are both worried about you as I’m sure you already know.”
“Yeah,” I laugh softly. “They haven’t exactly been quiet about it.”
“They love you, doll. I know you’re like a sister to Cali. She talks about you all of the time.”
“And I feel the same about her, most of the time, but I still need my own place, and it just so happens that I already have my own place.”
“You do,” Jags says. “And it’s a nice place you have here—except for that smell. What is that? Oh no, that’s embarrassing. “Anyway, that loony ex of yours is a little loco in the head, you know?”
I nod my head a little. It’s not like I don’t know what he did but I’ve been a little tired of people trying to dictate my life, and moving out of my house out of fear of Landon would be me allowing him to control my life too. It just doesn’t feel right. “I want to be home again, that’s all.”
Jags doesn’t respond right away. He leans forward, placing more weight on his knees as he stares through the fireplace. “I volunteer to be your bodyguard.”
I laugh loudly, a gut-rumbling laugh. What in the world is he talking about? “I’m sorry, what?”
“Someone’s gotta keep you safe, and if you don’t want to listen to Cali and Tango knocking boots all night, I can understand why you’d want to be in your own bed.”
“Jags, are you telling me you’re moving in here with me to be my…bodyguard?” The question makes me want to laugh, but the look on his face…the sudden straight line on his lips that I never see, tells me he’s very serious.
He tilts his head to look over at me. “I’m not going to force this on you if that’s what you’re questioning. But I’d be happy to sleep on the couch if you wanted to move back home. Plus, I’m sort of camping out in the Sawdust Motor Inn, which um…sucks.”
Why do I feel like the wind has been sucked out of my lungs at such a nice and generous offer? Probably because I don’t know how I feel about Jags yet. I haven’t made up my mind. There was a moment the day Landon pulled all of his crap on me when I felt fragile and weak and looked at Jags as if he were this big, amazing hero who saved my day. I had literally just met him then, and I still don’t feel like I know him much better now. Plus, with reality settling around me like dust, I realize my thoughts are everywhere. The only real thought I can focus on right now is the fact that my life feels so out of control that I don’t know if the right answer should be yes or no. I do want to sleep in my own bed, but I’m not ready to trust another human being. “The Sawdust Motor Inn? That place is run by roaches, like I actually think cockroaches scared away the owners,” I giggle. “Plus, I sort of imagined maybe an apartment or something of that sort when you said you got your own place?”
He settles himself into the back of the couch, placing his hands behind his head. “I did. I got a motel room. My own motel room, which you are completely correct about. I took one step inside last night and found a dude passed out on the bed. About an hour later, he was pronounced dead. So yeah, I’m not so eager to run back there. Though, don’t confuse my distaste for the motel with me pressing you to make a decision.”
A decision. I’m supposed to make one of those right now when I can’t even get my thoughts straight? I don’t want people controlling me, yet when offered a chance to make my own decisions, I can’t seem to do that either. What a mess. “I’m not sure I know what the right answer is,” I say, joining him in leaning back into the couch. “I don’t know you at all, and part of me is thinking that agreeing to a ‘bodyguard’ is just as foolish as thinking Landon was a decent man.”
“I can respect that,” Jags says. “Why don’t you think about it?”
“Okay,” I agree. I appreciate not being forced into a thoughtless decision.
“Y’all done flirtin’ in there?” Tango shouts in.
My gosh, why is he always so brash? Jags grins at me as he likely notices the color change I’m