Chapter 9

            Bri was stunned.  She half rose from the blanket, not quite sure if she was going to follow him or not.  But, as she turned to watch him leave, she realized he had already missed his exit.  She blinked rapidly, shaking her head to clear it.  What in the world had just happened?

            Breathe.  She suddenly had to remind herself of.  She found that she had to concentrate on steadying her heart.  Much to her dismay, she realized that the thing that was causing her the most confusion at that particular moment was the way the nerves in her cheek were dancing on edge, as if they could feel the exact edges of Jackson’s fingerprints on her face.  She closed her eyes and focused on taking some deep breaths.

            There are so many other important things to be thinking about right now.  She scolded herself. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for the flurries in her nervous system settled and her brain could function.  What the hell had happened?  Did he really just ditch her at the play?

            Suddenly very self-aware, Bri looked around to see if any of the other play-goers had noticed her being stranded.  Thankfully, everyone seemed thoroughly absorbed in the action on the stage.  The night had darkened to a navy blue, cloudy and breeze-less. She leaned back heavily against the tree trunk, barely aware that there were people performing in her line of sight.  Her brain was alight with confusion.

            Well if this doesn’t raise a whole new batch of issues… she thought, a frown deepening on her face.  Who was that guy who came up to him?  Why was Jackson so ready to go with him?  Brielle couldn’t convince herself that Jackson was surprised… he seemed completely at ease to have the Indian man come up so quickly and quietly behind him.  It had to be a friend of his?  But what had been so urgent that Jackson had to leave?

            Brielle chewed her bottom lip.  And why I am still here?  She wondered, feeling her heart rise a little in panic.  She was alone in central park and her only two options were to sit here and wait for his return – like Jackson had told her to – or to go home, which required her to walk home and take the subway in the now dark sky.

            A lick of fury wove its way from the bottom of Bri’s stomach and up through her throat.  Just who the hell did he think he was?  Here she was, yes, pretty stupid, but trusting him.  He should know better – he had very few cards to play before she was at complete liberty to freak out.  She was giving him the opportunity to give her some answers and what does he do?  Say cryptic things all night, half-truths, and then run away the instant that she is completely committed to sitting and watching the play.

            If he was trying to turn down the creepy-weird factor than he failed miserably.  Bri thought to herself stiffly, wondering how in the world this could have happened.  What had she gotten herself into?  She shuddered suddenly, not sure it if was the night air or the fact that she was alone. For all she knew, he was probably off making some sort of gang hit or getting a great deal on a bag of cocaine.  In fact, those were probably the two more logical things that could be happening, and neither of them were things that she wanted to stick around and wait for.

            Still, even as Bri adjusted herself on the blanket, she couldn’t quite bring herself to get up.  Her uncertainty about what was going on made her stay. He seemed sincere that he didn’t want to leave – and he did emphasize that he would be back before the end of the play, that he would get her home safely.

            Bri’s thoughts lingered on his last, fleeting words.  Forgive me.  She repeated in her head, seeing the way his icy-blue eyes glimmered in her memory.  Just that was enough to get her heart rate going again.

            Her eyes were un-focused in the direction of the stage.  Despite her constant interest in theatre she knew she wasn’t going to go back to watching it.  Even now, her ears were directed backwards, waiting for Jackson to walk back up behind her and say false alarm.

            A strong uneasiness settled in her stomach.  Something wasn’t right.  Ignoring the fact that she went on a date with someone who flat out admitted that he was stalking her, something about tonight was just weird.  What in the world could be so important that he had to run away that quickly?  And not only was it that important, but it was that expected?  It seemed like, more than anything, the news had irritated him, but it wasn’t something he could ignore either…

            Before she could change her mind Bri stood up from the ground and quickly gathered the blanket in her arms.  She wanted to wait for Jackson, she really did, but up until this point she had been listening to her body, to her heart, even, if she wanted to go as far as to admit to such a thing.  But now, as she was sitting alone in the park, it was time to listen to her brain.

            Mumbling apologies, she interrupted various people’s views of the stage in order to move through the crowd and go out the gate that they had entered.  Bri crossed the street quickly to get into the subway entrance, adjusting the blanket in her arms so she could reach into her purse for some money.

            After waiting only a couple of minutes for the train, Bri tried her ignore the guilt she felt as she sat down on the subway, frowning down at the teal and blue blanket.  She didn’t like the way her blanket took her attention, making her feel like an easy target.  She didn’t like traveling alone after dark – even if it was still early and there were a lot of people out.  She really ought to ditch the stupid thing – she didn’t want to walk the last few blocks to her apartment carrying it.  Even as she thought that though, her guilt grew stronger.  She thought about the way his eyes had looked so intently at her, remorse written all over his face.

