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“Thanks, babe.” Jagger pressed a kiss to her mouth, then Ari gave me a little wave as she left.
“I wasn’t sure if we needed this.” Jagger held up the first aid kit. “Looks like your hands are busted up and bruised, but nothing too bad. Hell, I’ve done worse.” He walked to the fridge. “Beer or something stronger? I’ll take you home if you want to drink.”
“Shit, my car is still at school.”
“Ari and I can pick it up, or I’ll take you to get it in the morning. Either way, it’s all good.”
“Something stronger, then.” I leaned against the counter, watching as he made a rum and Coke. When he was finished, he picked up our glasses and walked into the living room. Joining him, I sat down on the couch, my body aching from Marc slamming me onto the parking lot, but I’d been through worse. Much worse.
“Spill, dude. As I said, that’s shit I would do. Not you.” Jagger settled into the recliner, staring at me expectantly.
I gulped down my drink as though it would squelch the fire burning inside of me.
“I’ve told Quinn a little bit, but …” I stared at the floor, then at Jagger. “Listen, you and I haven’t ever been close. When I was interested in Ari, you made it clear we weren’t friends, so how do I know I can trust you?”
Jagger’s eyes flashed with respect. “I’ve got your back on the field, and I’ve got your back now. You need me as a witness. Marc will probably press charges unless we can get in front of the situation.”
I blew out a sigh and shoved my fingers through my hair. “What I tell you, though, not a fucking word to anyone, especially your girlfriend.” If I planned to share even a hint of what the hell was going on, I had to make sure he kept his mouth shut. Oddly enough, I trusted him.
“It won’t be the first secret I’ve kept from her.” Jagger took a drink, then rested the glass on his jeaned thigh. “My uncle is in an MC, and there’s plenty of shit I can’t discuss with her.”
I nodded. He understood. “All right. Then I’ll trust you, especially if you’re going to lie for me.”
Jagger gave a half shrug. “As I said, I’ve got your back on and off the field.”
After another long gulp, I set the glass on the coffee table. “From what I can tell, Marc is here from Tennessee and said he was Brie’s boyfriend. Brie didn’t agree, though.”
“How the hell did you end up jumping in?” Jagger asked.
“He hugged her, but she didn’t hug him back, so I wanted to keep an eye on the situation for a minute. Marc grabbed her arm and practically dragged her across the parking lot to her car, then pinned her against it. He kissed her, and she tried to shove him off. That’s when I jumped in. I told Marc he needed to leave Brie alone. He objected and thought it was a good idea to throw the first punch. He didn’t get the last.” I smirked, feeling a a bit cocky about putting the little shit in his place.
Jagger’s phone rang, and he removed it from his back pocket. He stared at the screen, then at me. “It’s Coach.”
He answered, staring at me. I would say one thing about Jagger. He was intimidating as hell sometimes.
“Hey, Coach.” He paused. “Yeah, he’s with me. We’re working on what to say, and I’ll back him up. Don’t worry about that. We’re not going to lose him on the field.”
Jagger frowned. “No shit?”
I scooted to the edge of the couch, my stomach in knots from the suspense.
“Well, from what Kane has said, he was getting rough with Brianne Langston. She’s new to Whitmore and a cheerleader. It looked like self-defense if you ask me. Kane said he asked Marc to back off, and I saw Marc take a swing at him.” Jagger listened for a minute then. “Yeah, I saw the entire thing.”
I swallowed, grateful that Jagger had just lied for me. A part of me wondered if we would end up as decent friends after all this crap was handled.
“You bet. See you tomorrow.” Jagger disconnected the call, then placed his phone on the coffee table.
“Marc is in the hospital. You did a fucking number on him, man. His face is busted, and the cops will be here shortly to take our statements, so we need to dial in the last part. Tell me what happened so we get our stories straight.”
I massaged the back of my neck, the tension returning almost as quickly as it had left. “I told Brie to go home and that I would stay with Marc and make sure that he didn’t follow her. At that point, he was on the ground. I’d landed a few punches to his gut, then his jaw. I don’t think I really did any damage until after Brie left. Once she was gone, he charged me. His head rammed into my stomach, and I went down. He hopped on, got his shots in, then I got him off me. It only took me a second to flip the tables and pin him down, but I don’t remember much after that.”
Jagger placed his ankle on the opposite knee, wearing a serious expression. “Okay, I’ll corroborate all of that. As I said to Coach, sounds like self-defense to me, and that’s the angle we’re using. If there’s a problem and Marc presses charges, then I’ll talk to my uncle in the MC, and see if he can take care of shit. But I don’t think it will come to that. I just like backup plans.” Jagger grinned at me.
“You and me both.”
The doorbell rang. “Showtime, Kane.” Jagger stood, then crossed the room to answer the door.
“Showtime,” I muttered. At least my busted eye and lip would support the self-defense plan. Marc did take the first swing, which would also help what we were about to tell the cops. Even though Jagger said he had my back, I wondered why. We weren’t close friends. Hell, we were barely friends at all. I just hoped like hell if he called in a return favor, it wasn’t some crazy shit. Guess only time would tell.
