Chapter 9: Threat
A/N: Hello everyone! Just wanted to thank you all for the nice reviews! It put a huge smile on my face and it gave me good pointers on how to improve the story. Your feedback is most helpful. So as a little treat for all of the reviews, how about a tense chapter with our scumbag of the series, Jeremy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil; I just own my characters
Enjoy!
/
Leon felt guilty about what he was doing. He thought it was wrong and creepy. But he told himself that he was just doing his job and trying to keep Nathan safe. At least, that's what he tried to tell himself as he had Rachel's file pulled up on his computer.
Now that he knew her full name, he was able to pull up all of her information in one of the many databases the D.S.O used. It was helpful but at the same time kind of invasive. He felt like a stalker trying to find more information about her.
He was doing his job. He just wanted to make sure she had a clean record.
While her record was squeaky clean there were a few things that caught his eye.
Rachel Winters was the youngest child of Richard and Michelle Winters. She had an older brother named Ethan who was the same age as him so there was a slight gap between the siblings. Richard was a firefighter for the Pembroke Fire Department. When Rachel was 9 her father passed away due to injuries he sustained at one of the sites he was at and she stayed with her mother for 2 years before the Ramirez family got emergency custody of her. She stayed with them until she graduated High School and got a full scholarship to one of the biggest Universities in the U.S. thanks to her father's services in the Fire Department.
There were a couple of other things like medical records and such but what stuck out to him was the information about her mother.
It seemed there was a restraining order put on her where she couldn't be near Rachel as well as a police report. While Rachel and the rest of her family had a clean background, Michelle did not.
He tried going into her files, wondering what this woman did.
"Why are you looking up files on college students?" Ingrid said.
Leon jumped and quickly clicked off the files. He gave Ingrid an annoyed look.
"How many times have I asked you not to sneak up on me?" he asked.
"I called your name a few times, but you weren't listening" Ingrid pointed out.
"Why are you looking up info on the students that are going to the same University as the President's son?"
Leon didn't want to tell her that he was curious about one particular student without looking like a creep.
"Nathan befriended a few students the other day and I just want to make sure they have clean backgrounds" he lied.
"Just wanted to make sure their families weren't into shady businesses that would be a threat to him."
Ingrid seemed to have bought it because she didn't question it further.
"I seriously doubt a college student would cause any harm to Nathan" she said.
Leon scoffed and looked at the screen.
"We live in a messed-up world right now. I've learned a long time ago anything is possible so it's best to be prepared."
Ingrid wanted to say more but she knew it wasn't a good idea to argue with him. He was still on edge over what happened in the Slav Republic. Finding out that the government that you work for would 'suddenly' want to join forces with an enemy country that you almost got killed in would put anyone on edge.
Ingrid noticed a lot of flies on Leon's computer that had Rachel's name on them.
"That's a lot of files for one person" she said.
Leon bit his lip. He did have a lot of files pulled up that dealt with Rachel. Maybe he was being a creep?
"Just trying to do my job" he grumbled.
Ingrid smirked a little when she saw a light blush dusting Leon's face.
"Well, if you need anymore help with your 'research' I can pull up a few extra files on my end" she teased.
Leon went back to pulling up the name database.
"Goodbye, Ingrid" he said flatly.
Ingrid chuckled and walked away. Now that he was alone again, he pulled up Rachel's files. What was it about this med student that made him curious? There was nothing crazy about her. She wasn't a spy or an agent. She clearly hadn't seen the horrors that Umbrella had spread across the world. Hell, it was obvious she never even fought or used a gun on someone. Everything about her screamed plain and boring-someone who wouldn't catch anyone's attention.
And yet, she caught Leon's attention…as well as someone else.
/
Rachel looked around the corner making sure she wasn't spotted. Scanning the sea of students, she was making sure she didn't see a particular one amongst the crowd. Much to her dismay she spotted Jeremy talking with a couple of girls. She sighed in frustration. It shouldn't have been a big deal if she walked across the grounds to get to the other building. There were other people around, so it wasn't like she was going to be alone with him. The problem was that if Jeremy spotted her, he would have followed her until they were alone. She did not want to be alone with him. Everything in her body screamed stay away when she saw him.
But she couldn't hide behind this wall forever. She needed to get to her class, and this was the only way to get to the other building.
She let out a shaky breath and gripped her messenger bag. She could do this. She just had to sprint to the other end of the building. Jeremy was busy talking to those girls so he wouldn't notice her anyway.
