Page 40 of Jagger
"Hun? Do you need to sit down?" a woman in her fifties asks kindly, glancing between me and the TV screen with a furrowed brow.
Dead.
Aphrodite's parents are dead?
No.
"Hun?"
"No, I'm okay," I respond, as though on autopilot. Or maybe a puppet, like someone is controlling me. Because how the fuck am I okay?
I tear my eyes away from the TV screen, push past the lady and out of the cafe, desperately inhaling one lungful of air after another. But nothing is going in—I can't breathe!My chest tightens, and I gasp for air, darkness circling my vision.
Someone puts their arm around me, patting me on the back as my vision swims before me. I must be sobbing because someone presses a tissue to my nose, but don't they understand they're making it harder for me to breathe? My lungs scream,and I try to breathe, but nothing happens. It's like I've reached the surface of a deep pool, but there's nothing but ice. I'm stuck.
"It's okay, Doll. I've got you," a voice hums from beside me before pushing me into a car. I'm suddenly face down on the fabric, which smells of smoke, but suddenly I can breathe. Self-preservation kicks in, allowing air into my lungs.
Wait, Doll?
I gasp and turn to see Lawson grinning from the front seat, a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
Oh my God! No!I try to kick my legs and fight, but every movement feels sluggish.
"Get some sleep, Molly," he says before nodding to someone beside me.
This cannot be happening to me. How does Lawson always know where I am?
Tears stream down my face, and I give in to the feeling of defeat and despair. I stop fighting and give in to the fact that this is it—this is going to be my life.
As Lawson's whore.
Because wherever I go and whatever I do, he finds me every single time.
"Lawson…" I whimper, but something draws my attention to my left. I turn to look, but something slams into my temple, and before I can cry out, everything goes dark.
21
JAGGER
I had to leave the hospital because I slammed my fist through a wall when I saw my cousin. The skin across my knuckles is broken and bleeding, but I can't feel the pain.
Aphrodite, on the other hand, can. I don't know what happened to her, but I can't believe she's in such a bad way. Kaden would've done everything to protect her—I knew the second I saw him that he was in pain too, hurting because she was.
I can't pretend I know what it feels like to care about anyone like that, but I know it's because he's in love with her. Whatever happened while they were away together changed things between them—and I know he would've killed for her.
I wonder if he had to.
I smoke until my heart returns to a steady beat and the screaming in my head eases off. Aphrodite's fucking parents are dead too, and she's in that state.
You couldn't make this shit up if you tried.
I hang my head in my hands and stare at the ground, my skull pounding. Life isn't like this for me. I live my life to thefullest—partying hard and being carefree. I don't care about anyone—it's easier that way.
But I do care about Aphrodite. I don't want to, but I do, and I promised her father I'd look after her.
You've done a fine job of that so far, Jagger.
She's in a hospital bed, unconscious, and her parents are dead. Oh, and her best friend is missing. How the hell am I going to tell her about Molly? What does Aphrodite know about this Lawson guy?
