Chapter 9
Jackie
L ast night was amazing, and as I woke up, I felt a delicious soreness between my legs. Smiling, I looked to my right and saw Jagger sleeping next to me. He had an arm over his head and one leg kicked out of the covers. There were a few tattoos adorning his body, and I remembered tracing each one with my tongue last night.
Or early this morning, I guess I should say.
The clock on the nightstand to my left said nine-thirty, and I thought it was close to four when we finally fell asleep. Not wanting to wake him but needing the bathroom, I carefully slid from my side of the bed. After making quick work of my needs, I washed my hands and caught my reflection in the mirror.
My long hair was a mess, my makeup was crawling down my cheeks, and when I tilted my neck, I thought I saw a hickey. Chuckling to myself, I slowly opened the bathroom door. There was a pair of shorts and a shirt on the chair in the corner, so I grabbed them and got dressed as I watched him sleep.
Walking back into the bathroom, I opened the door to his room and noticed the mess everywhere. Realizing men aren’t usually as tidy as women, I shrugged as I moved through his room to the hallway and made my way down the stairs. The house was quiet, and when I looked out the little window on the side of the front door, I didn’t see the second offroad vehicle Trent and Cheyenne had taken to the bar last night.
The kitchen was calling my name, and as I waited for my cup of coffee to perk, I leaned against the counter, deciding to speak with my father when he got home tonight. I’d already promised him I’d be home when he got back, and since my brothers and their wives and children wouldn’t be there, I was going to tell him about Lincoln.
What we shared last night felt right, but I wasn’t stupid, and I wouldn’t let sex make me into a giddy, love-struck girl. There was something powerful about the connection we’d experienced, and I knew he felt it too. Turning to finish my coffee, I didn’t hear anyone enter the room, so when I faced back to the room and saw Jagger leaning against the doorway with only a pair of jeans on as he watched me, I jumped, spilling some coffee on the floor.
He smirked and pushed off the door as I placed my cup on the cabinet and grabbed some paper towels to clean the mess. He crouched down with me, and when I looked up at him, he smiled and kissed me softly before speaking.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, beautiful. Let me clean this up since it’s my fault and you drink your coffee.”
My heart was still pounding as I stood and watched him mop up the spill before he tossed the trash into the garbage. He turned and walked to me, and I smiled as he wrapped his arms around my waist and tugged me close to him.
“Now,” he whispered, “I can get a proper good morning.”
Slowly, he brought his lips to mine, and the kiss was perfect—gentle, with small brushes of our tongues against the other, and no hurry. It was like we were exploring each other yet were already familiar with the other. In one word, it was perfect.
He pulled back and looked around the cabinet behind me before he asked, “Is there a phone charger around here? Mine died last night and I need to plug it in.”
I nodded. “There’s one in Cheyenne’s office. Let me go grab it for you.” He released his hold on me, allowing me to step around him and into the small office off the kitchen.
Coming back with one of each variety, I held them both up, and he grabbed the same kind that fit my phone. Plugging it into an outlet on the counter, he checked to make sure it was charging before he turned back to me.
“Do you want to go into Rapid and grab breakfast?” he asked.
Walking to the coffee maker, I changed out the pod and put a clean cup under it for him as I turned back to face him. “I can make us some eggs, and we can have an early lunch, if that works for you.”
Practically gliding across the floor on his bare feet, he pecked me on the lips. “You’re too good to be true.”
“I’m just me,” I said as the cup of coffee finished perking, and I reached around to hand him his cup.
He took it and smiled as he went to the kitchen table and took a seat. “When do you have to get back home?”
Opening the fridge, I grabbed four eggs from the basket and glanced over at him as I answered. “Dad gets home around seven tonight, and I promised him I’d be there for dinner. Between the stock show and his council gathering, he hasn’t seen me in over a week.”
The pan on the stove was heating up as I cracked and scrambled the eggs in a bowl. While it got hot, I grabbed some already chopped veggies, ham, and cheese before returning to the pan. Beginning to cook, I waited for Jagger to speak.
“I think you need to meet Nana, and I need to meet your father, since I’ve claimed you and all that,” he reasoned.
Looking over my shoulder, I remarked, “If you’ve claimed me, don’t I need a cut proclaiming that?”
