by Loren, Celia
“Where?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She smiled at him. “Okay.”
“And although I love this dress, I’m going to suggest that you change into something a little more comfortable.”
That was intriguing. Why did Jagger want her to change out of her LBD stunner? Maybe he didn’t want anyone else seeing her in such a revealing dress? He didn’t hide his jealousy well, after all.
Britton escaped into her bedroom and found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She threw her hair back into a messy bun and slipped into a pair of sneakers. She had already hooked him with the dress. Now it was time to test out the ‘dressed down’ look. She entered back into the living room.
“Even like this, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
Even if it was a line, it made her giddy with delight. She missed being looked at the way he looked at her. She missed feeling wanted. She felt like a teenager with butterflies in her stomach. She moved into him and happily kissed him to thank him for the compliment. He clung to her and refused to break from her lips. He wanted her. He wanted all of her. He grabbed her thighs and pulled her in as he deepened the kiss. She accepted gratefully and pushed him toward the couch. They toppled down together and began to chuckle.
“Did you think I was kidding? I actually do want to take you somewhere.”
“Now?”
“Well, now I want to do this first.” He seized her hips and pulled her closer.
She leaned in to kiss him and stalled. She needed him to take her to his gang. She needed to know his secrets. Why was she the one instigating this embrace? She had to get control over her emotions. Britton let out a small breath and planted a simple kiss on his lips.
“Okay, we can go, but we should return to this exact spot later.”
“Deal.” He loved this side of her. It reminded him of the time…he stopped. He'd tried so hard to get that night out of his head. It was the worst night of his life. Why had she not brought it up? Why was he the only one harping on it?
He led her to the doorway.
“Ever been on a motorcycle? Or would you rather take your car?”
Her head started spinning. She forgot that she would need to get in a car with him. The last time she was in a car with him, she ended up alone in the hospital. She wasn’t ready for that to happen again. Jagger saw the color leave her face.
“Britton, are you okay?”
She took two deep breaths and looked directly in his eyes. He saw the child in her. He saw the five year old who had just lost her brother. He saw the eight year old who had to steal food to feed her siblings, because her parents hadn’t come home for a week. He saw the twelve year old who had run to him because her parent’s drunken friend had tried to take advantage of her. And he saw the sixteen year old, who he'd left on the street, wet and bleeding and alone. In that moment he hated himself. He hated the person he was, and he hated the person he had become.
Her eyes rolled back and her knees gave out. She collapsed into his outstretched arms. She wasn’t ready for this.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
She could hear the ambulance coming closer. Her vision kept wavering and the rain was still splashing on her face. She felt her body being lifted and moved. The scenery above her began to change. She was now in the ambulance. They were asking her a lot of questions, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Jagger. Where did he go? Was he hurt too? Maybe he went for help.
“There was no one else in the car, Miss, just you.”
“Maybe in the woods?”
“They’ve checked the area. No one else is out there.”
“He’s really gone… he’s really gone.” Her tears mixed with the rainwater already slapped on her face.
She was in the hospital for three days, due to three broken bones and a concussion. No one visited her. Her heart leapt whenever anyone would walk by her door. She thought it was Jagger; she was hoping it was Jagger. No one met her at the hospital when she was discharged. She was sixteen and alone. The only person in her life that cared about her had disappeared.
She left the hospital with crutches and casts, but was determined to make her way to their special place. She expected him to be there, waiting for her. It would be the only justification for his absence. She hopped her way through the trees, tripping a handful of times. The thought of his embrace was the only thing that allowed her to pick herself up each time.
“Jagger!” She called. “I’m coming, please help me.” She waited for his reply but was only greeted with disappointment when his voice never returned her calls. She made excuses for his disappearance, refusing to accept that he would ever leave her in this condition. Britton reached the stone chimney and her heart dropped. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t waiting for her. She slumped down, feeling the cold stone scrape across her back. Tears blurred her eyes and she screamed. No one would be able to hear her. She kept screaming, hoping the pain would leave her. It never did. She finally lost her voice and wiped her eyes. There was something different. Daffodils were growing around her. That was new. Had he been there? Had he planted them? She began to feel hopeful, and vowed not to leave until he returned to her. She slept there three nights. He never came. She finally gave up on him forever.
“Jagger…” she whispered.
“Britton? Are you okay?”
“Jagger…why?”
“Britton, wake up. Please wake up. I need you to wake up” Jagger was holding her close, rocking back and forth.
“What happened?”
