“Mmm. You smell like soap.” I sniffed her neck.
“You smell like hospital.”
Grinning like a fool, I dragged her head from the crook of my neck to my mouth. “Have I told you how grateful I am you’re here?”
“I know. I’m glad I’m here too.” She playfully nipped my bottom lip, eliciting a shiver in my loins. As tired as I was, the old boy downstairs never got the memo. He was always primed and ready for action.
Angling and opening my mouth, I delved inside with my tongue, pulling a short moan from her throat. Her breathing had morphed already and I had to internally smile at the way I affected her. She had the same damn effect on me.
A throat cleared and we both lurched apart. Glancing behind her, I made eye contact with a police officer. He was on his own and strode into the room as if he owned the place.
“Jagger Reed?”
“Yep. That’s me.”
Rose moved to her chair and handed me my coffee, her ability to read me was on point in that moment. I needed a hit of caffeine before reliving the previous night’s events.
Taking a long swig, I placed it back and propped my bed up using the remote attached to the side.
“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions regarding last night?” He considered Rose and then me before pulling a notebook and pen from his pocket.
Rose stood and said, “I’ll just wait outside to give you some privacy.”
“No!” I cried. “You stay.” Pointing at the chair near the window, I gave her a ‘don’t argue with me’ look and waited until she was settled before turning my attention back to the officer who had taken up residency in Rose’s abandoned chair.
“Start at the beginning, and then you can ask me any questions you may have.”
Nodding, I recalled everything that had gone down. He scribbled furiously. Rose sat in the corner like a meek little mouse. I wished she was beside me, touching me to calm my boiling blood. Just the mention of the shooting had the heart monitor spiking.
When I’d finished, the officer put his pad down.
“Are you telling me she shot you for no reason? You didn’t attempt to retrieve your brother from her while she wielded the gun?”
“I was hugging him, afraid I’d never see him again. She tried prying me away, but I wouldn’t budge. I just wanted a few more moments but she couldn’t even give me that, so she shot me to get me to let him go.”
What angle was he playing at?
“Okay, and where was…” he looked at Rose in question.
She answered, “Rose McAllister.”
“Where was Miss McAllister while this was taking place?”
“Around the front. I’d told her to stay there while I went around back.”
He turned his attention to Rose. “What made you go around back when you’d been told to stay put?”
“I heard loud voices and went to see if everything was okay. That’s when I noticed the gun trained on Jagger. He yelled at me to get to the car and lock myself inside. It wasn’t until I heard the gun shot that I ran from my car to find him lying on the ground, bleeding.”
“What’s your relationship to Mr. Reed?” What the fuck did that have to do with anything? This jerk was quickly irking me with his attitude. It was almost like we were the suspects, not the woman brandishing a gun and going around shooting people.
“We’re friends,” she answered, keeping her face neutral. I had to hand it to her. When faced with a situation that called for professionalism, Rose was the woman.
Facing me again, he asked the question I’d been waiting for. “You were released from prison only days ago, is that correct?”
Rose coughed, as if trying to get my attention, so I humored her. Glowing embers of fiery panic spoke silently to me. I attempted to give her a reassuring smile but I failed miserably to appease her.
“That’s correct. In prison for a crime I didn’t commit. I was acquitted.”
He stared me down for a moment and I wondered what was going through his head.
“Is that a problem?” I continued.
“Nope. Just attempting to get to the bottom of it all.”
The cop wrote down something else and then stood. “I think that will be all. I’ll take the statement back to the station and log it into the system. We’ll call if anything comes to light.”
Propping myself up further on my elbows, I ground out, “If anything comes to light? My brother is out there in the company of a psychopath. I need to know you have all hands on deck.”
He pinned me with his dark eyes as if I had overstepped my boundaries, and I possibly had, but it had to be said because he was being too blasé about it all. “We’re doing all we can, Mr. Reed. I suggest you rest, like you’ve been told to, and leave everything else to us.”
Turning, he strode out before I could shoot him a retort.
Rose was at my side the second the door closed. “I think we’re going to have more luck with Ed and his guy.” She’d obviously noticed the ‘don’t care’ attitude too.
Falling back onto the mattress, I let out an extended groan. “I’m beginning to think the bitch who has my brother has all the Montana cops in her pocket too. That guy was merely putting in an appearance out of duty, not because he was actually going to do anything with the information we gave him. Fuck, Rose. We can’t catch a break.”
“Scoot over,” she ordered, waiting until I’d shuffled to the other side of the bed before climbing up and turning on her side to face me. “If the FBI can’t catch her, nobody can. The main thing for you to do now is gather your strength for when Dallas comes home.”
She laid her arm across my chest, careful to avoid my shoulder, and laid her head on the pillow beside me.
“Have I told you today how incredible you are?”
“Nope. Not today.”
“Miss Rosalind McAllister, you are the most amazing woman I’ve ever known.”
“Damn straight!” she answered, attempting to keep a neutral face, which had me chuckle. “Don’t you forget it, either!”
How could I? This woman had more than proven her loyalty to me. No one had done that since my mother died. It was nice to know someone believed in me and cared enough to fight. Dallas and Rose were the only things keeping me going.
