Page 54

I frowned.“Do what?”

“Again, I will ask you, what the hell do you want from me, Jagger?You made your feelings and wishes, when it comes to me,crystal clear, yet, here you are,again, inserting yourself into my life, meddling, interfering, following me around and messing with my emotions.I have to know, are you purposely trying to be cruel?Or are you just this clueless?”

I jerked back, her words a fucking gut punch.“Cruel?”She thought I was being cruel.The mere notion made me feel ill.“I would never hurt you, Sutton.Never.”The words came out rough, harsh—fuck, my voice shook.

She crossed her arms, her pretty eyes sad as they traveled over my face, then finally landed and held mine.“But youarehurting me.Every time you pull this shit, you’re hurting me.”

I shook my head in denial, not wanting to believe it but seeing the truth in her gaze all the same.

“Yes,” she said.“Yes, Jagger.”

“I was wrong,” I said, my voice like rusted steel.

She crossed her arms, frustration on her face.“About what?”

I curled my fingers into tight fists at my side.“All of it.I…I didn’t know, and I was wrong about fucking all of it, Sutton.”

Sutton

No.

No fucking way.He couldn’t mean what I thought he meant.He couldn’t.

“Shut the hell up!”I fired at him.“Stop talking and walk away.”I turned to leave, and he grabbed my arm.

“You need to let me explain.”

I pulled out of his hold.“I don’t need to let you do anything, and honestly, I don’t want to hear it.”My lips trembled and my heart was a cold lump in my chest.I couldn’t do this.The pain was just too deep.He’d hurt me too fucking much.

“Sutton…” He cupped the side of my face.“Please.”

I jerked back, spun away, and ran.He could catch me easily if he wanted to, and I was surprised when I made it to my car without him stopping me.Jumping in, my gaze flew to my rearview mirror.He stood right behind me.So close, he could touch the trunk.He didn’t though.He just stared back, a pained look in his eyes.

No.I didn’t care about that look or what it could mean.

He’d shredded me, over and over again, and now he thought he could just sayhe was wrong?And all would be forgiven?That I would just forget how the male I was supposed to be able to trust most in this world broke me, rejected me so publicly, without a care or thought for my feelings?Or how he’d walked away twice, making it clear he didn’t want me?

No fucking way.

Starting the car, my heart pounding, I tore out of the parking lot.Traffic was heavy with everyone leaving, and I knew Jagger was still following—gods, I felt him close.I glanced in my rearview mirror again.There.He was striding along the street.

He ducked behind a building and I lost sight of him, then a few minutes later, I passed him on the side of the road.This happened repeatedly.He chased me, vanishing, then reappearing, stepping out from behind a building or bus stop, or the wooded area that edged the other side of the road.

When I finally pulled up outside my apartment, the dark street was quiet.There weren’t any bars or restaurants, and mine was the only apartment on this block.

I got out of my car, gripping my keys tight in my hand.I scanned the pavement, then across the street—Jagger stepped forward out of the shadowed eave of a store.

My heart slammed in my chest as I stared back at him.“I want you to leave.I want you to go away and don’t come back,” I called out.

He was breathing heavily, and as he took another step forward.I took one back.

He stopped abruptly and shoved his hands in his pockets.“Can’t do that, Sutton.I tried, but it’s no good.”

My eyes stung, but I refused to let the tears fall.“I’m asking you to leave me alone.”

His green gaze lit up like a light had been switched on behind them.“Don’t you understand?I can’t.I can never leave you alone.”

I spun away, unlocked my door, and ran up to my apartment, closing myself in.