Page 80 of Hot for the Jerk

Marco shifted his green gaze to me, then back to Jagger.“I’m the man of the house and I can take care of Mom, but I guess it’s okay if the two of us are here to keep her safe.”

Jagger’s grin grew even wider.“You’re absolutely right.I appreciate you humoring me though.Thank you.”

Marco nodded, focusing back on me.His hand came up, and he cautiously brushed my cheek with his fingers.“Did my uncle hit you?”

“He did.”I swallowed past the spiky lump in my throat.

“I hate him,” Marco growled out.

I exhaled in exhaustion.“Me too, sweetheart.Me too.”

My kid’s gaze dropped to Jagger’s hand that wasn’t behind me and his lifted one brow.“Are you wearing nail polish?”

Jagger shrugged.“I had a hot date.I wanted to look nice.”

“Your nieces do that?”Marco asked with a snort.

“They love to make their uncle look pretty.”

Smirking, my son nodded.“That’s cool.Thanks for protecting my mom.”

Jagger’s head bobbed once.“Any time.”His hand fell to the small of my back, his thumb discreetly stroking the valley of my spine.“And I mean that.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Jagger

Holyfuckingshit.

That’s all I could say about that.

Raina was the strongest, fiercest woman I’d ever met.

No wonder she held everybody at arm’s length, had Elsa vibes, and reminded me of a cactus.The woman had been dealt a shitty fucking first quarter of her life, and was still trying to sort out the second quarter.Because honestly, that woman was living until at least a hundred.She was as tough as nails and made Chuck Norris look like the sickly runt of a naked mole rat litter.If that motherfucker of a husband didn’t kill her spirit, nothing could.

She offered up some sorbet to Marco.While the two of them were in the kitchen, I took the opportunity of their distraction to duck outside and send a quick text to my brothers.I also scoped out the property and walked down the road a bit to see if Soloman the Sanctimonious was hiding in the ditch like the trash that he was.

I walked all the way down to the stop sign and back and didn’t see any sign of him.That didn’t mean much.We were on a small fucking island.He was still within walkie-talkie range, which was too close for comfort.

I was nearly back to Raina’s house when my phone buzzed in my pocket.It was Clint.

“Hey,” I answered.

“What the fuck happened?”

“Not my story to tell.But they can’t be left alone tonight.The guy’s not small, and he’s angry and desperate.A very scary combination.”

“So it’s Raina’s dead husband’s brother?”

“Yeah.”

“And he … what?”

“He wants custody of Marco.”

“Does he even have a leg to stand on?”Clint asked.“She’s his mother.”

“Gabrielle said anybody can try to petition for custody, but the likelihood of him winning is slim.He’ll just drag them through court, which will be costly and exhausting.Honestly, the man needs to be twelve feet underground.An extra six feet for safe measure.”

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