83 - The chapter with the meeting with Jack

CHRISTIAN DAVIS

I didn't wait for an answer, heading towards the door, feeling Rose's gaze sticking to me the whole time. As soon as I found myself outside the villa, feeling the icy wind on my face, I sighed, calling Jack before he filled me with new messages. As expected, the man was quick to answer the call.

" Davis…”

" "Good morning, Mr. Campbell," I greeted him, a little surprised by his tone of voice.

" Is my daughter with you? " He sought confirmation.

" "No, I left her with Liam and the others so I could..." I said.

" 'Good, then you better start telling me everything, boy,' he cut me off, making my eyes widen.

I frowned, starting to walk around the campus, looking for a quiet place for that call.

" Tell you what? " I said back.

There was no way he could know what happened, right?

" You'd better not play games with me right now, Davis,” his voice came out almost in a growl, surprising me.

" 'Mr. Campbell, I'm not sure I understand what you want to know,' I replied carefully, wondering how to get out of the conversation.

" To hell with this I don't know what you're talking about. I want to know what happened to my daughter and what made you lie to me yesterday,” he began to raise his voice, his control hanging by a thread.

" Mr. Campbell, I don't…”

" DON'T FUCKING LIE TO ME!”

I stopped walking, my eyes widening at the man's grave tone. He knows what happened and it's not going to be good!

" I'm going to be on campus in half an hour, and I'm going to find out everything, even if I have to rip you out of a fucking lab, do I make myself clear? " he growled, leaving me speechless as I processed what he had just said.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I imagined what Rose's reaction would be to seeing her father furious in the middle of campus. No, I couldn't let that happen.

" 'Jack, I'm sorry I lied to you, but I did it at your daughter's request,” I tried another approach.

" Rose never…”

" She was afraid of your reaction, the exact reaction you're having right now. " It was my turn to interrupt him, even at the risk of drawing the man's ire on me even more " Do you want to know what happened? Fine, I'll tell you. But not here. Your presence would only make things worse for her.”

" She is my daughter! I know how to support her better than anyone! " he growled.

" 'And yet she begged me to talk to you yesterday, because she couldn't bear for you to hear her crying,” I returned, beginning to retrace my steps back to the dorm. I'd convince him to meet me somewhere else." And based on your threat to rip me out of a lab, I begin to understand her fear a little better.”

The man was silent for a few seconds on the other side and I took the opportunity to add.

" 'Did you say you were coming?”

" 'Yes, I saw the note of repudiation on the sorority directory page, and it just said that student Rosemarie Miller-Campbell suffered a cowardly attack,' he muttered, seeming to pull himself together a little.

A cowardly attack. The man getting this news days after finding out about the harassment his daughter suffered at a party can't have been easy. I don't judge him for all his lack of control.

" She's physically fine, so you don't have to worry about that," I tried to reassure the man as I walked back to the villa, "We can meet at Jerkin's coffee shop in downtown Grayfox Mills.”

" "If you're lying to me, boy....”

" 'I'm not, but I have to go now, or I won't make it in time,' I warned before ending the call after saying goodbye.

"I'll be forced to give details of everything that happened yesterday to the man who can kill me with one hand if he wants to. Perfect.

This situation just gets better and better. I had to go back to my room to get my helmet and the key to my bike, taking the opportunity to put on a better jacket with a cap and scarf to face the negative temperature until I reached Grayfox Mills where the coffee shop I had given Jack the address to by message was located.

It took me a few minutes to arrive, and I soon spotted Jackson settled at his table sipping what looked like his third cup of espresso. I approached, noting the way the man was dressed, he wore a tailored suit, a white shirt and lead tie. His hair which was starting to turn gray was combed neatly back, there was nothing untidy about the man. Quite different from the times we met and he was always so relaxed.

Another thing that was different too was his humor. Jack was always light-hearted, even when he wanted my head for finding out Rose and I were having sex, or when he found out about the incident involving Anderson, he didn't even remotely exude the fury and danger of today.

I took a deep breath before going to sit in the vacant chair across from him, watching the two empty Espresso cups on the table as he drank the third one practically in one go, attracting the waitress' attention once again.

" Good morning, Jack.”

" I thought you'd given up on coming," he muttered before looking at the waitress, "Honey, can I get two more espressos, what'll you have, Davis?"

" A chai latte," I asked, waiting for the waitress to walk away before turning to the man, "Don't you think that's too much caffeine?”

" I'd like to replace the caffeine with vodka, Davis. But that wouldn't go down well, especially at this time of the morning." He muttered, "But let's get to the point, I want to know everything.”

I looked around, feeling bad for betraying Rose's trust like that, after all I knew she didn't want her parents to know anything that happened, but it wasn't like I could run away at that moment. Jack wanted to know everything and he would know everything.

" 'I'm not sure where to start,' I took a deep breath.

" 'Starting at the beginning seems like a good idea to me, don't you think? " he stared at me.