Dangerous Love (girl x girl)

Chapter 20

"What did he say to you?" His expression remained calm still.

"He asked me whether you were using me for you own selfish reasons and called you an as*hole." I growled angrily.

At this point, Chase sighed and held his forehead in frustration. "I don't have connections, Arielle. I haven't contacted Vaughn in over seven years and judging by our last interaction, I'm almost certain that he would rather jump off a cliff than do me any favours."

"So why would you want me to find him?" I scoffed.

"Because I assumed that he would be more willing to help another member of the Black Phoenix." He sighed heavily again. "Look, Arielle, don't let Vaughn get in your head. I wanted you to find him because I thought he'd be willing to help you. It's not for my benefit, regardless of what he claims."

"How do you know him?" I interrupted.

"That's unimportant." He spoke in a tone that left no room for argument.

Yet, I still opened my mouth to argue. "So I'm just supposed to believe what he says?"

"Do you trust me?" He eyed me.

"Well, yes-"

"Then how I know him is irrelevant. You can trust him."

"Do you trust him?" I countered.

"Yes." He replied without any trace of hesitation.

"Fine."

"Fine?" He repeated in disbelief. I didn't answer and turned to leave. I half expected him to stop me but he didn't. As the door slammed shut on my way out, I realized that this was the first time that I had spoken to Chase like that.

~~~~

By the time the end of the week came around, I still could not get over the fact that Chase knew someone from the Black Phoenix on a personal level. I had received news from Trey that the boss was impressed with my work so far and wanted us to attend some sort of "negotiation" this Saturday. So far, it seemed like I was always informed of the details only last minute.

I was so caught up in texting Trey regarding information about tomorrow that I didn't realize I was walking straight at the seminar room door until it made contact with my face. I fell backwards onto the ground and groaned in pain, but luckily, very few people were around to see me make a fool of myself.

"Miss? Are you quite alright?" An unfamiliar man with dark brown hair, who looked to be about Isabelle's age, stood in front of me with a hand outstretched. I gingerly took it and allowed him to pull me up.

"Yes, thank you." It was then that I had noticed that he had come out from inside our seminar room. I frowned. He wasn't a student and there was no class right before ours. I tilted my head slightly to peer around him into the room. The desk at the front of the room was unoccupied.

"I'm sorry, wrong classroom." I mumbled and tried to get out of his way.

"Wait - are you in Criminal Justice 310?" I stopped in my tracks and turned back around with a bewildered expression. "Dr. Williams called in this morning with a family emergency." He smiled. "She said that she may be back sometime today, depending on how long it takes her to deal with things."

I couldn't help when my face fell and he noticed. "I promise not to bore your class too much." He chuckled. "Come on in."

I slowly followed him inside the seminar room, checking my watch for the time. There were still ten minutes before class started. He sat down at the instructor's desk and I was about to sit down in my usual seat at the seminar table, but decided to take a seat in the back instead.

I thought about what he had said and wondered what family emergency Isabelle was having. She hasn't sent me a single message today or even yesterday, come to think of it. It was a drastic change from her messaging me hourly earlier this week.

I felt my worry brow come on as I silently prayed that everything was fine. I finally pulled out my phone and made the decision to send her a message.

Is everything okay? Your substitute said that you had some sort of emergency?

I waited for a response. And waited. And waited. As the students began to file in, the guy who usually sat in the seat that I was in gave me a strange look before sitting elsewhere. Class started and I quickly pulled out my notebook and slid my phone under the table. The substitute introduced himself as Professor Westley.

I peeked at my phone to see if there had been any responses. Nothing. I sent another text before I could help myself.

Isabelle? Are you okay? I'm worried. Please let me know when you can.

Then, I locked my phone again and tried my best to listen to the lecture, but I just couldn't concentrate. After another twenty minutes, I decided to send one last text. As I began to type, a response came through. I clicked on it eagerly, being careful so that nobody else could see.

Everything is fine.

I quickly typed a reply.

What happened?

I waited several moment before a response finally came through.

Miss Reagan, you ought to know better than to be on your phone in class. I suggest you put that phone away before you give me anymore reasons to discipline you again when I see you.

I was startled and almost dropped my phone. I reached to grab it and hit my elbow on the table, causing all of the attention to be directed at me. I hissed in pain, but at least I had caught my phone before anyone saw.

"S-sorry." I apologized. Just then, the door opened and everyone turned to look at who had arrived.

Isabelle stood in the doorway, looking immaculate as always with her blonde hair in a neat bun and laptop in hand. She glanced at me momentarily with the slightest hint of a smirk on her face before turning away. "Ah, Dr. Williams, I hope everything is alright?"

"Isabelle, Landon, And yes, everything is fine. Thank you so much for helping me out today. I can finish the remainder of the seminar as I will need to address the issue of the final project with my students."

"Anytime, Isabelle." He began to pack up his belongings. Hushed whispers filled the room as we waited for the discussion to begin again.

"Miss Reagan." My head snapped up. "Why aren't you in your assigned seat?" Whispers were heard around the room and Mira smirked at me.

My face turned very red. I stood up silently and picked up my stuff to move to my usual seat. The guy that was in my seat moved automatically. As soon as I sat down, Isabelle reached for my hand and squeezed it, making me blush more.

My eyes widened a fraction once I realized what she was actually doing. She yanked my phone out from my grip and began to walk to her desk. After placing it inside the drawer, she began to set her laptop up. A couple minutes later, she walked back to the seminar table and took her usual seat next to me.

"Now class, I apologize for the disruption. Let us continue the discussion."

———————————————————————————
*edited*

Somebody's in trouble...
🙂

🙂

🙂

-Cindy