Chapter 29
Sutton
“Uncle Jagger!”
Two little blonde girls with unruly curly hair threw open the screen door and ran toward us on the porch of the foster home where they’d stayed last night. Jagger dropped down to a knee to catch them in his arms, and they practically knocked him over. I smiled and gave them space.
The smaller of the two squeezed her eyes shut. “Uncle Jagger! I dreamed that you came! And you did.”
Jagger kissed her cheek and tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. “You did, did you? Does that mean I made your dreams come true?”
She dove back into his arms, nodding her head. Jagger’s smile widened and he stood, taking both the little girls with him. Their feet dangled as they giggled. My heart swelled seeing how much they adored him. Jagger Langston was already a ten on any rating scale, but today he shot up to a thousand.
A woman stepped out of the house and smiled. “How’re you doing, Mr. Langston?”
He nodded. “It’s Jagger, please. And much better now.”
“Girls?” the woman said. “Why don’t you go collect your backpacks and say goodbye to Jenny? Jenny is the Breslins’ daughter,” she explained to Jagger and me.
“Okay!”
Jagger bent to set the girls down, and they took off into the house. He turned to me. “Sorry I didn’t introduce you.”
I waved him off. “They didn’t even notice I was standing here because they were so excited to see you.”
He gestured to me while speaking to the woman. “Octavia, this is Sutton Holland. Sutton, this is Octavia Moore, the social worker I coordinate with when the girls need my assistance.”
I extended my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
She nodded, and Jagger put his hands on his hips. “How’d the girls do last night?”
“Mrs. Breslin said they slept well. But Olivia wet the bed.”
Jagger took a deep breath in and exhaled. “She did that the first night she was with me last time, too. When my sister isn’t doing well, she sometimes stays up all night and rants. Amelia told me it scares them, and her sister is afraid to get out of bed to go to the bathroom.”
Octavia nodded. “It’s not unusual for children who are removed to have an accident. They’re often afraid to get up in the middle of the night in their new surroundings. Also, you should know that Amelia has already been asking if she can visit her mother. She understands she’s in the hospital.”
Jagger shook his head. “They don’t allow visits during a fifty-one-fifty hold.”
“I know. I told Amelia the hospital was taking good care of her mother, but she wouldn’t be able to see her for a while. Will you be staying in Ohio for a few days?”
“I can’t stay this time,” he told her. “I have some stuff going on at work. But I was able to get the same sitter who helped out when they stayed with me for a few months last year. The girls really liked her, and she’s already familiar to them.
I’ll try to keep my workdays shorter than usual, but I’m going to need to be at the office, unfortunately. ”
Octavia nodded. “That’s understandable. Caregivers, especially those who jump in right away when needed, like you do, have responsibilities.
Will you be taking the girls to the same address as last time?
I’ll need to get some information from you, and we’ll need to speak on a regular basis, like we always do. ”
Jagger nodded. “Same address, same contact info. And I already have a call in to Catherine’s doctor. I’ll let you know what he’s thinking after I speak to him. Then we can start to make a longer-term plan.”
“Unfortunately, you already know the drill,” Octavia said.
“CPS in New York will contact you, and they’ll drop in on a regular basis and report back to me.
Meanwhile, I’ll be making an independent assessment about the safety of the girls being reunited with their mother.
Catherine did call me directly and tell me she needed me to take the children, so that’s a plus. But we’ll need to see how things go.”
Jagger frowned. “She used to call me, but ever since I took her to court to try to get custody, she thinks I’m the enemy.”
Octavia smiled halfheartedly. “That’s also not unusual, especially from a parent who struggles with Catherine’s mental-health issues.”
The social worker had Jagger sign a bunch of papers, and when the girls came back, he introduced them to me.
“Do you know how to braid hair?” Amelia asked.
“I do. I can even do a fishtail.”
Her little nose scrunched up. “What’s that?”
“It’s an extra fancy kind of braid that sort of looks like a fish’s tail. I can show you how to do it, too, if you want.”
“Uncle Jagger has a dress-up box for us at his house,” Olivia added.
Jagger gave me an inconspicuous smirk.
“I’ve actually seen it. I bet we can come up with a different hairstyle for each outfit in there. Do you think you can draw some of your favorite clothes from the box?”
Both girls nodded eagerly.
“Maybe on the way back to Uncle Jagger’s house, you can do that, and we can sketch the hairstyle you want with each outfit?”
Their little eyes widened. “Uncle Jagger, can we stop to get paper?” Amelia clasped her hands into the praying position.
“And crayons,” Olivia added.
He smiled. “Sure, why not?”
Jagger thanked Octavia and the foster parents, and the four of us went on our merry way.
I pointed to a strip mall on the right side of the road on our way back to the airport. “There’s a craft store in there. We can get paper and crayons.”
Jagger navigated into the parking lot. As we started to unload, his phone rang. “It’s a local number. Probably the…” He pointed to the girls with his eyes.
“Take it,” I said. “The girls and I will be fine in the craft store. Right, ladies?”
Olivia took my hand without having to be prompted. “We’re going shopping!”
I chuckled. “We’ll see you inside when you’re done.”
The craft store was a dangerous place to send me with two little girls. By the time Jagger caught up to us, we had sketch pads, crayons, colored pencils for Amelia—because crayons were apparently for babies—an origami kit, two bracelet-beading boxes, and four animal crochet kits.
He raised a brow. “I was only gone five minutes.”
