The two of them went down with a loud thud, both of them grunting as they hit the side of the metal table. Bianca could feel the coldness of the gun in her fingers, but her shoulder ached something awful from where she had hit it on the way down. Blood dripped from her forehead, remnants of where she head butted him moments before. It stung as it ran into her eyes, and she wanted nothing more than to reach her fingers up and wipe at them. That, however, would require her letting go of the gun."Give me the gun, Bianca," he told her.She wasn't sure if he expected his gruff voice to scare her into giving it back or what, but she wasn't about to fall for any game he wanted to play. Rolling them over, he landed so that he lay on top of her. Money Bags was heavy compared to her, and she fought to drag breaths into her lungs."No!" She struggled, bringing her knee up, catching him between the legs.That gave her just enough time to right herself and stand up, pointing the gun at him
Jagger did his best to enter the hospital room quietly and not bother Bianca. As he pushed the door open, he spotted Meredith sitting in a chair at her bedside."You don't have to be quiet," she told him. "They had to give her a mild sedative about twenty minutes ago. So she'll be out for a few hours.""What happened?" he asked as he sat her stuff down before walking over to kiss her forehead. As his lips touched the skin, she stirred slightly before relaxing into sleep. He could tell she was more relaxed because he didn't see her eyes moving behind the lids."She had a little bit of a freakout. Nothing major," Meredith assured him. "She was in shock and I think everything just crowded in on her. She really wanted you, and the on-call doctor told her that you hadn't arrived yet. Her blood pressure bottomed out, she started shaking, and her teeth started chattering. So they gave her something to calm her down. Nothing really heavy duty. Just something to make her relax."He nodd
Jagger sat on the porch of Doctor Jones' office.Waiting.He had allowed two weeks to go by. Two weeks in which he had wordlessly given Bianca the space that she requested. He had let her stay at her own apartment, not pressuring her to stay with him. The way she tensed every time he came near, the way she refused to meet his eyes, the way she shrank away from anything resembling a real conversation between the two of them. Now, he was ready to move forward—tired of waiting on her to admit she needed him. Instead, he was going to make her see just how much she needed him in this journey with her.Meredith had been right on many of the things she had assumed when she handed Jagger the card for Doctor Jones. He did have issues that needed to be worked on—just like he knew Bianca did. They had issues together. In the past two long, lonely weeks he had spent without her, he'd worked on himself. Now, more than any other time in his life, he was equipped to handle whatever she needed f
"Where are we going?"Jagger glanced over at Bianca and grinned. They were coming through on the other side of the hurdles that had been placed in front of them. It was nice to see her excited about something. "Just sit over there and look pretty," he told her, a full smile breaking out over his face as she huffed."Seriously. I'm worried that I didn't dress okay."He allowed his eyes to take in her body. The weather was finally beginning to get warm and what she wore was a reflection of that. A t-shirt covered her torso, a skirt stopped just about halfway between her knees and her upper thighs, and cute little sandals sat on her feet. The pink color of her toenails shined back at him, providing him with a glimpse of summer."You look fine, baby," he assured her."I'd still like to know where we're going."As he took the exit onto I-65, she saw that they were going south. "Can you figure it out?" he asked, as he reached over to take her hand in his."Are we going to Nashv
"So where are we going now?" Bianca asked as they walked from the rooftop sushi bar back to her car. "Are we heading on home? It's getting late," she said as she checked her watch."Not just yet," Jagger told her as he put his arm around her waist. "I have a plan for us. We're not actually going back tonight.""We're not?""Nope," he grinned as her mouth formed a little 'o' as what he was saying finally dawned on her."Well, where are we staying then?"He loved the fact that he could surprise her—even though she fought him at every turn. "I got us a room."Bianca grinned. "A room where?""At a nice hotel."The smile fell a little on her face, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. "You shouldn't have spent a bunch of money on this," she fretted, twisting her hands together."Hey." He reached to her with his hands and his fingers caressed her neck. "You let me worry about the kind of money I wanna spend on you."It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him t
Bianca held her degree in her hands, marveling at how it felt. She smoothed her hand over the case that covered the piece of paper she had worked so hard to earn. Tears burned the back of her eyes as her dream came to realization. It had been so long in coming that she at one time thought it would never ever get here. But it had. She hadn't given up, and she had really and truly made a dream come true. She stood in the clubhouse, holding it, gazing at it, not fully believing that she actually had it."Whatcha got there?" Jagger asked, as he came up behind her."I finally got my degree," she grinned up at him. "Awesome, baby! 'Bout damn time too. That pissed me off so bad when I realized you didn't get your actual one the day you graduated."Bianca laughed. "I know, I thought I was gonna have to keep you from going after the people in the front office."He blushed. "Well, you worked hard for it and you deserved it. Sorry, but it really did piss me off.""It's fine, it was c
VOLUME FOUR: WORTH THE BATTLENashville traffic sucked a big one—especially when it kept Layne O'Connor from getting to the one person in the world who had the power to make him drive seventy miles without questioning why. His fingers beat a rhythm against the steering wheel in time with the rock station he listened to. Today, the music that normally calmed him down set his nerves on edge. "Move your ass," he shouted as the person in front of him tapped their brakes. It was times like this he wished he could always drive his motorcycle. If he had been on the back of his bike right now, he could have maneuvered through this mess in ten minutes flat. Instead, he had been sitting in almost gridlock for over an hour. He'd also been flipped off more times than he cared to count, what he wouldn't give to show these drivers the kind of artillery he carried with him.A trip that should have taken an hour and a half at most was well into its second. Cursing loudly, he picked up the phon
The drive back to Bowling Green didn't take as long as the drive to Nashville and for that Layne was thankful. His ankle and leg hurt if he was cramped in a car for very long, not to mention it just flat out irritated him. "Jess." He shook her arm, trying his best to be gentle, even though he could barely remember how."Yeah." She turned her head towards him, breathing deeply as she realized where she was. "Did I fall asleep on you? I'm so sorry.""You were tired, it's fine. I like driving in peace and quiet, with just the radio on anyway, unless I'm on my bike."Glancing out the window, she looked to the left and right. "Where are we?" There was a large building that looked like a hospital on her right."Liam's old lady had just gone into labor when you called. I got a text on the way back that she delivered. All the brothers are there; it's customary that I make an appearance.""I'm not going to pretend like I understand a damn word you just said." She popped a piece of