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Julie Pandoran was Mercedes’s assistant and closest friend besides Shawn. He suspected Shawn and Hays both had crushes on the hilarious and beautiful blonde, but neither of them would admit it. It gave him something to razz them about. Separately. He wished either one of them would take a shot at dating Julie. Shawn would probably never move on from Mercedes and he feared Hays would never move on from that cold, bratty, maybe criminal billionaire Elizabeth Oliver. Elizabeth was Hays’s young love, just like Belinda was Jagger’s. They’d both had their hearts broken the same fateful weekend. It was the only thing they didn’t give each other a hard time about. In fact, they didn’t talk about it at all.
Shawn, very suspiciously, wouldn’t meet his gaze. His friend shifted his weight and clenched his fists. He was obviously uncomfortable. Jagger had written it off as Shawn’s concern for Mercedes and nerves, not wanting to be the one the camera was focused on without Mercedes here. Now it felt like something else was adding to Shawn’s discomfort.
“Mercedes wanted you to know about the lieutenant because he works for Aiden Porter as his pilot and a security specialist,” Shawn finally said. “She knew it would make you even more competitive.”
“She’s right.” Jagger had a lot of respect for and a burning need to best anyone associated with Captain Aiden Porter, ‘the second-top security specialist in the world’ in his own words. Aiden was a suave, cocky former Marine. Jagger was the last to admit it, but the man had every right to be cocky. He was the only man Jagger had ever lost a fight to—except for Belinda’s dad, Pastor Ralphs, but he couldn’t dwell on his lost love.
He supposed Lieutenant Nick Jacobs could claim he’d tied Jagger last week to win the million dollars for Darcy Saint, but that sparring match had been scored by judges and Nick had quietly admitted to Jagger he thought the judges had let him tie to win the money for Darcy.
Aiden had also won the girl during their week on the island of Magna, the Hidden Kingdom, the charitable and gorgeous sweetheart, Chalisa Anderson. Jagger didn’t care about that. He’d only hit on Chalisa to get in Aiden’s head. No woman but his Bee could ever penetrate his heart, and he’d never see Belinda Ralphs again. He’d promised to never contact her and he’d kept that promise, blocking her number in his phone and deleting any emails before reading them. Both actions had ripped at his already dying heart.
That was long over now and didn’t bear thinking about.
Sometimes Bee still worked her way into his thoughts—fiery kisses and carefree fun that would never be a reality for him again.
“But for the past two weeks, we had all the information on both participants,” Hays pointed out.
Hays was right. They all knew that Mercedes and Julie set these initial meetings up for maximum impact and footage for the reality television show, A Chance for Charity.
It was odd that this week the male and female counterparts were coming to Jagger, Hays, and Shawn on the same plane. Garrett was filming Jagger and Hays meeting with their competitors, not the competitors’ initial meeting with each other.
To his understanding, the first filming was typically of the couple seeing each other for the first time. Which made sense, as he suspected Mercedes and Julie thought the matchmaking and romantic portion of the show was as important as the action and challenges, as well as the attention and money brought to the lady’s charity.
Jagger didn’t like not knowing what was going on or why things had changed.
He lifted his eyebrows at Shawn. His friend was still ignoring him. Shawn was cold and standoffish to everybody—except for Mercedes, Julie, Mercedes’s dad Franz Belle, and sometimes Jagger and Hays. Jagger could relate and didn’t usually give Shawn grief about it.
A white jet landed smoothly and taxied in their direction. Mercedes’s jet. Jagger and the other two men had flown in yesterday and made sure everything was ready for the challenge. Then they had relaxed at the gorgeous house overlooking the peaceful and shallow Anini Bay. Well, Jagger and Hays had tried to relax, but neither of them were very adept at it. Shawn was used to a lot more downtime, being the constant shadow of the terminally-ill Mercedes, but he had been stirred up and anxious. He clearly didn’t like being away from Mercedes.
Shawn looked away from the plane and finally met Jagger’s gaze. Their friend said in a low, gravelly voice, “I shouldn’t even be here, but Mercedes wouldn’t let me off the hook. Her dad and Julie are with her back in Texas.” His hands balled into fists, and he focused on Hays. “The surgery didn’t go well yesterday. Her body rejected the new artificial heart. This was her last chance. The doctor gave her a week, maybe two.”
“No,” Hays groaned.
Jagger closed his eyes against the pain. They had known this was coming. Mercedes’s death had been imminent for a while now. The only reason she was still alive was because her dad had used his considerable wealth and connections to get her the best doctors and prolong the little time. They’d tried donor hearts initially and then artificial hearts. Mercedes’ body had rejected every organ and each surgery weakened her.
Franz Belle might be ultra-wealthy, but he’d lost everything that mattered to him—his wife, his son, and now his daughter had a matter of days left on this earth.
Franz’s son, Mercedes’s half-brother Grayson Travier, was one of the best men Jagger had ever known. He’d been in the Army, a Green Beret, but Jagger had gotten to know him through Shawn and their lifelong friendship. Grayson’s mom, Mama T, had basically adopted Shawn, keeping him off the streets, fed, and loved.
Jagger was on this show in the role of a villain, fighting like a jerk against a woman winning a million dollars for her charity because of his love for Grayson, Shawn, and Mercedes. He related better to Franz Belle than anyone, and they all thought of Mercedes’s dad as a benevolent uncle of sorts. Jagger’s mom had died last year in a car rollover. He could count the worst days of his life on one hand—his dad’s death, Grayson’s death, Bee’s betrayal, and his mom’s death.
Jagger also had no family left in this world. When Mercedes died, he’d have Hays and Shawn, but even his best friends didn’t know why he’d given up on Bee. They assumed like everyone else that Jagger was far too hardened. That his heart was impenetrable. The truth was, his heart had been decimated in the small town of Oneida, Kentucky, and he’d never tried to repair it.
What if Bee watched these shows in the fall and saw him? She’d always stuck up for him to her dad. Would she think he was a jerk now? Everyone else did.
Why was he thinking about his old girlfriend when Mercedes was dying?
Hays hugged Shawn, but Shawn slipped out of the embrace within moments. Jagger gave their friend a quick side hug as well. That was about all the emotion he or Shawn could handle. If anyone was more closed off and messed up than him, it was Shawn Holister. Deserted, betrayed, unloved—Shawn fit all those sad descriptors and more. His Navy friends and Mercedes were all he had, and sadly Shawn had failed HELL week twice, so he hadn’t progressed with Jagger and Hays. It had been torture to leave Shawn behind, but he still had a great career in the Navy, only retiring when Mercedes’s congestive heart failure progressed and he decided to appoint himself her full-time bodyguard, surrogate brother, and boyfriend.
“I’m sorry, bro,” Jagger muttered.
The plane taxied up to them. Shawn blinked quick and nodded to them, straightening to his full height. With his longish blond hair and piercing light blue eyes, he looked like a Viking.
“Jag,” Shawn muttered, easing in closer. “Whatever happens this week, please don’t quit. Keep going and fighting for Mercedes. That’s all she wants. She said to tell you it’s her dying wish.”
Thankfully, Shawn’s voice didn’t crack or anything awkward like that, but the plea in his blue eyes was enough to seal the words in Jagger’s heart. He wanted to protest that he’d never quit anything in his life—except for his quest for Bee—but it was obvious Shawn was a mess right now, so he didn’t get hung up on semantics. Shawn must be afraid that Mercedes would die this week and Jagger and Hays would be too distraught to finish the show.
“I’ll keep going and fighting to win, no matter what.” He nodded to his friend. “Hooyah.”
