Chapter 10
***JACKSON***
“Hi there, kids, I’m Detective Paulson; I’ve been put in charge of this case,” the man in the suit said. “Would you like to tell me what happened?”
He opened his mouth, but Abby shook her head at him. “It’s okay, I can handle this,” she said. I need to do this. Talking about it will help.”
“Let’s go sit down. There's no reason to be uncomfortable while we’re chatting,” Detective Paulson said, gesturing to the benches under the trees. “After you.”
When they were all comfortable, she told the detective everything, including her fear that there was a bomb in the locker. “First, let me assure you that there was no bomb,” Paulson said. “There was, however, a lot of damage done to the contents of your locker.”
“Oh, no,” Abby said, her face filled with worry. “That backpack had just about my entire life inside it.”
“Those things can be replaced. I’m more concerned with the threat painted on the door,” Paulson said. “If we take the words literally, they want you dead, Ms. Stewart.”
“But I don’t think…I mean, surely they were just trying to scare me,” she stammered. “They can’t really be threatening to kill me.”
“We can’t eliminate that possibility completely,” Paulson said. “We have to take it at face value and make sure that you’re safe.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, then shook her head. “I still can’t believe that was really a death threat, it doesn’t make sense. I’m not that dangerous, I mean look at me…what do they think I’m going to do?”
“I understand you started the student patrols,” the detective said, flipping through his notebook. “And you were in the building with the perpetrators the night of the attempted bombing. Am I correct that you heard one of their names?”
Abby nodded, her face turning a little pale, “Yes, but that can’t be enough to make them kill me,” she said, some of the bravado gone from her voice. “Could it?”
“We don’t know, that’s the problem,” Paulson said. “I think the smartest thing you could do right now is lay low and let us work this case. They’ve made mistakes, I won’t tell you what, but we’re closing in on them. It won’t be long now.”
“I can’t just hide in my apartment,” she said, shaking her head. “I have classes and a job, I have responsibilities.”
“How you handle it from here is up to you,” the detective said getting to his feet. “I’ll put an extra car on your street, but that’s about the best I can do. If you think of anything else that might help us, please give me a call.”
After giving them both a business card, Detective Paulson thanked them again and returned to his car. “Come on, let’s get you home,” Jackson said. “It’s been a long day, and I’m sure you need to unwind.”
Abby let out a long sigh and looked up at the sky. “Oh, no, what time is it?” she asked, jumping to her feet. “I have to get to work; I don’t want to be late.”
“You can’t go to work tonight, you heard the detective,” he said. “And we still have to deal with the mess in your locker.”
“They won’t let me have any of that stuff now; I’m sure it's evidence or something,” she said, her voice filling with panic. “I don’t want to think about it right now. All my notes were in there, half my textbooks, and I don’t even know what else; I don’t know how I’m going to replace it all.”
“It’s going to be okay,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “We’ll just take this one step at a time. You can have copies of all my notes, we’ll share my textbooks, and I’m sure all the professors will be understanding. After all, it wasn’t your fault.”
“That’s not completely true, I am partly to blame,” she said with a big sigh. “I should have listened to you, I should have thought it through more…”
“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 walk me 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 can handle 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.”
Jackson didn’t answer right away. His eyes roamed up and down her body, then back up to her face. “What the hell are you wearing?” he demanded. “Do you have any idea what you look like?”
“I have a mirror at home,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I came to make sure that you make it home okay,” Jackson said, taking off his jacket and putting it around her shoulders. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Have you lost your mind?” she asked, shrugging off the jacket and handing it back to him. “I’m still working, I can’t leave yet.”
“Well, you can’t go back out there like that,” he said, scowling at her. “All those men were looking at you, it’s not right. You should find another job.”
“Despite this ridiculous outfit, I really like this job,” she said. “Not that it’s any of your business. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
She picked up the empty bottles and stomped off, letting her hips swish as she walked, an evil smile spreading across her face when she heard Jackson groan. “Serves him right,” she mumbled under her breath. “Tell me how to dress…”
To her disappointment, Jackson was sitting at the bar when she came back up front, a scowl on his face, but she ignored him, deciding that she’d take her time and make him wait for her.
If he insisted on playing her knight in shining armor, there was nothing she could do to stop him, but she wasn’t going to make it easy on him, especially after he’d tried to order her around.
He couldn’t begin to understand how important this job was to her survival; it paid more than any other job she could get, and the worst thing she had to do was show a little skin and put on some makeup.
She’d worked herself up into a good rage by the time the last job was marked off the list, but put a smile on her face when she told Clark goodnight.
After grabbing her purse and coat from the employee locker room, she headed for the front door, aware of Jackson following her.
Realizing just how stupid their little game was, she waited for him to catch up to her at the front door, deciding that one of them should act like an adult.
“Should I ask one of the security guards to walk me to my car?” she asked sweetly. “They won’t mind at all.”
“That won’t be necessary,” he said, taking her arm. “Nothing is going to happen to you with me around.”
“You’re awfully sure of yourself,” she said, letting him lead her outside. “Are you a superhero or something, you know, like Superman?”
“Very funny,” Jackson said. “You should take that act on the road.”
“I would, but you’d probably want to go with me,” she shot back, trying not to admit even to herself that she felt better with Jackson by her side. “I’m a one-woman show, in case you missed it.”