"Legs don't fail me know" she said to herself.
She left her hiding spot and speed walked to the next building. She didn't look at Jeremy as she passed him and just kept her eyes forward. The less eye contact she made with him the better.
When she made it to the other building, she looked over her shoulder to see if Jeremy spotted her. When she saw that he was still talking to those girls, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, college bimbos" she thought.
With one less headache out of the way, she hurried to her next class. Little did she know Jeremy had seen her when she walked past him. She thought she could ignore him? Looked like she needed to be taught a lesson.
/
After class, Rachel made her way to the library to work on one of her papers. Normally she didn't venture to the campus library, but she spotted Marcus the security guard looking for her. He was still pissed off about the other day and wanted his revenge. So, being the smart person that she was, she decided to hide in the library until he gave up. Marcus wouldn't make a scene there otherwise he would face the wrath of the librarian. Even he knew that he was no match against that old bat.
Grabbing one of the nearby booths, she pulled out her textbooks and notebook. She didn't have much homework to do but she needed to figure out who she was going to use on her project. She needed to talk to someone who suffered any sort of injury and explain how they were treated then she needed to talk about how she would have done it differently. While that wasn't a tough assignment, finding someone to study was the problem.
The downside of being a shy, quiet person is that it was hard talking to people. She didn't have any friends on campus except for Isabella. And there was no way she was going to ask to study someone's body without it sounding weird and perverted. She was thinking maybe her instructor could let her look up an old file of someone at the clinic she worked at, but she doubted he would allow that. She needed to have the person's consent after all. He said she could use a family member but there was no way she would do that. She barely talked to Ethan. If she asked if she could study his body, that would have set off red flags.
As for her mother….
"Why can't you be better?!"
That was a huge hell no.
She wouldn't worry about that now. She had until the end of the semester to find someone. For now, she would just focus on the minor things.
She got lost in her thoughts as she scribbled down notes that she thought would be helpful later down the road.
Someone came up and sat across from her as she wrote something down. She grew annoyed thinking it was rude that they didn't ask if they could sit here.
"This booth is already occupied" she said annoyed.
"Don't be so mean. I just wanted to keep you company" Jeremy said.
Rachel froze when she heard his voice and slowly looked up. Sure enough, Jeremy was sitting across from her wearing that fake grin on his face.
"Studying for midterms I take it?" he asked.
Rachel gripped her pen hard. She didn't hear him come up to her.
"What do you want, Jeremy?" she asked. She tried very hard to hide the shakiness in her voice.
Jeremy shrugged as he leaned back in his seat.
"I saw you walked past me earlier when you were heading to class. I thought it was rude that you didn't say hi."
Rachel dug her nails into her palm to calm herself down. He wouldn't do anything rash here. The librarian would be on their asses if they made any loud noises.
"You look like you were in a heated conversation with those girls, so I didn't want to interrupt" she said flatly.
Jeremy chuckled and looked at his nails.
"Oh please, I wouldn't call that a conversation. They were basically gushing over me and asking if I could help with their studies. They're doing poorly this semester so they're a lost cause."
"Maybe if you helped them out like they asked you to, then they could do better" Rachel pointed out.
"I don't waste my time on lost causes. I only help those who have potential. People who can be of use to me…like you" Jeremy said.
Rachel grew puzzled at that statement.
"Me?"
Jeremy's fake smirk took on a sharper look to it as something flashed across his eyes.
"You're one of the top med students at this campus. With this being one of the most advanced universities in the U.S., that's something to be impressed about" he said.
"I like to surround myself with useful people. They tend to have connections that lead to endless possibilities for a person. That's needed when one wants to move up in the world after all."
Rachel narrowed her eyes at him.
"What does any of this have to do with me?" she asked.
"Like I said, you're one of the top med students at this school" Jeremy repeated.
"When you graduate, I know a bunch of hospitals will want to take you under their wing-some being the best of the best. My goal is to get into one of those places and if you're there that would be my golden ticket. I help you and in return you help me. Sound good?"
Rachel was speechless. Did he really suggest what she think he was suggesting?
"I don't follow what you're saying" she said.
"It's simple" Jeremy said.
"I help you out by letting you hang around me and making you popular on campus-which let's face it, you need it since you're a little quite mouse. And in return for my kindness, you get me into one of- "
"That's not what I meant. I don't follow your idea. It doesn't add up" Rachel interrupted.