            This is impossible.  Bri thought, rubbing her temples at the sudden stress headache she felt.  She felt terrible for leaving but she just couldn’t ignore the self-preservation instincts that told her to get the heck out of there.  Still, she felt like she had somehow broken his confidence.  She imagined the look on his face when he went back to the play to realize that she had left.  Would he be crushed?  Her guilt increased as she realized how guilty he would feel.

            But how could he really have expected me to stay?  She wondered as she rose to prepare herself to exit for the next stop.  She was doing him a favor from the very beginning to trust him and then – that?  For him to leave without any slight indication of an explanation? It would have been idiotic for her to stay and wait for him. She had every right to think that he was completely dangerous, up to no good…

            Bri shook her head and pushed her thoughts out of her head.  The last few blocks to her apartment weren’t the best lit and she felt even more cumbersome than before as she held the blanket in front of her with both hands.  She made herself aware of her surroundings, taking care to walk as far away from the shadows as possible.  Her strappy shoes clacked loudly against the sidewalks alerting anyone nearby that there was a woman wearing inappropriate shoes for running.  Brielle swallowed hard and picked up her pace as she realized that the streets weren’t nearly as active as they had been around central park.  She felt very obvious, a young girl walking alone, and really just wanted to go home.

            Bri took a deep breath, doing her best to keep at bay the slight panic that she knew would come.  She always kind of freaked out when she was walking alone.  She knew it was smart, but she also knew that she tended to overreact.

            Still, surprising herself, she realized that the panic wasn’t really there.  She found herself surprisingly alert.  She felt her eyebrows pull together in puzzlement as she noticed that it wasn’t really as dark as she thought it was.  Or at least… it seemed like she could actually make out what was in the shadows much better than usual.  And, maybe it was the way the long lane echoed but she was positive that she could hear the slight rattling of some sort of animal in the garbage at the very end of the alley she had just passed.  Even though she had been completely preoccupied up to that point, she found she was completely focused now, scanning easily everything around her.  She completely trusted her ears as they told her that no one was moving nearby. She didn’t even mind the blanket so much, her grip on it was light, ready to drop it at a moment’s notice.  She adjusted her strides so they were long, changing the rhythm of her steps to a echo confident clacking.

            Bri had her keys at the ready by the time she was at the front door and quickly opened it.  She had made it down the street without incident, and even more surprisingly, without fear.  As she closed the door behind her she let her eyes adjust to the bright lights of the hallway before walking up the flights to her apartment.  She couldn’t remember ever feeling that much as ease, maybe that wasn’t the right word, so attentive while walking down a dark street before.  Maybe she had been using her instincts so much more than usual lately and they were starting to take over?

            Unfortunately, since she was so preoccupied with her walk, she had totally forgotten to prepare herself with the onslaught that awaited her once she opened up the door to her apartment.

            Kayla gasped as Bri walked through the door, jumping up from her spot on the couch. “Back already?!”

            Bri groaned.  Another bad thing about having such a small apartment – there was never any place to hide.  She hadn’t even figured out what happened for herself yet, the last she wanted – or could do – was explain it to Kayla.
            “Yeah…”  Brielle mumbled, struggling to come up with the words that would make sense but not reveal everything.  “He had to go.”  She finished lamely.

            Kayla’s eyebrows rose in surprise.  “He had to go?”

            Bri shrugged, “Yeah, um – some kind of emergency or something.  Listen, I’m not really sure at all so can I fill you in later?”  Her eyes pleaded with Kayla, hoping her friend would realize that she really, really didn’t know how to talk about it.

            Kayla struggled to hold back another onslaught of questions.  She nodded slowly.  “Yeah… I can wait Bri…”  She opened her mouth again as she eyed the blanket but then stopped, a smile spreading across her face.  “You still look gorgeous, at least!”

            Brielle smiled in relief.  “Thanks, Kayla.”  She then turned and went into her bedroom.  She threw the blanket at the end of the bed and grabbed her sweats.  Quickly she changed into navy blue tank top that had a couple of bleach spots on it and a large pair of gray sweatpants that she had chopped off the bottoms of to make them capris.

            Now what?  She wondered to herself, sitting heavily on her bed.  She scrunched her hair a little, giving kudos to Patrick silently for how nicely the curls held.  She was just toying with the idea of taking a shower in order to get all the make-up and hair spray off her body when she heard the buzz of the door.

