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“I’m going to chop off your balls with my favorite bread knife, asshole,” the woman in front of him seethes. I recognize the venom as easily as the voice. Evangeline’s cousin is here.
I haven’t seen Coraline since the diner showdown with Lizzie. She sounds just as angry now as she did then.
Jagger leans in close to her, arms folded across his chest and a smirk plastered on his face. “You know I like it when you talk dirty to me, baby.”
Coraline’s face turns ten shades of red, anger seeping from her pores and evaporating into the air like steam. “If you don’t let me by, I’m not going to be the only one dealing with you.”
Jagger rocks back on his heels, shaking his head. “I already told you, Cora. Prez told me Bane’s not to be disturbed for at least three hours. Which means”—he glances down at the watch wrapped around his wrist—“you can’t go in there for another fifty-two minutes.”
Fucking Silas, always sticking his nose in my shit, telling me to take a fucking nap like I’m a goddamn toddler. I should’ve expected it, and if I wasn’t so goddamn tired, I would’ve noticed that only Duffy came into the clubhouse during the last couple of hours.
Silas and Nova ganged up on me about sleeping, as if I could just lie down when Evangeline is god-knows-where.
As a general rule, I don’t give a shit who is in anyone’s bed. The only reason I even keep general tabs on it is for the safety of the club.
But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised when Jagger brought Cora around. The Carter family has been in Rosewood as long as we have. And despite Aunt Dixie saying numerous times that Josephine Carter was a friend of the club, the Carters weren’t regulars on the Compound.
But looking at these two now, I kind of see it. It’s that sort of opposites attract type of chemistry.
Coraline is five and a half feet of outspoken moxie, and Jagger is nearly a foot taller and almost criminally chill.
But if I had to guess, I’d say he finds her charming.
“I need to talk to Bane. Right fucking now, Jagger,” Coraline snaps.
I take an involuntary step forward when I hear my name. And I curse my cousin under my breath when I realize that Jagger is running interference.
I knew I shouldn’t have told Silas how little I’ve slept. But I can’t take it anymore. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face. Only it wasn’t the smiling, happy, laughing woman that I have fallen in love with. Tears filled her eyes, her mouth opened in a silent scream, and pain etched in her face. So, yeah, I guess I haven’t slept much in the nearly three days she’s been gone.
I decided to put Jagger out of his misery. Though judging from the smirk tugging at his mouth, I don’t think he considers his current predicament misery. The asshole looks like he’s enjoying having his hands all over Coraline Carter. Even if it’s just to keep her at arm’s length so she doesn’t actually go for his balls. And knowing her, she has the determination to do it.
“I’m right here,” I say, pitching my voice louder. “What do you need?”
Cora spins on the ball of her foot, pivoting to face me. Worry pinches the skin around her eyes, and she practically runs toward me. She huffs a few deep breaths like she just ran around the block.
“Oh my god, Bane, thank god you’re here. You have to go, right now. That asshole wouldn’t let me see you, even though I told him I had something so important to tell you.” She’s talking too fast, tripping over her words, and not bothering to stop as she throws Jagger a dirty look over her shoulder. “I told him you’d want to hear this, but that?—”
“Stop,” I bark out.
Her wide eyes come face me once more.
“Slow down and start from the beginning.”
She takes a breath and blows it out slowly, defiance blazing in her eyes. I wonder if she’s going to stop talking altogether just out of spite. But then her shoulders sink an inch, like she’s forcing herself to relax.
“I got a call, okay?”
“From who,” I ask. My pulse quickening as if my body knows something’s coming before my brain does.
“I—I don’t know who, okay? It was just some seemingly random woman. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that she said she has something important for me. And I just—I just know it’s Evangeline.”
It takes effort I didn’t know I was capable of to lock every single muscle down. Planting my feet into the cement beneath me, I force myself to stay still and let her finish whatever else she has to say. The urge to jump on my bike and find her, go to her is so strong it nearly takes my knees out.
“How do you know it was her?”
“Evangeline didn’t call me, some woman did, but the way she said it, it’s just—I . . . I don’t know, why else would she call me, you know? There’s no one else it could be.”
I lean toward her, intensity vibrating underneath my skin. “What did she say exactly?”