"You're a year older than me. You're supposed to graduate at the end of this year. I still have a year before I can graduate let alone start residency at one of the hospitals. How could I help you when you would start residency before me?"
Jeremy froze up at that. It seemed he didn't expect her to pay attention to minor stuff like that. Rachel scoffed in disgust. He thought he was dealing with an idiot, but he was wrong.
"No way am I helping you. Even if I graduated the same time as you did and got residency at one of the high-end hospitals, I still wouldn't help you. I worked my ass off trying to get where I am-same for all of the doctors who work at these hospitals that you want to get into. If you're at the top of the class like you claim to be, then you should have no problem getting into one of them. If that's all you came here to bug me about you can leave now"
Jeremy all of a sudden snapped and slammed his hands on the table. Rachel jumped in response. The fake smile was gone. In its place was an angry look that promised danger.
"Listen, Rach! I have gone out of my way being nice to you even though you keep acting like a stuck up, icy bitch whenever I talk to you. I've tried being nice, but it looks like that doesn't work on you. Let me make things clear to you- "
"Mr. Kingston!"
Both turned to see the librarian standing in front of their booth. A couple of students who were sitting nearby were watching as well. The older woman had her arms crossed as she looked at Jeremy.
"What is the meaning of this?" she asked.
Jeremy quickly put on his fake nice face again and gave her a charming grin.
"Oh, nothing. We were just studying and got into a heated debate about it. Sorry for the commotion"
The librarian narrowed her eyes and looked at Rachel then back at him.
"Is that so? I do find that rather odd since I see Miss. Winters has all her notes out yet there is not a single textbook on you let alone a piece of paper. Are you keeping all of your notes in that empty head of yours, Mr. Kingston?"
Jeremy quickly shut his mouth and laughed nervously.
"Well, you see, um."
The librarian went up to him and grabbed him by the ear.
"This young man is a place for studying, not for petty drama" she snapped.
She pulled him out of the booth and dragged him out of the library.
"If you want to have a lovers quarrel then do it somewhere else!"
Everyone watched as the older woman dragged Jeremy by the ear. When they were out of sight, they started chuckling. A few of them happened to look over at Rachel in wonder.
"Wonder why Jeremy was so mad at her?"
"I don't know why she was being so rude to him. He's such a nice guy."
"Probably jealous that he's not into her and is trying to make him feel bad."
The more they talked, the more Rachel felt her face grow red. She was embarrassed, angry, and upset. Why couldn't Jeremy leave her alone? She pulled her hoodie over her face when she felt tears forming in her eyes.
She wished she could disappear.
/
Once again, Rachel found herself hiding behind one of the walls as she looked for Jeremy. Classes were done for the day so that meant she could go home and stay holed up in her apartment. She was far from the campus entrance, so she had to hide behind every wall. She couldn't wait for Isabella because she had to go into work early.
She was on her own.
She pressed her head against the wall and sighed. She shouldn't be afraid of Jeremy but that scene in the library made her concerned. He went from being nice to angry in less than a second. Not only that, but he was trying to act like a nice guy by offering her something and when she turned him down, he immediately started throwing insults at her. That wasn't normal.
She had a feeling he was still pissed off because he was publicly embarrassed when the librarian pulled him away like a child.
She poked her head around the side of the wall again and made sure Jeremy was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey Rachel!"
Rachel screamed and swung her messenger bag.
"Ow! What the hell?!" Nathan cried.
Rachel gasped in horror and quickly went up to him.
"I'm so sorry, Nathan! I didn't realize you were behind me" she said.
"I guess you don't like being surprised, huh?" Nathan teased.
Rachel bit her lip as she gripped her bag tightly.
"No, it's more of I'm trying to hide from someone" she said quietly.
"Huh?"
Rachel gave him a watered-down version of her encounters with Jeremy and what he did in the library. She didn't want him freaking out about what was going on but at the same time, she figured he ought to know about Jeremy.
"Is this Jeremy guy causing you that much trouble?" he asked.
"Maybe? A little? I don't really know. He's always been bugging me since I started here but today he just took it up a notch and it startled me. I've never seen him get angry like that" Rachel admitted.
"I'm nervous he's waiting for me outside by the campus entrance. I'd wait for Isabella but she's at work and I don't want to bother her over something silly like this."
"It's not silly if it's making you nervous" Nathan pointed out.