            No way.  She thought suddenly, as she pulled open the door to her bedroom and bolted for the intercom.  Somehow she made it there before Kayla who was still out in the living too.  Bri was shocked – for some reason she really didn’t think she was going to talk to Jackson again tonight.  Her heart raced as she answered the door.

            “Yes?”  She asked quietly, already knowing what voice would respond.

            “Bri?”

            Her heart fluttered as she heard the tone of his voice.  It was just like how it sounded right before he left; miserable.

            “Hi Jackson,” She said stupidly, realizing that she should probably buzz him up.  She held the listen button.  Maybe he just wanted to pick up the blanket.

            “Would you mind coming down and taking a walk with me?”

            “Sure!”  She said automatically.  Just as reflexively, she hit herself on the forehead.  What was wrong with her?  If she was contemplating the fact that he was some crazy killer, the last thing she should do was go down there and walk around in the dark with him.  Yet, even as she thought that she continued into the intercom, “I’ll be right down.”

            Bri ignored Kayla’s stare into back as she slipped into a pair of flip-flops and, grabbing her phone and keys, bolted out the door.  She pounded down the steps, not quite sure why she was rushing.  She pulled the front down open quickly and it was all she could do to stop her momentum from plowing right into Jackson, who was still standing close to the intercom.

            Jackson held out his arm, catching her across the shoulders.  Bri felt her heart race again as she looked up into his face, but she ignored it to quickly study his expression.  Though his now-familiar smirk was playing across his lips, his eyes weren’t glittering like they normally did.

            “Careful,” he said softly.  “You know, I thought I was really going to have to beg in order to convince you to come down.”

            Bri shook her head, her reasoning clicking in her brain as she looked into his eyes.

            “I feel really, really guilty for leaving.  I’m just glad you came.”

            Jackson dropped his arms from around the front of her shoulders, letting her get the rest of the way out the door and close it behind her.  He lightly plucked her cell phone and keys from her hands and dropped them into his pocket.  Bri mentally kicked herself.  That action alone should have scared her.  It should scare her that she doesn’t know this guy and that they are about to walk down the very, very dark streets.  But she completed trusted him.  There was absolutely nothing in the way he was standing or looking at her that gave her any reason to fear him.  Suddenly, she felt the need to explain her actions.

            “Jackson, I –“

            Jackson cut her off by wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leading her off the stoop.  “Just one second, Bri.  I believe I’m the person who should be talking and explaining now, wouldn’t you say?”

            Bri’s mouth tightened into a frown.  “Actually, no.  You asked me to stay and I left.  I shouldn’t have done that.”

            Jackson smiled softly.  “I’m not mad, Bri.  It was the smart thing for you to do.”

            Brielle shook her head. “But you’re sad,” she pointed out.  “And, it really wasn’t all that smart.  These streets aren’t good to be walking around on at night alone.”

            “Did something happen?”  He asked suddenly, quickly.  Bri looked up to find his eyes intensely looking at her, searching her face.

            Truthfully, she shook her head.  “No, actually, I had a really easy time taking care of myself.”  She realized that sentence wouldn’t make much sense to him but his question had reminded him of how alert she had been, how her senses all seemed to be on edge.

            Jackson watched her face for another second to make sure she was telling the truth and then nodded.  “Well, I’m not going to let you apologize, not when that’s what I came here to do.”

            Bri looked down at the sidewalk.  She kicked a small piece of broken sidewalk as they walked.  “I left because I was confused,” She said softly, “Not because I was mad at you.”

            “Really?”  He asked, and Bri nodded as she looked up at him.  Her heart skipped a little as she watched a small smile start from the corner of his lip.  “How can that be?”

            Bri shrugged, moving with him as he rounded a corner.  “You seemed so sincere.”

            “I was sincere.”  He said.  He shook his head and his lips pulled down into a frown.  “I had really hoped that wasn’t going to happen.  Now I’m not quite sure what to do.  I didn’t have a chance to seduce you at all.”

            Bri couldn’t stop herself from laughing aloud.  She shook her head.  “Don’t be so sure, Jackson.  Just taking me to a play gained some major points.”

            “But you didn’t even watch it.”  He pointed out.

            Bri frowned, remembering.  “I suppose… are you trying to hurt your case?”

            Jackson laughed and shook his head quickly.  “You’re right, why am I working against myself?  Think about how awesome I am for taking you to a play.”

