Free Hunted by Dean Murray Page A

but there was
something about Jackson that changed all of that for me. I wanted to
get to know him, I really wanted to get to know him. If he'd
asked me if I wanted to go to dinner and a movie I would have said
yes in a heartbeat, but this was something else entirely.
    Just
agreeing to join the cheer squad had been a stretch for me. Stunting
was way beyond anything that I was comfortable with. I much preferred
to keep my feet safely on the ground, but as scared as I was of
putting myself so completely in his hands, the physical danger wasn't
even as worrisome as the social consequences.
    I
looked around to confirm that we were far enough away from everyone
else that nobody was likely to overhear and then shrugged.
    "That
sounds both terrifying and fun, but I'm not sure it's a very good
idea. Most of the other girls already resent me for getting Janessa
kicked off of the squad and then taking her place. It doesn't matter
to them that I didn't plan for any of this to happen; they still
think that I'm basically pond scum."
    Jackson
shook his head. "I don't think any of them would call you pond
scum…"
    "Right,
but only because they'd be calling me something worse. If I start
stunting with you then everyone is going to think that I'm gunning to
take over as a flyer. That has trouble written all over it."
    "What
if I told you that you'd make a better flyer than one of the other
girls?"
    "Sorry,
as much as I think that stunting with you could be fun, assuming I
can get past the sheer terror of it all, I still wouldn't be
interested in taking someone else's spot."
    Jackson
brought his right arm across his chest, stretching out his shoulder
and back, and it was all I could do to tear my eyes away from the way
that his white uniform hugged the muscles along his side. He
practically had wings and the material of his shirt was thin enough
for me to see just how much definition all of that muscle had.
    "You're
very unusual for a cheerleader, Adri. Do you know that?"
    "If
by unusual you mean that I don't belong here in the slightest, then
yes, I knew that. Even if I hadn't known that coming in, I would have
figured it out pretty quickly given the way that all of the other
girls on the squad are treating me."
    Jackson
rolled his eyes at me. "That wasn't what I was talking about.
How many of the girls on the team do you think would show you the
same kind of consideration you're so determined to show them?"
    "I
don't know—half maybe?"
    "Not
even close. Sheree definitely, and maybe Cindi, but if you weren't
her sister there wouldn't be any kind of guarantee there with her
either."
    I
bristled. "Cindi is a nice person."
    Jackson
held his hands up as though surrendering. "I'm sorry, I didn't
mean to insult your sister. You're right, she's very nice. I was just
trying to point out how unusual it is for anyone to forgo something
they want because of how it might impact someone else."
    I
let my eyebrow rise. "That's a pretty cynical view of humanity.
Is that the way you operate too? Do you just ride roughshod over
anyone between you and what you want?"
    "I
said that most people do that, not all. You're obviously an exception
to that rule, and I can say definitively that I'm not like anyone
else you know." Jackson waved his arm out towards the field.
"What do you think is going to happen with the game?"
    "I
don't know. Miss Winters seemed a little worried. I mean, it's a big
deal to lose your starting quarterback, right?"
    "It
can be, but a lot of people are in for a big surprise tonight.
Tristan is really good. I've seen him practice a couple of times and
he's fast and accurate. If he wasn't a sophomore and he was twenty or
thirty pounds heavier then he'd probably be the starting quarterback
instead of Victor."
    "That's
good then, I guess?"
    My
response earned me another smile. I would have called it mocking, but
there didn't seem to actually be any spite to it.
    "You
don't actually know anything about football, do