Oracle Saving (The Phoenix Files Book 3) Page 5

  “And we can’t warn him?” Nate asked. He knew he’d be pissed if he’d been forced into a situation blind. Jagger was already volatile. This might be the straw that broke the camel’s back, and who knew who he’d lash out at?

  “No. We can’t. He isn’t to know it’s her. This is the most important part. I can’t make myself clearer on this.”

  If he found out, it was over.

  Avalon was holding fate at bay by threads that could break at any moment.

  This whole thing was tenuous at best, and that scared the hell out of her. She knew what was on the line, and what they could be losing.

  “Promise me.”

  She first stared at Nate.

  “Let me run this one. Please.”

  “I promise, baby.”

  She focused on Maura. “Do I have your support?” she asked. “I really need it.”

  “I’ll trust you, Avi.”

  Then there was Luke.

  “Please?”

  “Always, boss lady. We’ll follow your lead.”

  She was able to relax.

  “Thank you all.”

  “Okay, then we should get started,” Luke said, prepping to make the call. “I’ll call Lucian. Maura, you get our gear. We’re heading to Texas.”

  “Jagger can fly. We have to drive,” Nate stated. Avalon’s security was paramount.

  “Let’s go, team,” Maura stated.

  Avalon stood.

  She had the hard part. She had to convince a man who had given up on life that there was one more shot out there, and he had to take it.

  If not, he was lost.

  Not as in location.

  As in death.

  Chapter Two

  When she crept into his room, he was sound asleep. Right there, she knew it was worse than they thought. Jagger never slept deeply. In fact, the man barely went to sleep at all. Being an ex-Marine, he catnapped all night.

  He liked to be on alert at all times.

  This proved they were running out of time.

  Jagger was on a collision course with destruction—and by his own hand.

  As she approached, his aura never changed. Avalon kept focusing on it, waiting for the moment when he realized she was there.

  Still…

  Nothing.

  When she sat on the side of the bed, she knew when he finally stirred.

  “Jagger,” she whispered, trying not to startle him.

  “What’s wrong, Avi?” he asked, opening his eyes. “Are you okay? Did something happen? Do you need me?”

  Someone should be asking him that.

  He was one hell of a hot mess, and he knew it.

  Jagger felt like shit, his body had scratches all over it, and he was sorry that he’d even woken up.

  He wanted off this nightmare ride.

  It was sad to admit that, but it was true.

  He couldn’t handle it anymore. He was about to break. What wouldn’t he give for some silence, peace, and a very long sleep?

  “I need your help.”

  So much for being left alone. It looked as if he was back on duty.

  He sat up and it took Herculean effort. His head was pounding, his gut was raw, and he’d tried to get off so much last night that it felt like his dick had been beat into submission too.

  He was a mess.

  “Please?”

  There were few people in the world he would say he loved. His sister was one, and Avalon was the other. Yes, he loved Maura, too, but he’d never admit it. Why give her the satisfaction that he didn’t think she was a huge bitch on wheels? It was their thing, but when it came down to it, he cared about her just as much.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to focus on her face. He had one hell of a hangover.

  “Jagger, you’re hurt.”

  That was putting it mildly. He was beaten, battered, and bruised on the inside and out.

  He stared down at his chest. His skin was starting to discolor, and it was covered in claw marks. Ironically, the scratches came first. He’d picked a drunken whore up in the bar, brought her back to the shitty no-tell motel, and when he was leaving, her ex-boyfriend had showed up to claim his ‘prize’.

  He’d been stupid.

  Drunk.

  Sloppy.

  And worse…distracted.

  He’d had his ass handed to him by way of a baseball bat. A part of him didn’t even fight. He deserved to feel like this, and he knew it. He’d gone back to degrading women, and himself. So he took each and every hit to his body without fighting back.

  He was worthless.

  He was vile.

  He was sick of this life.

  Last night wasn’t one of his proudest moments.

  “I got into a fight. I’ll be okay, honey. What do you need? Did the team go out and you’re alone?”

  She reached over and placed her hand on his flesh. She watched his aura change at her touch. One of her new gifts was the ability to alter someone’s energy. It was soothing and calming for them, and it helped her when she didn’t know what else to do.

  He needed it.

  “I love you, Jagger. Please don’t leave me. My life will suck without you. You’re my brother. We’ve been together a long time. I can’t lose you.”

  He softened.

  How could he not?

  He loved Avalon so much that she’d always be part of his life. How could he not care about her? She’d had her heart kicked around more times than should have ever been allowed. Her life made his look like a picnic.

  He wanted to protect her.

  He wanted to keep her safe.

  Jagger wanted to put Band-Aids over each one of her wounds.

  Yes, he’d watched over her for years, and the idea that he’d never see her again stung. She’d become his one bright moment in life. She was the only thing he ever did right. Saving her was the best thing he’d ever done.

  “I won’t leave you.”

  “Promise?”

  “I do.”

