Page 29 of Jagger
“Just don’t be crazy and I’ll do my best.”
He made a crazy face with his eyes crossed and his tongue sticking out as he closed the door and strolled back to his bike. After swinging one leg over the machine, he cranked it as I turned on my car, and after he got himself and his drink situated, he looked back at me, blew me a kiss, and turned back as he pulled away.
We were pushing one hundred ten miles an hour, and he was starting to pull away from me. Not wanting to get separated,I pushed my little car harder than I ever had, and when light flakes of snow began to fall, I glanced at the speedometer and saw he had slowed us down to just under one hundred miles per hour.
We were still about sixty miles from Rapid, and the farther we drove, the harder it began to snow. There was a small town with a tiny motel a few miles up, and when I saw Jagger turn his blinker on, I knew he had the same idea as I did. The snow would gather fast on the roads, so it was better to bed down here for the night and try to get to Rapid in the morning. As he pulled under the awning of the small building, I pulled up behind him and watched him get off the bike.
Holding up a finger to me, I nodded, and he walked inside. Within a few minutes, he returned and dangled a key from his finger as he got on his bike and cranked it up. Pulling through the drive-thru of the motel, he circled and pulled into a space near the end of the building. I checked to see if anyone was behind me, and when I saw I was clear, I put the car into reverse until I could back into the space next to his bike.
Jagger was pulling a cover out of his saddle bag and over the bike as I turned off the engine and got out, feeling the intense chill.
“They have a dryer, so we can get you some clean clothes, and they said the restaurant will be open for another hour if we want to eat dinner,” Jagger said as I walked around and helped him finish covering the bike.
“Do you think we could place an order and bring it back to the room?” I asked, and he tugged me closer to him and kissed my forehead.
“Absolutely. Let’s get into the room so we can let everyone know where we are for the night, then we’ll start the dryer and get food. I don’t want them to close before we get something to eat or we’ll both be hangry before morning.”
Following behind him, I watched him unlock the door with an actual key, and when we walked inside and he turned on the light, I realized this wasn’t an expensive hotel, but it appeared to be clean and well-maintained.
“They only have single king rooms or I would’ve gotten you your own bed,” Jagger said as he looked in the bathroom and back to me.
“It’s fine,” I returned. “Let’s get the laundry drying and grab our food. We can make our calls while they’re cooking.”
“Good thinking,” he said.
I was nervous, but not because of him. The thought of who could have sent the box containing what I could only assume was parts of a person had gotten under my skin. I just didn’t want Jagger to see how rattled I was.
Kissing me softly, he brushed a piece of hair from my face and simply said, “You are so beautiful.”
I tried not to blush, but his compliments always made me feel special. I should’ve made him work harder for my forgiveness, but realizing he drove a couple hundred miles at breakneck speeds to save me was forgiveness enough.
We grabbed the bags from the trunk, and after placing mine into the room, we grabbed the wet clothes and found the small laundry room two doors down from us. He placed the clothes into the dryer while I got quarters from the machine, and after turning the dryer on, we walked out hand-in-hand.
The restaurant was at the end of the building, and when we walked inside, there was a man and woman waiting for us. “Welcome. Our daughter said there were two of you. Would you like a booth, or is the counter good for you?”
Jagger looked at me, and I whispered, “Booth.”
“Can we order something to go and camp out while we wait?”
“You sure can. I’ll bring some menus over if you want to pick a booth,” the lady said, and Jagger escorted me about halfway back from the counter.
She placed the menus down and said, “I’ll fill up a thermos of coffee in case it gets really cold tonight. We live in the first two rooms, so we’ll make sure you two have something to eat in the morning.”
“That’s very nice. Thank you,” I said.
“I’ll be right back with you.”
She walked away, and I quickly decided on a few things, just in case we got hungry later. Jagger looked over the menu, then we both placed them down, signaling we were ready to order. She returned, and after taking our large order, she turned and walked into the kitchen.
“Did you call your father to let him know you’re down this way?” Jagger asked.
“I told him what was going on,” I began, and when he opened his mouth to say something, I held up my hand, requesting he hold his thoughts. “I know you want to keep this club business, so I didn’t go into much detail, but he was the one who gave the picture I took to Nitro, and if I’m in danger, I’m not going to hide it from my father.”
“What’s he going to do?”
“Nothing. He was going to call Trent and speak with him, but he knows this is beyond tribal business, and the last thing we want is anyone from the outside coming onto our land and investigating something that isn’t our business.”
Jagger exhaled, and then I added, “And he told me to tell you that if one hair on my head is hurt, he’s going to deal with you the way our ancestors did their enemies.”