“Consider yourself lucky we’re in Michaels and not a clothing boutique or a jewelry store.”
It wasn’t until we were back on the plane that Jagger and I had a minute to talk alone again. Olivia and Amelia were busy drawing the outfits they were going to wear so we could plan their hairstyles.
“How was your call?” I asked quietly.
“Catherine won’t eat. She thinks they’re putting something in her food, and she’s upset because she believes the landlord is going to read her journals.”
“Journals?”
Jagger nodded. “She goes through one or two notebooks a month. Has been doing it since she was a teenager. There are more than a dozen boxes of them in a storage facility. The first thing I do when she gets admitted into any hospital—after I make sure the kids are okay—is have a few blank journals delivered to her ward. It helps her to write down her paranoia.”
The picture he painted kept getting bleaker and bleaker. I looked over at the girls. “It must be so hard on them.”
“The worst part is never knowing what you’re going to come home to.
One day your mother is smiling and singing along with the radio when you get back from school, cooking your favorite meal, and the next she’s unscrewed all the electrical outlets and pulled out the wires so no one can listen in on her conversations, and she just stares at the TV from the couch for four straight days. ”
I wasn’t sure if that story was about his sister or his mother, not that it mattered. But I reached over and took his hand. Jagger looked down at our linked fingers for a long time. “Thank you for coming.”
“It’s my pleasure.” I bumped my shoulder with his, trying to keep the mood light, though I felt myself falling fast. “I enjoyed coming earlier, too.”
***
It was nine o’clock that night before the girls started getting ready for bed.
We’d spent most of the day doing hair and playing dress-up.
I was glad I’d stayed, not only because I was able to keep his nieces’ minds off things, but because Jagger had gotten a half-dozen work phone calls and needed to go into his home office to speak in private.
This really was the worst time for him to take custody of two little girls.
And the last thing those little angels needed was to hear their uncle raising his voice and getting upset.
Jagger started getting the girls to bed in the guest room while I went to use the bathroom across the hall. I tied my hair up in a ponytail and slowed as I stepped out, hearing my name coming from across the hall.
“Is Sutton your girlfriend?” one of the girls asked.
There was a long silence before he answered. “She’s a girl, and she’s my friend.”
“I like her,” said Olivia, the younger of the two. “She makes pretty braids.”
“That’s good.” I heard the smile in Jagger’s voice. “I like her too.”
“Is this your first girlfriend?” Olivia asked.
“I’ve had other girls who were friends.”
“How come we never met any of them?” Amelia followed up.
Again, there was silence.
“I guess because none was special enough to meet you.”
Warmth flowed through my belly. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to fall so hard I’d never be able to climb back out of the hole I’d be in if Jagger Langston hurt me.
“How long is Mommy going to be in the hospital this time?” Amelia asked.
“I’m not sure, sweetheart.”
“Why can’t the doctors ever make her better so she doesn’t have to go to the hospital anymore?
” Olivia asked. “My friend Peyton who lives downstairs, her mom had her ’pendix out, and she didn’t have to go back to the hospital again.
She was holding her stomach all the time, and now she doesn’t. They made her all better.”
“Not all sickness is the kind you can see, and some take longer to make better than others.”
I didn’t want to get caught eavesdropping, so I quietly made my way out to the living room.
It was another ten minutes before Jagger emerged.
I stood at his wall of glass, looking out at the twinkling City lights.
He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed my neck, and I let my head loll back against him.
“Long day,” he said.
“I think they have more energy than either of us.”
“I would’ve agreed five minutes ago, but my cock seems to have found his second wind the minute he felt your ass push up against him.”
I chuckled. “We did it this morning on the plane.”
Jagger turned me in his arms. “Once a day is not nearly enough with you.”
I smiled. “If you keep things up at this pace, you’re going to get sick of me.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible.” He rubbed his nose with mine. “If I could bottle how thankful I am for you today, it would overflow endlessly.”
My heart did a little pitter-patter. For a man who refused to believe he could be sweet, he’d certainly found the right words to melt my heart. “It was nothing. I’m glad I could help.”
Though sweet didn’t last too long. Jagger’s hand slid up from my waist and grabbed my ponytail. He gave it a good, firm yank. “Let me thank you properly. My door has a lock.”
I wanted to, God, did I want to, but I also didn’t want the girls to hear us.
“I don’t think I can be quiet.”
“I’ll cover your mouth.”
“Not sure that would do it.”
“Then I’ll shove my cock in it while I eat your pussy.”
Ooohh. The rawness of his voice almost did me in. But I forced myself to think of the girls and covered Jagger’s mouth with my hand. “Don’t say anything more. I’m trying to be the good one here, and you’re making it very hard.”
He nipped at my fingers. “I’m already very hard.”
I laughed. “I’m serious, Jagger. Olivia and Amelia are barely settled, and I don’t want them to hear us, or worse, run to your room if they get scared and find the door locked. I want you, too, but you’re going to have to take a raincheck.”
He groaned, and it made me smile.
I raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Always-in-Control needs to demonstrate some self-control. But I’ll help you out with that. I’m going to go home. We could both use a good night’s sleep.”
Jagger pouted.
I pressed my lips to his. “The sitter is coming early tomorrow, right?”
“Yes. Louise. The girls know her pretty well. She’s coming at six. I have a seven o’clock meeting I can’t miss.”
“Skip the gym and come by my apartment on the way to the office. I’ll answer naked and ready to make it up to you in fifteen minutes or less.”