Tiffany

2 Months Later

 

 

 

“I liked it,” I said as we stepped out of the petite apartment building and onto the street.

“That one was too small. Plus, it had a weird smell,” David said as we turned the corner of the street and walked away from the fifth apartment we had looked at this past week.

It had been two months since the first time Henrik and Morgana tried to get married. They did it again a week later, but just a small affair at city hall. Then we all went out to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant where the owner—a small woman with rather large hips—kept fawning over Morgana.

Which Morgana didn’t mind as the woman made her a special “bridal” cake. Just for her. I think if Henrik and Morgana ever divorce, Morgana had her eyes on the owner.

“You said the last one was too big, as if that should ever be a problem in a home. Now this one is too small.” I shook my head at my very independent son who seemed to find something wrong with every place we went to. At this rate, we’ll never move out of our current apartment and our lease was up at the end of the month.

“I’m just not feeling these apartments. We need something that says we’re wise and know a thing or two about the world.” David fanned his hands out as we walked by shops.

I rolled my eyes. The entire wedding event went straight to my son’s head.

Since David was shot he felt the need to show the scar to everyone he met. His friends all thought he was the coolest person in the world. I had to finally put an end to it when he tried to show his scar to the checkout woman at the grocery store. I kept getting weird looks from adults, as they seemed to assume I was somehow involved with him being shot.

“What about this place?” David came to a stop and pointed at what looked like a gym.

There was a sign in the window that said apartment for rent. Before I had a chance to get a good look, David grabbed my hand and pulled me along. How could a boy grow so much and gain such strength in a matter of a few months? He was now taller than me.

David opened the door and we stepped inside. There were floor mats, a large punching bag that hung from the ceiling in the corner, and some things I recognized from what David had used in PT. I wondered what sort of gym this was.

“No one is here, David. It’s noon. They’re probably at lunch. We should go.” I tried to tug my son back toward the door.

“Wouldn’t they lock the place before leaving it. Come on, Mom.” David gave me his perfected I’m smarter than you because I’m a teenager voice.

“That’s true, but—” I stopped talking and perhaps, stopped breathing as a man walked through a door from the back and into the room.

“Jagger.” I found my breath and voice once his green eyes found me.

He stopped the moment he saw me. The man hadn’t changed. His body still firm and thick like a tree trunk. It suddenly seemed hot in the gym as I stared at the black T-shirt that hugged his chest. I had to take off my red scarf and navy wool coat for fear I might pass out.

“Tiffany. David. What are you two doing here?” he asked and I had to glance away at the flicker of hope I saw in his eyes.

“We’re here for the apartment for rent,” David said before I could stop him.

“Actually, I think we should look somewhere else.” I turned to my son to indicate we were leaving. “David.”

“I want to see it. I think it would be cool to live over a gym.” David pulled away and stepped closer to Jagger.

Jagger’s eyes bounced between me and my son. “Maybe your mom is right. I’ve told you before, David, your mom wouldn’t like this.”

“Before?” I tilted my head to my son—whose cheeks turned crimson and eyes fell to the floor. “What does he mean by that, David?”

“Uh, nothing.” David shook his head and tried to walk toward the door before my arm reached out to stop him.

“No, it’s something. Tell me.”

“Ugh, fine.” David’s head fell back as he groaned. “I found out Jagger opened his ninja gym and I came here to sign up for classes.”

My eyes widened, and I glanced over at Jagger. “You let him sign up for ninja lessons without me knowing about it?”

Jagger held up his hands. “No, absolutely not. I told him he had to get your permission first. There’s even a form that requires a parent’s signature. Which he tried to hand back with the worst forged signature I’d ever seen.”

“David!” I said.

David turned to me and threw his hands in the air. “Come on, Mom. I just want to learn to be a ninja. This is, like, my dream. And Jagger is so cool, and you refuse to let me call him.”

I stepped closer to my son and lowered my voice. “He shot you. Why would I let you near a man who could have cost you your life?”

“That was my fault,” David yelled.

“David, don’t blame yourself. I had been trained in what to do in that situation, and I knew to look first and then pull the trigger. Obviously, I didn’t do that. It was my fault.”

David shook his head. “I didn’t say anything, even when the police questioned me. I’m sorry.”

“Say what? That I shot you? David, they already know that,” Jagger said.

