“To answer your question,” I say to Jagger, “no, I haven’t seen him.”
“Well, he got away, and not only does he have us after him, but Manchez is after him, too. You’re not safe. We’re staying here until this is sorted. I’m afraid he will come for you to get your father out considering it worked so well for us.”
“How the hell did he get away?” I ask, confused.
“Doesn’t fuckin’ matter,” Ace grunts from the corner, telling me he had something to do with it but doesn’t want to go into detail. “Fact is he’s gone and you’re all in danger.”
“What?” Ava asks, narrowing her eyes. “It has nothing to do with us, why do we have to be involved?”
“Do you want Willow to stay here, or do you want me to take her again?” Jagger growls.
She glares at him. “She’s not going anywhere with you, you’re lucky you’re not behind bars right now.”
“Then,” he grinds out, “we stay here. Where Willow is, danger is. End of story.”
“What has he got that’s so important?” Jenny finally asks, narrowing her eyes.
“That’s none of your concern,” Jagger tells her. “But he did mention something about Willow having the information before doing a runner.”
“I have nothing of his.” I shake my head, confused.
“He mentioned your mother, too, so I’m sure he might show there as well. Either way, whatever he hid, it has something to do with you and until we know where it is, we can’t leave you unguarded.”
“You expect me to believe my father left some sort of vital information near me?” I mutter, crossing my arms.
Jagger sighs. “Will you just fuckin’ trust me, Willow?”
“Trust you?” Jenny cries laughing bitterly. “You stole her, and now you want us to trust you? I’m calling the police.”
Jagger doesn’t even flinch at her threat. “You call the police and you die, simple.”
“You’ll kill me?” she gasps.
“No, I wouldn’t lay a hand on you. It’s not me you should be worried about. You involve the police, you can kiss your life goodbye.”
“You can’t keep us prisoner,” Ava yells, slamming her hand down on the coffee table.
“You’re not fuckin’ prisoner, I’m just going to be here until it’s sorted. Then you can get back on your merry way and forget about me.”
“How long until it’s sorted?” I ask, the idea of having to be around Jagger again making everything inside me twist in confusion.
“Either your dad or Manchez will make a move. If it’s Manchez we’ll take him out and finish this. If it’s your father, it’s trickier because we have to draw Manchez out by using him.”
“You’re going to kill Manchez and his gang?” I gasp, eyes wide.
“That’s the plan.”
“We’re going to live with a bunch of murderers?” Jenny says, looking to Ace and Angel, who are both standing, arms crossed, watching us.
“Call us what you want, I’m sure you’d rather this than be dead, wouldn’t you?” Ace asks her, his voice gruff.
She flushes and looks down at her hands.
Jagger glances at me. “I know you didn’t want to see me again, but I don’t have much choice. Believe it or not, I’m protecting you.”
“If you didn’t bring me into this mess in the first place, you wouldn’t have to protect me,” I mutter.
“You would have been dragged into this mess regardless, once they found out your father was behind it, they were going to come after you. Be grateful I got you and not them.”
“I’ve heard it all before,” I huff. “Do we need to have escorts when we go out, or to work?”
“Yes, Angel will escort Ava, and Ace will escort Jenny if and when she’s here.”
I narrow my eyes. “Let me guess, I’m lucky enough to get you? He glares at me, and I sigh, spinning around. “We don’t have much room.”
“Ace and Angel can sleep in the living room. You can go in with Ava, I’ll use your room.”
“Why can’t we go to your house?” I question.
“It’s too risky. If they corner us there we have less chance of getting out. Here we’re in a public place, less likely for an attack.”
“Well, that’s comforting, I’m sure I’ll have nice dreams.”
Jagger glares at me. “I can leave and let you deal with it all on your own, if that’s what you’d prefer?”
I’m not arguing with him.
My brain is in too much of a scramble.
“Can I talk to the girls alone, please?”
“Fine. Angel, Ace, go get our shit from the truck.”
I lead Jenny and Ava down the hall and into my room. I shut and lock the door and turn to them. The expression on their faces tells me they’re less than pleased with this, but, if what Jagger is saying is true, they’re in danger because of me and I can’t let that happen. Perhaps I should just go back with Jagger?
Jenny doesn’t live here, but she is always over visiting, and unless she’s willing to spend no time with us, she’s going to have to accept the situation, too.