  She felt his heart kick. She knew he was lying. He wanted out of this life in the worst way. Only, she couldn’t let that happen. He had a child coming.

  There was a woman meant for him.

  He had a chance at happiness. For that alone, she’d fight hard for him—as would the rest of the team.

  It was going to take a miracle, but she’d work it out. Avalon knew she’d risk herself for anyone she loved.

  He was one of them.

  “We have a case. We need to head out today, but we must go in by car. You’re going to have to fly out first to handle the situation.”

  He was a little taken aback—not because he was going in first and alone, but because Nate wasn’t the one giving him the job to handle. He was generally the control freak who ran the team.

  Avalon was more…Oracle.

  “Alone?”

  She knew it was time to set the scene.

  “You know Maura. She won’t let me out of her sight. I have the address here,” she said, tapping her head.

  He pushed the sheet off his lower body and headed toward the desk in his room to grab his phone.

  “Nice ass,” she teased.

  He snorted. “We both know you can’t be sure of that,” he stated.

  “Maura said it was, so I’ll take her word for it. I’m betting she knows her way around a male form.”

  He knew what she was doing. “You’re trying to cheer me up, aren’t you?”

  “Is it working?”

  “Yes. Now I can bust Maura. That always makes me a happy camper.”

  She stared at him. “You lied to me again. In all the years together, you’ve never done that. At one time, you cared about me enough to be honest with me. I could always trust you, Jagger. I know you just lied to me.”

  Tears filled her blind eyes.

  “Please don’t do that, Avalon. Please. I can’t.” And it was true. He couldn’t carry more on his shoulders. He was already sinking in the mire of self-loathing.


  She wiped them away. “Tell me how to save you, Jagger. Tell me how to pull you back from the brink. I’ll do whatever it takes, even if you end up hating me.”

  He pulled on his black cargo pants. “I don’t know how to do that, Avi. I just don’t know.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  It was said without hesitation.

  “If I tell you something, will you believe in me once again? Will you believe in you?”

  He sat beside her with his phone. “First, tell me the address.”

  She rattled it off to him.

  “Okay?” she asked, waiting for him to stop typing.

  “Yes.”

  “Jagger?”

  “I will always believe in you, Avi. There’s no one I trust more in the world than you, Nate, Luke, and Maura. We’re a team. You all matter to me.”

  It was the absolute truth.

  They were his family.

  Jagger noticed when she went still. He knew what was coming. She was about to go Oracle on him.

  Commence freak out.

  “There are good things coming, Jagger. You have to believe. While you feel lost, it’s not true. You’re only on a new path. If you keep moving forward, you’ll reach her.”

  “Her?” His stomach dropped at the mere mention of that one word. He prayed Oracle wasn’t going to say her name…

  “Roxy.”

  His whole body tensed. “Please don’t say her name. She’s dead to me. She’s…”

  “Everything to you, Jagger. We all see it. Trust me when I say it doesn’t take being a psychic for anyone to tell you’re hurting. All of us know she matters. That makes her matter to us too.”

  He zipped it.

  “When Nate believed I was dead, he felt the same way. I’ve been in both of your minds. I can feel the same pain. We can help you if you just let us.”

  “Only, she’s not going to pop back into my life. You weren’t dead. You came back. SHE won’t. It was her choice to run, Avi, and she left me behind. I have to live with that every day. I was nothing more than a dick to ride.”

  Jagger hated talking like that in front of Avalon. It was like saying something dirty in front of your kid sister.

  It made him blush.

  “She won’t be back.”

  She listened.

  She didn’t say a word. Roxanne Faust was about to do just that and so much more—and she was bringing him a little girl to love and have forever. Jagger would make a wonderful father if she could just keep him focused and Roxanne from ending the pregnancy.

  Oh, and a killer from ending her.

  “Trust me. Tomorrow, we’ll talk again. You have to get to the airport. Nate is getting your flight ready. We’ll be there tomorrow morning. It’s a long drive.”

  “Texas, huh?”

  “Happy.”

  “About?”

  She smiled. “That’s the name of the town. It’s Happy, Texas.”

  “I’d shoot myself before living there. That is the lamest ass name for a city that we’ve ever been to before.”

  “It might be a good place in the end,” she offered.

  Yeah, he doubted that.

  Happy had been sucked from his life. Now he was more like miserable, lonely, and heartbroken.

  The cranky was definitely back.

  She watched as he started getting dressed. She could tell he was pulling on his gear simply by the motions of his aura.

  “We’ve got this,” she promised.

  He didn’t buy it, simply because she was talking about him, and not the case.

  He was beyond hope.

  There was no chance for him to pull out of this one. Basically, he was a dead man walking, and he knew it.

  Jagger was going through the motions.

  That’s it.

  The only reason he held out all these years was for Jaxon. Now that she was happily married, safe, and taken care of, he didn’t need to fight to stay alive.

  He couldn’t.

  A part of him had died when she walked away.

