As much as I wanted to keep her next to me forever, I couldn’t, and I couldn’t rush this. Even though I knew this girl was finally mine, I still needed to give her time to come to me.

Stepping back, I bit back another smile when I saw the disappointment briefly cross her face before she nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you soon, then.”

Forcing myself to not pull her back into my arms, I stepped into my car and shut the door. With one last look in her direction, I pulled out of her driveway and drove home.

Grey

July 13, 2014

I BARELY HAD the front door open before my mom was swinging it back so hard that it bounced back toward us as she pulled me into a hug.

“I missed you so much, sweetheart,” she murmured as she squeezed me tighter.

Before I could respond, my dad had his arms around both of us. “So glad you’re home.”

I laughed awkwardly as I pulled away from them. “I was only gone for a month and a half. I’d gone almost a year without seeing you before this.”

“It was how and why you left. None of us knew if you would come back, how you were feeling.”

“Mom, we talked all the time.”

“I know,” she said with a shrug. “But whenever you’ve left before this and we knew you were upset or hurting, you had . . .” She paused and gave my dad a look. “Well, you had Jagger with you. We knew as long as he was there that you would be okay.”

I shook my head in amazement. Even after a month and a half of thinking about nothing but the fact that my parents, brother, and friends had all been waiting for the day I would realize what Jagger meant to me, it still blew my mind to hear how much they’d relied on—and trusted—him.

“Is he coming soon?” Mom asked, and glanced outside before shutting the front door.

“No, he went back to his place so I could spend some time with you.”

“Well, you thank him for us for bringing our girl home.”

I wrapped my arms around my dad’s waist when I heard the tremor in his voice. For all his acting like such a hard-ass, he was the biggest softy.

“So now tell us what happened,” Mom said eagerly. “I want to hear the whole story. Are the two of you dating now?”

“You didn’t stay in his hotel room while he was there, did you?” Gone was the shaky tone I’d just listened to, back was my overprotective dad.

“Honey,” my mom chastised.

“What? She’s not old enough to—”

“So here’s an idea,” Graham said loudly as he walked into the entryway from the living room. “Why don’t we let her actually get past the front door and let her relax before we start demanding the details of her time gone?”

I sent him a grateful smile and he winked at me as Mom and Dad agreed and started bickering about my staying with Jagger while Dad pushed my bag toward the stairs. With the things I’d found out, the feelings I’d sorted through, and the personal conversation between Jagger and me that had changed everything, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to tell them—if anything. It was one thing with my friends, it was another when my dad and brother would be scrutinizing every word I said, and my mom would be hoping that I’d finally moved on from Ben.

“I didn’t think you would be here.” I stepped into Graham’s arms and laughed when he squeezed too tight.

“Really, kid? Mom said you were coming home, so of course I’m here.”

“Well, I’m glad, it’s good to see you. And thanks for talking to Jagger while I was gone.”

“Of course,” he said, his eyes showing the smile he tried to contain. “I needed to make sure we didn’t lose you; someone had to say something so he would go after you.”

“Like I said, I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t worry about it, kid.” Hooking his arm around my neck, he walked us into the living room, and his voice dropped to a low whisper when he said, “But I will kill him if you slept with him.”

“Graham!”

“Does that mean you did?”

“No.” I groaned and stepped away from him to go sit on the couch; he just followed. “You and Dad are both ridiculous when it comes to all that. But you can call Janie if you don’t believe me, I stayed with her last night just like I had the entire time I was gone. No reason to kill Jagger.”

“I will.” He said the words like he was trying to make sure I knew how serious he was.

I rolled my eyes and huffed softly. “I know.”

“Okay, you’re sitting down!” Mom said excitedly as she and Dad came into the room. She sat down on the couch opposite Graham and me, and her face lit up. I swear she started bouncing up and down. “Now tell us everything.”

“Mom,” Graham grumbled at the same time Dad complained, “Darcy.”

“What?” she asked, an innocent expression masking the curiosity and excitement that had just been all over her face. “I want to know!”

I let my head fall onto the back of the couch so I was looking up at the ceiling. This was going to be a long and awkward day.

I STOOD THERE hours later with key in hand, just staring at the door in front of me. Before everything had happened, I would’ve unlocked the door and walked right in. But now, well, everything had changed now. I didn’t know if I should knock, if I should knock as I unlocked and opened it, or if I should call Jagger to let him know I was standing outside the warehouse.