Jericho

by Ripley10

May Nguyen is being blackmailed by a former Mercile employee. Her arrival at Reservation starts of a series of events that will put her at odds with New Species. Jericho has good reason not to trust humans. He's been assigned to guard May until New Species can transfer her to Fuller prison. He doesn't expect her to earn his trust, let alone his heart.

14. Chapter 14

Jericho paced outside the cell block. He ran his hands agitatedly through his hair over and over. She was lying, he knew she was.

She hoped he wasn't Gatsby?! Would a person who hated New Species hope that he felt connected to other people? That people didn't take advantage of him or abandon him when he needed help?

Jericho kicked a wastebasket nearby, before taking a deep breath. Justice was counting on him. He couldn't stand outside, pacing, questioning.

He pulled his hair back, securing it at his neck with the elastic. He breathed deeply, he'd never needed to calm himself so often. Walking back into the cell block, he saw Pounce at the end of the hall, far away from Stephanie's cell. He felt an unreasonable surge of annoyance.

"I told you to watch her!" he growled.

Pounce tilted his head in the direction of the cell, "Not much to watch," he said, and Jericho followed his gaze. Stephanie lay curled up on the floor, her arms crossed over her chest. Jericho stood for a moment, watching her relaxed in sleep. Every so often her body would give a slight shiver as if she was cold.

"I'll get her a blanket," Pounce said, and walked away to a cabinet nearby. He removed the blanket and brought it back to Jericho.

Jericho looked at the blanket and looked at Stephanie, and sighed, "Open it for me?" he asked Pounce, who nodded and deactivated the locking mechanism.

Jericho knelt next to her, and spread the blanket over her body. One small hand grasped the edge of the blanket and brought it up to her chin. Sleepy eyes opened and her rosebud mouth smiled, "Thank you," she whispered, and closed her eyes again, going back to sleep.

Jericho felt the same strange tightening in his chest he felt earlier. He let his fingers linger on the skin of her arm as he fixed the blanket. It was like touching a live wire when he felt her skin, a thousand sparks of electricity traveling from the place where their skin met, all along his body.

He stood up quickly, and backed away from her. This tiny girl was somehow dangerous to him, he could feel it.