  It was hope that he could be loved.

  “That’s not true.”

  “Stay out of my mind,” he ordered. Jagger really hated when she did that. It was three days past creepy, and he had plenty going on up there that he was ashamed of too.

  The sex.

  The way he hated himself.

  How he wanted to die.

  “She still loves you. When you find the person you’re meant to be with, you can’t escape that.”

  He turned on her so fast that she took a step back. His aura went from blue to red in seconds and it frightened her.

  “Don’t!” he hissed.

  Then he grabbed her arms, hauling her up on her toes.

  “Stay the fuck out of my head! I don’t want to talk about HER!”

  She gasped at the tight grip on her upper arms and made a little whimpering sound.

  The room went deathly silent.

  “Jesus!”

  Jagger realized what he’d just done.

  He’d pulled exactly something his father would do. He put his hands on a woman in anger. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the things he’d witnessed his mother living through, but it was bad enough.

  He had a code.

  On top of everything else, he’d broken that now too.

  Shit!

  His life was a downward spiral.

  She didn’t fight him or try to move away from him, and somehow, that made Jagger feel a million times worse.

  “I’m sorry, Avalon. I didn’t mean…I shouldn’t have put my hands on you. Please forgive me,” he said gently releasing her. He knew better but he was rubbed raw.

  Life had beat hope and happiness out of him. Jagger was barely holding on by the skin of his teeth.

  “It’s okay. You didn’t hurt me. I was only scared because I’m blind.”

  “It’s not okay, honey. It’s never okay for a man to put his hands on a woman in anger. There’s no excuse for that. I’m sorry I scared you. I love you, and I hope you can forgive me.”

  The fear was gone.

  She did love him.

  Avalon always would.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and dropped her head to his shoulder. “You didn’t scare me, Jagger. I trust you with my life. You’re my family. I know the man you are inside, and I have faith in you and your choices.”

  Well, at least someone did.

  He didn’t trust himself.

  Look at the last two months and the countless number of one-night stands and hookers. He was ashamed of himself.

  “You just want to forget. I understand it. She hurt you, but I promise it will get better if you have faith in me. All I need is for you to trust me. Put your faith in me, and I promise I won’t let you fall. Like you never dropped me.”

  He rested his chin on the top of her red hair. “I love you, Avalon. Don’t forget that. If anything happens to me…?”

  “Nothing will, but I’ll tell Jaxon. I know what you need her to hear. If the day comes and Fate takes you from us, I’ll be here for her to tell her everything that’s in your heart.”

  He kissed her forehead before setting her free.

  This was the love he wished he was capable of in his life. It must feel amazing to be able to give it so freely. He’d give anything to be able to do that.

  “What do I have to do?”

  She knew he was talking about work.

  He was done discussing Roxy.

  Oh, the irony.

  If he only knew that his journey with Roxy was just beginning, he’d really be pissed.

  “The killer is stalking women through their dreams. He’s going in, finding their fears, and using it to kill them.”

  He stared at her. “Is that really a thing?”

  “You can be scared to death and here is the proof. He’s killed before, and he’s nowhere close to stopping. In fact, he’s coming unhinged. The second he does, no one is
safe, and that includes all of us.”

  “This gets weirder and weirder with each and every case,” he stated.

  She was aware.

  Only, he didn’t know this case was all about him, and in the end, they might lose people they love. In the end, it would be one hell of a showdown to save his child.

  She saw the ending, and it was scary. If fate couldn’t be altered, it was going to be bad. This was exactly why she didn’t tell the team.

  Had she told Nate…?

  Yeah, he’d lose it.

  “When you get there, she’ll be asleep. Enter, keep it quiet, and get her to wake up.”

  “How do I do that?” he asked.

  “When you get to her, I’ll be able to help you. You’re my link. If you don’t pull her out, she’d going to die, Jagger. She’s going to end up on a morgue slab. He’s moving on her tonight. I need you to save her so that I can do my thing and change fate’s path.”

  He got it.

  This woman was important.

  “I have to save her,” Avalon admitted. Here was the tricky part, “If I don’t, there are others who will be lost. She’s the keystone, and we have to keep her intact.”

  He pulled on his boots.

  “How will I know it’s her?” he asked. “Do you know what she looks like? I don’t want to sneak into a house and surprise some husband with a shotgun.”

  She nearly laughed. “Oh, you’ll know it’s her, and there isn’t anyone in her life. She’s single. There won’t be a doubt in your mind as to who she is. I promise.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, grabbing his go bag from the corner. “Be safe, Avalon. If you get hurt, Maura will kick my ass for not being able to save you from Texas,” he teased.

  “We have your back, Jagger.”

  He walked out the door. “I know you do.”

  Yeah, no, he had no freaking clue.

  But he would.

  As soon as he got there, it was going to be impossible to hide. When he found Roxy, and then realized she was the case, one of two things was going to happen.

  He’d be happy, or he was going to go shit nuts and lose his mind.