He winked and took a swallow of his coffee while I finished cooking. It wasn’t an omelet, but it wasn’t scrambled eggs either. It was something I loved to eat and hoped he would too. Plating the eggs onto two plates, I carried them to the table and placed his in front of him before taking a seat.
“Thank you, baby.”
I blushed at the term of endearment and replied, “You’re welcome.”
He dug into his food, and when he took the first bite, he moaned around the eggs and closed his eyes. My smile got bigger when he looked at me and said, “That’s amazing.”
“It’s one of my favorite things. I used to make this for myself before school, and you can change it a hundred different ways to fit what you have in the fridge.”
“Well, it’s delicious.”
We were nearly finished with our food when his phone began chiming, pinging, and beeping. He gave me a curious look before retrieving it from the counter and retaking his seat as he unlocked it.
As his fingers moved over the screen, I could see his face falling and then his brow furled. Instantly, he jumped up from his seat and ran up the stairs, scaring me. I followed, yelling, “Lincoln, what’s wrong?”
When I got to the top of the stairs, he was rushing out of his room with his duffle over his shoulder and all his clothes shoved inside with the zipper open. His cut was on, but he was still shirtless.
“What’s going on?” I asked as he pushed past me and ran down the stairs, not even giving me a glance.
Just as he got to the front door, I grabbed his arm and spun him to face me. “What’s going on? What can I do?”
“My Nana was taken to the hospital last night. Her neighbor must’ve been trying to text me all night, but my phone was dead,” he replied and pulled his arm from me. “She fell and broke her ankle and was alone all night until her neighbor came by to get her for bridge.”
“Give me a minute and I’ll come with you,” I remarked as he opened the front door and walked onto the porch.
“Don’t bother. If I’d been at home like I promised her I would be, she wouldn’t have been alone.” He began to walk down the steps, and I looked down at him, knowing he was hurting.
“I’m sorry,” I explained as he tossed his duffle through the open window of his truck before he climbed inside.
“Me too,” he spat before cranking the truck and throwing dirt all over my car as he tore out of the yard and down the driveway.
One of the ranch hands walked up, and seeing me standing at the top of the stairs with tears rolling down my face, he cautiously asked, “Is everything okay, Ms. Jackie?”
I swiped the tears from my cheeks with my hands and exhaled before answering the young man’s question. “It’s fine. Thank you.”
He seemed unsure but tipped his hat before turning and walking back to his chores. Seeing the dust trail getting farther away, I decided I wasn’t going to stick around to answer questions about where Jagger was. Walking back inside, I went into the kitchen and cleaned up the mess from our breakfast and loaded the dishwasher before walking upstairs. An hour ago, I was happy and ready to face our new adventures, but now, I felt numb.
It sounded like Jagger was blaming me for her accident. Or saying that being with me last night was a mistake.
Neither was an acceptable way to treat someone who you professed to care about. Someone you ‘claimed’.
I wasn’t claimed. I was abandoned.
My bags were mostly packed from yesterday, so after stripping the sheets from my bed and shoving them down the laundry chute, I grabbed whatever stuff I’d brought for the last week and silently walked downstairs. Making sure to lock the front door behind me, I placed my bags into the back of my car and got behind the wheel, almost on autopilot.
Pulling away from the ranch, headed toward the reservation and my home, I vowed that I wouldn’t be back to Rapid City for a while. I wouldn’t be blamed for something that wasn’t my fault, and I wouldn’t be cast aside ever again.
My phone began to chime from my purse as I pulled into a gas station to fill up and grab something to drink, so I reached over and turned it off. Whoever it was, I didn’t want to talk to them. I just wanted to get out of here.
I should have let Cheyenne know where I was going, but I couldn’t tell her what happened without the dam finally breaking, causing the tears to fall.
For years, I’d let men be a fun distraction in my life but never allowed one to get close to my heart. After the asshole I dated through high school, I’d learned my lesson. And I stupidly thought Jagger laying claim to me, not only to the drunk cowboys he saved me from but all his club brothers, meant something.
But the farther I drove, the more I knew it was a line, a ruse to get into my pants. And I’d let his charm and swagger win me over. I wouldn’t be stupid again.
I’d live my life up on the reservation, and if my ancestors or the universe found it in their benevolence to bring someone to me who would love me for who I was and not what I could give them, maybe I would reconsider.
But for the foreseeable future, I planned to be alone. That way, my heart would be safe and maybe I’d stop feeling like it was being ripped out of my chest.