LUCAS

When I dropped Jacqueline off at her dorm, I wasn’t paying attention to anything but her. Not until she reached the steps – at the top of which her ex stood, his gaze alternating between the two of us. She didn’t see him until she nearly walked into him.

I didn’t move except to cross my arms and watch his body language closely, and hers.

As they spoke, he continued to flick occasional glances at me over her head until finally, she turned and waved, as if to tell me she was fine. I wasn’t leaving, because her body language said she was agitated – hands on her hips as they spoke, and then arms crossed defensively. They were too far for me to decipher words, but the tone of their voices drifted just far enough to reach me. Hers was irate. His was placating.

I knew her well enough to know that placating wouldn’t be welcome.

Two words I did hear her say, clearly: ‘It’s. Jacqueline.’ With this, she uncrossed her arms, her hands curling into fists at her sides.

He stepped closer and she didn’t move, but when he raised a hand to her face and she stepped back, I propelled off the bike and up the walk. She swiped her card and slung the door open, and he followed. I grabbed the door just before it closed, as Jacqueline whirled on him, her mouth open. She stopped when she saw me.

‘You okay, Jacqueline?’ I asked, stepping next to her as I examined him for signs of aggression. He oozed condescension above everything else – increasing when he recognized me as the guy who’d repaired the AC at his frat house. ‘What would administration think about you sniffing around the students?’ he sneered, and it took every ounce of self-discipline I had to keep from reacting.

I turned to Jacqueline, dismissing him – the one thing guys like him can’t easily swallow, and the one response to which I could give free rein.

She told me she was fine, her eyes sliding to the gathering audience I was just beginning to notice. Something about this girl made everything else disappear for me. At times that was ideal, while others it could be hazardous.

Then Kennedy Moore gestured to me and said exactly the wrong thing. ‘Are you hooking up with this guy, too?’

‘Too?’ she asked, her voice so vulnerable, and I wanted to punch him in the mouth to stop the ugly words before he said them.

‘In addition to Buck,’ he said.

Her mouth fell open, whatever she’d meant to say emerging with no sound.

Moore grabbed her arm and started to steer her away, and without a second thought, I wrenched his wrist and removed his hand from her. I wanted to snap it.

‘What the f**k?’ He puffed up, and I knew in that moment that he wasn’t done with her. He thought he could win her back – or maybe he knew he could.

But Jacqueline steeled her jaw, laid her hand on his arm, and told him to leave. He argued – stressing his belief that I was a maintenance man – which I couldn’t refute without placing Joseph in danger of losing his job.

‘He’s a student, Kennedy,’ she snapped. He said something about speaking with her next week, when they were home. She didn’t reply, her expression unreadable.

I knew the comment about Buck had unnerved her, but not for the reasons he intended. He spoke as if she should worry about a bad reputation, which was bullshit. The idea that people might be gossiping about her hooking up with the ass**le who’d assaulted her made me want to find and beat the utter shit out of him all over again.

Moore glared as if he could intimidate me. I hoped he wouldn’t be stupid, because he’d be much less trouble to put down than his ra**st cohort. He seemed to think his resentment was threatening, but his stance was completely untrained and left him wide open. Two hits and he’d be on the ground. He’d probably never even been in a real fight. I held his stare until he turned and went through the door.

Jacqueline touched me then, and my body unwound. She teased me about my multiple jobs, and I told her the maintenance thing was rare, and the self-defence gig was a volunteer position.

‘I guess we should add one more, huh?’ she said, and I stiffened, thinking economics tutor while fighting to keep my expression vacant. ‘Personal defender of Jacqueline Wallace?’ she said. I swung between relief and disappointment. I didn’t want to tell her, but I wanted her to know. ‘Another volunteer position, Lucas?’ She leaned closer, playful, hypnotizing me with those eyes. ‘How will you have time for studying? Or anything fun?’

I reached out and tugged her to me. Goddamn, this girl made me want. ‘There are some things I will make time for, Jacqueline,’ I whispered, kissing her neck – the sensitive space near her ear that made her go weak when I barely touched my lips to it. She hummed softly when I licked and sucked the delicate skin, careful not to mar it with a bruise. She was a sensual but private girl. Marks would only be welcome where they’d be hidden to anyone but her.

For now, I kissed and released her.

I emailed Jacqueline my notes on her research paper, noting the fact that she was caught up, though I’d continue to send her worksheets the last two weeks of class. I also let her know I’d be going home Wednesday – where there was no Wi-Fi, so I’d be virtually unreachable. As Landon.

If Grandpa could see me now, he’d shake his head and sigh heavily. And if he could reach me, he’d cuff my ear and call me ten kinds of idiot.

She replied to the email to tell me her parents were going skiing, but she was going home anyway and would be there alone. In all the scenarios I’d ever imagined, this girl having parents who’d do something so oblivious wasn’t in them.

I’d be hitching a ride in the Hellers’ SUV for the four-hour trek to the coast. They’d rented a beach house and planned to make Thanksgiving dinner there. I would stay with Dad and have a few days of silence, except for the dinner we would share with Charles and Cindy, Carlie and Caleb.

Cole had snagged himself a girlfriend at Duke and had decided to go home to Florida with her for his first break, instead of coming home. His father ragged the hell out of him for a week about mothers-in-law and being whipped and texted questions like, ‘Where are you registered?’ Cole vehemently denied impending marriage or in-laws while Heller laughed his ass off at every infuriated text from his oldest son.

I wished I could tell Jacqueline.

Predictably, the altercation with Kennedy Moore renewed my antagonism and tapped it a notch higher. Monday’s class was torture, between failed attempts to either ignore him or at least resist firing telepathic insults at the back of his head. When he turned and smiled at Jacqueline at the end of class, I left the classroom before I walked down the steps and put a dent in his toothpaste-ad-worthy smile.