The next few days went relatively okay. Jeb still came to talk to Fang each day, but for the most part he was letting me do things my way. He was still a little apprehensive about me being involved, considering the whole table affair. However, he did acknowledge that I could get more out of Fang in 30 minutes than he could in 2 weeks. Honestly I hadn't a clue what the heck I was doing. For the most part he just sat there listening while I talked; he refused to talk about what happened at the School. I talked about my time at the School and everything they put me through. I talked about actual school, the somewhat less excruciating and slightly more bearable one. I talked about my friends and about Goldie and Jeb.

During more personal stories about the School, like that day, I sometimes talked down to the table. After particularly rough stories I tended to zone out. Suddenly feeling his eyes on me I looked up. He was watching me intensely.

"What are you thinking about?" he questioned.

Taken aback by the personal nature of the question I shot back immediately, "what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about what you're thinking about," he countered without missing a beat.

Clever, this one.

I sighed, already seeing how this could go in a circle.

"I was thinking about what would have happened if I had stayed at the school as long as you or . . . what it would be like if Jeb hadn't saved me."

He crossed his arms. Why was he getting ticked off?

"What?" I implored.

"I just don't get it. How can you trust him? He kept you in a dog crate for 8 years."

"He wasn't a part of that. He just analyzed test results," I replied indignantly.

Was he really picking a fight with me over Jeb? The man who had saved me from being "retired"?

"So he sat back and let them torture you. That's just as bad."

Oh, ho, ho. That was it!

I stood, shooting daggers at him with my eyes. How dare he insult the man that had saved him too!

"Well he's changed!" I practically shouted, "Things are different now! He practically treats me like I'm his own daughter."

"If you truly think that then you're a fool. People like that don't change. He was evil then and I'm sure he's still evil now."

First I just stood there in shock. Then before I knew it, my feet were carrying my swiftly to the other side of the table.

"How dare you!" I was yelling now, "If it wasn't for Jeb you'd still being stuck in that stupid place!"

I swear steam was coming out of my ears at that point. Yet, he had the nerve to look me dead in the eyes and say, "at least they're honest about being evil there."

I whipped my hand back so fast I could have broken the sound barrier. I was just about to slap him with everything I had, but for a split second I looked at his face. He didn't flinch. He didn't turn his face. This was the face of a person that had been beaten so many times that a slap was nothing. Suddenly I felt very, very . . . sad, because in the back of my mind I had always wondered how Jeb could have let me be experimented on for so long and done nothing.

I felt the anger fizzle out in an instant and before I knew what I was doing, what I would come to call "I don't know what happened" happened. Leaning forward I closed my eyes and kissed Fang.

Right on the lips.

The first time I had ever kissed somebody, and they were handcuffed to a freaking table.

Great. Just great.

When I pulled back I was met by his shocked face. Literally shocked to the core doesn't begin to cover it. He was legitimately petrified. Dark eyes wide open, not even breathing. I had the succinct feeling that he hadn't closed his eyes when my lips touched his. I was also pretty sure that he'd never been kissed before. I wondered if the school had planned to eventually make him hate the sensation of kissing. Maybe they had been working on it before he got away. Either way, he didn't look happy.

Fang continued to star at me, pupils blown to pinpricks. That's when I realized I was still in his breathing space. My mouth opened, just as a blush started to creep up my neck, to say what? Sorry? Uh, not after all the things he just said to me. The kiss seemed like punishment enough. Instead I turned on my heel and practically speed walked out of the room.

Jeb was at the bottom of the stairs, brow furrowed.

"What happened in there?" he asked seriously.

The blush warmed my cheeks, wishing he hadn't seen what he had. "I don't want to talk about it," I muttered, rushing past him and into my room.

Never the less the question bounced around in my head.

What had happened in there?