Forbidden Love

by Phillips, Laura

  The way Jackie’s lips met hers with such an intense desire that night, sending chills through Cam’s body, she didn’t think she would ever forget it.

  Cam had spent a lot of time daydreaming over the summer about that kiss but seeing her again, that was enough to make her heart race all over and send the butterflies that were already in her stomach into flight.

  Why hadn’t she texted me back?

  Cam had agonized over whether or not to send her a text. She knew she’d see Jackie at the next practice, but she wanted to get in touch with her anyway. She wanted to see her again, away from the team, and ask her out on a proper date.

  Cam hadn’t dwelled on the words of the text. She’d sent it the next day, but Jackie never replied.

  That was more than three months ago. Cam had been embarrassed when a full week had gone by without a reply and she couldn’t face seeing Jackie at the next practice, knowing that she’d been completely ignored, so she stopped going.

  Cam knew it was immature, but she had a busy summer ahead at the youth center and she knew she could play softball at college in the spring.

  She was just shocked that Jackie hadn’t replied. Cam could have sworn that the attraction was mutual.

  It was probably an age thing. She could tell that I was at least ten years younger than her and that put her off.

  That was what Cam told herself anyway. She’d done her best to forget about Jackie but here she was, her Behavioral Psychology professor, looking incredibly sexy and Cam had no idea how she was going to get through this semester.

  Chapter 7

  3 Weeks Later

  Cam sat in her usual spot in the library, on the third floor, in the corner of the room with all of the psychology books, on the floor with her back against the cream walls.

  There was too much going on at the tables in the center of the library. She didn’t like to talk to anyone and there were never any individual desks free, so she’d found this little spot for herself.

  There were no distractions except for the occasional person who nearly tripped over her as they rounded the corner, too busy looking for a particular book to watch what they were doing.

  Cam had on her noise canceling headphones, using her knees as a stand to prop up her tablet. She was reading a study on Teleological Behaviorism and highlighting anything she thought she could use for the paper she was currently working on.

  Cam had been nervous coming into this. She’d been away from high school for three years and she was older than most of her classmates. She felt like it was more than two or three years sometimes.

  The first three weeks had been intimidating. She didn’t know how easy it would be getting back into studying and writing papers, but it was going okay so far.

  She had a few people that she met for coffee but no one that she was really close to or clicked with.

  That was okay though. She wasn’t here to make friends. Cam wanted her degree. She wanted to become a therapist and help people.

  Most of her socializing was done at the youth center or when she went out with Kayla. They had a great team of volunteers and they tried to get together every few weeks for a night out.

  Cam was enjoying all of the classes she was taking though which is what mattered. She didn’t mind reading over case studies and experiments when the majority of the time the topics interested her.

  Cam dragged her finger across the screen, highlighting a quote that she thought she could use when the lights in the library switched off.

  Cam continued to read the rest of the paragraph, thinking that the lights had been tripped or that the generator would come on if the power had been cut.

  Maybe someone was playing a prank.

  Her tablet lit up her corner of the library as she sat in the dark, wondering why the lights weren’t coming back on.

  Cam finally looked up a few minutes later, when the lights hadn’t turned back on. She slid her white headphones off her ears and let them rest around her neck.

  It was eerily quiet, like she was in the middle of a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. It seemed like just a few minutes ago the library was full of students. Someone had stood on her toe as they walked past.

  Now the place was deserted. Cam glanced down at her watch. 10:04PM

  Shit!

  Cam threw all her things back into her messenger bag and ran to the elevator at the far side of the library, taking it down to the ground floor.

  She knew that the library closed at ten every night, but she’d lost track of time. Hopefully there would still be someone downstairs, a janitor or a security guard.

  The elevator chimed, and the doors opened. Cam stepped out into the lobby, but no one was around. There were a few lights on around the reception desk and the Exit signs above the main doors glowed.

  It was completely silent except for the thudding of the rain against the glass doors. Cam crossed the carpeted lobby and tried the doors.

  Locked. Shit!

  She banged on the glass but there was no one outside to see or hear her. The weather was awful, and sheets of rain blew across the concourse.

  The rain pelted against the glass and Cam could feel herself starting to panic. She had no food and her phone was dying.

  Her heart beat a little faster as she turned and looked around her. She couldn’t see any vending machines and she hadn’t thought to bring her charger.

  She glanced down at her phone. It was on twelve percent.

  She could call someone, but who? It was Friday night. All her friends would be out partying. No one from the college would answer the phone at ten o’clock at night.

  Jackie. She’d have keys.

  Cam scrolled through her contact list until she came to her name. She was just listed as Jackie . That’s how Cam had known her in June, not Professor Jacqueline Pearson.

  Her thumb hovered over her number, unsure if she should really call her. It was so embarrassing, but she didn’t know who else to call.

  Cam’s battery dropped to eleven percent while she tried to make up her mind.

  I have to. I don’t want to spend the night here and there’s no one else to call.

