would have been Dana and Kayla’s apartment, a door farther down the hall opened.
Dana, wearing nothing but one of Jagger’s T-shirts, stepped out along with Jagger, who was dressed in only his boxers. I froze, the air suddenly trapped in my lungs as I had to relive one of the worst moments in my life.
I knew this was all staged, that all around me, different cameras were filming everything happening on the set. But what I was feeling, the pain and betrayal that were trying to consume me all over again, was very much real. My hand fisted tighter around the key in my hand, and I pressed it to the ache between my breasts just as Jagger turned his head and spotted me.
“Shaw,” he mouthed my name, and I felt my knees go weak all over again. “It’s not what it looks like.”
As he spoke, he took a step toward me, and then I had to blink because Kayla stepped out into the hall behind him. Only, she was dressed just like Dana was, in one of Jagger’s T-shirts. Which didn’t make sense to me. Maybe I’d only known Kayla a short time, but I knew she was very much not into guys.
While my eyes had been locked on Kayla in confusion, Jagger had been making his way toward me. Slow and steady as if he were approaching a feral lioness. I shifted my gaze to him, locking in on him like a predator homing in on its prey. Hands up imploringly, he stopped midstep.
“Baby, you wouldn’t let me explain,” he murmured softly. “Cannon thought this was the only way to make you understand.”
“Is this really a music video?” I demanded, then frowned at my own question. Really? That’s what I wanted to know first? Shaking my head at myself, I took a step back.
“Don’t leave,” he rasped, his hands shooting out as if to reach for me, but I was too far away for him to grab. “You promised you wouldn’t leave again.”
“I’m not,” I gritted out as I glanced around, but I didn’t see any cameramen or even my family. Just him, Dana, and Kayla. “This is just…a little much.”
“Dana and Kayla’s air conditioning stopped working the night before, and I offered them my extra bedroom so they wouldn’t have to get a hotel,” he rushed out.
“It was so hot in our place, we couldn’t breathe,” Kayla said as she came down the hall. “Jagger is a really good guy, Shaw. He offered to let us stay without hesitation, and then when I whined about going to our apartment for a change of clothes, he gave us his shirts to sleep in. What you saw the next morning? I swear to you it was innocent. We made him a late breakfast as a thank-you, and by then, our AC was working again. Our clothes were kind of gross from all the sweating we’d done the day before, so we wore his shirts home and told Jagger we would wash and return them later.”
Dana came up beside her girlfriend. “I’m so sorry you got the wrong impression that day, Shaw. I’ve felt so bad that you two broke up over it. But I swear on all that I love, I would never do anything to hurt Kayla. She’s the other half of my soul.”
I glared at all three of them. “Why didn’t you just tell me this back then?”
Jagger made a pained sound deep in his throat. “Would you have actually listened, Dimples?”
My teeth sank into my bottom lip, and I lowered my eyes to the floor that separated us. “Probably not,” I whispered honestly.
“Do you…believe me now?” he asked hesitantly, and my gaze snapped back to him.
I couldn’t help how my eyes devoured the sight of him in nothing but a pair of black boxer briefs. His tight abs, the way his arms were so damn defined. I loved his ink, and I noticed a few different tattoos I hadn’t seen before. I had to force myself to meet his eyes, and when I saw the emotions rolling around in them, my chest began to ache all over again. I saw the sincerity in his pale blues, but also the fear.
It was kind of a relief. That I hadn’t been wrong to trust him back then. I’d felt so stupid, so gullible to have put my heart in his hands after being so cautious before, then to have him shatter me so easily. I’d second-guessed every decision