Chapter 32 #2
I pulled my hands back. “You mean you want to.”
“I’m glad you can see there’s a difference.”
He went to the door and didn’t look back before walking out.
***
The next morning, I waited until six before getting out of bed.
Something in my gut told me Jagger wasn’t going to come today, even though he had every other morning since I’d come to stay.
Still, I laid in bed, hoping. The latest he’d ever showed up was five thirty, yet I still listened for the door as I took a shower and got ready for work.
Full-blown disappointment had set in by the time I’d finished drying my hair and getting dressed. By seven, when there was still no sign of him, I decided to go upstairs.
Louise answered the door and said Jagger had already left for work, but Amelia heard my voice and came running.
“Sutton, will you braid my hair?”
“Of course.”
I went inside, and Louise gave me a cup of coffee while I made two French braids, one on each side of Amelia’s head.
“Is your sister still sleeping?”
Amelia nodded and rolled her eyes. “She took forever to go back to sleep last night. Uncle Jagger had a bad dream.”
I stopped braiding. “He had a bad dream? Did it wake you?”
“I didn’t wake up. But Olivia woke up when he yelled, and then she woke me up.”
“Does that…happen often? Your uncle has bad dreams?”
Amelia shrugged. “Not that I can remember. But Olivia sometimes has them, and she wants to talk to me for hours after. It’s so annoying.”
I wanted to ask more questions—What did your uncle yell? Did he go back to sleep? Did he say anything at all? But I couldn’t pump a little girl for information. And it seemed like she didn’t think too much of her uncle having a nightmare, so the less questions the better.
As soon as I got to the office, though, I went up to see Jagger.
Unfortunately, his assistant said he was in a meeting.
I hesitated, unsure if I should leave a message or not, but in the end I did since he was going out of town to deal with the DOJ tonight, and I wanted to speak to him before he went.
By five o’clock though, I was wishing I hadn’t, since he didn’t call me back. Uneasiness settled in the pit of my belly, and I shot off a quick text.
Sutton: Hey. Just wanted to check in. Was hoping I would see you before you left.
I stared at the phone for a long time before hitting enter and decided to add one more sentence.
Sutton: Good luck with your meeting tonight. Call me when you have time.
I was just about to shut down my laptop when an email arrived from Jagger’s assistant.
I clicked and discovered it was a meeting cancellation notice.
He was canceling our regular weekly mentor meeting for Monday.
Disappointed, but not surprised, I tried to shake it off and had started packing up my desk when Edmund came down.
“Hey, sweetheart. You leaving?”
I zipped my laptop into my bag and noticed he also had his briefcase slung over his shoulder. “I am. Are you actually getting out of here, too? It’s only five o’clock. I didn’t think you ever left this place before six or seven.”
“It happens every once in a while.” He smiled. “You want a lift? I drove today.”
“You did? I thought you always took the train?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes I take the car. Gotta start the battery and run it every now and then.”
I lifted the strap of my bag to my shoulder, and Edmund put his hand out for me to go first. Together we headed to the elevator.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m actually going to Jagger’s building,” I said. “Which is the opposite direction of your place, so I’ll take the train. I’m moving back to my apartment today.”
“That’s fine. I can take you to get your things and then bring you back down to Gramercy Park.”
Wait a minute… Edmund happened to be leaving on time today and he happened to drive, and now he happened to be available to run me all over the City?
I stopped walking. “Mom put you up to this, didn’t she?
I spoke to her this morning and told her I was moving back home.
She wasn’t happy about it, but when I refused to change my mind, she tried to insist that she at least go with me the first time I went back. ”
“No.” He shook his head. “Your mother didn’t say a word to me.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“All right, all right.” He held up his hands. “I knew. But it wasn’t your mother. It was the bossman.”
“Jagger asked you to drive me?”
Edmund shook his head. “He told me your plans for today and asked me to keep an eye on you while he was gone.”
We arrived at the elevator bank just as the doors slid open. It was pretty full, but there was room for two more.
“Can I give you a ride, please?” Edmund asked softly. “My car is in the basement garage.”
I knew he meant well, so I nodded. “Sure.”
Inside the car, I buckled and attempted to sound casual. “How was Jagger today?”
My stepfather put the car into gear. “How do you mean?”
I shrugged. “He was just…very stressed last night.” I left off that I had anything to do with it and added, “He told me about the meeting with MSL tonight and the DOJ Monday.”
“He’s got a lot on his plate, that’s for sure. But he didn’t seem any worse for the wear than he normally does.”
We got to the street-level parking garage gate, and Edmund inserted a card into the machine. The arm ahead of us went up, and we slid into the busy rush-hour traffic.
“I’m not going to lie, Sutton. When Jagger first told me about the two of you, I wasn’t exactly happy.
He’s intelligent and hardworking, but he can also be difficult.
Though now I can see he really cares about you.
He has the DOJ on his ass, two little girls to take care of, and he was in my office at seven thirty this morning asking me to look after you.
And that was after he’d stopped at the police station. ”
“He went to the police station this morning?”
Edmund’s eyes flashed to me and back to the road. “Jagger said he’d updated you on the status of things with Detective Wallace.”
“He did, but he didn’t mention he was going there today. Do you know what he went for?”
“To put pressure on them about the investigation, I assume.” Edmund smiled. “The things that I was concerned about between you and Jagger are actually coming in handy. He’s being difficult on your behalf.”
We rode uptown to Jagger’s building and collected my stuff from the spare apartment, then drove back down to Mom’s apartment where I’d been staying.
I was nervous when we pulled up, but when I saw one of the guys from Jagger’s security team stationed in front of the building and spotted another positioned near the elevator bank, I relaxed a little, grateful that Jagger was as stubborn as he was.
Nestor tipped his hat as usual, and the ground didn’t crumble beneath me as I walked into the quiet apartment with my stepfather in tow. He stayed for a few minutes before I told him he should go home to his wife. He was gracious and told me to call him if I needed anything. Then I was alone.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t scared, at least not for my safety. I knew the security team downstairs wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Jagger had made sure of that. But as the hours went by and I still didn’t hear from him, my fears started to grow.
Those fears had nothing to do with the man who had assaulted me resurfacing and everything to do with the man I’d fallen for pulling away.