Page 30 of Beauty and the Nerd
He didn’t leave her side as they came in to take her upstairs for observation for the rest of the night and he slipped onto the bed, holding her as they waited for news from the police. It was nearly seven before Jeffery came into the room, handing over the dvd as Emma napped on his shoulder.
“The officers are fine, it was a basic formula homemade knock-out gas,” Jeffery said taking a seat on a stool. “I’ve spoken with her parents again. They should be here later this morning, about noon as long as the flight isn’t delayed.”
“Do you know who it was, why they went after Emma?” he asked, seeing the same security guard standing outside in the hallway as from earlier that morning.
“Emma’s father is in pharmaceuticals,” Jeffery said, and he nodded knowing that quite well. It was why he was out of town so often and why Emma’s date nights with him meant so much to her. “It seems that he recently took over a large portion of another representative’s coverage area as the company downsized, laying off some people in the process. The person that broke into the house was the man whose area he was given. He knew the most precious thing to Jack Watkins was his daughter and wanted to hurt him by hurting Emma. He just didn’t realize that the locks in the house were far more solid than anticipated. He was trying to take the door to her bedroom off the hinges when our officers caught him.”
“So Emma’s safe?” he asked, and Jeffery nodded allowing Ben to relax the tiniest bit.
Jeffery left them alone certain he’d tell her what happened when she woke while he waited for her parents to arrive. He ushered them from the airport and to the hospital, seeing the expression on Jack Watkins’ face when he reached his daughter.The mixture of pain and anger told him they needed to make sure the man didn’t get let out any time soon or he’d be finding Jack Watkins in his precinct for murder.
“Emma, I’m so sorry, angel,” Jack said hugging her tightly as Ben paused the movie.
“I’m fine Dad, really,” Emma said letting her parents’ hugs go on far longer than normal. “Ben was able to help them get to me quickly; the doctor said I have a mild concussion but that’s it. Really, nothing lasting happened other than my phone likely getting ruined.”
“A phone is completely replaceable Emmy, you’re not,” Ben said shaking his head at her.
“Neither are you,” Jack said giving him a hug that made her smile. “I know there’s no other man alive but me that would have been able to get her out of there safely, cared so much about doing it, or sat through the torture that is that movie up there,” he added pointing to the screen. “You’re welcome at the house any time and I certainly hope you don’t go anywhere too far from her in the future.”
“How about roughly seven miles down the road from me at college?” Emma said with a grin as Ben kissed her hand.
“What colleges are roughly seven miles apart?” Nicole questioned glancing between them.
“Columbia University and NYU,” she answered watching their eyes widen in surprise. “I got my acceptance for their second early decision group yesterday.”
“And I got mine to Columbia in December,” Ben added. “I don’t think I’d be able to be any farther away from her than that, especially now.”
“You got into NYU?” her dad said, and she nodded.
“The letter is at home on my desk, or at least it was,” she said not knowing what was moved in the upset last night.
“Congratulations angel, I knew you could do it,” her dad said giving her another hug.
“We’re so immensely proud of you Emma, and so glad you’re alright. That you had Ben to keep you safe,” her mom said sliding her hand on top of her and Ben’s joint ones, surrounding her with their love letting her relax despite being in the dumb hospital yet again.
Chapter 11
“At least the guys’ season is almost finished as it is,” Megan said giving Emma a smile as they moved through the cafeteria on Monday. They’d kept her in the hospital until yesterday afternoon, and despite the assurance from her parents that she didn’t have to come to school today, she was here.
“I know, it’s just two concussions in three months, is so not what I had planned for this year,” Emma said with a light sigh. Thanks to the mild concussion from hitting her head, her doctor had her banned her from performing with the squad, even regular cheers. There was some swelling from this new hit that he didn’t like and combined with the last one, even now knowing she’d never actually suffered any memory loss, he was adamant that she not participate until her CT was completely clear and she was clear all of concussion symptoms. She was likely to miss the state cheer competition as well, but she’d rather that than have any additional issues come up.
“Hi baby,” Ben said, sliding in next to her at the table. His lips pressed the softest kiss to her temple, and she smiled, adoring the way he was behaving with her. He hadn’t left her side the whole time while she was in the hospital, even stayed the night with her, and she woke to a surprise of the third of theAnne movies as a present for her. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she didn’t love that movie because he’d actually sent his dad three towns over to buy it at a resale shop for him to give to her.
“Where were you?” she asked, reading the answer in his expression before the words appeared.
“Crystal grabbed me from class to go down to Mr. Browning’s classroom for information for the academic bowl sectionals. I stayed back an extra minute once he’d given us our information to ask him to keep her separated from me. She’s been too much of a pain lately to let it go,” Ben assured her, pressing another kiss to her temple and she didn’t let it get to her this time. After this weekend, she knew more than ever that he was hers.
“I wish she’d get over it already but I’m not going to let it upset me, not today,” she said, resting against him as the lunch period continued. Her eyes were heavy, and she smiled when Ben lifted her onto his lap, his lips pressing kisses to her lips, cheeks, nose, and eyes. She couldn’t stop the giggle that popped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him fully in return.
“Miss Watkins, Mr. Morris, I believe you are both well aware of the school’s policy on PDA, are you not?” Ms. Bentley said, breaking them apart and Emma felt her cheeks redden seeing the woman’s curious gaze flowing over them.
“Sorry, Ms. Bentley, I’m just extremely thankful that she’s safe after this most recent incident,” Ben said, his hand running down her arm gently.
“Yes, we all are,” their vice principal agreed. “I actually need to speak with Emma on another matter. Can you come with me to my office? I’ll ensure your teacher knows you’ll be late for next period.”
“Of course,” she said, shrugging in response to Megan’s confused expression. She pressed a little kiss to Ben’s lips,then grabbed her bag, heading to the office with the woman. Ms. Bentley was silent until they reached it, guiding her into a conference room rather than the regular offices. Her breathing relaxed a bit seeing just one person in the room, but only a bit as he was entirely unknown to her.
“Emma, this is Detective Bryson with the Millersburg Police Department. He has some questions he’d like to ask you,” Ms. Bentley said, surprising her.