            Bri smiled brightly, ignoring the wary thoughts in her head.  Conversation was just so easy with him and she wasn’t sure why but she had absolutely no trouble joking with him, confessing that she had genuinely liked the date, before he left of course.  They were silent for a short moment and Bri looked around the streets, realizing that she hadn’t been paying attention at all to where they were walking. She didn’t recognize the street, which wasn’t surprising since it was dark and she hadn’t done a whole lot of wandering around her neighborhood.

            “So, I guess I have to tell you where I was, don’t I?”  Jackson voice had a slight tenseness in it that made Bri’s heart race.

            “It’s kind of the whole reason why I left.  You don’t give many answers, you know.”

            Jackson nodded, his expression thoughtful.  “The thing is, it’s kind of a long story.”

            Bri looked at him after a long pause.  He was going to make her guess wasn’t he?  She took a breath and blurted out the one thing that scared her most.  “You’re not doing something illegal, are you?”

            Jackson chuckled, “No.”

            She eyed him carefully. 

            He turned his head to catch her eyes. “No,” he emphasized by giving her shoulders a squeeze.

            Bri hesitated only a moment longer before sighing and relaxing a little into his arm.  “Good.  That was really the only thing that I was worried about.”

            He chuckled.  “Really?  You can’t think of anything else that you wouldn’t be okay with that wasn’t illegal?”

            Bri shrugged.  “Well, I’m sure I could but I haven’t yet.  I was pretty much focused on the illegal stuff.  But I can get started on the rest of it now if you would like.”  She turned up her face to look him and glared.  “Or you could just tell me.”

            Jackson was quiet for a moment before she started to wiggle in his arm, showing her anticipation.  “The thing is, it’s a really long story.  I just… it’s not something that I can start tonight.”

            Bri felt her hopes dropping.  “I need some sort of explanation, Jackson.  I’ve been doing some pretty irrational things since I’ve met you but that’s not really part of my nature.  Pretty sure I’m not going to be able to ignore the way my mind calls me in an idiot every time I’m with you.”

            Jackson laughed softly.  “Not many people talk about their mind as though it’s not really a part of them, Bri.”

            “That’s kind of how it works when I’m with you.”  She said quickly, not realizing until afterward that she should probably be embarrassed about confessing that.  But as she stole a look up at Jackson it didn’t seem like he noticed anything strange about what she said.

            Jackson looked over at her, his eyebrows pulled together in concentration.  Bri stared back.  What in the world could be so big that he could just tell me?  She wondered, searching his eyes.  She didn’t even notice that they had stopped walking.  What does he do that would take so long to explain?

            Suddenly, it was as though inspiration struck him.  “Bri, do you think if I told you what it was, that you could wait for the explanation tomorrow?”

            Bri’s mouth pulled down into a frown.  “But why?”

            Jackson looked uncomfortable.  “Because…” he paused looking for the right words.  He started walking again, pulling her into him.  His words were faster than usual.  “because there’s a place that I want to show you too, but we can’t go there tonight.  I would just… work so much better if we could talk for a while, during the day.”

            Bri watched the way the muscles in his jaw moved as he clenched and unclenched his teeth, waiting for her reaction.  She mentally debated.

            “Whatever you’re going to tell me is going to keep me up all night, isn’t it?”  She asked softly.  Jackson smiled.

            “Probably.  But since I know that you’ll already be up all night anyway, it doesn’t seem like it matters at this point.”

            Bri cocked her head to the side, thoughtfully.  That was actually completely true.  She watched the side of Jackson face until they stopped walking again and he turned to face her, dropping his from around her shoulders.  She hadn’t realized it before but they were standing again in front of her apartment complex.  Surprising herself, she reached out her arms to place both of her hands on his shoulders.  She wasn’t completely sure, but she thought this was the first time she had reached out to touch him.  Bri couldn’t help but smile with pleasure as she felt a small tremor go through his muscles.  So I’m not the only one.

            “I think I could handle that, Jackson.”  She said, watching as his concerned eyes lit up with surprise.  He obviously didn’t think she would agree.  “You might as well be able to tell me whatever way you want to.  The catch is just that you have to tell me.”

            Jackson’s face lit up with a grin and his eyes sparkled in the yellow security light.  “Brielle, you are amazing.”

            “Oh, whatever!” Bri laughed, a bubbly feeling filled her stomach, loving how that one little sentence had made him so happy.  It was definitely work waiting if it made him look that adorable.

