Jagger

 

 

 

Tiffany was beautiful when she had a bit of beef sliding down her chin.

“Is it there?” She pointed to the opposite side of her chin where no beef could be found.

“No, maybe I should lick it off. Seems a waste to wipe away perfectly good steak,” I said dabbing my white cloth napkin to the corner of my mouth.

Her eyes widened as she glanced around the restaurant. We sat at the end of a long table. Next to us was Henrik’s cousin and his wife. His wife leaned over to Tiffany.

“He does have a point. This meat is tender.” The woman with the long black hair winked at Tiffany.

“Jos, maybe you let her decide,” her husband said shaking his head.

“Pierce, I’m just helping with their problem. And the food is really good. When we visit Chicago in the future, we’ll have to come back here.”

The steak suffered the most in all this as Tiffany tackled it with a napkin to her chin.

“There, it’s gone. Problem solved.” Tiffany turned slightly in her chair, giving Jos more of her back.

And what a beautiful back it was. Creamy, and having licked it earlier today, I knew it was the perfect mix of sweet and salty.

Tiffany’s jade dress was almost backless, giving everyone a view of her flawless skin.

“You’re beautiful.” I put my elbow on the table and rested my chin on my hand gazing over at her.

“The meat is now on your cheek,” Jos said pointing to her own cheek for location.

“Excuse me.” Tiffany got up and walked toward the restrooms in the back while cupping her cheek.

I watched her hips twist as she danced around the tables on her way toward the back.

“She’s so graceful,” I said.

“You’re a lucky man,” Jos said.

I smiled at the woman. “I am.”

They seemed nice. We had talked earlier just before the food was served at the rehearsal dinner. Me, along with Alex, managed to find a restaurant in Humboldt Park. Alex arranged to close the restaurant for the night, and I scoped out the place until I was sure it was safe.

I glanced over at the table close to the door, where David sat with some little kids. One being Pierce and Jos’s little boy. I thought David wouldn’t want to hang with small kids, but he’s having fun making them laugh.

It felt like for the first time in my life everything was falling into place. Even the white lie I told Tiffany this morning was for a surprise I wanted to show her on Monday.

I told her I went home to change, which was true, but I also had a meeting to sign a lease for a building I’m renting. It’s perfect. There are two floors. The bottom floor has a large window facing the street which can be used for my ninja gym, and the top floor is a small two-bedroom apartment.

When I asked her to move in with me, I meant it. Even though we haven’t known each other long, I can’t imagine not being with Tiffany.

My phone vibrated in my pants pocket. Lifting it, I noticed it was from Tenn.

“Hey, Tenn. Any news on Emma?”

“I’m outside,” he said.

“What?”

“The restaurant. I’m in the alley next to the restaurant you’re in,” he said.

How did he know I was here? Then I remembered that he still worked for ITA. I’m sure I was being followed from the moment I left that job.

“I’ll be right there.”

I ended the call, shoved the phone back into my pocket, and made my way toward the front door. As I passed one of the tables, I felt something sharp dig into my ass. Turning, I noticed Morgana’s grandmother smirk at me.

“I had to check to see if the buns were warm.” She winked.

The only reason the woman was getting away with that was because she’s related to the bride.

I picked up my pace to get to Tenn quickly and away from lecherous hands. He was just on the other side of the building, leaning against the brick.

“She’s here,” Tenn said.

I turned around in a circle taking in our surroundings. “Where?”

“No, in the city. I thought Emma would have left Chicago. I’m surprised she didn’t leave the country, but she’s here.”

“Why would she stay here?”

Tenn’s jaw tightened.

“What aren’t you telling me, Tenn?”

My throat tensed, my hands fisted, and I knew what Tenn was about to share wasn’t going to put a smile on my face.

“She mentioned, when I asked her a few questions last week, something about a wedding. I thought she was talking about how she tried to force her son to marry that the Dorton woman. But, I think she might be talking about Payne’s wedding.” He pointed at the brick wall that separated us from the rehearsal dinner party inside.

Rubbing my forehead, I fought like hell to stop myself from punching that brick wall. Because that would be stupid, not to mention it would require a trip to the emergency room. But I felt like being stupid. I wanted to run around the city like a madman and search every crevasse for the deranged Emma Hawthorne.

“The venue will have to be changed,” I said as I lowered my hands and leaned against the wall.

“Can you make that happen in such a short period of time?” Tenn crossed his arms, challenging me.

I may be a disgraced ex-agent, but I could still help take down a wanted criminal.

“Of course. I’ll go back inside and get Henrik. He may not like this, but I don’t think he would want to endanger his guests. It’s either that or cancel the wedding.”

