So why did the thought of kissing any other chick turn my stomach?
Chapter 5
Jagger
“You look like shit.”
I rolled my eyes as I lifted my bottle of water to my lips and took a big swallow. Leave it to my sister not to sugarcoat anything.
It was Thursday, and I’d finally found the time to drive into Beverly Hills to Mia’s house for dinner. I’d been busy with school and working on new songs for Cannon’s and my new album that we would hopefully be recording in the next few months. Between that and not getting much sleep all week, I was running on fumes.
“What’s wrong with you, little bro?” Mia demanded as she sat back in her chair and looked me over with a critical eye. “You look…haunted?” She shook her head, causing her auburn hair to fall over one shoulder.
My sister having her hair down was a rare thing. Ninety-nine percent of the time, she had it up in what I’d always called “the ballerina knot.” From the time she’d started her first dance class when I was still a baby, that was how she would always keep her hair, so it was weird to me to see it styled any other way. I forgot how long and thick it was. It only made her look that much more like our mom, and I couldn’t help wondering if Emerson would be yet another replica of her.
“Yeah, haunted is the word I’m looking for.” Mia waved her fork in my direction. “What’s wrong?” I pressed my lips into a firm line, not wanting to discuss it, but at the same time, desperate to talk to someone.
I’d avoided Cannon’s calls almost as much as I had Shaw’s all week long. The only time I’d answered when my best friend called, I’d told him I was busy working on new songs, and he’d accepted that excuse for why I’d been scarce.
But if I told Mia about Shaw, I wasn’t sure how she would react. She’d always dropped hints that she thought Shaw was the perfect girl for me. Even before I’d seen Shaw as something other than another sister, Mia had urged me to take a chance. And every time, I would tell her the same thing.
I couldn’t because Shaw was Cannon’s sister.
To which my sister would roll those big green eyes of hers and remind me that Cannon wasn’t worth losing the chance at the ultimate happiness. Whatever the hell that meant.
“So there’s this girl…” I started, because I wanted to tell her something about what was going on with me, but not anything that could get her pissed and kick my ass—or worse, her have Ma kick it.
Mia sighed and dropped her fork onto her half-full plate. “Gods. Okay. A girl. There usually is where you’re concerned.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin before replacing it on her lap. “Let’s hear it, Jags. Tell big sister all about it, and she will make the dirty skank go away.”
“It’s not like that,” I tried to tell her, but she gave me a roll of her pretty eyes and snorted.
“Yeah, okay.”
Pushing my own plate aside, I took a moment to figure out how much to tell her. “So this girl…she’s been calling me all week, and I need to find a way to make her realize it’s just not going to happen.”
“I have three options for you.”
I waved a hand when she paused, encouraging her to let me hear them.
She held up her index finger. “Number one, you tell Momma, and she makes this girl go away. But with this option, I can’t promise this girl won’t permanently disappear. You get me?”
I grimaced but nodded. We liked to joke that Ma had underworld connections. Fuck, I wouldn’t put it past her to actually be some mob boss and she was using being the badass manager of some of the world’s most famous music artists as a front.
Mia held up a second finger. “Number two, and my favorite option, by the way—you tell Shaw, and she can kick this chick’s ass. And then you can finally get your head out of your ass and make her your girlfriend like you should have already done.”
Mentally cursing, I gave a negative shake of my head. “I can’t, and you know it.”
“Because Cannon is so deserving of your loyalty?” Mia gave me a disgusted look.
“Why do you dislike him so much?” I couldn’t help but ask. “You’ve barely tolerated him for years now. Did