Page 12 of Outlaw Heartstrings
“Does it hurt?” he mumbles against my T-shirt, visibly upset that I got injured.
My heart squeezes. I always say,Who needs a man, when I’ve got this protective eight-year-old looking out for me?
“Not at all. Auntie Jules fixed me all up,” I whisper back. I pull back so he can see the grin on my face and know that he doesn’t need to worry about me.
Mom appears in the doorway. Her concerned glance bounces between Jules and me. It’s a glance that tells me I’ll have some explaining to do later. “Hey, Jagger, why don’t we go get dinner started, so Mimi can have something to eat before she heads off to work again?”
I sigh heavily at the reminder that I’m working the night shift at the hospital’s reception desk tonight.
“Can we make chicken fingers?” he asks. “They’re Mimi’s favorite.”
“We’ll see what we can whip up,” my mother says, shooting me a small smile and giving Julissa an affectionate pat on the upper arm before heading to the kitchen.
Jagger wraps me in one last squeeze. Then he pops a kiss on my cheek and turns to Jules. “Thanks for taking care of Mimi.” He gives my bestie a hug before chasing after his grandma.
I love that little boy so much. He’s so darn sweet. No,seriously. Sometimes my chest physically aches with all the love I have for him.
And he’s not even mine.
When my fraternal twin sister got pregnant at eighteen, I never planned to end up raising her son. But not long after giving birth, it became clear that Raya wasn’t ready to be a mother.
Mom stepped in right away, picking up the slack that Raya left behind. Soon after, my sister announced that she was ready to go off, gallivanting all over the world. It wasn’t hard convincing her that leaving Jagger here in Fairy Bush would be in his best interests. Thankfully, a judge made it official, granting guardianship rights to our mother.
But then all of my Dad’s dirty secrets got dug up to the surface, leaving Mom’s life in shambles. That’s how the bulk of the responsibility for my nephew fell to me. Now, I am officially Jagger’s legal guardian.
I’m well aware that my family situation is a bit unusual, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. That little boy is my whole life now. My reason for working three jobs. My reason for never giving up, even when things aren’t easy.
I can’t let anything threaten him. Not even Easton.
Jules quietly shuts the bathroom door. Then I feel her stare burning a hole into the side of my head as I now attempt to wrangle my unruly red curls into a ponytail. “Are you going to tell Easton about Jagger?” she asks, her voice quieter now.
I sigh tiredly. “I…I don’t know.”
I really can’t decide, and that’s the biggest reason I ran away from him today.
“Alba!” Julissa chastises softly.
“What?!”
“Haven’t you kept this secret long enough?” my friend asks with a frown.
“You know I’m just trying to protect Jagger.”
“By keeping him from his father?” she counters.
“His father who clearly didn’t want to be a father to begin with?” I toss back as my reasons for resenting Easton twirl in the air between us.
“His father who doesn’t know he exists!” Jules refuses to back down.
I stand my ground stubbornly, all while knowing that Julissa is right. But this was never about Easton being a good guy or not.
“Look—this isn’t even my secret to tell. It’s Raya’s.”
“That’s a cop-out and you know it. Because Raya is probably in a bikini on a yacht somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean right now, showing off her newest ass tattoo and having the time of her life.”
I sigh. “Easton is only in town for a little while, so he can recover. As soon as his foot is healed up, I’m sure he'll be gone again. I don’t want to turn Jagger’s life upside down when Easton is only here for a few weeks or whatever. It would confuse him. It could crush him.”
“It could also be really good for him,” she argues. “Jagger’s a tough kid.”