            “No, you are.”  Jackson said seriously, and Bri’s heart almost jumped out of her chest as he slipped his arms around her waist again and pulled her close to him.  In response to being closer to him, her arms automatically curved around his neck.  Bri could feel his heart pounding in his chest and knew that he could feel hers as well.  “I came over here expecting I was really going to have to make up some ground.  I thought you would be furious, that you would slam the door on me.  You have absolutely no reason to be receptive.”

            “Does that make me amazing, or stupid?”

            Jackson smile was soft, and it was getting closer to her.  “Other people would say stupid, but I promise that it’s not stupid.  I promise that I will never make you regret trusting me.”

            Bri felt her heart soar.  “That’s good to know.”  She looked up into his face, her eyes searching how his jaw was tense, holding back.  She knew from what too – because the way he was holding her was just a little too tight to be a hug, and the way that his eyes were looking at her.  She didn’t have to guess what he wanted to do and she absolutely knew that she wanted to kiss him too.

            But, before that feeling could take over, she just had to ask one more thing. “Why in the world are you so certain about me?  How could you ever have just seen me and then needed to follow me?  I don’t understand how it’s possible that you could just pick me out of a crowd when you could obviously have any girl that you wanted…”  Brielle wasn’t sure what was she saying, she wasn’t sure that he had ever really said he wanted her but –

            Her thoughts evaporated as his face moved even closer to hers.  She closed her eyes, focusing instead on the way his warm breath was on her face and how their foreheads were just millimeters away from touching.

            “That’s part of the explanation for tomorrow.”

            His voice was a whisper, and Bri felt embarrassed to shiver in his arms.  She was so nervous for him to tell her, she was so nervous to have him so close to her, she had never before felt these many butterflies, the prickling of her nerves on edge was enough to drive her crazy.

            She didn’t have to say a word; Bri knew he was tuned into her thoughts.  He knew she felt her head run away from her heart whenever he was in her sights.  He knew how she had a hard time catching her breath every time she thought about him.  He knew the way her skin flushed just as the idea of touching him and then when he actually reached out to hold her just the way he was holding her right now – well, who wouldn’t notice that she couldn’t formulate a word, and much less a sentence that would actually tell him how she felt? 

            It was the comfort of an embarrassment that she didn’t have to explain and for the first time in her life Bri was so tuned into another person she wasn’t even quite sure what part of her was him and what part was her.  Was she the one who was feeling so connected to him that she never wanted to let him go – or was that what we was thinking?  Did he want so much to kiss her that he was having a hard time holding back, or was it her? 

            Bri realized that she should have felt some kind of element of fear over her lack of control; she barely knew him – scratch that, she didn’t know him. She didn’t know how this crazy feeling inside of her would end up changing her, but some how she knew it would.  Somehow she knew that everything, from this very moment, was going to change.

            Bri opened her eyes in order to search Jackson’s.  They were strangely out of focus for since they were standing so close.  She wondered how many of these questions he could answer for her, and how afraid he might be for what would happen in the future.  Yet, something in the way he was looking at her told her that he didn’t fear anything.  In fact, he seemed to be so much as ease standing there, holding her far too close to himself for being out in the middle of the street, for not knowing her, for trusting her…

            Bri’s thoughts stopped completely as Jackson moved enough to have their noses touch.  She wasn’t embarrassed to gasp, her eyes snapping shut.

            “Which do you want first?”  Jackson whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear it.  In fact, she wasn’t sure if she so much heard the words as much as she felt them across her lips.  Brielle found herself unable to respond and as his chuckle again reached her ears, her lips, she felt herself slipping into a stupor of her own senses.

            The feeling of Jackson’s lips against hers shut out everything. Bri was caught in a universe she had never even imagined.  Electricity bore though her body instantly, putting all of her nerves on edge, standing each and every hand on her body on edge.  His lips were hot, strong, and completely overwhelming as she craned her head up to connect as much of her mouth to his as possible.  It was a kiss that contained so much more than another other kiss she had experienced.  There was no urgency behind his embrace, though it was strong and powerful.  It was as though he knew it would be one of many, one of thousands, one of forever –

            Bri opened her eyes as she came up for breath, instantly connecting with his.  The intensity in them slowly softened as they searched each other, assessing the reaction of the powerful connection they had just experienced.  Jackson leaned in, not aiming for her lips, but for her forehead where he gave her a soft kiss above her eyebrow, then moving to her temple, upper cheek, and jaw line, where he stopped.  His breath was hot and erratic in her ear and ever so softly, he whispered to her his explanation.

            “I’m a superhero.”

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