Page 15 of Dragon's Unwanted Love
Jackson looked surprised but didn’t answer her right away. “I shouldn’t have kissed you, I guess,” he finally said. “I wasn’t planning to, then we were safe, and you looked so worried and well…I just…”
She studied him for a second, then shoved him away. “You didn’t answer my question,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “What did you do to me?”
“Nothing, okay, it was just a kiss,” he said. “Can we just forget about it?”
“Not likely,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him. “Don’t do it again.”
“Oh, I can promise that won’t be a problem,” he shot at her. “Now I’m sorry that I did.”
Just then, a big black police van pulled into the parking lot, followed by an ambulance, and only a second later, they were surrounded by emergency personnel. One of the EMTs pulled her away from Jackson as he talked to the bomb squad, and she was relieved to put some distance between them. After giving her a quick once over, she was declared in perfect health, given a blanket, and told to wait until someone was free to talk to her again.
Finding a seat on a low wall, she watched the bomb squad put on their gear, then swarm into the building, and the reality of what had just happened finally began to sink in. She was trembling when Yvonne came running up, and she’d never been so glad to see her best friend. The tears that had been gathering at the back of her eyes suddenly spilled over, and before she could stop herself, she was sobbing in Yvonne’s arms.
It took a few minutes for the floodgates to empty out and her tears to dry up, but she finally managed to take a deep, shuttering breath. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I just lost it,” she said. “I think I got your shirt all wet.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Yvonne said, giving her a hug. “Are you hurt?”
“No, just a little rattled,” she said, shaking her head. “I got trapped in the building with some men, and they had a bomb; it’s still in there.”
“A bomb?” Yvonne asked, her eyes wide. “No wonder you lost it, I would have, too. How did you get out?”
“Jackson showed up and chased them off,” she said. “He says it was the Kappas.”
Just then, the bomb squad came back out of the building. One of them held up a big black box, and the crowd began tocheer. “This is crazy,” Yvonne said. “Stuff like this happens to other people, not us.”
“Well, it’s happening to us, and we have to do something about it,” she said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to become a victim of this vendetta they have against Dean Proctor. This is our campus and we need to defend it. This shouldn’t have happened, someone should have stopped them.”
“You and Jackson did,” Yvonne reminded her.
“Just barely,” she said. “If I hadn’t forgotten my notes and if Jackson hadn’t been taking a walk…”
“Okay, I get it,” Yvonne said. “What do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know exactly. Maybe student patrols, or we could go out in groups,” she said, feeling better now that she had something to distract her. “I think we should call a meeting Sunday afternoon and see how many people are interested. We can come up with more specifics then.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Yvonne said, getting to her feet. “Maybe we should get you home now. You need a shower, something hot to eat, and bed, in that order.”
“I’m supposed to hang around until someone has time to talk to me,” she said, sighing. “I don’t know how long that will be.”
“Nonsense,” Yvonne said, looking around at the officers gathered around the bomb. “You’ve been through an ordeal, and they can get your statement tomorrow.”
Before she could stop her, Yvonne headed for one of the uniforms, with a look of determination on her and a wave of gratitude washed over her. Pulling the blanket closer, she watched Yvonne arguing with the cop, then saw Jackson watching her from across the courtyard. His face was creased with annoyance as he stared at her and she instantly felt anger building inside her. Nothing that happened that nightwas her fault. She hadn’t brought the bomb into the building; she hadn’t kissed him, except that second time.
But who could blame her? She’d been so shocked, and it had felt so good that she’d acted without thinking. That would never happen again. Now, she knew just how dangerous it was to let her guard down around him. She was tired of being on a rollercoaster of emotion when he was near. She couldn’t take him being nice to her one second and then a jerk the next. No matter how wonderful that kiss had been, he wasn’t worth it; no man was.
“You’re free to go. You’ll have to go down to the station tomorrow, but at least you can go home now,” Yvonne said, holding out her hand. “Come on, there’s still pizza in the oven and pastries on the table waiting for us. We can still make something out of the night.”
CHAPTER 9
***JACKSON***
Jackson pushed open the back door, desperate to escape the fraternity house. His friend’s well-meaning gossip was finally too much for him. The bombing attempt was all anyone could talk about, not that he blamed them, but he’d been there and felt the fear when he realized Abby was in the middle of everything. Then there had been that kiss and Earth-shattering moment that he couldn’t get out of his mind. Two days hadn’t dulled the feeling, and he knew that his life had changed forever, but he wasn’t ready to face what that meant.
All he wanted right at that moment was the quiet of the library and the ritual of studying, the only thing that was a constant in his life, just like it had always been. He needed something to ground him, something to bring him back to reality, and he had plenty of work to keep him busy for the rest of the day.
Making his way across campus, he’d already begun to feel better when he noticed small posters tacked up everywhere. His curiosity peaked, and he walked over to one. It only took him a few seconds to read it, then a couple more for theanger and frustration to come boiling to the surface. He took off toward the science building at a run, hoping he wasn’t too late to stop Abby.
But when he got there, her voice rang through the air. “This is our campus, we can’t let a bunch of vandals destroy it,” she called through a bullhorn. “We’re here today to take control, to show these villains that we won’t stand by and let them ruin what we love to get revenge.”
