JAGGED EDGE: A BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE (ALPHA MALE) (9 page)

“When he learned it was you, he was very happy. But it seems like he’s agreed to do this for his father.”

Sammi rubbed her eyes. “No,” she screamed. This couldn’t be happening. She didn’t want to believe it.

But then Dad got up, about to cry himself over the news. “It’s true. He told me himself. He didn’t think he was doing anything wrong by saying it. But we thought you should know that Jag’s dad put him up to this.”

The news slowly sank in. Then darkness consumed her and she found herself charging over to the couch. Luckily she only grabbed the pillow and threw it against the wall before she crumbled to the floor.

Jag had only done this to please his father. No wonder he seemed to be racing against the clock to get into her pants and then to propose.

As she sat and cried, her parents comforted her.

Her parents wanted what was best for her.

Right now, it didn’t seem that Perry Jagridge was best for her at all.

Chapter Ten

Jag

“We’re all set then for the takeover?”

Nicole chimed in on the other line. “We’ve got all the necessary partners. Dispatch is as good as ours. All thanks to you.”

Jag started to smile, but stopped once he thought about the brothers and sisters who would get the rug pulled out from under them. He relaxed his head back on his arms as he stretched out in the King-sized bed, his laptop out in front of him and a pile of papers to his right. He pushed it all off to the side to clear his head.

“Thank you, Nicole. Try to settle everything so I only need to go to the offices for a short amount of time. I’m newly engaged here.”

“Engaged? To whom? Oh wow, Jag. I haven’t heard any of the blogs talk about this yet.”

He winced. “And I’d prefer it that way, so please keep your lips sealed. I know I’ve never had to tell you that before, but this means a lot to me and I don’t want her spooked.”

“Spooked by the media? It’s not a celebrity then. A girl back home?”

“
The
girl back home. The one I always thought I screwed up with.”

“You can talk your way into anything. Just ask the Dispatch people.”

“Yeah...” That left a sour taste in his mouth. Usually takeovers were against bigger companies. It didn’t make him feel like the bad guy when he took over a company that the owners didn’t care about. Dispatch was a small family business.

But his company needed to keep growing. They said it was necessary, so he shook it from his mind, saying thank you to Nicole for all her work, and then clicked off his Bluetooth.

Jag dropped it on the bed stand next to him.

A light rapping sounded on his door.

“Yes?”

They knocked again.

Sighing, Jag got out of bed. He had the Do Not Disturb sign on the door handle so he wasn’t in a mood for interruptions.

He looked through the peephole and saw Sammi there, thin lipped with a rigid posture. She didn’t look happy.

Jag opened it.

“H—”

Right away, he tried to talk, but she stormed in.

Sammi held up the ring, not on her finger, in his face. “See this, asshole?”

Jag started to smirk because he thought she must be joking, but then he watched as she threw back the blinds, swung the French doors wide open, and tossed it off the balcony.

He yelled, his hand instinctively jumping to catch it. A tiny sparkle shone in the air and then it was gone.

“Why?” he said, eyes wide as he peered over the edge. “Why would you do that,” he glared at her.

It rested somewhere in the grass below. If anyone found it, they would get a nice bonus. Maybe even be able to quit work for a while.

Sammi stood tall with her hands on her hips. Jag swung away from the banister to face her.

He didn’t care about the diamond or the cost. Fuck that. He could buy a truck load of diamond rings and dump them all at her feet if that was what she wanted.

“I learned about your little promise.”

“Huh?” Jag had almost forgotten about it. To him, it didn’t seem like a big deal.

To him, the promise to his dad had been motivation to get his act together. But he could see she didn’t feel the same way as she stood there seething, her eyes wild with anger.

“Don’t act stupid. My dad talked to yours and found out he’s sick.” She took a step closer, her finger jabbing the air. “That’s not the worst part. You promised your dad you would get married before he died.”

“Yes.”

“So you came for me, because you knew I would be easy.”

No, no, no...Jag shook his head vehemently. She had to understand that it wasn’t like that.

“That’s not it.”

She held her hand up to stop him as he tried to approach.

“I don’t want to hear your excuses now. You already admitted that you promised it to him.”