“No, that I jumped from behind you to try and take down Emma Hawthorne. I thought . . .” David paused as he stared at the floor. “I thought since I was able to get away from that big guy, Will, that I could help you capture Emma. You thought I was behind you when you aimed at her and you were right. But, for some stupid reason, I thought I could leap around you and take her. I thought I could help you.”

“Oh, David,” I said and put my arms around my son. “I love you. You know that. But if you ever try to do something like that again you will be grounded for a year.”

Jagger moved closer and put a hand on David’s shoulder. “But you had been trained on what you did to Will. You hadn’t been trained on tackling someone or dealing with anything involving guns. That stuff only works in Hollywood movies. In real life, situations with guns are very complicated. And even someone like me—someone who is highly trained—can make mistakes. Especially in a chaotic situation like that.”

Jagger sighed and shook his head. “That’s why you have to work on your skills before you ever use them. I appreciate you wanted to help, but make sure you know what you are doing next time.”

“I’m sorry,” he said barely above a whisper.

“My sweet boy, I’m proud of you. What Jagger said was right, you need to know what to do in a situation like that before you try and do it. But I’m proud that you wanted to help.”

I glanced around the room and then gazed over at Jagger, hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision. “I tell you what. How about I let Jagger keep training you? I’ll sign you up for ninja lessons.”

David pulled away and looked down at me with a big toothy grin. “Really? That would be epic.”

He immediately scurried off to the punching bag and started to practice his ninja moves. I giggled watching my superhero.

“You have a great kid. I don’t think I ever had the chance to tell you that,” Jagger said coming to my side. “How are your friends? Evaleen, Morgana, and the gang?”

I sighed. “Morgana and Henrik are happily married and back to work. They finally got married and went on a wonderful honeymoon to Italy. Evaleen is uncomfortably pregnant and you know what that means for Edgar.”

Jagger chuckled shaking his head. “That poor guy.”

“Aria and Alex are living somewhat normal lives. As normal as you can get for being with a billionaire. As for Grace, that poor woman. She seemed to always date a bad guy. After Will from the wedding, I think she’s sworn off men. She also plans to leave Mimir and move to the East Coast. I think Baltimore.”

“At least Will’s locked up behind bars. How does Alex feel about his mother in that maximum-security prison?” Jagger lifted his brow to me.

“I think he’s disowned his mother. He wants nothing more to do with her.” I shook my head as my heart ached for that poor rich man. “How about Tenn? I heard he’s in a max prison too.”

Jagger nodded. “Yeah. It was tough watching Katlin take him away in cuffs. But that guy fooled everyone.”

“It was weird those guys from Morgana’s bridal shower, the ones that waited on us in the Eternity suite, were also working for Emma. It’s not like they could get much information from us as we celebrated her upcoming wedding? At least they were caught and are behind bars now.” I shook my head.

“Weird.” Jagger said and I thought I saw a slight twitch of his lips.

There were a few moments of quiet as we watched my son with smiles on our faces. Glad the bad people were locked up and the chaotic months of the summer were now a memory.

“You have a great gym. Congratulations.”

Jagger turned to face me. My breath caught as the curve of his lips made my insides flutter.

“Thank you. I opened two weeks ago. Your son showed up last week, but I had to keep turning him away.”

I nodded. “No wonder he wanted to look at the apartment. He knew you were here that little sneak.”

The conversation lulled and as much as I wanted my feelings to fade for Jagger, they stubbornly held on. I thought about him often and sometimes it involved my vibrator. For that brief period when we were friends, and more than friends, it was satisfying. It was nice to be loved in that way again.

“I never really did eavesdrop on anything when I put those listening devices in your apartment,” Jagger said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“If that’s true, why did you even put them in there to begin with?” I folded my arms and turned to him.

He sighed. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t ask myself that. Right after that first ninja lesson with David and Diego, when you made that delicious pasta, I wondered what would happen if some criminal I was after found out about you and David. I worried they could get to you and I would never know. So, the next day I went out and bought some devices and came over with the excuse that I left my wallet behind and planted them.”

I could see why he did what he did, but that didn’t make it right. “If you were so worried, why didn’t you walk away?”

