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“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded.
Jagger gestured toward the door with his bottle, as if Deacon would be there. “You honestly think the judge wouldn’t have hesitated if he knew about you and Deacon? For fuck’s sake, Charlie, even Graham has been telling us that you two shouldn’t be together. His best friend is warning us to get you away from him.”
Shock hit me like a punch to the chest at that piece of news, but I couldn’t react to it. I couldn’t believe Jagger was doing this, and most of all, I couldn’t believe he was doing this in front of other people.
I eyed the bottle of beer in his hand, and wanted to snatch it away, but I couldn’t move. Jagger never drank, and I knew he wouldn’t be doing this to me now if he hadn’t been then. I’d known that he was upset. But when Jagger got that angry with me, he waited until he was calm before he brought up what was bothering him. And we always had those conversations in private.
My breathing became shallow and rapid, and the lightheadedness increased as I became acutely aware of every pair of eyes on me in that moment.
“You’re with a guy who sleeps with a different girl every night, and is just going to use you up the way he does them. You’re with a guy who hates kids, and today we were at a hearing so you could try to get custody of your son. Yeah, I’m sure any judge would have thought that was a great choice of a guy for you to have around your son. Great role model.”
“Jagger, man, I th
ink you should chill for a while,” Knox said firmly, and held his hand out for Jagger’s drink, but Jagger didn’t hand it over, and he wasn’t finished talking.
“I’ve been telling you for so long to get a new car, and you’ve shot down my suggestion every time. You’re with Deacon for a few days and let him talk you into it. Is this starting to sound familiar, Charlie?”
“Stop,” Grey pled, and managed to pull the bottle from his grasp.
A high-pitched ringing started up in my ears, and my legs began shaking. I didn’t know if I was still breathing too rapidly, or if I wasn’t breathing at all anymore. I just knew that I didn’t have long before it felt like I would faint.
“You always talk about not wanting to turn into Mom, but you’re choosing the exact same guys she did. The same guys she constantly brought around, the same guys she married before they left her not long after.”
I’m not like her. I refuse to be her.
He ticked off each likeness on his fingers. “Hates kids, gets you to spend your money, fucks anything with tits.”
“Jagger!” Knox barked out.
“If you don’t want to be her, stop making her mistakes! You already got the first kid, Charlie, should we be expecting the second soon?”
My palm connected with his face before I acknowledged that my arm was moving. Afterward, you could have heard a pin drop in the warehouse.
No one moved. No one breathed.
Deacon
June 24, 2016
GRAHAM AND I glanced at each other warily as we stepped up to the door of the warehouse. The voices were muffled, words indistinguishable, but the last thing I’d expected when we’d gotten there was yelling.
I hurried to open the door, and stepped inside with Graham right behind me.
I only had a split second to take in the scene and absorb that Jagger was screaming . . .
At Charlie.
Knox, Harlow, Grey, and her parents were all gathered around with looks that ranged from shock to anger as they watched Jagger get in Charlie’s face. She stood with her back to me, but even from where I stood fifteen feet away, I could see that she was shaking.
Jagger’s hand was in Charlie’s face as he continued to yell, “ . . . kid, Charlie, should we be expecting the second soon?”
Charlie slapped Jagger’s face so quickly that if it weren’t for the sound of flesh connecting with flesh and the stunned look on Jagger’s face, I wouldn’t have been sure it happened.
Silence filled the open space of the warehouse.
Everyone standing in the middle of it was either staring at Charlie or Jagger, none of them had even noticed Graham and me coming in.
“What the hell did we miss?” Graham asked quietly.
