Chapter 4

“Why does it matter what I’m here for?” Casper asked, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. I couldn’t believe he was being this elusive in the middle of the riot that was about to break out around us. More importantly, why was I still standing there talking to him? I was somehow glued to him, to his voice, and to catching one more glimpse of his smile, even though every logical sense in my being was urging me to make a move, to get away from him. This could only mean one thing: trouble.

“Look, Casper, if that is even your name, we’re all here to protest Argent’s wind farm project,” I said, cocking my head in his direction. He smiled again, his lips curling and his eyes widening. I could stare at him all day!

“And I’m standing here, watching you explain it to me. Thank you for stating the obvious,” he said, snapping me out of my unwavering admiration of his good looks. I was filled with the most disastrous waves of mixed emotions – my growing annoyance at him and my undeniable attraction for his body.

“So, you’re admitting that you’re not a protestor,” I said, the tampons still dangling from my nose.

“I’m not admitting anything, other than that the glitter really adds a glow to your face,” he said, enjoying his own joke a little too much. His shoulders were shaking again from his laughter.

“So, you work for Argent Energy Systems. Is that it?” I said, ignoring his distracting comments and focusing on the gold mine I had just landed on. All day long, I’d been hoping to catch some employee, any representative, from the organization so that I could force them to hear what I had to say, what we had to say. And now, potentially, I had one right in front of me.

He must have seen the manic twinkle in my eye, because the smile disappeared from his face slowly, and he stared at me.

“Should I prep myself for a lecture?” he asked, and this time it was me smiling.

“There are only 160 Green Gleneagles left in the whole world, and they all live in your company’s construction spot,” I said, taking a few steps closer to him. It didn’t bother me that the man was way taller than me, that I had to crane my neck to look up at him. I caught his gaze, and I was going to hold it.

Casper breathed in and sighed, but continued to look at me. “I am aware of that,” he said in his usual calm and soft voice. Hearing him now, I couldn’t even imagine the same man throwing punches at a crowd only a few minutes ago.

The tampon strings dangling from my nose were distracting, and I tugged at them, pulling them out quickly. They had soaked up all the blood from my nose, and I dropped them in my bag again, deciding to worry about them later. Now was not the time.

“Building over their habitat means that they have nowhere to live. They will die out because of the loss of their homes,” I continued, and noticed that Casper was still looking at me earnestly.

“Do you mind me asking you a question?” he interrupted my flow of thought.

“What?” I snapped.

“Why did you put glitter on your sign?” he asked, focusing on the glitter on my face again.

I rolled my eyes and looked away from him. This guy wasn’t paying attention; he didn’t care about what I had to say. But at least he was better than having nobody to speak to directly. So, I decided to indulge him.

“My best friend’s daughter Zoe, who’s six years old, helped me make it. So, I had no other choice,” I said exasperatedly. “Anyway, are you listening to me? Don’t you think that your employers should feel a little guilty about how they’re ruining nature?”

“Do you babysit her often?” he asked, changing the subject again as though I had said nothing about the birds, as though he had not noticed how worked up I was about the protest.

“What? Yeah. Marla is a single mom. I watch Zoe five nights a week. You’re not listening to me.” I waved my hand in front of his face, even though he was looking at me. He didn’t blink an eyelid.

“That’s very good of you. To look out for your friend’s daughter. You must be a student yourself with very little time to spare,” he continued, again like that was the whole point of our conversation.

“I’m trying to get through to you about something important here, and all you can talk about is glitter!” Something in me snapped, and I was yelling at him now. I was furious again. My body was aware of his undeniable sexual presence, but my mind was focused on the protest. It was like I had no control over my body or my mind anymore.

“I hear you, Lily. I know what you’re saying.” Casper said, the smile disappearing from his face. He was all serious again.

“Then why are you avoiding the question?” I yelled.

“Because I can’t do anything about it. There’s no point lecturing me when my hands are tied,” he said, still calm. He wasn’t raising his voice to match mine at all. This was probably what triggered me into more anger, watching him so collected and noble.

“Of course, you can. You can do your bit. You can protest. You can quit your job. There are a million things you can do, if you really want to!” I was screaming still, my anger rising. I was probably angry with myself as well for having such painfully effective sexual thoughts about a man who stood so completely against my beliefs.

“You look cute when you’re mad. The tops of your ears turn pink,” he said suddenly, his face breaking into a smile again. “It’s no wonder that you get no work done.”

I couldn’t believe what he’d just said. Not only had he made an off-hand comment about my physical appearance, but he was trying to imply that our protests never worked, that we were picketing – or rather, I was picketing – for no good reason.

I hurled myself at him, a surreal and strange war cry emanating from my being. I could feel it in my core as I lashed out at him with a bunched-up fist. This was exactly what I had decided not to do. I had planned on not being violent. I wanted to show the world the power of a peaceful protest, and here I was, ramming myself into a man who had managed to get under my skin.

My palm landed on his chest, and immediately I felt the strength of it, like his body was made of pure muscle. My hand bounced off his chest, and he grabbed me by my waist as he gently pried me away.

“What are you trying to do, Lily?” he asked, and I heard the laughter in his voice again. He was still enjoying himself!

“I’m trying to attack you for what you just said,” I screamed, completely at a loss. This was supposed to be a fist fight, not an explanation about why we were going to have a fist fight. Casper was laughing; he wasn’t affected at all by any of this. It was almost like he wanted me to try and punch him.

He let go of my waist and grabbed my wrists as quickly as he had pushed me away from him earlier. His fingers were wrapped tightly around my wrists, and I could feel the strength in his grip again. It was almost frightening. He yanked me closer. His face was only a few inches away from me. Some of my auburn curls fell over my face, and I blew them away.

“You’re making a big mistake, Lily. This is not what you should be doing,” he said, and I heard a threat in his voice.

“What are you going to do about it?” I hissed.

“Sir? Is everything all right? Is this woman bothering you?” someone asked from behind me. Casper still had me tightly grasped in his hands, and I didn’t see the man who’d asked that, although I did immediately wonder why Casper was being referred to as “sir.”

“Take this one into the building,” Casper said, while he kept his eyes on me.

Then a different set of hands grasped my shoulders and pulled me away from him.