Perfect Match by Kelly Arlia Page B

Noelle. Let’s get out of here. I think that we
can really be great together. Damn, I’m already falling for you.
Don’t fight it, baby.”
    Jackson slammed both his fists down on the
table and leaned down to be eye to eye with him. “What’s going on
here?”
    “Jackson!” Noelle cried.
    “Bullet!” Mr. Evil said at the same time. Mr.
Evil had an excited but surprised look on his face. Noelle tried to
look mad, but Jackson could see she was relieved to see him.
    “That’s right, dude. I couldn’t help but
notice how unhappy my girl is looking over here. If she is unhappy,
well, that pisses me off. So I came over here to see if you are the
reason she is looking so unhappy.” Jackson never felt so much anger
towards anyone in his entire life, and the reason scared him. He
really felt as if he would beat the shit out of this guy if he
tried anything with Noelle again. Mr. Evil’s arm around Noelle was
not helping the situation.
    “Jackson, it’s fine,” Noelle said. He could
see that she was angry with him. He’d deal with that later. He also
could see that she wanted to be away from her date. She’d actually
thank him later for helping her out of this situation.
    “Yeah, Bullet. It’s cool. Noelle and I were
just getting ready to leave.” He squeezed her shoulder and smiled,
“You really are cool as hell. Your father is Larry Reid. Your best
friend is Bullet. Who’s your mother? Lady Liberty?” He asked
referencing the first Goddess Champion. He saw Noelle wince. She
politely moved his arm from her shoulder. “Jackson, it’s fine.
Really. I have this under control.”
    He could see that she was trying to be tough,
but he saw the uncertainty in her eyes.
    “Yeah, it’s cool. As I said, we were just
getting ready to leave.”
    Finally, Noelle looked at Jackson and he saw
in her eyes for the first time that she did want his help. Jackson
cleared his throat and stood up straight. He had to make this guy
know just how dead serious he was about Mr. Evil staying away from
Noelle.
    “Noelle? Do you want to leave with this
guy?”
    “No.”
    “You heard the lady. Now you can leave on
your own or I can walk you out. It’s
    your choice, but Noelle is not going anywhere
with you.”
    Mr. Evil got up slowly, not taking his eyes
off of Jackson, finally realizing that Jackson’s visit was not a
friendly one. He pulled out some cash and threw it down on the
table. He looked at Noelle and said, “I think you are making a huge
mistake.” He walked away without looking back.
    Noelle let out a breath she was holding as
soon as he was no longer in sight and Jackson slid in the booth
across from her. He counted the cash and said, “I can’t believe he
only paid for half the dinner.”
    “Jackson, really!” Noelle said. He could tell
that she was trying to act like she was mad at him.
    “What? You’re mad at me for getting rid of
Mr. Evil for you when you so clearly wanted him to get lost. You
should be thanking me.”
    She slowly smiled at Jackson. “Thank you. I
guess I am a little bit glad to see you.”
    Jackson smirked. He liked hearing her say
that. God, she was beautiful. She wore her light brown hair pulled
back from her face and the rest was curled and hung loosely down
her back and she just glowed. Her green eyes showed her true
feelings and he could see she was happy to see him. She took his
breath away. He had no idea until this moment just how strongly he
felt towards her. He had no regrets about scaring off her date. “Oh
and by the way, what the hell was with Mr. Evil?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Long hair? Really? I never thought someone
like him would be your type.”
    She shrugged. “Maybe I have a bit of a rebel
in me.”
    Jackson smiled. He knew that was true with
the way she kissed him that first night. He was hoping that her
rebellious side would show up again. He was beginning to feel a lot
towards her, and he needed her to go a bit wild if they were to
have anything together. “There