Sammi crooked her head at him. Hard lines etched across her face as she tried to fight back a mixture of sad and angry tears.

“Yes, I promised that to him, but what happened between us wasn’t because of it.”

“You’re telling me it’s all a coincidence? That you would have proposed to me otherwise? I can’t believe you, Jag. I’ve been with some shitty men, but I always trusted you. You were my last hope to find a good one, but you really fucked that up.”

She glowered at him. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust again. And I’m not going to be your convenient wife, you can forget that.”

Jag let out a long breath. He raised his palms to try to calm her down, and to slow his own racing thoughts.

How could he explain this to her?

“The marriage was my dad’s idea, but it wasn’t a bad one. He’s right. I need to settle down with someone, and that someone is you, Sammi.”

“I should’ve known because this was going so fast that you wanted something. Otherwise why would you care when you’ve been gone for years, living the high life?”

“This doesn’t look good, I admit it. And I should’ve explained my dad’s situation, but I didn’t want you to take it the wrong way.”

Like you’re doing now…

In the worst way possible...

Figures.

She turned on her heels, giving him her back. Jag hurried to catch up to her. She slammed the door behind her but he thrust it back open and met her at the elevator.

Sammi reached out and pressed the button to close the door in his face.

“Don’t leave. Let me explain again.”

“You lied to me. What else is there to explain?”

The doors closed but he braced himself against them. They swung open and he stood inside.

“I’m not going anywhere, Sammi. I promised you I wouldn’t. You’re focusing on all the wrong things.”

“No, for once I’m focusing on the right thing. I was wary for a reason, a good reason. You’re a businessman, Jag, and the reason you proposed to me was because of this business with your father.”

“Is there anything I can say to convince you otherwise?” Jag wouldn’t back down.

Sammi clasped her hands together. For a second he thought he saw her backing down, but she remained firm in her decision, the decision she’d reached before she’d even arrived. She’d just wanted to tell him off. He didn’t blame her. He should’ve been smarter about all of this.

Seeing her shake her head, he didn’t budge from the elevator.

Jag made a promise. And he never reneged on his promises. All he had as a man was his word. If he didn’t have that, he didn’t have anything.

“I promised to be with you.”

“The promise is off,” she told him grimly. “You should go back to where your real home is. It certainly isn’t here. Now go, Jag, before I push you out the door.”

With a heavy heart, Jag turned and left.

***

Sammi

One week later…

Someone texted Sammi, but she didn’t bother to look. A day before, her friend and co-worker, Gretchen, told her she’d be busting down her door to talk to her. So she expected it would be her again. Or Jag. But she was one step away from blocking him.

Nothing he could say would be enough to convince her he meant it.

Whenever she looked at his name popping up on her phone, she felt sick.

Sammi had been depressed, lying around in bed. She’d been trying to catch up on the new Downton Abbey before all this happened; now she remained in bed, trying to sleep her hours away.

A knock on her door startled her as she jumped up from her bed, but she plopped right back down like someone had chained her to it.

They knocked again, a forceful knock, followed by her phone blowing up.

“Ugh, this has to be Gretchen.”

Sammi pulled her phone closer.

Gretchen: Let me in.

Sammi: Sorry, not feeling it. Thanks for coming though. We’ll catch up later.

Gretchen: I’m not leaving until you talk to me.

“Fine,” she grumbled. Damn her friends for trying to help! Right now she just wanted to be left alone in her gloomy mood.

After tossing on a robe, she checked herself in the mirror only to groan again. She flattened some stray hairs on her head before getting the door.

This would have to do.

Gretchen held a basket. “Some chocolates.” She brought out the wine bottle behind her back. “And wine, if you’re up to it. I thought I should give you some choices.”

“I’ll eat the chocolates right now.”

They headed to the kitchen. She ate the caramel chocolates, so did Gretchen. Despite not wanting to feel better, the cocoa helped her mood right away—no fighting it. That was the magic of chocolate.

“You’ve got to come back to work. Your dad is doing everything he can to try to cover for you, but people are starting to talk.”

“I know.” Sammi squished her lips together and squinted. She still felt groggy. “I’ll be back in a few days. I needed a week.”