My heart hammered in my ears, and I tried to suppress the bubbling excitement from showing on my face as I asked Henrik to follow me outside. This felt like old times. Perhaps I gave up the spy thing too easily. Maybe walking away from it for a short time was just what I needed.

“Where are you two going?” I heard Tiffany’s voice from behind me.

Turning, I remembered why I wanted to stay away from the government. The one thing that was always missing from my life and made each day harder to do without was love.

I was lost in a sea of adventure. That can be dazzling although it can’t last. But Tiffany? She would always be in my heart.

“I need to discuss the wedding tomorrow with Henrik, outside,” I said and turned to go.

It wasn’t until we were on the sidewalk that I realized Tiffany had followed me.

“I need to discuss this alone with Henrik.”

Totally ignoring me, Tiffany pointed at Tenn. “Who’s that?”

“My old partner. He has news about Emma. I’m afraid we need to discuss this—” I threw my arms in the air as I wondered why I even bothered to open my mouth.

Tiffany walked around me and stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Tiffany.”

“Hello, Tiffany. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Tenn. I used to work with Jagger.”

She nodded and glanced at me for a second before turning back to Tenn. “Did you know about what he did? About the whole,” she made a circular motion with her finger, “at my place.”

Tenn’s eyes flickered to me before gazing down at the ground. Did he know what she was talking about? Because I didn’t.

“Yes, but I told him to get rid of the listening devices at your place. And, as I told Jagger, I didn’t tell our boss that he spied on you. Someone else must have said something,” Tenn said with a glimmer of something in his eyes.

Did he think he was helping with that? Because he wasn’t.

My eyes widened and it was like slow motion. I tried to reach out for Tiffany and tell Tenn to shut up, but my body was too slow for me.

“Spy on me?” Tiffany turned, and it was painful to see the hurt and confusion that filled her eyes. “You actually planted spy equipment inside my apartment?”

“Oh, shit,” Tenn said.

Oh, shit was right. When I was done groveling to Tiffany, I was going to kill Tenn.

I waved my hands around. “It was my fault.”

“Damn right it was your fault.” She pushed her hands onto her hips. “You’re a flippin’ spy for gosh darn sake. Even I know it’s against the law to spy on someone without a warrant. Or, did you get that? Maybe made up another lie. Something about me being a bad mother and you needed to make sure I wasn’t spreading my terrible parenting skills to the rest of the country.”

“You are not a terrible mother.” I took a deep breath as I prepared to put myself in a position to get thrown in jail. “And, no, I didn’t have a warrant. What I did was completely illegal.”

She stepped closer to me, and I could see the tears stream down her face like I had turned on a faucet that might never shut off. “I trusted you. Was that all a lie? Did you tell me those things because you heard me talk about how I wanted someone to love my son and me? That I wanted a man I would feel safe with. Did you spy on me to get that information and use it to have sex with me?”

“What?” Henrik said.

“No, Tiffany.” I gazed around to see one man with guilt in his eyes and another with venom. “Can we go somewhere to discuss this in private?”

“Are you kidding me?” Tiffany said with an octave that could shatter glass. “I don’t ever want to be alone with you again. How can I trust you? Don’t come near me again.”

My heart felt like a million knives were slicing away—sliver by agonizing sliver—as I watched the woman I love walk away. She stopped just before she turned out of the alley, gazing back with thunder in her eyes.

“I made a mistake with you. A scary mistake that once this divorce comes through, I will never repeat again.” Within a second, she was gone.

I took a step forward but fingers curling around my shoulder stopped me.

“Don’t,” he said, and I was too far removed to know if it was Henrik or Tenn.

For I was floating, hovering with my senses so raw there was a hum. A vibration in my ears and my skin felt like it would fly away. Nothing made sense until something hard hit me on my jaw. I fell back to earth with a pain exploding up my face and into my eyes.

I looked over to find Henrik gritting his teeth and shaking out his hand. “You stay the fuck away from her.”

“Come on, man. We have more important things to discuss like the safety of your wedding,” Tenn said turning to Henrik and pushing him back.

I got up and shook off the hit knowing I deserved it. I almost wanted to thank Henrik. That blow finally made everything so clear.

“You do need to talk about the wedding. You need to focus on your fiancée and your guests. Talk to Tenn to figure out if you can come up with a different venue. Don’t worry about me. You won’t be seeing me anymore,” I said and made my way up the alley, across the street, and toward the L-train to go home.

I was foolish to think that I deserved love. That I earned someone that was like a quake to my heart and shone brighter than any sun.