"Statistically speaking, college is one of the most dangerous times in a young woman's life. There's always reports about female students getting attacked, killed or worse. That's something to be nervous about."
"…thank you for pointing that out" Rachel said flatly.
"Anyway, if you're scared to leave campus by yourself, I can walk with you. I'm done for the day and I can have one of my drivers give you a ride home so you don't have to worry about Jeremy following you" Nathan offered.
Rachel blushed a little as she thought about a certain bodyguard of Nathan's. She quickly shook her head at the offer. She didn't want to abuse Nathan's kindness nor did she want to bother Leon while he was working.
"You don't have to go that far" she said.
Nathan laughed and gently nudged her forward so they could walk.
"Oh please. My father would skin me if he found out I left a woman to fend for herself. He's always going on about how I need to be a decent guy so I can find myself a nice lady to settle down with and give him grandkids to continue the family line" he joked.
"Actually, he really said 'no woman is going to want to have kids with a nerdy boy like you, Nathan! Get your act together or the family line is going to die with you'. My mom is worse."
Rachel laughed at that statement. His parents sounded so much like Isabella's parents. They would always ask when she was going to find herself a husband and give them grandkids.
"Least he's thinking about your future" she said.
"More like his future. He really hopes I'll follow in his footsteps and get into politics" Nathan said.
"But he's letting you get your Bachelor's in electrical engineering. If he didn't want you to do that he wouldn't be paying for your school" Rachel pointed out.
"I guess. But I also think it was because he knew my mom would throw a fit if he didn't. He has no problem running the country and dealing with foreign leaders, but when it comes to my mom being angry, he'll hide behind his desk" Nathan laughed.
The two of them laughed and joked about their families as they got closer to the entrance. Rachel felt her smile vanish when she saw Jeremy standing near the entrance. He locked eyes with her. The same look flashed across them as they did in the library. Nathan spotted Jeremy as well and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"Just follow my lead. Keep your eyes forward and don't look at him" he said quietly.
They continued walking as they got closer and closer to Jeremy.
"So, are your instructors giving you crazy midterm assignments like mine are? Well, I guess I wouldn't say mine are crazy since it deals with coding but what are midterms like for a med student?" Nathan asked.
Rachel knew he was acting like they were talking about basic things and went along with it.
"I have to do a presentation about someone who got medical treatment in the past. An example would be if you broke a bone or were in an accident and needed to have surgery, I would talk about how you were treated and then I would have to explain how I would have done things differently. Basically, it's to see how quick your thinking is when helping someone and knowing other types of treatments. That part is not too hard but finding someone to study is the tricky part. Not a lot of people want you to look at their personal information like that" she said.
"I can see if one of my bodyguards is willing to help. They've been in a lot a incidents where they got injured on the job" Nathan offered.
"I don't know if that's allowed since they work for your dad" Rachel pointed out.
"You don't have to give out names. Plus, it might score you extra points on your grade if you did a White House staff member" Nathan added.
They walked past Jeremy as they talked. Rachel thought they were in the clear when she was suddenly pulled back. Jeremy had a tight grip on her wrist as he looked at her.
"We need to talk" he said.
Rachel glared at him and tried pulling her hand away.
"No, we don't" she said.
"I told you no so leave it at that."
Jeremy yanked her forward so her face was inches away from his.
"Listen up, Rach. Since you have your head so far up your pussy let me make it easier for you to understand. I'm the top student here at this school. All the girls go out of their way to get close to me that it's pathetic what they do sometimes. Do you have any idea how many of them would want to be in your place now? I'm offering a deal that would work for both of us and you're just tossing it away like it's garbage. With my power and connections, I can have you blacklisted so no hospital will want to work with you" he spat.
"If you have such connections then why were you threatening me to help you get a job back in the library?" Rachel retorted.
"I can't be much help if you blacklist me."
She flinched when his grip grew tighter. He was really starting to hurt her.
"Let go of me" she snapped.
Rachel was starting to panic that he wasn't letting her go. She saw Nathan hurriedly talking on his phone to someone. Seems like he was calling one of his bodyguards to help them.
"I said let me go" she repeated.
"You know, I really hate stuck up bitches like you. You think you're so much better than everyone" Jeremy said.
"If you hate people like me then why do you keep bothering me? You're really not making any sense today" Rachel said.
Jeremy glared at her.
"You keep running off that mouth of yours and I'm going to- "
"You'll do what?" Leon said.
