Across the Pond (Prince Harry #2)

Chapter Fifteen

Suddenly he lunged for her, bringing his fist forward. His hand went straight for Meredith's eye, and he hit the correct mark. She fell backward, hitting the wall. Her whole body began to shake. Her mind only buzz. She stared at ugly carpet of brown tinged with red and blue. Meredith grabbed for her, feeling her eye socket. It hurt.

On the floor, she heard footsteps running away. And then footsteps followed Creepy Resident Dude, presumably the Campus Safety officer. There were a few grunts she could make out before Meredith looked over and pushed herself off the ground. Campus Safety had tackled Creepy Resident Dude.

"Are you okay?" the officer asked Meredith.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Call the police."

"Yep."

"Afterward, call the hall manager."

"Yep."

"Stay close."

"Yep." Meredith watched the two as the Campus Safety held down Creepy Resident Dude, who continued to struggle. First she called the police, the second time in the past few days, and the police were on their way. Next she called her boss, the hall manager, who was going to let the police in when they got here and then come up.

Her head pounded, and she tried not to shake. Her whole face hurt. Glancing quickly at her phone, Meredith saw the outline of her face. Her left eye socket was already swollen. She was going to have a black eye when all of this was said and done.

When the police showed up, Meredith was moved off to the side while they dealt with the situation. Picking up her clipboard, she was ready to take more notes, but her boss was beside her, shaking her head. Creepy Resident Dude was taken out in handcuffs. Meredith glanced out the front, and all the sudden the paparazzi had turned into journalists without a story.

"You should probably go to the hospital," her boss said.

"I have an incident report to write," Meredith said, groaning slightly.

"Are you in pain?"

"No."

"Liar."

"Yes."

"Ice?"

"Yes please." As her boss got ice for Meredith, she knew it was going to bruise. She already had a headache and it was going to last all night. She had a hard time seeing out of the eye as it started to swell. But he didn't have amazing aim, so it would go down soon enough. The discolored would be left. Hopefully Meredith's skill was up to par. When the ice came, Meredith felt the pain of putting it there, but she fought through it.

"Meredith," her boss said, "write the incident report and then go to bed. I'll cover the rest of your shift."

"It's but a scratch," she quoted.

"Meredith--"

"I'm fine," Meredith responded, hating the tone her boss used. She wasn't a child. "I'm finishing my shift." She sat down behind the desk, which faced the front of the building. It was completely dark outside, allowing the paparazzi to see into the brightly room. Undoubtedly, they all saw her. It was too late to hide now. Anyway, Meredith was done hiding.

Her boss hovered by the door. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Meredith had already pulled out her laptop and started her incident report. "Good night, Tianna."

Her boss turned to her apartment and then turned back. "You should go to the hospital. What if it's a concussion? You could die."

"Now that would be exciting." She opened up the incident report sheet and started working on it. "Good night, Tianna."