Like I said . . . contradiction.

But this? This guy who had just stepped up to his mom so he was towering over, and staring down at her . . . I’d never seen him before. Knowing him and his different moods, I laughed whenever someone met Jagger and immediately looked intimidated or scared of him. But I saw it now; this Jagger was absolutely terrifying. And yet his mom just stood there looking up at him like he was telling her that the sky was made of cupcakes.

He bent his head lower, his glare deepening as they stared each other down, and soon his mom turned and walked toward her car—no, not walking. She was dancing to her car. Definitely acting like nothing had just happened, and like she wasn’t affected by or worried about the way Jagger had just treated her. Once her car pulled away, Jagger glanced at me, a sad smile pulling at his lips as he watched me for a few seconds before he moved to the back of the truck and closed it up, and then got in the front.

As soon as he dropped off the truck at the rental place and took over the driver’s side of his car, he began talking about Charlie and a trip she was taking this summer, before moving on to the subject of what I planned to do in Thatch, and how long I wanted to stay at my parents’ house. There was never a lull in the conversation until he was dropping me back off at their house.

“Oh, before I forget,” he mumbled, and messed with the keys without taking the car key out of the ignition. “For you.”

I took the key from him and started putting it on my key ring as I asked, “Warehouse?”

Jagger made an affirmative grunt. This wasn’t weird for us. Ben, Jagger, and I had all had keys to each other’s houses since we could drive; it had made our parents crazy. When we’d gotten our own apartments in Pullman, we hadn’t even said anything as we’d exchanged keys . . . by then it had been expected. Now wasn’t any different.

“Try to have fun with your brother tonight, but if it gets too hard or you need anything, call me or just come over, ’kay?”

I nodded and started to get out of the car, but stopped. Despite how he’d been making sure the conversation had never gone in that direction, I had to ask. “What’s going on with your mom?”

His face tightened in well-practiced confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t do that,” I whispered. “Don’t act like you have no idea what I’m talking about.” He continued to watch me, and my shoulders sagged as a strange sadness filled my chest. “You don’t respond to anyone that way, including your mom. Then you wouldn’t talk to her when I was able to hear you.” I shook my head and tried to laugh, but it sounded wrong. “We tell each other everything, we’ve always told each other everything. Then today I find out about the warehouse, and you’re treating your mom like that . . . and I’m sitting here trying to figure out what else I don’t know, Jag. When did all of this change between us?”

The expression slipped, and those green eyes bounced around as he took in my hurt. “Nothing has changed. I wanted to surprise you with the warehouse, that’s why I didn’t want you to help me move, and why I’m just giving you a key. I was going to show you once I had it all set up. As for my mom . . . that’s—you just don’t have to worry about that right now, Grey. There’s nothing going on that you need to know about, I promise.”

I didn’t respond. This was coming from the same guy who always called me so I could make him laugh when his mom came home announcing she was getting married again.

He sighed and caught my eyes with his. “I haven’t heard from her in almost a year. She didn’t show up for graduation, didn’t tell me she wasn’t coming, and then she showed up today because she found out from Charlie that I’d remodeled the warehouse. I told Charlie that you and I were back in town, she told Mom, and now that I don’t want anything to do with her, she suddenly wants to see me again.”

“She’s your mom, Jagger.”

“Yeah,” he said on a laugh. Looking away, he took a deep breath before looking at me again. “I guess I was just mad because she didn’t show last week. I’ll apologize to her later.”

I studied his expression for a few seconds before nodding. I still didn’t believe him, but the day had been long, and physically and emotionally draining, and I could’ve just been making his reaction out to be more than it was. “Okay.”

“Have fun with Graham; if I don’t see you tonight, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“What, you’re not tired of me yet?”

His green eyes flashed up to mine before staring straight ahead. His tone held a teasing hint, but there was no mistaking the honesty when he said, “Never.”

Chapter 3

Jagger

May 22, 2014

“SOUNDS LIKE YOU’RE gonna have fun, Charlie. I’m glad you won’t just be sticking around here for the summer with Mom.”

I turned when she didn’t respond, and watched as Charlie played with the tab on her can of soda. My brows pinched together at the sudden and weird silence in my kitchen. She’d just been going on and on about the month-and-a-half-long trip she and a few of her friends were taking in a few weeks across the country, and now she wouldn’t even look at me.

“Hey.” I rested my forearms on the counter and waited until she looked up at me. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. Is it Mom? Has she been saying something?” I tried to remain calm and not give too much away, but when it came to our mom, that was hard to do. I was always trying to get a feel for what Mom was pulling with Charlie, but if she wasn’t doing anything, then I wasn’t ready for Charlie to know all about her yet.