“Mrs. Easton?”
She whirled around and wiped quickly at her cheeks when she saw me. “Oh, Grey, I’m so sorry—”
“Did something happen to Jagger?” I asked in a rush, my heart pounding at the thought of losing him.
“No! No, God no. He’s fine, it’s me.”
I took calming breaths as I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her. “I’m sorry, I just—sorry. How are you, and what’s going on that has you crying?”
She wiped at her wet cheeks again when I released her and tried to laugh, but it sounded forced. “I feel so stupid coming to you for this. I need to ask you a huge favor.”
“Of course, anything.”
“But you can’t tell Jagger.”
I paused for a second, and she noticed my hesitation.
“Please, Grey, it would kill him if he knew. He would try to do everything to make it better, and I just can’t do that to my son.”
“Okay,” I said warily. “What is it?”
Taking a large breath, she held it for a few seconds and blinked rapidly, like she was trying to stop more tears from coming on. “I need money. I got laid off, and Mike took everything and bailed on me.”
My head jerked back. “What? Oh my God. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even know you had a—wait, who’s Mike?”
She waved her hand dismissively. “He’s gone, it doesn’t matter. But Jagger told me not to date him, he begged me not to. He said Mike would do something like this to me, but I didn’t listen to him. I didn’t believe Mike would leave me, and now I have nothing. No money, no car, nothing. I’m going to lose my house . . . I can’t even afford to buy Keith’s food,” she sobbed.
“Mrs. Easton, I’m sorry. I don’t even know what else to say.”
“And I know Jagger. He’ll go after Mike. Mike threatened him every time Jagger stopped by the house, and the last time Jagger was there, he told Mike he’d kill him if he did anything to me. I can’t let my son go to jail because I was too stupid, and I know he’ll go to extremes to make sure I’m okay. He’ll give me everything he has, that’s just how he is. I can’t do this to him.”
I stood there in shock. I wanted to know why Jagger hadn’t told me about Mike, but knew that he would do anything to keep me from anything painful. “That’s why Jagger was mad at you,” I mumbled.
Mrs. Easton’s eyes widened. “What?”
“That day we were moving Jagger into the warehouse and you came by, that’s why he was mad. Because of Mike . . . right?”
“Oh, sweet girl. I’m so sorry you had to see that. He was just trying to protect me.”
Of course he was. Because that’s what Jagger did. Protect people. “How much do you need?”
“Two thousand. That will cover the bills until I can find another job.”
“Two thousand?” My jaw dropped, and I scrambled for something to say. “I don’t—I don’t have that kind of money. I just started working and I’m trying to pay off student loans as fast as possible.”
A hard sob burst from Mrs. Easton’s chest, and she covered her mouth to quiet her cries. “Oh God. Oh God.” She turned her body away from me, but I still heard her whisper, “What am I gonna do?”
“I can . . .” I trailed off, and felt sick at the thought. But this was Jagger’s mom. I couldn’t let her lose her house. “I can give you a thousand.” The offer came across as a question more than anything. “I’m sorry it’s not enough, but it’s all I have. If I could just tell Jag—”
“No!” she nearly shouted, and turned to face me again. “That’s fine, anything you can afford is fine, but you can’t tell him. If he knew about this, he would give me everything . . . I told you that. He’d give me money even if it meant he wouldn’t be able to pay his own bills.”
I looked around helplessly for a few seconds before nodding. “Okay. I have to write a check, though. I can’t pull all that out at the ATM.”
“Oh, Grey, you’re a lifesaver. I swear, as soon as I get another job I’ll pay you back.”
“I know you will.” I gave her a weak smile as I searched for a pen in my purse and walked over to my car.
Setting the checkbook on the hood, I wrote out a check to her for one thousand dollars. I tried not to think of the fact that I would now only have enough left in my account to pay my cell-phone bill and buy gas. I just swallowed back the sick feeling and continued chanting to myself that this was Jagger’s mom and little brother, and I needed to help them.
“Here you go, Mrs. Easton. I’m so sorry that all this happened to you.”
Pulling me in for a tight hug, she held me for a few seconds as fresh tears began welling up in her eyes. “Thank you, honey. Thank you so much.” Cupping my cheek for a moment, she smiled shakily at me. “You’re such a sweet girl, I’m so glad my Jagger has you.”
I watched as she turned and began walking away. “Do you need a ride home?”
She glanced back and rested her hand over her chest. “No, honey, the walk will give me time to think. Thank you.”
Once she had turned the corner, I got into my car and gave myself a few minutes to gather myself before calling Jagger.
“Hey, I was just getting ready to call you.”