like an angry ring in my hand just as I hit send, and I swiped my thumb over the screen to accept the call.
“You did what?” Ma exploded in the background, and I knew I was on speaker.
I thrust my free hand into my hair and fell back against the mattress with a groan. “To make things worse, I was in only a pair of boxers because I’d just woken up.”
“So, Shaw saw your neighbor—whom you have history with—dressed in only your T-shirt and you in only a pair of boxers?” Mia reiterated.
“Yes.”
“This would be funny if it weren’t so damn tragic,” Mia muttered. “Only you could get yourself in these kinds of situations, little brother.”
“I told her it wasn’t what it looked like.” I sighed heavily. “But, of course, she didn’t want to hear it. She said we weren’t together, so it wasn’t any of her business. Then she gave me back the key and walked away.”
“I need to call Dallas,” Ma said in the background. “Shaw is going to need someone to pick up the pieces.”
“I want to pick up the pieces!” I cried. “How do I fix this?”
“Well, you could try the truth,” Mia offered.
“Do you honestly think she will believe anything out of my mouth right now when she saw that?” I was hoping she would say yes, but her silence was answer enough.
“Good point,” she said after a few tense moments. “Shaw is as stubborn as they come. Momma had to get all those stupid girls together to show that one chick’s nude picture was because of that damn game. This… She might not believe anyone who tries to tell her the truth. I mean… Well, if I’d walked up on that scene, I wouldn’t have believed it either. It looks so bad, Jags.”
“I know,” I whispered and pressed my fist into my temple.
“And on top of everything else, Shaw’s biggest fear was what happened to Vi happening to her. It’s like that fear came true.” She made a pained sound in her throat. “Fuck. She must be a mess right now.”
“She seemed calm enough when she left.” At the time, it had killed me how calm she’d been. I thought it was further proof that she didn’t want to be with me. Now, I was sure that she’d been holding it together until she was alone.
I wanted to hold her. Tell her that what she saw was a misunderstanding. That I would never cheat on her or hurt her like that.
“Dallas says Shaw isn’t answering her phone,” Ma said. “Jagger, get your ass in gear. Go look for her.”
I jumped to my feet and started pulling clothes out of my closet. “Do you think she’ll even talk to me?”
“I don’t care if she talks to you or not,” Ma snapped. “I only want to make sure she’s okay. Check anywhere you think she might go. Dallas has Cannon out looking too. If you find her, let me and her mom know.”
Promising her I would, I got dressed and then ran down to my car. I checked the location of her phone that I’d shared with mine all those months ago, but it wasn’t showing me anything. Either she’d turned off her phone or disabled the location function. For the next few hours, I drove from LA to West Hollywood to Malibu to Santa Monica. But no matter where I went, I didn’t find so much as a sign that Shaw had been there.
It was nearly midnight when Ma finally called me with an update on her end. “You can stop looking,” she said with a heavy exhale. “She’s safe.”
“Where?” I was ready to turn my car around, but the next words from her had me slamming my brakes so hard the person behind me nearly rear-ended me.
“She’s in Knoxville with Kenzie and Bishop,” Ma informed me. “She said she’s going to spend the rest of the summer with them. Even had her agent cancel any jobs she had lined up for the next few months.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. “She ran.”
“Of course, she fucking ran!” Ma exploded. “What did you expect her to do when she walked up on that scene?”
“Yell at me. Scratch someone up. Go batshit crazy because she’s a hothead like that.” The person behind me honked their horn angrily, and I finally eased on the gas. “Shaw doesn’t run. She faces shit head on because she’s a badass like that.”
“Yeah, well, when the guy a girl is in love with breaks her