Page 6 of Jagger
“No,” I said firmly. “Whatever the fuck you need, you can ask for right here. Now, spit it out. I don’t have all damned night.”
Her brows rose in surprise. I wasn’t normally quite so rude to her, but she’d been working my last goddamned nerve lately.
“You can’t treat me like that, Jagger! You need to show me some respect. I’m your – “
She was gearing up for one of her crazy-ass tirades, I could tell, and I didn’t have the patience for those on a good day, let alone when I had a gorgeous woman waiting for me.
“We aren’t doing this tonight. Either tell me what you need right now or go home. You’ve got no business in a bar right now anyway, and you damned well know it.” I interrupted her, ignoring her furious glare.
“I know I can’t drink. You don’t need to remind me,” she spat out petulantly, looking as pissed off as a wet cat. She carefully assessed me, eyes narrowed, brows drawn, before her expression evened out.
Her anger turned on a dime, as it usually did when she was playing her mind games, and she turned on the fucking waterworks instead. Too bad for her, I was immune to her fake-ass crying after all these years.
“Baby, I just need to talk to you for a minute. Just sit with me and listen real quick, and then I’ll go, OK?” she wheedled, stopping her fake crying long enough to glare at Hawk, who had stopped even fucking pretending he wasn’t listening in. “Privately,” she said pointedly.
I was keeping an eye on the hallway to my office, making sure Angel didn’t come wandering out to see this shit-show. I knew I needed to get back to her soon if I had a hope in hell of salvaging this night. If I left her alone too long, she might rethink this whole fucking thing. Fuck knows she was skittish as hell earlier, although she’d warmed up considerably since we’d been alone in my office.
“Fine, you’ve got two minutes,” I told her, grabbing her elbow and guiding her to a nearby empty table. “Now, talk.”
Her tears dried up as she sat down. It was a fucking miracle the way that always happened. She reached for my hand that was lying on top of the table, but I pulled it away and raised a brow.
“Time’s ticking. What was so damned important for you to come down here tonight making a scene in front of my brothers?”
She rolled her eyes at my reference to my MC brothers, as she always did. She hated the 5thCircle Guardians, which is exactly why I shoved them in her face every chance I got. Yeah, our relationship was toxic as fuck. Had been for years, until there was nothing good left in it.
She sighed and gave a shuddering breath, trying on her poor-little-me act for the next stop on her crazy train. “I need a little money to tide me over until next week,” she said, trying to reach for my arm again.
Of course, I’d known she was looking for money. That’s usually why she came sniffing around. It sure as shit wasn’t because she loved me and just wanted to see me.
“How much this time?” I asked, clenching my jaw as I reached for my wallet. I didn’t even bother asking why she needed it like I normally would, or telling her no, like I did half the time. I just wanted her gone, and this was the easiest way. The woman was motivated by cold, hard cash. Always had been, always would be, and it was a lesson I’d finally learned a while back.
“Two hundred,” she said quickly, clearly wanting to get the money before I changed my mind.
I peeled off the cash, handing it over and standing up quickly to shove my wallet back in my pocket.
“You good to get home on your own, or do you need a ride?” I asked, ready to signal for the prospect behind the bar to drive her home if necessary.
“I’ve got a ride waiting on me outside,” she said, barely glancing at me as she shoved the bills into her purse. She stood and grabbed my arm as I started to walk away. She pulled me close, flinging her arms around me and squeezing me tight. She smacked a kiss on my cheek, and I rolled my eyes at her new role, playing a loving, caring human being.
“Thank you, baby. I knew I could count on you to take care of your – “
“I gotta get back to my office. I’ll talk to you later,” I interrupted her. I pulled away, ignoring her protests as I hurried my ass back down the hall to my office, eager as fuck to get back to the sweet angel I’d left cooling her heels in there. I only hoped that other parts hadn’t cooled off yet as well, so we could pick up where we’d left off. I threw a quick glance over my shoulder to see Trick leading Christy to the bar’s entrance. The motherfucker was good for something at least, besides trying to hit on Angel.
I opened the office door and carefully closed and locked it behind me, taking in the sight of Angel resting her head against the arm of the couch. She lifted her head when she heard me come in and gave me a shy smile before looking away. Fuck, that smile of hers just got to me, for some reason. I’d never met anyone who’d captured my attention the way she was, and I had a feeling if I thought about that too much, it would scare the shit out of me.
“Sorry about that, Angel,” I said, hustling my ass over to the couch. I scooped her up and sat down in her spot, settling her on my lap. She squealed and clung tightly to me for a second, before rearing back to look at me with narrowed eyes. I saw her gaze zero in on my cheek, and her expression hardened even more as she pushed me away and jumped to her feet.
“I think it’s time for me to go,” she said abruptly, turning around to look for her purse which she’d sat down on the corner of the desk.
“Why?” I asked her, standing back up to reach for her. She was too quick and sidestepped my grasp. “Look, Angel, I know things got a little hot and heavy there for a minute. I’m sorry if I moved too fast. I don’t want to push you. Why don’t we just sit down here and talk for a while, then I’ll make sure you get home safely.”
She shot a scathing glance at my cheek, before scowling at me. “That’s OK, Jagger, I wouldn’t want to keep you from whomever needed your…attentionout there.”
“I’ve got that handled, Angel. I promise, no more interruptions,” I told her with a smile, trying my best to appear charming rather than desperate, which I absolutely fucking was. I didnotwant her to leave yet.
She rolled her eyes at my attempt to smooth things over and chuckled bitterly. “I’ll just bet youhandledher, all right. I can see and smell that for myself!”
“What?” I was sure my confusion was clear.
