Living (RedRibbon13) **Complete**

8. Jake

Chapter 8

Jake

MJ was horrified to see her friend running blindly towards a car that was just pulling in. She was about to scream Amanda’s name when the driver stopped the car and rushed out of the vehicle. She stopped on her tracks and smiled at the sight in front of her, she could see the pain and worry etched in the man’s eyes even from a distance.

She decided that her friend was exactly where she needed to be and turned to go back inside. She had to find her friends and kick some ass. She had a haunch as to which group of bitches were involved in this and knew exactly how to get the truth out of one of them.

Amanda felt herself slam into something hard and struggled to free herself when a pair of arms came around her. She lashed about, screaming the words, “Don’t touch me!”, but found her face pressed to someone’s chest as a soft voice crooned to her that it was okay.

With whatever energy she had left in her, she pushed him and moved away from his strong arms. She looked up at him accusingly and cried, “It’s not okay. Nothing is OKAY!” she screamed her frustration and jabbed her finger in his chest, “Stay away from me, you might get my STDs.” she said, her eyes looking at him but not really seeing him. He was taken aback by the crazy look in her eyes and took a step back without thinking.

“Ha... that’s what I thought. You are scared of me… all of you are fucking scared of me. You can’t even touch me. No one can even touch me.” Her voice wasn’t hers anymore. It was a dry, rough voice that sounded foreign, even to her own ears. She blinked and the tears fell, only to be replaced by fresh ones to cloud her vision again.

She started to walk around him but found that she couldn’t move, she was stuck in the spot with his hands gripping her shoulders. “Let go!” she yelled furiously and flinched to hear the same throaty voice.

“Enough!” he yelled in a voice so authoritative that she stilled. Her crying stopped at the sound of that voice, she knew the voice so well and loved it. It was the voice of her favorite teacher.

“You want me to touch you, Amanda? I’ll touch you all you want.” she heard his soft voice again but couldn’t reply. She just stared blankly at the small mark on his cheek, as her vision blurred, then cleared as soon as she blinked. Then, it blurred again.

Jake couldn’t take it anymore. He could tell that she was going into shock because of something. She wasn’t even with him, he called her name several times but she kept on staring at his face blankly, blinking from time to time, letting the tears fall.

He cursed under his breath and decided that the rules and laws could go to hell. He’d gladly leave his job or even go to jail if he could comfort her once.

He held her arms tighter and shook her a little, “You’re scaring me, Amy.” He said softly, his voice so pained that it jolted her out of it. She looked into his eyes for the first time and pulled back with a gasp, “No. No, you can’t.” her voice was barely above a whisper.

He didn’t let her arms go and tried to pull her closer but she kept her ground, shaking her head slowly, “Why don’t we go back to how we were yesterday, Mr. Crosby? Just leave my arms like I burn you, and I will go back to being the untouchable. That’s the best way.” she said looking into his eyes, to let him know how serious she was.

She felt his hold loosen on her, and she looked away sighing and moved back. But before she knew what happened, she found her hand in his and she was being pulled. Her eyes widened when he opened his car door and pushed her inside with force.

Before she could protest, he lifted a warning finger and bellowed, “Stay there!”

She gulped and stilled, that authoritative tone in his voice and the fierce look in his eyes always had that effect on her. It was rare that he used that tone of voice, but when he did everyone listened.