He appeared next to them with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"Please finish that sentence, I really want to know what you were going to say" he said.
A couple of Nathan's bodyguards appeared on the scene. Some were hovering near Nathan while a few were approaching Jeremy and Rachel. Leon's eyes narrowed when he saw that Jeremy still had his hand on Rachel's wrist.
"I believe she told you to let her go, so do it" he said.
When Jeremy didn't budge, he stepped forward.
"Now"
That freaked Jeremy out. He backed up a few steps.
"This has nothing to do with you" he said.
"It does have everything to do with me" Leon argued.
"You were harassing a woman and touched her when she repeatedly told you to let her go. Not only that, she was right next to President Benford's son which means you're a possible threat to him."
Jeremy realized that there were a bunch of bodyguards around them. Some were talking in their earpieces while others approached him. Freaking out, he shoved Rachel out of the way and ran off. Rachel stumbled and was caught by Leon so she wouldn't fall over.
"Follow him" Leon ordered the other guards. A group of them chased after Jeremy before he could get far away.
"You were right, Rachel. That guy was a creep. I'm going to hack into his files and see if I can find blackmail material" Nathan said.
When Rachel didn't say anything, he grew concerned.
"You ok?"
Rachel was silent as she looked where Jeremy had ran off. That was super scary. If Nathan wasn't with her to call for help she knew it would have been much worse. She always had this feeling Jeremy was dangerous but she hoped that she was wrong. Something was very off with him. Why would he explode over something minor?
She noticed a couple of students that were still on campus were looking at them. She could see them talking and pointing in her general direction. Once again, she was being talked about in a negative way.
Leon grew concerned when Rachel wasn't saying anything. Was she that freaked out? He made the mistake of placing his hand on her shoulder to get her attention.
"Rach?"
Rachel snapped. Swatting his hand away, she shoved past him and stormed off. She couldn't take anymore of today. Wiping the angry tears from her face, she wondered if it was worth coming to classes tomorrow. She never wanted the attention, she just wanted to pass her classes so she could graduate and fulfill her goal of becoming a doctor. She didn't sign up for all this drama.
"Sunshine, wait!" Leon called out.
He ran after her until he caught up with her. She just ignored him and continued walking. Leon sighed in frustration and followed her.
"Will you please stop?" he asked.
"I'm fine. I just want to be left alone" Rachel said.
"No, you're not. I can tell you're shaken up just by looking at you" Leon argued.
"Will you stop walking so I can check to make sure you're alright?"
"Shouldn't you be doing that with Nathan?" Rachel countered.
"Nathan wasn't the one who was manhandled by some guy, you were." Leon said.
Rachel sighed in frustration and picked up the pace. Leon stopped walking and looked at her helplessly.
"Rachel!" he said firmly.
Rachel stopped walking at that. Knowing he got her attention he walked over to her and stood in front of her so he could look at her. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes but she knew it was pointless since it looked like she was crying.
"I just want to be left alone. I've had enough attention today to last me a lifetime" she said.
Leon looked at her sadly. It was obvious she was shaken up by what happened. No girl should be man handled like that. Before he could think it, his body started moving on its own. He held his hand out for her to take.
"Come on" he said quietly.
Rachel looked puzzled at the offered hand.
"Huh?"
Leon kept his hand out still. He had a feeling she would have freaked out if he grabbed it, so he was trying to show her that it was up to her to take it.
"Let's go somewhere quiet so you can calm down" he offered.
Rachel looked at Leon then back at the offered hand. Her body was telling her to walk away. She was man handled enough already by Jeremy; she didn't need to deal with that again with someone else. But her heart was telling her that it would be ok, that she didn't need to be scared by taking his hand.
Very slowly, she placed her small hand in his much bigger one. Wrapping his fingers around her small digits, he gave it a gentle squeeze and lead her away from the campus. Rachel blushed at the fact that she was holding hands with someone. She was tempted to rip her hand away, but she had a feeling Leon would latch on if she tried.
As they walked Rachel noticed something.
When Jeremy had his hand on her wrist, it felt cold, harsh, and dangerous.
But when Leon held her hand, it felt warm, gentle, and safe.
/
A/N: Leon has finally met Jeremy in the face. That poor boy has no idea who he's dealing with now. Kennedy about to make you into a target practice!
And he's growing more curious about our little med student. Although, looking up info on his future significant other probably isn't the best way to go lol.
Please review and tell me what you think!
Take care!