Page 18 of Dragon's Unwanted Love
“Abby, listen to me,” he said, looking down at her. “None of this is your fault, the Kappas are the ones to blame. You were just trying to do something good. You were trying to protect the school and the students.”
She looked surprised, “I thought you didn’t agree with what we were doing,” she said. “You said you were going along to keep me safe.”
“I never said I didn’t think it was a good idea, I was against you drawing more attention to yourself,” he said, reaching down to stroke her cheek. “I was worried about you.”
“And you were right, I should have been more careful,” she sighed. “Now I’ve made an even bigger mess.”
“We’ll figure it out, but you have to be more careful now,” he said, then hesitated. “For what it’s worth, you’re one of the bravest women I know, and you should be proud of the stand you’re taking against the Kappas.”
“I don’t feel very brave right now,” she said. “I feel kind of foolish.”
“Well, you shouldn’t,” he said. “Now, let’s get you home.”
“I didn’t drive today. Unless you have a car, we’re going to have to walk,” she said, then shrugged her shoulders. Gas is expensive.
“That’s fine; I think we’ll be safe enough for now,” he said, letting her go but taking her hand. “You’ll be safe with me, I promise.”
Abby looked over at him and studied him for a second. He felt the fragile connection between them come to life, and then she took a deep breath. “I believe you,” was all she said.
“Good,” he said. “Now, will you listen to me about going to work?”
“Jackson, I can’t call in. They’re depending on me to be there, and I need the money,” she said. “I know that’s hard for you to understand, but I have bills to pay, I can’t just skip work.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” he said. “Until the Kappas are caught, you can’t be alone.”
She turned to look over at him. “Jackson, that’s not reasonable, I can’t live my life that way,” she said. “And you don’t have time to babysit me every minute of the day. Besides, we’d probably end up hating each other, and I don’t want that to happen.”
“I have a feeling that’s not a possibility,” he said with a sigh. “If I don’t know that you’re safe, I’m going to spend all my time worrying about you. At least if I’m with you, I can relax.”
“Jackson, that’s just not going to work, I’m used to having time to myself. I’m used to having my freedom,” she said, a stubborn look on her face. “I’m not giving that up because of a threat painted on my locker. I’m going to work, and you’re not going with me. I’ll be careful, I’ll have the bouncers walkme from my car to the door and back again at the end of the night. That’s the best I can do.”
“It’s not good enough,” he said, scowling at her. “Why can’t you see how much danger you’re in?”
“I can, I do,” she said. “I’m just not willing to change my entire life, and I need you to understand that.”
***Abby***
Jackson had insisted on walking Abby all the way up to her apartment, then proceeded to use Yvonne to try and convince her to stay home from work, but in the end, she’d won. Now her shift was almost over and the thought of walking out to her car was making her a little nervous. It wouldn’t be a big deal to ask one of the bouncers to walk with her, the other women did it all the time. She just didn’t want to explain why she needed the escort; she was a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, but she knew that they would ask. It was part of their job.
Her boss took the safety of his employees and guests seriously, which was one reason she liked working there, but this felt private, distant from the bar, and she didn’t want to share. She did her best to keep the two halves of her life separate. She didn’t want anyone at school to know that she spent her evenings dressed like a tart and flinging drinks from behind a bar. It was already hard enough to get people to take her seriously.
“Hey, Abby,” Clark called from the other end of the bar. “Do you want to get out of here early tonight?”
“I can’t think of anything I’d like more,” she called back. “It’s been a long day.”
“Yeah, I noticed you look tired tonight,” Clark said, walking over to her so they didn’t have to shout over the music. “If you’ll get most of the side work done, I think I canhandle the bar. Alex already gave the okay. He’s worried about you too.”
“Thanks, you guys are the best,” she said, then sighed, feeling like she had to tell him something. “There’s been a lot of stuff going on at school. Hopefully, it will get better soon.”
“We heard about all that,” Clark said, shaking his head. “It sounds like the police are closing in on the people responsible, but it had to be stressful.”
“It hasn’t been fun, that’s for sure,” she said. “Thanks again, Clark, I could really use some extra sleep.”
She set to work on the cleaning and stocking list right away, figuring she could be done and out the door in thirty minutes if she hurried. Focused on what she was doing, she didn’t see Jackson come strolling into the bar, an amused look on his face as he looked around. She didn’t notice he saw her behind the bar talking to a regular as she worked, or the amusement fade away, replaced by something that was a cross between desire and jealousy.
She was still unaware of him stalking across the bar toward her when she picked up the case of empty bottles and headed for the back of the bar to recycle them. But she was very aware of the hand that clamped around her arm in the short hallway to the backroom and let out a little cry of alarm, preparing to throw the bottles at him. At the last second, she realized that it was Jackson and set the bottles down on a table instead, her hands shaking, her heart pounding.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, angry and relieved at the same time. “You scared me half to death.”