“Oh thank God.” He pulled her in tight, crushing the breath from her. “You passed out. I didn’t know what to do.”
She hadn’t seen him so helpless in a long time. He was always the strong one out of the two of them.
“I’m okay.”
“Don’t do that to me ever again, or so help me…”
“I don’t know what happened.”
“I don’t know, we walked outside, you froze, you looked at me, and then you fell. Listen, we don’t have to go anywhere.”
She couldn’t let her weakness for the past get in the way of her case. “No, I’m fine. I really am.”
“No, we’re staying in. I want to know for certain that you’re okay.”
“Jagger, I’m okay. I promise. Please, take me there.”
He pulled her into his chest. He wanted to protect her.
“Let’s go. I promise I feel okay, and I want to get out of the house.” She was lying. She wanted to stay in and feel the comfort of his embrace for the rest of the night.
“Do you want to drive?”
“No.” She couldn't be weak right now.
“Okay.” He opened the passenger side door and let her in. He moved to the driver’s seat and started the engine.
It was that sound. That sound that always brought her back to him. Her body tensed and he couldn’t help but notice. The mood of the evening was completely ruined. He had ruined it. He had waited so long for this moment, and he couldn’t find a way to bring her out of her trance. Their small talk was forced and stunted. Jagger pulled to the side of the road.
“What are you doing?”
“Look at me. “ He paused, finding the words. “There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think about what I did to you. Not a single day. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make, and I couldn’t even talk to you about it. I shouldn’t have gotten in the car that night. I should never have allowed you to get in the car with me. I was young and stupid, and if there is one thing in my life I would take back, it would be that night.”
Britton fought back the tears. She didn’t want him to know that she also thought about the crash every single day. She couldn’t let him know that she has never trusted a single person since the instant she accepted that he had left her.
She nodded her head. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Forgive me.”
She smil
ed back but couldn’t utter the words. He knew it was a request that wouldn’t happen right away, and he accepted that. He placed his hand on her knee and pulled back onto the road.
Britton looked outside her window as they drove. She hadn’t been this far outside the city limits since before she had left for college. Where was he taking her? Something seemed familiar, and yet not.
He turned the corner, and a beautiful mansion appeared. The windows were two stories tall and four Roman columns held up the magnificent facade. Britton could see straight through the windows into the foyer that held a fairytale-like double staircase.
“Where are we?”
“This is my house.”
“Your house?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” He smiled.
He pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. He moved around to the opposite side of the car and helped her out.
“This is what you wanted to show me?”
“Actually no, but it’s better to leave the car here and walk the rest of the way.”
“Oh, okay.”
Britton was quiet but her interests were peaked. Would he really keep the meeting place of his crime family so close to his actual home? That wouldn’t make sense. He grabbed her hand and led her around the back of the house. She looked out over a large patch of trees. Memories flooded her mind and her knees became weak. Jagger anticipated this and steadied her.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Is this...?”
“Yes.”
“These are our trees.”
“They are.”
“And your house is here?”
“I bought the land.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
Britton wanted to cry. This was all happening too fast. Her body wasn’t strong enough.
“You sure you want to do this?”
She nodded. She was too shocked to speak.
They traveled deeper and deeper into the trees. It was dark; the only light was that of the stars peeking through the leaves. Jagger didn’t need light. He knew the way. He had walked that path thousands of times. He pulled her along, faster and deeper. The anticipation was biting at both of them. Jagger feared her reaction, and Britton feared the reveal. What had she gotten herself into? And why was it so exciting? She stopped him, suddenly feeling confident again.
“Jagger…” she stopped.
“What?”
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
He didn’t expect that. He had imagined this moment countless times, and never did this conversation enter his mind.
“Will you trust me? I know I don’t deserve it, but I’m asking you, just this one last time.”
She had to let him in. He obviously wasn’t showing her anything that would incriminate himself tonight, so she needed to keep him close. She did not want to continue further into the trees with him. Every bone in her body felt weak, brittle. She wanted time to herself, to process everything that had happened. But that was not her job as an agent. This was her case. She had to keep reminding herself of that.
“Okay, I trust you.”
He had wanted to hear those words so badly, but didn’t know if he truly believed her. Still, she had given him permission to continue on, and that was what he was going to do. He took two steps and stopped.
“I just want to look at you for a minute. I need to know that this is real.”
What did he mean by that? Did he not believe that she was really there? Or was he suspecting again that she was working for someone who was out to get him? She prayed to God that it wasn’t the latter. Her wrists still stung and her throat was still scratchy. She didn’t want to endure another night of his torture. David would surely take the case away from her this time.