“I did. Each time I came to your place I wanted to end it but seeing David’s smile, and especially gazing at yours . . . it was too hard. That dinner made me realize you two were the family I always wanted but never had. Anyway, I felt guilty about planting the devices and decided three days later to take them down. And for the first time, I listened in to see if you were home. That’s when I heard you talk about the date you were about to go on.”

My eyes widened. “You knew I would be at that restaurant. You spied on my date.”

He held up his hand. “Guilty. I admit I did come to that restaurant with the intention of interrupting your date.”

I smacked him lightly on his upper arm. “You bastard.”

“But I didn’t have to do anything. He pulled a perfectly good Gregger, doing all the work for me.” He chuckled.

I folded my arms and huffed but eventually a giggle made its way to my lip.

“He was a dumbass,” I said and we both chuckled.

My heart felt a little empty since I said goodbye to him.

“I can show you the apartment if you want?” Jagger said.

Did I even want to? I was tired of looking at apartments for rent but there was a slight buzz in my chest—and definitely in between my legs—that wanted to be alone with him.

“Okay.” I blushed as I said it and wanted to hide my face. Why did I feel like a schoolgirl going to see a boy’s bedroom?

“David, Jagger’s showing me the apartment. Are you coming?” I said.

David stopped punching the bag and was breathing heavy. “No. I’m sure it’s cool. I’ll be down here practicing.”

I shook my head. “He was so picky with all the other places. Insisting he be there to look at the apartments and now he doesn’t care. Go figure.”

There was a door on the side of the wall that Jagger unlocked with a key. It led to a set of stairs. At the top, Jagger took another key to open the door to the apartment.

The inside was small. The living room had enough room for a tiny couch and coffee table, and that was it. Even the kitchen was back against the wall with only a refrigerator, oven, sink, and one small counter.

“This is a two bedroom?” I asked.

“Yes, but the rooms aren’t that big. There’s only one main bathroom and it’s shared.” He walked me back to the two tiny bedrooms, both had a view of the street below. And the bathroom had a stand-up shower that I wondered if anyone could actually fit inside.

“If David thought that last place was small, I’m sure he’ll hate this place. No offense.” I frowned.

“None taken. You can see why I want to rent it. Not only will it help with paying for the building, but even for me, it’s tiny. I think my old place by the train tracks was bigger and it was a one bedroom.”

“Can a person actually fit inside that?” I pointed to the shower.

“It’s legal but I hadn’t attempted it myself,” he said.

I walked over and had to back up to open the glass door to the shower. Stepping inside, I was surprised that I could fit, but when I turned to step out, my sweater got caught on the entry.

“Here, let me help you.” Jagger came over and tried to work the material out of the hinge.

It was awkward because of the tight space. He had to push his stomach to mine and lean over until his breath fell down my neck. I watched as the tiny wrinkles around his eyes deepened as he concentrated on the task.

“There. It’s fixed,” he said and turned his head, catching me watching him.

His smile fell and those creases by the corner of his eyes smoothed out. Jagger didn’t move. He was an inch from my lips and as stuffy as this tight space became, I didn’t want him to step away.

His eyes stayed on my mouth. “I miss you.”

I bit my lip, willing myself not to lean toward him. But I couldn’t stop from saying what I felt, “I miss you too. But?”

“No but, I just miss you.”

The divorce papers had been finalized a month ago and I didn’t think my heart would hurt as much as it did.

One blustery Thursday evening, I opened a thick piece of mail and there it was, all typed out, the end of my second marriage. Something in my chest tore. And I swear, it had yet to heal.

“I want to kiss you,” he said as he grabbed my waist and pushed me back against the wall of the small shower, “but I want to say something first.”

He searched my eyes for an answer. I wanted to give him that answer but as I opened my mouth, nothing came out but a moan.

He pushed my hair into his face or maybe it was he pushed his face into my head, it didn’t matter. I only noticed that when he inhaled it was the sexiest thing I had ever heard.

“But I love that. Because when the both of us came together we weren’t any of those things. We weren’t rough or sweet, we were somewhere in between.”

He lifted his head and gazed at me as if I was some fading dream. “What we have isn’t pretty like a picture, it’s the mountains and the valley and the sun that inspired the artist. We are forever like that rock and earth and ball of fire. We may be hot and cold, but we will always be solid because we are the eternal. You are what I had been looking for most in my life, even if I only just met you in June.”

Then his lips devoured mine. And all his words melted into that kiss and I knew I would never let him go again.