Page 29 of Blood & Loyalties
Jag’s eyes searched mine, softening right before me. Then his lips crashed against mine, and I completely gave in. This kiss was definitely more for him than for me, but I savored every second of it.
He pulled away, staring into my eyes. My pulse picked up as he lifted my burned hand and kissed it gently. Emotions that scared the hell out of me flooded to the surface and crashed into my heart. He cared. Really cared about me and my well-being. I brushed my lips against his in a silent thank you and he granted me his killer smile.
“You done sticking your tongue down my sister’s throat?” Val demanded from the other side of the room, making me sigh. With all the guards—Scraper, Dune, Hulk, and Blondie—it was a fucking party all watching an intimate moment that I’d rather have been just between Jag and I.
“Not on your life. Why, you want to stay and watch?” Jag smarted, and as Val came charging toward us, Jag pushed me behind him, once again protecting me. While the sentiment touched me, Val was my brother and I’d deal with him.
I pushed my way forward, but Jag kept a hand on my arm. “Can someone please tell me why the hell all this testosterone is screwing up my day?” I yelled, swinging my head back and forth between the two men. I attempted to push them back from each other, but it didn’t do much good.
“Yeah, Jag, tell her, you fucking idiot,” Val seethed.
Why in the hell was Val so angry with Jag? There had to be more to this story, and I needed to find out what the hell it was.
“I’ll pound your fucking ass into the ground if you call me an idiot again, fucker. And you can explain that shit to your father,” Jag ground out menacingly.
“Enough!” I yelled loud enough to shake the walls then turned to Jag. “What do you do for my father? It’s the big fucking elephant in the room, and I don’t skate around shit. Put it out on the table or leave.” I’d hoped like hell he would tell me and not walk out the door. Angry or not, something was happening between us and I didn’t want him to go.
“I run the show in California. I’m the boss out there.” His words came out clear and precise, exactly as they should from a man in his position.
“More,” I wanted it all.
“I rank with your brother and Matteo, but I have more responsibility in the organization.” To this, my brother let out a deep growl.
So that was what the problem was. Val was pissed Jag had more pull within the organization, and Jag wasn’t blood. That had to sting Val quite a bit, but it did explain a lot of his hostility toward Jag. I ignored calling that out and moved on.
“Great. Anything else?” I gave him my best exasperated look, but inside I was crashing hard. Not from his job rank, no it’s the fact it was in California. My father and brother warned me, but I didn’t think I’d have this big of a spark with the man in such a short time. It was a stupid notion anyway, thinking for even a second that this was more than it was. One night did not constitute me even thinking this would go further. That’s on me.
“That’s all I’ve got,” Jag stated.
“See why I didn’t want him to get involved with you, Rina? He can’t stay here, and Mom sure as shit isn’t going to allow you to move across the country, so what’s the damn point?”
I should have been happy and thankful Val was protecting me, but from what I was just told, I knew this whole blow up had more to do with Jag than me, and that pissed me off. I needed space from all of these men to get my head screwed on right and being in their presence was not going to help.
“The point is that I make my own decisions,” I seethed at my brother before turning to Jag. “Jag. I’ll see you tonight around eight. Be here. Kiera, we have pedicure appointments.” I eyed her, giving her my best you-better-fucking-go-with-this look, and she caught on fast, nodding. “You boys can see yourselves out. Scraper, I’ll be ready in twenty minutes.”
I left the room and moved quickly to my bathroom, shutting and locking the door. The spike of adrenaline I felt crashed hard as I leaned against the door. Tears welled in my eyes, threatening to spill over. I had known him a couple of fucking days. There was no reason for these emotions. To feel sad and disappointed that I found a guy that seemed to get me, only for him to turn around and leave.Get your shit together!I chastised myself. This wasn’t me. Since when do I let something as petty as a man leaving bring me down? Men are a dime a dozen.Too bad your heart opened up to him last night.I closed my eyes then moved to the mirror staring at my reflection. A tear leaked over and I brushed it away.
I sucked in a deep breath. There was no reason that I couldn’t enjoy whatever time Jag and I had sexually and put a lock on my heart. We would enjoy each other then he would leave and we’d each go on with our lives. Not a problem. I could handle it.
Thirty minutes later, Kiera and I were in the car, heading to get a pedicure, even though we had just gotten them done about a week ago. Who the hell cared? She went with it and that was why I loved her so much.
“Want to tell me why the hell we are escaping the house?” Kiera’s clipped voice was anything other than happy, but the fact that she had covered for me made me smile. “And stop with the damn smiling.”
“I knew Jag was leaving. It wasn’t a surprise. The fact that he actually runs whatever business our fathers have across the country put a nail in the coffin, though. I’ll just fuck his brains out now, and he’ll be on his way.” Sounded like a stellar plan. Too bad my heart ached at the thought.
“Liar.” She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her pert boobs up in the air.
“You know flashing me your tits is nice and all, but I don’t swing that way,” I snapped.
“Shut up. I saw the look on your face this morning when you got up. You like him.”
“Of course I like him. I’m fucking him. Why would I fuck someone I didn’t like?” It even sounded stupid to me as the words came out of my mouth, but there was no turning back.
Scraper and Dune kept their mouths shut as they should. I wasn’t in the best mood, and I just might take their heads off for interfering. Smart men.
“You know what I mean,” Kiera said.
I huffed, cursing all the thoughts and feelings bombarding me. “It’s really fine, Kiera. I’m old enough to know when something’s fun and when it’s real. This is fun. We are little play toys for each other for a couple of days. That’s it. We’ve had play toys in the past. This isn’t anything different.” Lies, all lies. He showed me last night that I was anything but a play toy. Sure the sex was outstanding and I had more orgasms in one night than I’d had in a year. But it was more than that. It was the calm and peace I felt in his arms. It was his softly whispered words in my ear. It was the endearments he repeatedly used for me that I felt in my bones he meant. Unfortunately, I needed to push all of that away. I couldn’t bethat girl.The one that gets her heart set on something that she knew would never happen. What was to say it would happen anyway? All the ‘what ifs’ were flying in the air like planes.
