Page 86 of Beautifully Devoted

“Parties every single weekend are getting old.” He shrugs halfheartedly. “But since the semester’s already started there aren’t many places available, so I’m stuck there.”

“Move in here,” Jagger suggests.

“And sleep where?” Bennet huffs as he looks at Aiden. “I love you, man, but I’m not sharing my room.”

“He can take Cam’s room.” Jagger sets our plates on the coffee table and wraps my arm around his waist as he leans into me.

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” I link my fingers with his and kiss the spot where his ear meets his neck.

“There’s a grace period for PDA too. Just saying,” Bennet warns.

Jagger ignores him, locking eyes with me. “I’m telling you I expect you in my bed every night, which means there’s a free room for Aiden.”

“At least they’re taking the bed that doesn’t squeak.” I see Bennet shaking his head in my peripheral. “Still, I’d invest in some quality noise canceling headphones. Don’t skimp on that shit, you’ll thank me later,” he tells Aiden.

“You guys are serious?” Aiden asks.

“Why not?” I finally pull my eyes from Jagger’s to look at him. “It’s not like we’re gonna sleep separately, so you might as well take the empty room.”

“Um, yeah. That’d be amazing actually, thank you.” Aiden gives me a sincere smile, which takes a weight I didn’t realize I’d been carrying off my chest.

I have no idea if he’s aware Jagger suggested I hook up with him, and since we only ever hung out the one time at the robot lab, chances are he never saw us as more than friends. But just in case he saw that day as the start of something more, only to watch me end up with Jagger… At least I can help him with his housing situation.

“If we’re finished playing musical rooms.” Cruz turns his attention to me and Jagger. “Maybe you two can fill us in on why you weren’t at practice yesterday.”

I’m expecting Jagger to tense up on my lap—his dad has never been an easy topic for him, and that’s before he went all psycho on us. But my boyfriend seems to find that inner strength I love without so much as a nudge from me. I give his hip a little squeeze, so he knows I’m proud of him.

“Long story short,” Jagger says, “my dad graduated from abandonment to blackmail, and he’s threatening to hurt Cam if I don’t pay up. We spent yesterday giving his description to campus police so they can try to keep him off school grounds.”

“That doesn’t sound very promising.” Liam chews on his lip, like he’s afraid to say what I’m sure everyone’s already thinking.

“Yeah,” Cruz agrees. “I mean, it’s not like campus police have the authority to arrest him or anything, do they?"

“They can, yeah,” I say. “They probably won’t unless he commits a crime, and threats don’t count.”

“It gets worse.” Jaggers sighs as he looks around the room. “He knows where we live. That’s how he made the threat. He mailed a picture of Cam in front of the house to Coach’s office.”

Everyone starts talking at once, and Jagger tries to calm them by telling them how I think his dad is all talk. Meanwhile, I fish my vibrating phone out of my back pocket. I’m vaguely aware of Jagger telling them his dad is more of an opportunist than a planner, though I don’t hear much of the conversation since what’s on the screen is so damning.

“Kitcat,” I interrupt Jagger and hold the phone up for his inspection. “Look.”

The room goes silent as he reads the text, and when he looks up at me with wide green eyes, I can’t hold back my grin.

Can this stop him? Jagger lifts his brows.

I think so. I bite my lip as I bob my head once.

How? He cocks his head to the side.

“Out loud please, before I ban y’all’s twin telepathy in common spaces.” Bennet demands.

I take my phone and hold it up to the room. “I just got a text from my dad saying Jagger’s old man is on parole in New Mexico.”

“New Mexico?” Liam asks. “How the hell did he find that out?”

I skim through the text again. “He’s got some friends on the force that have been keeping tabs on Jagger’s dad over the years. They unearthed a conviction and a stint in jail, but it looks like he didn’t get out too long ago. This could be our leverage to get him to leave us alone,” I tell Jagger.

“How?” Cruz asks.

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