Gretchen leaned back, crossing her arms. “So spill it. What happened?”

Sammi shut her eyes. She didn’t want to relive it all over again, but talking to Gretchen always made her feel better, so she would listen to her friend.

She told her everything from that night at the charity drive to the day she found out about his lie. By the end, Gretchen uncorked the bottle of wine and poured two glasses.

“We better open this up, girl.”

Sammi waved it away. “Thank you, but I’ll have it later.”

“Later? You can’t save wine like that. I’ll give you another bottle.”

Gretchen really listened. “I think you should still do it.”

“Still marry the guy? It’ll be like an arranged marriage.”

Gretchen shrugged. “They work sometimes. And you’ll be marrying a rich, handsome guy who you always liked.”

Loved. She always
loved
him. “The emotion part is the problem. I trust him.”

“Okay,” she said and took a sip. “He should’ve told you, but it does sound like he’s into you. He’s hung around this long, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah, he’s not leaving the hotel. Soon I think he’s going to text me that he’s going on a hunger strike.”

She paced around Sammi’s kitchen. Meanwhile, Sammi tossed another chocolate in her mouth. Why hadn’t she let Gretchen in earlier? She really knew how to pick a girl up.

“He cares about you. That much is clear. He didn’t lie about that.”

“But,” she tried to fight it. “But how can you be sure?”

“Jag’s a billionaire. He’s got shit to do. Every day he stays in that hotel room, he’s probably losing millions of dollars.”

Sammi cringed. “Well, no pressure on me or anything. That makes me feel bad.”

“It shouldn’t. He’s willing to give that up for you. I’m sure he’s willing to give up
a lot
for you. If a man took me on a retreat like he did with you, and said those things he’s said, I’d be considering an engagement even if it were his father’s idea.”

“Jag’s sly,” she argued. “He got to the top because he’s fiercely competitive and likes a challenge. He saw what his father said as a challenge. I’m not sure if he really likes me as much as he says.”

Gretchen finished off her wine. “There’s only one way to find out. You keep going.”

That didn’t sound too helpful, but she kept an open mind. Sammi didn’t want to argue every point. She knew how annoying that could be when someone tried to help.

Gretchen argued, “If you’re serious about him you’ll take the chance. Because what are your options? You could sit here and mope and wonder ‘what if’ or you could put yourself out there and try it, see where it goes.”

“Those seem to be my options. Right now, I’m going hard on the sleeping and moping.”

“And that’s not any way to live.”

“No, it certainly isn’t,” Sammi said as she reached for her wine glass. “Pour me a glass of wine? What time is it?”

“Does it matter? Any time is good time for wine.”

“I’ll have a drink. And thank you again for trying to help. I know I’ve been a downer with my texts.”

“No problem, glad to help, sweetie.”

They sat and talked for another hour. Gretchen had one more glass and Sammi finished hers. The last time she drank had been with Jag, so she remembered the hangover well. The subject moved away from Jag for that hour.

When Gretchen left, she left Sammi noticeably sunnier than when she’d arrived. She thanked her again before she left and decided to get some fresh air to clear the cobwebs.

For a while, she’d avoided anything that might make her feel better. Now with the glass of wine, the chocolate, some sunlight, fresh air, and talk with a good friend, Sammi thought she would be breaking through her depressive cloud soon.

Shielding her face from the blinding sun, she walked down the sidewalk until she got to the end of her block. Her eyes adjusted as she swung right to go down another part of her development.

As she took the turn, she noticed a vehicle moving behind her—a silver vehicle that she’d been noticing a lot lately. Whenever she went out for groceries or to grab a snack, she would see the same silver vehicle. But there were plenty of similar cars about, so she thought nothing of it.

But now déjà vu gripped her as she picked up her pace in fear.

Something wasn’t right.

Calm down, you’ve not been out of bed in a while. You holed yourself up in your house for so long, only leaving to get fast food or ice cream. What do you expect?

You’re going to freak out a little bit...this is normal.

Yet when a truck came screeching around the next corner, she knew this wasn’t normal. Nothing about this said normal.

Tony hopped out of the truck after it sharply cut her off. It’d come close to striking her, so close she fell onto the asphalt.

“Get in the truck, bitch.”