  Chapter 8

  Jackie was stretched out on her beige sofa with her feet up on the recliner, papers surrounding her. She’d love to be sitting outside on her deck, listening to the waves crashing into the shore but the weather was miserable. She couldn’t even see past her deck with the rain that was blowing against the sliding doors.

  She stretched her arms above her head, giving herself a short break before she tackled the next paper. She got up and padded into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine.

  She’d grade just one more paper tonight and finish the rest tomorrow. She worked best at night, but she’d been at it for the last three hours and she knew she was running out of steam.

  At thirty-five, Jackie didn’t think that she’d still be spending her Friday nights alone like this, but she’d given up on online dating and she didn’t like going out to the local gay bars.

  She always seemed to run into a student. She was out so that wasn’t the problem. She just didn’t like to make things awkward. Her students were used to seeing her as a lecturer not dancing or kissing someone. It would make them see her in a different light and Jackie didn’t want that.

  Her phone rang as she carried her glass back into the living room. She picked it up and froze when she saw who was calling her.

  Cam.

  Jackie stared at the screen. She felt like she had to be seeing things.

  Why was she calling me at ten o’clock on a Friday night? Was she drunk?

  Jackie nearly missed the call while she was debating whether or not to answer. Finally, she slid her thumb across the screen to answer.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Jackie… I’m so glad you answered.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Not really… I need a favor. I didn’t know who else to call… I got locked in the library.”<
br />
  “At college?”

  “Yeah… I know… It was stupid… I don’t know how it happened…”

  “Well, I don’t have the keys, but I can probably find someone who does… I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?”

  “Thanks.”

  Jackie hung up, still in shock. She left her glass of wine down on the coffee table, glad that she hadn’t had any yet. She was about a thirty-minute drive from the college.

  Jackie wondered how Cam knew that she worked at the college but then she remembered that she’d told her that night when they’d kissed that she was a lecturer at the college and there was only one in town.

  Jackie was still in her work clothes, a black dress. She’d slipped off her heels hours ago and padded down the hall to her bedroom to find a pair of boots to slide on now and an umbrella.

  She knew one of the guys that did the security at the campus. She dialed his number. Maybe she could swing by his house on the way to the college and pick up the keys for the library.

  So, Cam’s a student at my college… I’m surprised we haven’t bumped into each other.

  Chapter 9

  Cam sat on one of the leather couches in the lobby. She checked the battery on her phone: eight percent. She hoped Jackie would be able to get the keys or she’d have to start thinking about where she was going to sleep.

  Cam looked around her. Probably right here, on this couch. If she had to stay the night, it wouldn’t be the worst thing, but she’d really prefer not to. She had a meeting at the youth center tomorrow at 11:00AM.

  She glanced down at her watch. It was 10:47PM now. She’d called Jackie about forty minutes ago.

  Maybe she couldn’t get the keys. She’d call me back to tell me that though, wouldn’t she?

  It was quiet in the library except for the raining hitting the windows. Cam could hardly see outside it was raining so hard. She felt bad for calling Jackie now. The rain had gotten heavier in the last few minutes, the drops rebounding off the concrete outside the door.

  She tried to go back to reading the case study that she’d been in the middle of when the lights were turned off, but she couldn’t concentrate.

  Cam leaned back into the cushions and turned off her tablet. She’d get back to that case study tomorrow.

  Five minutes later, headlights flooded the dark lobby as a car pulled up a few yards away from the door, at the foot of the steps that led up to the library.

  Cam slung her brown leather bag over her shoulder and went to the door. She could see Jackie, huddled under her umbrella, her dark hair swept across one shoulder as she bent down to find the right key and unlock the door.

  Jackie pushed the door open and Cam left the library to stand under her umbrella. They didn’t talk, knowing that they’d have to shout over the rain that pounded the ground.

  Cam’s right shoulder was getting soaked as Jackie locked the door again. If she wanted to stay completely dry under the umbrella, she’d have to have her arm around Jackie, invading her personal space, and she didn’t want to do that.

  But that was exactly what Jackie did once she’d locked the door. She slid her arm around Cam’s waist, pulling her into her and fully under the umbrella as Jackie led them down the stairs and through the pouring rain to her white Audi.

  Cam opened the passenger door and slid onto the cool black leather seats.

  “Hi,” Jackie said, turning to face her once she’d taken down the umbrella and thrown it in the backseat. She pushed a damp lock of midnight-black hair away from her eyes.

  “Hey.”

  “So how did you manage that?” Jackie asked with a smirk.

  Cam sighed softly. “I lost track of time.”

  “You didn’t see everyone else leaving? Or hear any of the announcements on the PA that the library was about to close?”

  “I had my headphones on and I was completely engrossed in the study I was reading.”

  Jackie laughed warmly. “Okay. So where do you live?”

  “Cedar Grove.”

  “And you walked here?” Jackie asked as she drove away.

  Her house was almost a mile from campus.

  “Yes. It wasn’t raining when I left this morning,” Cam said, glancing over at her.

