Jagger
Being grounded made time go by at the speed of a sloth. I anxiously counted down the days until I could leave the house for anything other than school. Ma had taken my phone, given me a stupid GPS device I was supposed to keep on my person at all times—so she could track my comings and goings—and laid down some harsh laws after she’d gotten back from taking Cannon to the hospital.
When she came home, breathing so heavily from her anger that her nostrils flared, her pretty green eyes shooting fire straight at me, I was scared. But my punishment was nothing more than having material things taken away. Things I knew I could easily live without. For whatever reason, she’d gone fairly easy on me.
It was the disappointment I saw in her eyes when she looked at me that really hurt.
I’d fucked up, and I didn’t know how to fix anything.
Not with her, and definitely not with Shaw.
For the past four weeks, I’d been trying to come up with something to get Shaw to forgive me—to give us a chance. She was grounded just like I was, but I’d found a few ways to contact her, and every time she had point-blank told me to fuck off.
What I really need to do was see her, tell her face-to-face how sorry I was and beg her to give me one more chance. If I could just touch her, kiss her, I could remind her that we were amazing together. Maybe I could weaken her resolve if nothing else, and at least start getting us moving in the right direction toward being together.
My grounding was officially over, and I’d heard through Lyric that Shaw’s and Violet’s were over as well. It was Friday and I’d had a hell of a week at school, but nothing was going to stop me from driving to Santa Monica and seeing my girl.
As soon as the final bell of the day rang, I grabbed my shit and practically sprinted out to the student parking lot. I’d actually gotten to drive myself for the first time that morning instead of Dad dropping me off. As I got behind the wheel of my car, it took some serious willpower not to leave skid marks behind in my eagerness to get to Shaw.
Halfway to Shaw’s house, my phone went off. Seeing who it was, I immediately hit connect. “Hey, man.”
“She’s not grounded after today, right?” Luca’s voice greeted me.
“From what Ric said the last time I spoke to him, she’s free,” I confirmed.
“Can you stop by her house and check on her for me?” His voice sounded choked. “I just need to know she’s okay.”
I frowned at the emotional request. “Is everything okay between you two?” I knew Lyric and Violet had flown out to see Luca after what happened w
ith Cannon, but other than that, I hadn’t really heard anything else on the whole matter. No one was talking much about that weekend, and I didn’t blame them.
Everything had gotten fucked up, and it was all my fault. If I hadn’t tried to push Shaw away, none of us would have even been at that stupid party. Violet wouldn’t have been attacked, and Cannon wouldn’t be in Texas at some strict military school.
I heard Luca’s shuddery inhale then the drawn-out release. “Please just do this for me, Jagger. I’ll owe you, okay?”
“I’ll stop by before I go to Shaw’s,” I promised.
“Thanks,” he muttered before the line went silent.
Pushing my concern for him aside, I concentrated on getting to my destination. A mile or so from Shaw’s house, I passed my uncle Drake’s house and saw he was just getting out of his vehicle in his driveway. Rolling down my window, I slowed and yelled “Hey, old man!” to him.
Turning his head, he grinned when he saw me and flipped me off. “Be good, kid!” he called out.
I grinned but kept driving, feeling a little better for having seen him. The year before, we’d nearly lost him to liver disease. I’d never been so scared of losing anyone in my life as I had been when he’d had to have an emergency liver transplant.
A few minutes later, I drove past Shaw’s house and pulled into Uncle’s Shane’s driveway. I didn’t see any vehicles in the driveway or garage, so I figured Aunt Harper and Uncle Shane weren’t home. Getting out, I walked up the front steps and was about to knock when the door opened. Mason stood on the other side with Oscar, who wagged his tail and barked in greeting.
“Hey,” Mason said around the bite he’d just taken of the red apple in his hand. “What’s up?”
“Vi home?” I asked, glancing over his head into the house.
“She just got home.” He stepped back, letting me inside. “Haven’t seen you in a while. You get grounded too?”
“Yeah,” I admitted with a grimace. “It was worth it, though.”
He pulled his brows together. “What was?”
Seeing the confusion on his face, I decided he didn’t need to know I’d beat my ex-best friend unconscious. I wasn’t sure how many people knew about what I’d done, and I didn’t want to talk about it in case Ma got pissed at me.