Confused by his angry, accusatory tone, Arianne let her hand drop and gave him a puzzled frown. “What are you talking about? I came here to talk to him, and I agreed to you joining me solely on the condition that you stayed in the background so he wouldn’t get scared away. We aren’t a threat to you. I thought if he still wanted to go, we’d make a plan to leave, but not tonight, and—”
He drew her into the shadows beneath the west wall of the nightclub, his expression dark, almost primal with emotion. “It’s so damn easy for you to walk away, isn’t it? You got what you wanted from me—safety, protection, someone to watch your back. You know all about the club. All about me. You had your bit of fun, and now you’re just going to turn and leave. Back to the Jacks, Arianne? With information that could destroy the Sinners? Will Viper give you a blood patch for taking out Cole?”
Stunned, Arianne took a step back, hitting the cold brick wall with a soft thud. “What are you talking about? I haven’t betrayed you. I didn’t kill Cole. I’m not going back to Viper. And no, it’s not easy to walk away. I’ve been second-guessing my decision ever since … ever since…” Ever since I realized how much I care about you. But his fury tangled her tongue, and the words wouldn’t come out.
Jagger closed the distance between them and caged her against the wall, his body quivering with pent-up emotion, eyes ablaze. “Then make another choice.” His voice cracked, pain and desperation slivering through the anger.
Arianne’s chin shot up. “I need to see Jeff first. I promised myself I would get away the first time mom wasn’t there to protect us. Every day I woke up and made the same promise. Every job I took, everything I have done since I was nine years old has brought me here. Being with you made me look at things in a different way. It made me take off the blinders. Now part of me desperately wants to stay, but another part of me is afraid that if I don’t go, he’ll destroy me and Jeff, too.”
“You don’t think I can protect you.” A statement, not a question, and uttered with such venom, she flinched.
“I don’t want to be ‘protected.’” Her voice quivered with emotion. “I don’t want to live in a safe house and have a posse of Sinners following me everywhere I go. That isn’t freedom. Freedom is never having to worry about Viper. Freedom is walking down the street and not needing to carry a gun. Freedom is being able to live where I want, and go where I want, and do what I want without being afraid someone will take it away from me.”
She turned her head to the side and bit her lip as a chill seeped through her bones. No wonder he’d taken her phone. If she’d had it in her hands right now, she would be texting Jeff to run.
Jagger leaned so close, his breath scorched her cheek. “You are not going anywhere, Arianne. You’re mine until I release you. And when Jeff shows up, he isn’t going anywhere either.” He pulled his phone from his inside pocket, flicked to a picture, then thrust it in her face. “That’s him isn’t it? That’s Jeff at my old clubhouse.”
Nausea roiled in her belly as she stared at the blurry photograph of Jeff standing near the Sinner weapons shed, his blond hair gleaming against the dark background. Although the camera had caught him in profile, she would know her brother anywhere. But clearly Jagger wasn’t so sure about the identification.
“I can’t believe you would ask me that.” She gave the picture a disdainful sniff and pushed the phone away. “And I’m not even going to bother to answer.”
“Don’t play games with me, Arianne.” His eyes darkened, almost to black and his upper lip curled. “Did you make up the story about your birthday? Trying to play my sympathy as you tried to play me? Are you spying for the Jacks? Now that I see how easy it is for you to walk away, I think you just might be.”
Her hand flew up before she had even considered the consequences of her actions, and she slapped him across the cheek, the crack of her hand echoing in the alley. “Bastard. I can’t believe you think I would lie about something like that. I don’t know what’s going on with you, Jagger, or why you suddenly think I’ve betrayed you or why you’re so angry. I’ve been nothing but open with you. I’ve told you things about my life I haven’t even told Dawn.”
Jagger grabbed her hand and twisted her arm up behind her back, spinning her around and forcing her cheek painfully against the rough brick wall. For the first time since they’d met, she was truly afraid.
“You’re not planning to leave Conundrum at all, are you?” He pressed his lips to her ear, his voice a sinister snarl. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it. You haven’t packed anything. You haven’t given up your apartment or stored your stuff. Even your bike. Sparky said you fixed it good as new, but you never put it up for sale.”