  “I thought you had a car. I remember seeing you pull up with Kayla at softball practice.”

  “I do. I just like to walk when I can.”

  Cam tried not to stare. Jackie was absolutely stunning. There were a few drops of water on her neck and collarbone.

  She’d kissed that neck. She’d found that spot that made Jackie moan.

  Cam had started to wonder if she’d dreamt it all up. It seemed so normal to be sitting in the car beside Jackie, who was now her professor, and that night in June seemed so far away.

  Chapter 10

  Jackie’s eyes were focused on the road as she drove through the lashing rain. She wished she could glance over at Cam, look at her while she was speaking but the rain was coming down hard and it was getting difficult to see more than a few feet ahead.

  It had been raining all afternoon and evening and it was starting to add up. The road was covered with a layer of water and Jackie wasn’t taking any chances.

  Cam’s perfume was slowly driving her insane though. It reminded her of that night in June. It brought her right back to it, to the way their lips fit perfectly together, to the way Cam had kissed her neck…

  Jackie glanced over at her. Cam was wearing makeup tonight. Her mocha eyes shone, the golden flecks more apparent with the smokey eyeshadow that she’d used.

  Cam hadn’t had any makeup on that night in June. They’d gone straight from practice to the bar.

  If Jackie thought she was beautiful before, she was gorgeous now. She needed to stop this though. This wasn’t helping her move on from that night.

  Jackie cleared her throat. “So, what do you think of your course so far?”

  “It’s good. Challenging… I waited a few years to go to college. I wanted to be sure about it and I think I made the right choice.”

  Jackie didn’t want to be too nosey and ask her about her major. Cam would tell her if she wanted to.

  Thankfully, it was a short drive even with the bad weather and two red lights. Cam pointed out her house on the right and Jackie pulled up outside it.

  “Thank you so much,” Cam said, turning to face her. “You have no idea.”

  “It was no problem.”

  Cam’s eyes dragged across Jackie’s body as she leaned down to grab her bag.

  “I hope I didn’t ruin your plans for the evening,” Cam said, clutching onto the leather strap.

  Jackie smiled. “Believe it or not, I was going to have a quiet night in with a few glasses of wine, maybe watch something on Netflix. So, no… You didn’t.”

  “Do you live far from campus?”

  “Almost thirty minutes away. On the coast in South Amboy.”

  “I’m sorry I took you so far out of the way, especially on a night like this.”

  “It’s fine,” Jackie said with a warm smile. “I’m just glad that you had my number.”

  “Are you in a flood zone?”

  “No. My house isn’t but I might have to take a different route home. Some of the streets to the north of me flood pretty easily.”

  “Why don’t you come inside? Have a drink? The rain might let up in an hour or two.”

  Jackie hesitated, looking away while she tried to figure out a way to let Cam down easy. Coming inside for a drink… Would it just be a drink?

  The rain was pelting down on her car. She had to keep reminding herself that Cam was a student at her college now.

  Cam noticed her hesitation. “I don’t have roommates if that’s what you’re thinking, and I’d feel terrible knowing that you were driving home in this after I dragged you out.”

  As if the universe was playing a cruel joke on her, the rain came down ever harder.

  “Okay,” Jackie said over the noise. “Just one drink
though.”

  Chapter 11

  “Nice place,” Jackie said as she took down her umbrella and left it inside the door.

  “Thanks,” Cam said softly, taking off her jacket and shoes.

  She knew her house wasn’t anything special, but she liked to think that she’d done a good job adding her own touches. It was opened planned, the kitchen overlooking the living room. A black leather suite of furniture took up a lot of space in the average sized living room and covering the cream carpets.

  “Can I get you a glass of wine? Beer? I think I have whiskey.”

  “Wine would be great,” Jackie said as she took off her coat and hung it on the back of the door. “White if you have it.”

  “Sure.” Cam said as she wandered into her kitchen and took a bottle of Chardonnay out of the refrigerator, pouring them each a glass.

  Cam brought them out into the living room and handed Jackie hers as she sat down next to her.

  “Thank you,” Jackie said, their fingertips lightly brushing against one another’s as she took the glass.

  “You’re probably wondering how a freshman has their own place,” Cam said as she turned slightly towards her, tucking one leg underneath her.

  “It crossed my mind.”

  “My parents had saved for me to go to college,” Cam said, thinking about her brother but choosing not to mention him. “I’ve worked for the last two years and saved. I put away enough to cover the deposit on this place. I rented out two of the rooms from January until August to save a bit more so that I could start working less and start college in September.”

  “Wow… I don’t think my twenty something year old self would have thought like that,” Jackie said as she took a drink.

  “I knew that I didn’t want to live with other people when the semester started. I just needed to make sure that I had enough saved to cover the rent on my own. I’ll probably rent the other two rooms out again this summer.”

  There was a gust of wind that blew the rain even harder against the windows. Cam took a drink and tried to work up the courage to say what she wanted to.