David. What would he think if he knew that she was out in the middle of the woods with Jagger Stromm? He would most likely blow the entire operation to pull her out of there. She wanted David to be proud of her. She needed Jagger to believe that this wasn’t a lie.
“It’s real Jagger. I don’t know what else I can do to make you believe that.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She was slow, precise; she wanted him to feel the electricity between their lips. That wasn’t something she needed to fake. There was obvious chemistry between them. Even if she desperately wanted her revenge, she couldn’t fake the lust.
Jagger lifted her up into his arms and cradled her close to his chest. He flashed a smile, revealing his dimples. She couldn’t help but smile back. He stepped forward, eventually coming to a clearing.
“Close your eyes.”
She cautiously did as she was told. He walked a bit further and carefully set her down.
“Can I open them?”
He took a deep breath. “Yes.”
Her eyes shot open and adjusted to the dim light. She saw the chimney, but her mind took a second to piece her surroundings together. There was a stone path, a garden of daffodils, a swing set, and a house. A beautiful cabin stood in front of her. It was quaint, but exactly what she had always pictured was attached to that stone chimney. Exactly.
“What is this?”
“Our home.” He looked deep into her eyes. “I built you our home.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Britton turned to face Jagger, trying to comprehend everything that was happening. She searched his eyes, begging for answers. When had he built it? How did he know she would ever come back to him? And finally, why did he leave her in the first place?
Jagger was hoping for a smile, but her face was overcome with shock. He wished he could read her mind, but her stare gave no indication of how she was feeling, or what she was thinking.
“Would you like to see inside?”
She nodded, still not able to speak. Jagger was confused, but didn’t ignore his desire to take her hand in his. He led her down the stone path and up to the front door. He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and slowly unlocked the sturdy wooden entrance. The door pushed open to reveal an open living area. There was a long cedar table to the right with an expansive kitchen just beyond it. The island was marble and there were four bar stools. Straight ahead was a lush, creamed colored couch with four bright red pillows.
Jagger turned to her, still trying to gauge her reaction. It worried him that she hadn’t said a single word since he unveiled his creation. Still, he was proud of his work and wanted to show her more. He wrapped his hand around her waist, his fingertips gripping the front of her hips. She didn’t shudder; a good sign. He gestured to a doorway in the far left corner, and Britton was drawn forward.
The door was open and she peered inside. It was gorgeous. The bed was a canopy style, with ivory drapes falling from its highest point. She walked forward, out of Jagger’s grasp, to the bedside table. It was distinctly ornate, with spiraled columns leading to the base, but that wasn’t what had caught her eye. It was a picture: a picture of the two of them from ten years earlier. They were sitting atop the mantle of the stone chimney, and her head was on his shoulder. Their faces were splashed with dirt, but they were smiling. They were happy.
Britton couldn’t help but smile back at the photograph. She thought back to those days, how innocent she could be when she was with only him. He was her escape. How had so much changed in ten years? And then, had it?
She put the picture down, feeling her tears breach the surface of her eyes. She spun around, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him. This was the reaction Jagger was hoping for. He happily returned the kiss, sensing a passion inside of her that he hadn’t experienced in any of her previous embraces. This was real. She still loved him.
Confidence raged through his body, forcing him to grab hold of her, deepening their kiss. He wanted to be closer to her, but pulling her in any tighter would surely crush her. His body ached for hers. They were meant to be together, to be one. He wanted to tell her that he'd drawn up the plans as a surprise ten years ago. This is where
he was supposed to bring her the night of the accident. He'd wanted to show her how it would all play out.
He stopped mid-thought. He couldn’t bring up the accident—not now. Now she was happy. Now she loved him. Bringing up that night would force her back into the trance she had been in only a short time ago. He didn’t want her to feel that pain again. He would have to wait. He would wait until her love for him was overflowing and too powerful to hide or deny. Until then, he would continue to draw her in.
Jagger pulled away, locking eyes with Britton.
“Are you hungry?”
“No.”
“Have you eaten today?”
“Yes.” She lied. Her stomach was not the part of her feeling hunger right now. Her head was spinning, and her body was craving nothing but his touch.
“Okay.” He bent down and took her into his arms.
This is where she wanted to be, and right then, she was finally able to admit that to herself. In that moment, she wasn’t an FBI special agent, she wasn’t undercover, and she wasn’t trying to put this man away. She was sixteen and in love, again. She had a love that everyone else envied. Just for tonight, that was all she needed to know.
