They stood, but before any of them could take a step toward the exit, Hollis stopped and held up a hand.
“Do you know what happened to any of the other kids that Jagger kept? Ones like Ian.”
“You mean those in the house?”
Hollis nodded, and Ian didn’t miss the uncomfortable way that Ernie looked over at him from the corner of his eye. It was an angle that none of them had considered. There were only a couple of others that usually stayed in Jagger’s house besides Ian. Most of them didn’t last long. Ian had been Jagger’s favorite, but sometimes the bastard wanted a little variety. The only problem was that he got bored with them extremely fast, and they were usually passed around at the parties.
“It’s okay,” Ian reassured when Ernie seemed to hesitate.
“It ain’t pretty. Most got hooked on drugs. They became dealers or mules for Jagger. Others left and just became rent boys on the streets. Both those lives…once you’re in…”
“There’s no real chance of getting out,” Hollis softly finished.
“Ian is the only exception that I know of. He got out and did something better with his life,” Ernie continued. “There’s no real escape after meeting Jagger. He was like this sticky tar. That tar would get on you and just sort of drag you down.”
Ernie’s words made Ian feel sick, but he couldn’t say that he was surprised by them. He’d already seen it firsthand with Kyle and Hanna Fogle. Kyle had fallen into Jagger’s clutches when he was young. Jagger hadn’t been interested in Kyle’s sister, but he’d kept her to maintain a tight control on Kyle. The bastard had brainwashed both of them, got them working for him as arsonists. Ian was sure they wouldn’t have ended up dead if it hadn’t been for Jagger.
How many other Kyles and Hannas were there in the world? They’d blamed Ian for their falling out with Jagger. Were there other kids who blamed Ian for destroying their world because Ian killed Jagger?
Saying good-bye again, Hollis carefully ushered Ian out of the bar, but he was barely aware of it. Ian was running through all the faces of kids he encountered during his time at Jagger’s. How many had there been with no escape? Had there been any that he could have helped to escape? Should he have been looking for them rather than worrying about starting his own restaurant? Or getting married?
The cold night air helped to pull Ian from his dark thoughts. Hollis kept his arm wrapped around his shoulder, guiding him to where he could see Rowe and Noah standing down the block. Ian’s stomach churned and his heart hurt. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was a damn good lead.
“What do we got?” Rowe asked the second they had joined them.
Hollis relayed the conversation they’d had with Ernie, both the parts about Jagger’s old crew having no interest in him and the idea that the culprit might be one of the boys that Jagger tormented.
Ian didn’t look up, but he could feel Rowe’s and Noah’s worried gazes on him. He wanted to be strong, pretend that it didn’t affect him, but he continued to lean against Hollis, his arms wrapped tightly around his middle. Guilt had become a living thing in his chest. He’d been through this before, and his family had tried to convince him that there was nothing he could have done. That he needed to take care of himself in those early days.
But he should have done something.
When he escaped Jagger, he’d poured his entire existence into forgetting about those years. To living the best life he could as thanks for all that Lucas, Snow, and Rowe had done for him. He never wanted their sacrifice or the risks they took to feel like a waste. If he proved that he could pull himself up from the trash that Jagger had tried to make him into, then they would know that he’d been worth all the effort.
In all that struggle to be something more, he should have tried to save someone else too.
“Ian?” Rowe said cautiously.
“You need to tell Gidget that she should look through police records for someone between the ages of eighteen and thirty with an arrest record for drugs or prostitution. From there, we can see if any of them have links to Jagger,” Ian said quickly. He wanted to distract Rowe from his silence.
“We’re on it. I’m more concerned about you,” Rowe continued.
“Don’t be. I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
There was no point in denying it. He was so fucking far from fine. Fine was in another damn country for all that Ian was concerned.
“What if this is like Kyle and Hanna?” Ian whispered. “If this is another kid coming after me, we can’t let anything happen to him. We have to save him.”