Yawning from the overwhelming fatigue of surgery, the anesthetic still in my system, I shut my eyes, planning on resting them for a moment, but darkness quickly pulled me under.
Chapter Eleven
Rose
While Jagger slept, I crept out to call Ed. There was nothing else I could do to help get Dallas back apart from hounding my friend. Sitting around the hospital wasn’t productive, and yet I wanted to remain nearby.
We weren’t sure who we could trust anymore. The cop who’d questioned Jagger had seemed suspicious to me. An ‘I don’t care’ attitude. Just how many officers were in on the ruse?
Ed answered on the second ring, so I let him know my suspicions about the cop and the questioning. He proceeded to tell me that his brother Jace had been in touch with one of his FBI friends and they were sending someone to Great Falls to begin investigating as well as questioning people in the police force. A crooked cop or perhaps several were right up their alley and they took cases like that very seriously.
“Thank you. I am so grateful to have them on our side. At least now we might have a shot at getting Dallas back.”
He agreed and vowed to keep me posted regularly. It was still a matter of playing the waiting game, but we didn’t have a choice. I still wasn’t sure if Jagger was going to agree to let the experts handle it. I’d need to convince him. We’d traveled far enough and spent enough of my money on a wild goose chase. It had to stop.
The FBI agent would be in touch when he arrived, and plenty of investigating would be going on behind the scenes. Knowing that it was being handled by the best, perhaps we could loosen our grip a bit and return home to wait it out.
If Marcy thought we had backed off, it wou
ld be in our favor.
Grabbing a coffee and a sandwich, I sat outside in a sunny courtyard to eat and regroup. Jagger may be out to it for a while, so I needed to fill in some time. As much as I enjoyed watching him sleep, the lure of outside drew me like a moth to a flame.
Sitting in a chair in the full sun, I let the tepid rays infuse me with warmth. A few people were scattered nearby at tables and benches. Some were patients, and some looked like me and could just use the break. Having a loved one in hospital was very trying.
Hang on a minute! Did I just say loved one? Did I love Jagger? Had he crept under my skin so gradually that my feelings were more than like? My brain began analyzing.
The grief that had overcome me when I saw him shot and bleeding was too hard to ignore. Even now, knowing he had taken a bullet was extremely hard to stomach. If anything had happened to him, it would have ruined me. Could I imagine my life without him? No. I don’t think I could. It hit me then. I did love him. I. loved. Jagger. Reed. The arrogant, sometimes cocky brute of a man who on the outside was God’s gift to women, but more importantly on the inside, deep underneath his troubled past was a caring, considerate, loving human being. The way he adored his brother told me volumes about who he was. I liked his flaws and dirty mouth. He had a sensitive side. It had shown in his writing and more so in his actions. Jagger Reed was complex, but in that complexity came so many amazing layers of the human being I had gotten to know. The multi-faceted package blew my mind. I loved that about him. All the different pieces that made up the whole.
I was surprised at my revelation. I found myself grinning like a happy clown while sipping on my coffee. He did that to me. No one had made me feel such things in a long while, if ever.
Relaxing into the moment, enjoying my personal time, I let my heart spill out its contents into the rest of my body, filling me with newfound strength before going to my love’s side.
***
After leaving the hospital and heading to the grocery store to buy some food for the small kitchen in the motel, I unloaded it and returned to find Jagger sitting up in bed, eating lunch.
“Hey you. Where did you disappear to?” he asked while swallowing a mouthful of orange juice.
“Just popped out to run a few errands. I wanted to let you sleep. You needed it.”
“Come and give me some loving.” He smiled, holding out an arm.
His eyes were filled with warmth and if I didn’t know better, I would think something else was there too.
“I called Ed again. Someone from the FBI will be coming here to talk with us and begin investigating.” Climbing up to sit beside him, I leaned in and kissed his heavenly lips. They hovered gently over mine, pushing and pulling delicately, causing prickles to break out all over my arms.
“I missed you,” he murmured, not having responded to my announcement.
Pulling back, I asked, “Did you hear what I just said?”
“Ah ha.” His face closed the gap again, this time his mouth wasn’t as gentle. I lost all thought as I responded, needing it as much as him.
Humoring him for a long moment, we kissed each other desperately. The greater I responded, the further I fell. “Jagger…I…lo―” It nearly came out but I stopped myself. He wasn’t ready to hear it. He didn’t need anything else thrown at him from left field. There was enough to think about and cope with. Plus, I’d feel like a heel if the emotion ended up being unrequited.
His eyebrows lifted in question when he was far enough back for me to focus on. “Yes? You what?”
There was anticipation in his expression. I faltered again before blurting out. “I love how happy you are to see me.”
“You have no idea, sweetheart. Your pretty face lights up this room. I’m not saying there aren’t some hot nurses around…”
Swatting him, I sat back, eager to find out his reaction to my early admission. “Be serious. So what do you think about the FBI coming to Montana?”
Realizing he still had the food tray sitting across him, I moved it aside while we spoke.
“It’s good, I guess. I mean, they deal with this sort of thing every day. Once their guy arrives, I’ll be well enough to get out of this place. I want to help him in any way I can.”
