Page 46 of Don't Break My Heart
I nod back, hoping to God he’s right. The only problem is I have seen too much now. The girl who was taken from here was small-minded, she was worried about only what she could see in front of her own eyes, and now I know there is a big bad world out there. “Please tell me you have some good stories to catch me up on to distract me from the shit show that is my life.”
“I could make some shit up,” he says as he places his feet on the coffee table, making himself comfortable. He flicks on the television and starts to scroll. “There’s a new season ofYou. I know you love that shit.”
I cringe. “Not so much anymore.”
“Too close to home.” He chuckles in a way that makes me laugh back. Fuck, his sense of humor is dark, and it’s one thing I love about him. “What aboutWestworld? AI gone mad sounds like some binging fun.”
“Sure.” I pull a blanket from the armchair and wrap it around my body. I know there is no hope in hell of me sleeping tonight, so any distraction he wants to throw at me, I’m up for it.
IwakeuptoJagger’s booming voice filling my apartment. I blink open my eyes and run a hand through my tangled hair. Shit, I must have fallen asleep sometime in the early hours of the morning. The TV is still on, but the volume has been turned way down.
“Shut the fuck up. She’s finally asleep, asshole,” Cruz tells him off.
“What is she doing here?” Jagger snaps back, sounding way too pissed about it.
I run a hand over my face, trying to get my groggy brain to kick into gear. I’m way too sleep-deprived to be dealing with Jagger.
“She wouldn’t tell me. But she’s not in a good way, Jagger. She needs our support more than ever, not you overreacting and turning into a bossy shit.”
“We need to call Onyx,” Jagger demands, sounding every bit the bossy motherfucker I have grown up with.
I sit up in a rush. “Don’t you fucking dare.” I spin to face him, glaring daggers in his direction.
His eyes slash with concern. “Sloane, it’s not safe.”
“Fuck you, Jagger Stryker.” I stalk toward him. “You’re the fucking problem here. You started this shit, forcing me to have a bodyguard after you didn’t kill Syd like you told us you did.”
He stares back at me, at a loss for words for once in his life.
“If you fucking killed him, none of this would have happened. But don’t worry, I took care of it for you. And now you can take care of something for me. Let Onyx go.”
“What?” he snaps back, his eyes now as furious as mine.
“You heard me. I don’t need a bodyguard. If you want him to stay working for you, fine. Give him some other job to do, at one of your clubs or something. I don’t need him anymore.” Even as I say the words, I feel like someone is strangling the air from my lungs. That’s how much it fucking hurts. The last thing I want to do is say goodbye to Onyx, but I just know I can’t keep living like this.
Jagger grips my arm tightly, forcing me to look at him. “Sloane, Onyx hasn’t been employed by me as your guard for years. Not since Syd went into hiding. He stayed on as your guard because he couldn’t walk away from you.”
I look back at the two of them, and I see the fucking truth, even Cruz knew it. “What? How does he make money then?” I snap back because it’s the first thing that comes to mind. And also, what the fuck?
“He and Malachi work together, on those security systems,” Cruz says, scrubbing a hand down the back of his neck. “It’s time she fucking knew the truth, Jagger.”
I stare back at him like he’s grown a second head.
“That man put up with your shit for years because he was in love with you and couldn’t walk away.” Jagger’s words stab at my soul. They can’t be true, because I don’t want them to be true. Not now, not after he has caused me so much pain.
A fresh wave of anger courses through me, for the girl who pined after her bodyguard for years, having no idea he felt the same, and for the girl who was lied to and tricked so he could have his control. “Bullshit! He doesn’t love me, he wants to control me, two very different things.”
“To Onyx, though, would they be?” Jagger asks, his face deadly serious.
I scrub a hand over my face, trying to keep my shit together. Today is a new day; I will not fall apart again. I have done enough of that over these men. “It doesn’t matter anyway. This isn’t what I want, and you both should respect my decision to take care of myself.” I go to walk away. I need a shower so I can get down to my club. One step at a time, that’s the only way I’m going to survive today.
“Sloane, you’re making a mistake,” Jagger says from behind me.
I turn back to him. “Good. It’s my mistake to make, and if any of you get in my way, there will be hell to pay, you understand me?”
Cruz holds up his hands as if he surrenders. Jagger stares back at me with that look a parent gives you when you’re being a brat. But I don’t fucking care. He doesn’t know what I have been through, he has no right to judge me.
I walk off in a huff. Welcome to the first day of your new life, Sloane. Run from the three men controlling your life: Check. Fight with overbearing, overprotecting big brother: Check. Take back control of your life… That’s the next box to tick off my list.
