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I scoffed. “I hit you hard, but not that hard. You’re not making any sense. Propose? Kids? That never would’ve happened.”
“You’ll never get to the top without me. You need me. You’re just too stupid to know it.” Sounding like he’d gone into full villain mode, he laughed. “You think Bingham doesn’t know you fucked your way into this job? Everyone knows. You’re a joke. I was trying to do you a favor and let you come back to me while you still could.”
Xavier moved next to me and began rolling up his sleeves. “You’ve crossed so many lines tonight, asshole. You don’t get to fuck with Layla anymore. She’s ours. You don’t get to use her or call her names or manipulate her into being with you. You’ve earned this beating you’re about to get.”
Matthew looked at me like I was going to help him. “Call your dog off, Layla.”
I looked up at Xavier and shook my head. “Some people can be staring up a horse’s ass and still want to spook it. I think I’d be a little nicer to the man wanting to bend me into a pretzel and toss me into the next county.”
Jones moved closer to Matthew. “You made her think I cheated on her. You hurt her and then you tried to gain from that hurt. You knew she was ours and you still tried to put your hands on her.”
Miriam stood next to the bus and stared at me hard enough that I could tell she had something to say. I looked up at Xavier and Jones. “Don’t actually hit him. You can’t get in trouble.”
Mack had Matthew by the collar and slammed up against the bus while I focused on the two I thought would be more likely to resort to violence. “You’re lucky I’m not willing to go to jail and leave her on her own with fuckheads like you all around.”
One of their security guards, Jason, showed up finally. He nodded at me when he saw my concern. “I’ll keep it in check, Ms. Layla.”
I trusted that the guys wouldn’t murder Matthew, even if Jason wasn’t there, so I moved closer to Miriam and raised my brows in a silent question.
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m sorry.”
Before I could respond to her, Nick was at my side, my phone in his hand. The look on his face made my knees go weak. “It wouldn’t stop ringing and when I saw who it was from, I knew it was important.”
I saw Grandma’s name on the screen and grabbed it. Walking away from the noise on legs that felt like rubber, I pressed the phone to my ear too hard. It was so late, too late for Grandma to call. Something was wrong. My earlier panic about the police calling returned with a vengeance. “Grandma? What’s wrong?”
I’d heard my grandma cry one time in my life before that call. Her voice broke and she struggled to get her words out. “Jagger was in an accident, Lala. He’s in bad shape, but the doctor says he’s going to be okay.”
I was already running across the lot towards the car. “Is he okay? What happened?”
“You need to come home, honey.”
My body froze mid-run and I stood absolutely still as I felt my world crashing down around me. “What is it? What happened, Grandma?”
“He passed out behind the wheel.” A sob rattled her and when she could speak again, her words were ground out. “He has cancer. He’s known for over a year and never said anything. His doctor started talking about it like I knew, Lala. It’s bad.”
Her words didn’t make sense. Jagger didn’t have cancer. “Grandma… The doctor has to be wrong. Jagger would’ve told us so we could help with the treatment. He would’ve-”
“It’s rare.” Those two words said it all.
I dropped my hand down to my side and stared up at the sky. There wasn’t a star in sight because of all the light pollution. That black sky felt as empty as I did, just a bottomless pit of nothingness.
Forcing myself to lift the phone to my ear, I told her I was coming home. Her broken cries begging me to be safe haunted me as I ended the call and made my legs move.
Nick took my arm and helped me. “Airport? I can tell the guys and we can all be ready in less than half an hour.”
I looked up at him and shook my head. “I need to go now. I can’t wait.”
He nodded immediately. “Understood.”
I was numb as Nick sped to the airport. I didn’t even realize he was going with me until he was sitting next to me on the plane. I looked over at him, noticing him for the first time, and tears burned behind my eyes. Only there was nothing I could do to stop them that time. “He can’t leave me.”
Nick swore and put his arm around my shoulders, hugging me as I cried in the same way Jagger did when our parents died.
38
Mack
“IfinallyheardfromNick!” Jason charged onto the bus, looking just as grim as I felt.
