Three: Fixation

Cookie had just reached the door to her dorm when it opened and her roommate, Christy, came out, fully dressed for class. Her gaze slid past Cookie just in time to see Jamie turn to leave.

"I think you have a stalker, girl," Christy flashed her brows at her before returning her eyes to Jamie's retreating form. Cookie looked back to see she was referring to Jamie and rolled her eyes.

"You'd think so,"

Christy frowned at her response.

Her eyes didn't light up like they did the first time they spoke about the man after the Vegas incident. That morning, after running out of Jamie's suite, Cookie went in search of Christy, her roommate, who told her everything that had happened and how like a man on a mission, Jamie had marched to the stage and carried her away.

"He came in search of you?" Christy asked, still wondering why Cookie was giving the cold shoulder about the man.

"Not really. He kinda rescued me from Dave's clutches and I met him again in Professor Henderson's office and he offered to walk me back,"

"Aww..." Christy cooed, making googly eyes at her, and nudged her shoulder with hers. "He's your Prince Charming."

"Oh please," Cookie rolled her eyes. "I don't know him, Christy. All I know is that he's Jamie and Professor Henderson's cousin. Also, he's so much older than me, so we can't be anything else,” she repeated Jamie's words out loud, her heart squeezing painfully, but she ignored the hurt.

"Did he say that?" Christy asked, frowning. She knew Cookie wouldn't think of such because she had been daydreaming of the man since coming back from Vegas, but after hearing her words, she knew the man must have said something that had upset her.

"Yes, I think I was being too forward or misreading the signs," Cookie made a sad face, but Christy hugged her and patted her on the back.

"He can go to hell, he's an ass,"

That got her to laugh and she kissed Christy's cheek.

"I love you,"

"Of course, you do, sweetie. I'm the only one for you." She winked at her and tried to ruffle her hair, but Cookie slapped her hand away. "I have to go now. I have a class in thirty minutes. Take care and forget him",

"Yes, ma'am,"

Christy patted her shoulder before leaving.

Cookie entered the room and threw her bag on the nightstand before falling onto the bed. She checked the time on her phone to see she had about three hours until her next class. So, she decided to take a nap.

Jamie walked across campus from Cookie's dorm to his cousin's office, the words he'd said still running through his mind. He had noticed the immediate change in Cookie's expression and demeanor when he blurted out that he was too old for her and had no interest in her. He felt terrible for saying those words to her, but it was better than admitting the truth that all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms, take care of her, and treat her as his own. It was the only thing he wanted from the moment he saw her on stage at the club in LA. Worse still, he couldn't get the images of her sinful body out of his mind.

The images of her drenched in water and wearing only a see-through t-shirt were burned into his memory.

It was pure torture knowing that he had seen that body but couldn't have it. And to make matters worse, she had to have a sweet personality just to taunt him.

Why couldn't she have a sour personality so he could easily give her up?

But it didn't matter. He wanted to give her up without thinking about how pretty she looked every time she blushed or how angelic she looked when her beautiful blue eyes looked at him like he was her messiah. As he told her, he was too old for her. Even if his traitorous body wanted her, the huge age gap was enough to keep him in check.

Jamie arrived at Chase's office and walked in, just in time to see his cousin ending a call. Their eyes met and Chase arched a perfectly shaped brow at him.

"What was that about?" Chase leaned back in his seat and looked questioningly at Jamie, who dropped into the next seat.

"Nothing important," Jamie growled in annoyance.

He already gave himself shit. He didn't need his cousin to scold him.

"I caught you lewdly flirting with my student and you tell me it's nothing? For fucks sake, James, you even walked her to her dorm!"

"If it'll make you feel any better, I was just protecting her from her abusive Ex-boyfriend,” Jamie muttered, hating the way his cousin was looking at him like he'd lost his mind.

"You know her exs already?"

Jamie snorted, not liking the direction Chase was taking with this conversation.

"It's not what you think, okay? I bumped into him this afternoon when he was harassing her," he deliberately omitted the part about meeting her earlier at his Las Vegas club. "His name is Dave Foster and I need you to keep an eye on both of them. He sounds like bad news and from what she told me, he's up to no good",

Chase stared at him and Jamie met his gaze with a serious look on his face, but his cousin didn't back down. He let out a sigh and his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"Fine! Maybe I'm a little interested, but I'm only after a fling,"

"You seem more than a little interested if you're already worried about the ex,"

"Quit scolding me like my father, Chase. Will you help me watch out for her or do I need to hire someone to do it?"

Chase sighed heavily.

"Just looking out for you, Jamie. I would hate to see you go back into the hole you've just crawled out of. What happened to the "Stay away from women if not a casual relationship" mentality?"

Jamie chuckled.

"It's still there, but I'm only looking out for her because no woman should have to deal with an abusive man,"

"Mmm... I've heard you and I'll look into it,"

"Thanks,"

Chase stared at him for a while.

"Be careful,"

Jamie flipped him the bird.

He knew his cousin really cared about him and that was all he needed as a reminder to help him stay away from Cookie. He had a really rough and horrible past with women and he wasn't ready to go back there.

If it wasn't a casual hookup or a one-night stand, then it wasn't for him. That was as far as his relationship with women went. But something about Cookie told him he had to stay far away from her because deep down he was sure that a little taste of her wouldn't be enough to sate the raging lust inside him.