Yeah,” I whisper against his lips.
“Good. I get you’re still handling stuff and working on yourself.
What you may not realize yet is, you’re not doing it alone.
” This man, his words, he’s better than anything in this world.
Not even the most expensive chocolate could make me trade him, and that’s saying something because my love for chocolate runs deep.
“Thank you.” He pulled back a moment ago, still making good on his threat for us to wait till our conversation is through.
“Don’t gotta thank me. I’m right where I wanna be.
Should I continue?” I nod. “Crew is an engineer, has his own firm, and I don’t have much to report on anything love life wise or what he does besides work and hang out with us.
I’ll have to pester the shit out of him next time we’re all around each other. ”
“Well, I’ll leave that part to you,” I reply teasingly before getting serious.
“Jagger, I have to tell you something, and this may change things between us. In fact, I really think it will, and I hate that I’ve only gotten you back, and this could very well end us.
” I need to tell him. His friends have children, he’s surrounded by them, and damn it, he would be the best father to anyone he fathered, and I hate that I could take this away from him.
“There’s nothing that bad, Lili.” His hand sifts through my hair.
He pulled the hair tie out earlier during our hot and heavy make-out session in the kitchen.
His hands were on my waist, ready to lift me up on the counter, when his phone rang.
I scurried out from under him, kicked my shoes off by the door, and meandered around the house until he finished his call.
“I don’t want children.” I close my eyes, unable to see the look he’ll no doubt give me. If this is the last time I have Jagger Steele in my life, I want to remember all the good and none of the bad.
“You motherfucker! I can’t believe you did that.
Do you know how stupid and incredibly dangerous it is to base jump?
You had no service, and none of us fucking knew.
We’re damn tired of you going off grid, getting your rocks off for some kind of messed-up thrill where you could wind up dead.
” Jagger lifts his body up, taking me with him.
I end up straddling his waist. My head turns over my shoulder, and the color drains from my face when I put all the pieces together.
Luke is standing in the open doorway, seething with range and worry. Rightfully so, too.
“We’ll talk about this later, promise. That’s Luke, and he’s going to need a doctor himself when I’m through with him.
” Jagger drops a kiss to my lips, picks me up, places my on the couch, and storms over to Luke.
I see Shadow start slithering toward the door that’s standing open while the two men have a glaring match.
They probably don’t even realize we could have an escape artist on our hands.
I scoop her up, bring her close to my chest, and sink onto the floor, my back meeting the couch, where I think about the news I just delivered and the news I had slung back via Luke.
Jagger Steele is trying to kill himself. Well, that won’t be happening on my watch. I stand up, spin on my heels, and march toward my man, clearing my throat along the way.
“Please close the door while you two have a stare-off competition. I have something to say.” That breaks them out of their whatever-you-call-it haze.
“Holy fuck, Lyric,” Luke says. Apparently, he didn’t see me on the couch with his friend. Interesting. He was so upset his sole focus was on Jagger. These guys. Not a lot has changed in the years I’ve been gone.
“Hi, it’s good to see you. What is this?” I place Shadow on the ground, clearly upset with all the noise seeing as how her claws have come out to play.
“It’s Luke pissing me off.” Jagger looks toward the ceiling, shaking his head.
“What’s that? Did you get a woman and a cat without telling any of us?” It comes off as a question, but there’s no denying Luke’s voice has a teasing tone now; the frustration has seemed to vanish.
“Back to me. We’ll answer that in a minute.
Jagger Steele, I swear to God, if you’re trying to take yourself out of this world on purpose, I’ll murder you myself.
How could you be so negligent? Do you not realize what a gift you are?
I’ve lost everyone. I’m not losing you, too!
” I scream-shout. Jagger tries to stop me when I scurry around his big-bodied self, but I dodge him and run toward the hall, pumping my arms and looking for a way out, for a way to ease this ache building inside my chest. He never gave me an official tour of house.
When I wandered around earlier, I stayed in the living areas.
Right now, I’ve got tunnel vision, looking for the darkest place there is, where I can cry or scream into a pillow, cry my heart out, and hide all at once.
I happen upon what I’m assuming is his bedroom.
There’s a massive bed, his scent surrounds me, and I close the door before diving headfirst into the mattress.
I crawl upward, pushing the comforter and sheets down along the way.
My eyes close, and the tears come, one after the other.
I let them, all while burrowing into Jagger’s pillow, loving him and disliking him all at once.