Page 29 of Dark Notes

JAGGER

After finally having her in my arms all night long, having a fight at seven in the morning was not on my to do list.

She stands in jeans and one of my Dark Notes t-shirts, with her hands on her hips, and a scowl on her pretty face.

“Stop trying to control me.”

I rub my temples, trying to get rid of the headache that’s forming.

“McKinley, I am not trying to control you. You have unhealthy eating habits, and I only want you to take care of yourself.”

She huffs and grabs her purse, and heads to the bathroom. I take a deep breath, because I suspect I know what she’s planning to do.

I walk into the bathroom and narrow my gaze at her. “Drop the fucking marker.”

She doesn’t drop it. Instead, she tightens her grip on it.

“You don’t understand. Leave me alone.”

That’s never going to fucking happen. I approach her, and she glares at me while she trembles with fury, but it doesn’t stop me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her close to my chest, while she tries to escape, like a damn cat that wants away from a pesky kid.

“You are beautiful just the way you are. There’s no reason to mark your stunning skin with disgusting words that aren’t even true. The voice in your head isn’t yours, baby. It’s his.”

She places her small hands on my back and sobs into my chest. My beautifully broken girl breaks down in my arms, and it hurts like a bitch. Seeing her like this, once again, only cements the fact that I’m going to kill that fucker. Tilting her head back, she gazes at me with anguish in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “Baby, none of this is your fault. We just have to replace his voice with mine, because I promise you, everything he told you was a lie. There’s nothing wrong with you. Nothing.”

She stares at me with such a lost expression it guts me. “How? I don’t know how,” she whispers.

Placing my hands on either side of her face, I tell her the truth. “I don’t know how, McKinley. I will tell you every day how fucking beautiful you are. One day, you’ll choose to believe that, over the shit he told you. Let me ask you something, baby.”

“What?” she whispers, sounding just as lost as she looks.

“Have you ever met anyone that you even thought things about them like he said to you?”

“No,” she answers in a quiet voice.

“Because they were vile things to say, right?”

“They weren’t nice things,” she admits.

I’m scared to death that my next words will push her away. Scare her, because, fuck, it scares me, but I can’t help myself.

“He didn’t love you. You don’t treat people you love like that. He didn’t love you, but I do.”

“Jagger,” she whispers and she closes her eyes.

“It’s okay. Say it back, don’t say it back, it changes nothing. You need to know that there’s someone fighting for you. Someone that cares deeply enough that he won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

Placing her hand on my chest, she sighs. “You’re a good man, Jagger. You deserve better than me. I’m fucked up. Some people even say I’m crazy. You can fuck me, but under no circumstances can you love me.”

I kiss her softly.

“As much as I think we should finish this conversation, we have to go.”

I pry the red marker from her closed fist, and toss it in the trash.

For six and a half hours on the bus, she was quiet and withdrawn. I kept asking what was going on in her mind, but she kept saying ‘nothing’. The minute we got to the venue, I got whisked away for three interviews, all asking the same stupid questions. I told her to meet me in my dressing room at seven, but I still haven’t seen her and it’s making me anxious.

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