Carter yelled out a war cry and charged, throwing his shoulder into my stomach. Josh and I both skidded to our asses, landing beside the front door, my arms wedged behind my back. Carter swung once, twice, and pain erupted through my face.
“Jesus Christ!” I heard Major Davidson before I saw him pull Carter off. “That’s quite enough!” He hauled Carter across the foyer, then unceremoniously shoved him into a chair.
Josh and I managed to stand, my arms still held captive. He knew me too well.
My chest heaved. Slowly the haze cleared, and I surveyed the damage. Carter held his head, but glared at me like he was ready to go another round.
Food was scattered everywhere, the trays lying haphazardly along a line of dress shoes. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking in enough oxygen to power my brain and not my fists. “You okay?” Josh asked quietly.
I nodded, and he released my arms.
Then I turned to look at Paisley. Her mouth hung agape, her eyes huge, frightened. Then she slowly closed her mouth, the line tense, shook her head, and walked right past me to Will. Guess the guy who starts the fight doesn’t get the girl. I might have kicked his ass, but he’d won this round.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Paisley
Oh, forget it. Not everything has a flippin’ box.
Will was a mess, his face already swelling and blood trickling from one nasty cut above his eye. Jagger had beaten the crap out of him.
“He’s right, you know,” Will whispered brokenly, so only I could hear him. “I shouldn’t have told. I should have been there, too.”
“I know,” I whispered, my hand going to my head, which felt like it wasn’t attached to my body. Nausea hit me hard. I shouldn’t have taken those meds on an empty stomach. Rookie mistake.
“Lieutenants!” Daddy yelled in that voice, the one that commanded attention over parade fields. The one he’d never used in this house. “Office. Now!”
The room cleared. Will stood slowly, and I couldn’t bring myself to look at Jagger as he walked by. Who is he? Do I even really know? I’d never seen someone with that much rage in his body. He’d hurt someone I cared about, not that Will hadn’t deserved it. But did anyone, really?
My heart pounded, the beat forceful, and my stomach turned.
“You okay?” Ember whispered.
I sat on the stairs rather ungracefully, but happy I hadn’t collapsed to the floor. I laid my head on my knees. “I’m all right.” Crud. I even sounded breathless.
“You don’t look it,” Ember said.
I glanced up as the staff came into the foyer, cleaning up the mess that covered the floor. Mom glared at me, but with everything that had transpired tonight, she knew better than to start again. We’d both firmly dug our trenches, as she confirmed by shaking her head at me like she couldn’t believe I’d let this happen in her house.
My mouth filled with saliva. Oh, no. I barely made it to the powder room in time. Thank God there hadn’t been a line. I heaved what was left of my lunch into the toilet. When my stomach was empty, I dry heaved until sweat broke out on my forehead.
“Paisley?” Ember called through the door.
“Just a minute,” I replied, as chipper as possible when kneeling on a bathroom floor. I stood slowly, my knees wavering, and cleaned up quickly.
“Sit down,” she ordered, taking my elbow as I walked into the entry.
“I’m just really tired.” I felt sluggish, like my heart wasn’t even going to try to keep up with me. The new meds. I was getting hit with the side effects.
“Can we take you home?” Josh asked, sitting on the other side of me.
“She is home…kind of,” Ember answered. “Do you want me to get your mom?”
“Oh, she’s the last thing I need. Yes, please, take me home. I’m incredibly tired.”
The glass doors to Daddy’s office swung open. Will and Jagger stumbled out, both holding ice packs to various parts of their bodies. I didn’t want to see either of them.
“Lee,” Will started, his tone that apologetic one he used right before he started an it’s-for-your-own-good speech.
“No. I don’t want to hear it.” I looked up, focused on Jagger. His face looked like a Picasso painting, swollen in places it shouldn’t be and turning colors. They both did. “Not from either of you.”
Jagger’s head snapped like I’d slapped him. “Just go home,” I told him. “I can’t even begin to think of what to say to you after that.”
He walked over slowly and took my hand, turning it palm up. He placed something cool and circular in the palm, then closed my fingers over it and walked away. The door clicked shut.
I opened my hand to look, but I already knew he’d given me back the nickel, and I knew what he was asking.
He needed me to stand by my word not to abandon him like everyone else he’d walked away from. I clenched the nickel in my hand as the countdown was called out from the living room. Ten. Nine. Eight.
I stood, wobbly but capable. Kind of.
Seven. My feet felt impossibly heavy, but I ran to the door and swung it open. “Jagger!” I called out, unable to run any farther. Six. Five. Four.
He turned and ran toward me. Three. Two. He caught me in his arms as the voices finished the countdown inside.
One. “Happy New Year,” I whispered and kissed him.
He lifted me easily, holding me close with one hand under my hips and the other tight across my back. “Happy New Year,” he replied, and kissed the breath out of me.