Page 192 of Eight Years Gone

Jagger clenched his jaw as he stared at the ceiling, well aware of what Rod was saying. With this new development, they needed eyes on both targets.

“You said you wanted something big,” Rod continued. “You said you wanted Ray afraid by the time you were finished with him. Whatever’s going down might be it.”

“Fuck,” Jagger whispered, scratching restlessly at his unkempt beard because Rod was right.

But that didn’t mean that this entire situation didn’t suck. Because as much as he wanted to nail Ray’s balls to the wall, he also wanted to make love to the woman he adored, then run errands with her on her rare weekday off.

He’d spotted the wreath on the front door and pretty red poinsettia on the dining room table as he walked to the bedroom late last night. Every day he was gone, he was missing out on the good stuff—all of the things he’d craved to be a part of after so many years away.

“I’m on my way,” he said as he shook his head, bad-temperedly tossing the pillows back in place. “If I’m lucky, I can make it to Millsdale before Jimmy gets his ass out of bed. I’ll give you a call later.”

Hanging up, he hurried to his drawers for a change of clothes, smelling the scent of bacon as he pulled on clean jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. “Damn it.”

Making quick work of applying deodorant and brushing his teeth, he moved down the hall, stopping as Grace hummed in the kitchen while she chopped a section of red pepper. “Gracie.”

She turned with a smile on her gorgeous face before it faded. “You’re leaving.”

He sighed as he nodded, recognizing the disappointment in her eyes. “Rod got some intel that something big’s about to go down.”

She exhaled a breath. “Okay.”

He walked to where she stood, capturing her hand, kissing her knuckles. “If this was for anyone other than Colton…”

She nodded. “I know. Do you think you’ll be gone all day?”

He glanced at the clock, knowing she was asking about this evening’s festivities. “Colton and Amanda finish school at three?”

She nodded again. “The plan is to head to the tree farm at four.”

“Let’s play it safe and say I’ll meet you there. You might have to get started without me. I have no idea what I’m walking into today.”

“Just be safe,” she said as she handed him a piece of toast that she’d already taken a bite of. “Your new lame breakfast.”

He pulled her against him for a quick hug. “I’m sorry, Gracie. I wanted to take you to bed and run errands with you. I wanted to spend the day together.”

“Next time.” She kissed him. “I’ll see you in a little while.”

“Okay.” He kissed her again, then grabbed Ray’s camera bag on the way out the door, jogging to the car, needing to get down to Millsdale. Because he had every intention of figuring out what was going on and being home in time to make it to the farm.

* * *

Three hours later, Jagger clenched his jaw as he sat in his latest rental car half a block from Jimmy’s place, still waiting for the punk to get his ass moving.

“Let’s go,” he muttered, glancing at his watch, steaming out a breath, knowing that if something didn’t happen soon, he wouldn’t just be late; he would miss the farm altogether.

Just then, Jimmy appeared from his small one-story house with Greg. They’d cleaned up, wearing nice jeans and sweaters under winter jackets instead of their usual ultra-relaxed garb, getting into Greg’s red Jeep Rubicon.

“Here we go,” Jagger said, waiting for the vehicle to head through the stop sign up the road before he started tailing them.

When they were fifteen miles outside of downtown Philly, he pulled into a fast-food joint across the street from a Mercedes-Benz dealership, where Jimmy and Greg got out to walk around the lot, looking at various cars.

Jagger narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out their game as he noted the time on the dashboard clock. Picking up his phone, he sent off a text to Grace.

I’m running more behind than I want to be. I’m currently just outside of Philly. Something’s developing down here on this end. There’s a good chance I won’t be able to help pick out the tree.

Grace typed back. We can push things back a little if you want.

Jagger kept an eye on Jimmy and Greg as Jimmy spoke to a salesman as if he were interested in purchasing a vehicle while Greg headed for the dealership. “What are you two up to?”

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