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.
Instead of responding, I took a step toward the group of people, at the same time Charlie took a shaky step back and then stumbled back another two.
I rushed forward and reached out as if I could have helped her from where I was, but she paused to steady herself.
Just as I got to her, she turned and started off in the direction of the hallway. I reached out to grab her arm, but the second my fingers touched her skin she yanked her arm from my grasp and hurried away.
I watched her until she was gone, then started to turn toward the group, when I caught a pair of blue, watery eyes looking at me from where he hid on the couch.
I didn’t know what I’d just missed. But I knew Charlie had never slapped me, and I’d deserved that and more. If she’d hit her brother, then it had to be bad. And he’d done it front of everyone. He’d done it in front of her son.
Forcing myself not to speak, I let my eyes say more than my words could as my glare met Jagger’s, and walked over to where Keith was hiding.
My face fell into something neutral and less menacing when I rounded the couch, and I dropped into a squat so I was eye level with Keith. “Hey, kid. Who are you today?”
He sniffled a few times, and with each one his shoulders jerked up from the force. “I don—I donno. I fink—can I be Keith?”
“You can always be Keith.”
“Deaton, are we mad at Uncle J?”
I hesitated, not knowing what to say. I knew I sure as shit was, and I still didn’t know what had happened. “I don’t know, kid. Are we?”
Keith’s eyes looked everywhere but at me for a few seconds. When they finally settled on me again, he looked sheepish as he nodded. “I fink so.”
“All right. Well, I need to talk to your uncle J. So can you do me a favor and go find your mom, and stay with her?” I waited until he nodded, and then helped him from the couch. “I’ll be back there in a little bit.”
As soon as he was running toward the hall, I looked back up at Jagger, my jaw clenched, and gestured toward the kid running away. “Nice. Who wants to tell me what happened?”
Knox shook his head slowly, both in response and disappointment.
“Knox?”
His eyes darted to me before looking away. “I don’t want to struggle to pull you off Jagger so you won’t kill him. And I have no doubt that’s what we’ll be doing.”
I arched an eyebrow, curiosity and rage and surprise swirling through me.
“You aren’t good enough for her,” Jagger finally said. “You never will be.”
A huff of frustration burst from my chest. “This again?”
“You can’t keep lying to her to keep her until you get whatever the hell it is you want from her!”
“Lie to her?”
His arm shot out in front of him, toward the couches that were now empty. “Pretending with Keith. Who the hell are you pretending for? Who the hell are you kidding, Deacon? We all know how you feel about kids!”
“That isn’t a damn secret! She knows too!”
“So who’s this performance for then, huh? Like you said, it isn’t a secret. Why act like you care about him?”
I ran a hand through my hair and shot out an annoyed laugh. “He’s cool; he’s a cool kid. I thought that before anything ever started between Charlie and me. It isn’t an act. Why am I always trying to prove myself to you? You know what? Fuck it, I’m done.” I lifted my hands in the air and stepped back toward the hall. “If she can believe me after all the shit I’ve put her through, then that’s all that matters.”
Jagger’s top lip curled in a sneer. “Yeah, looks like she’s the only one who does.”
Grey’s eyes shut. “Jagger. Why—”
“Your own best friend doesn’t even believe you . . . with any of it.”
My steps faltered, and I glanced to Knox, then Graham.
Knox was staring at the floor. Graham’s eyes were wide, his mouth set in a hard line.
“Graham hasn’t just told us that Charlie shouldn’t be with you. He’s been warning us to get her away from you. And why’s that, Deac?”
But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t stop looking at Graham. I knew what Jagger was going to say before he continued. I knew, and I fucking hated Graham for it.
“I mean, this other phone you have . . . I don’t know if I’m even surprised because it’s just so you, Deacon. But the fact that you still talk to other girls on it? And who knows what the fuck you’re doing with them?”
Girl, I thought. Just one. And we only ever talk.
Fear seized me. I didn’t know if they’d told Charlie about it or not. Didn’t know what she thought about me at all now.
I didn’t know how to give up Words, but to lose Charlie?
That . . . that I couldn’t do.
I swallowed thickly, and shook my head once. Looking Jagger in the eye, I growled, “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
I turned to go find Charlie, but paused, and let my right hand curl into a fist. “Knox, tell me something.”
“It’s not my—”
“All those years ago when you and Harlow were first talking, I said something to her to piss both of you off, and you punched me.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Graham stiffen.
“Yeah . . .” Knox said warily, drawing the word out.
“Was it worth it?”
When he answered, I heard the smile in his words. “Hell yeah.”
I nodded, then started to take a step toward the hallway. At the last second, I turned and closed the distance between Graham and me with two quick steps. Grabbing the collar of his shirt, I forced him closer just as my fist smashed into his nose.