Swallowing hard, I tried for nonchalant. “You’re going to stay in Great Falls? How do you think you’ll be able to help?”
“I’m not sure but I can leave, Rose. You know that.”
As I suspected, he wasn’t going to go down quietly, but I had to try. “I thought we could return home and let the experts handle it. I just don’t see how we’re helping by staying.”
He looked at me as if I had lost my marbles. “Are you serious?”
“Of course. You need to recover properly, Jagger. You can’t do that while expecting to get involved with the FBI.”
“I’m not leaving without my brother.”
He wasn’t seeing reason. “And how do you expect to pay for your stay?”
It was a low blow, knowing he didn’t have a penny to his name. I had offered to pay for everything but still, now that he had a bullet hole in him, he needed to step back.
His face fell with the realization. “We were going to stay before I got shot.”
“I know, but realistically, I could only stay until the end of the week without having to call work and beg for more time off. Things have changed.” My eyes flicked to his bandaged shoulder and then back to his indecisive eyes.
“Why don’t we wait a few days and then make a decision? Who knows, if this guy is any good, he may have found my brother by then.”
Conceding that I’d kind of promised him his week, I nodded. “Fine, but Thursday or Friday, I leave to drive back to Buckeye.” The thought of traveling all the way back, possibly alone, had me on edge. It was too far for one person to tackle. God, I hoped the case was wrapped up by then.
Chapter Twelve
Jagger
After dinner when Rose had returned to the motel and I was lying on my bed, adding the first entry to my journal, a nurse walked in, followed by a guy dressed in blue jeans and a large windbreaker with the initials FBI emblazoned in yellow on it. His short cropped hair, and matter of fact way he held himself and inspected me was a giveaway our guy had arrived.
“Mr. Reed, Agent Crowther is here to speak with you.”
Placing my notebook and pen aside, I propped my bed up higher and got comfortable before holding out my hand. “Thanks for coming. Nice to meet you.”
He smiled, formally shaking my hand, and sat in the bedside chair. The nurse had the sense to disappear quietly.
“You made it in good time.” I attempted to make small talk.
“Air travel. It cuts out valuable time wasted while driving.”
Perhaps if Rose and I had flown here we could have avoided encountering Marcy Dewhurst. I could have released Dallas from Mrs. Radcliffe’s care easily enough. Then again, I wasn’t sure how long Marcy had been in Montana before we arrived.
Agent Crowther cleared his throat, bringing me back to the moment. I was grateful for the interruption.
“I’ve been briefed about the situation. We’ve got some men following up leads concerning Marcy Dewhurst’s corruption allegations and now attempted murder and abduction charges.”
“You think you can get my brother back?” That was all I was concerned about. Marcy could disappear off the face of the Earth. It wouldn’t make a scrap of difference to me.
“We’ll get her. You just need to sit tight and let things happen.”
Like fuck I would. “I need to do something.”
“With all due respect,” he responded, eying my bandaged shoulder and drip attached, “you don’t need to do anything.”
He sounded just like Rose. What was with everyone trying to coddle me? I wasn’t some fragile piece of glass. Not when I’d dealt with my father’s abuse. I was stronger than people gave me credit for.
“That’s what my girlfriend said.” Girlfriend? Is that what Rose was
now? When was the last time I’d even had one? Or wanted one, for that matter? She’d changed my views on that. She’d changed me. I owed her everything, including my heart. Shit. I was getting in my own head. Focus, Jag.
“She sounds very wise. You should listen to her.”
“Hmph. Not likely.”
His lips twitched like he wanted to smile but that would mean letting down his tough exterior. I guess in his line of work, it was hard to soften those edges.
Knowing I was probably stepping over the line, I said, “You may want to check out the local police too. The guy that came here seemed off. Like he couldn’t get out of the place quick enough. Also on the night I was shot they took forever to get there. I could be barking up the wrong tree, but just thought I’d give you a heads up.” If that was how I could help, then so be it.
Giving me a quick nod, he replied, “Appreciate that. Anything else you can give us or remember, no matter how insignificant it may seem, would be appreciated.” He reached into his jacket pocket and handed me a card. “That number at the bottom is my private line. Call me at any time.”
Standing, he held out his hand and I took it, feeling less uptight. He gave me a vibe that he took his cases very seriously and that was good. If he’d come into the room all jovial and cracking jokes, I might not have held him with such high regard. This guy seemed focused.
“Thanks for getting involved in this. I really mean that.”
“I’ll be in touch.” He walked out as solemnly as he’d entered, but after sitting with him for ten minutes, that was okay with me. I could read people fairly well and he had passed the test, even if at first I thought he had a rod up his ass.
Reclining the bed back, I nestled into the blankets and shifted to get comfortable. I had only needed one lot of pain meds today, so my head felt clearer. I wondered what Rose was doing. Rose, my girlfriend. Hell, yeah. It had a nice ring to it. When she came to visit in the morning, I was going to discuss our relationship. I prayed she had feelings for me and wasn’t only helping me because she felt an obligation to.
Stealing Dallas (Search & Seek Book 2) Page 11