Flee (The Aurora Lockette Series, Book 1) (2 page)

I felt the heat rush to my face. “Storm
cloud, huh? Thanks.” I pushed my food around my plate, desperate to
fill the silence. “So, your dad is from India?”

“Yep. My mom’s British. They met in
college.”

My palms, one of my few hold out non-sweating
parts, were sweating now too.

“So, what exactly does being a law student
entail? I’m afraid I am completely unfamiliar with the American
legal education system,” he said.

“Just started. Ask me in a week.”

He threw back his head and laughed. After a
moment, he took another bite of his meal. I took the opportunity to
take a bite of my forgotten food.

“You,”—he paused before continuing—“are very
interesting.”

“In a boring law student sort of way, I
suppose you’re right.” I forced myself to take another bite of my
meal, thinking of ways to continue to be interesting to him. “Does
that mean I don’t get to hear about what you’re doing?”

The driver appeared in the doorway and
motioned for us to come. “Police are here. They want to talk to
you.”

I stood up too fast, knocking over my near
empty water glass in the process. I snatched it up, which resulted
in my fork flying off the table. “Excuse me. Nice to meet you,
Gavyn, and thanks for the burrito.”

He picked up my fork and placed it near my
plate. “Pleasure was mine.”

The tiredness and stress of the day was
buzzing in my body. I had to be careful, or else it would happen. I
focused on calming down, keeping my cool, and my feet planted on
the ground.

My thoughts bounced around aimlessly while I
waited for the police officer to finish his report. I’d just met a
movie star, which was great. Unfortunately, I met him in a
too-large discount suit, covered in sweat, and God only knows how
bad my hair was at this point. Did I flirt? More importantly, did
he flirt?

Hours later, I finally arrived at my
apartment in a compact red rental car I couldn’t really afford. I
flopped on the bed and examined the textured ceiling. I couldn’t
believe I had a conversation with Gavyn Dhaval. The most amazing
part was he seemed like a normal guy. Definitely not the
narcissistic snob I would have expected.

Too bad I would never see him again, except
maybe on a movie screen.

I turned off the light, effectively ending my
daydreaming.

My laptop sputtered to life in front of me,
joining row after row of glowing computer screens. A few holdout
students had notebooks and pencils instead. We all had red bound,
obnoxiously thick textbooks parked on our desks.

Our civil procedure professor was standing in
the front of the room, trying to clip a small microphone to his
button-down shirt.

I opened my internet browser and searched for
“Gavyn Dhaval.” His picture spread across my screen. There were
many fan sites and links to movies he had done, but not a lot of
tabloid stories.

“Hey!” Bree sat down next to me and booted up
her laptop. I clicked all my windows shut to get Gavyn’s face off
my screen, and hopefully, my mind.

She scooted her computer close to mine and
typed.
Hey. This will be a lot easier than passing
notes.

Yep, except everyone behind us can read
them,
I wrote back on my screen.

She messed with her settings then started
typing again, this time in a much smaller font
. Can you hear me
now?

Yep. Isn’t it weird to have all the same
classes with the same exact people?

Yeah, especially since there are only
three cute guys in our section, of which two are checking you out
right now
.

She gestured her head to the right. Sure
enough, two guys sitting next to each other on the other side of
the classroom were watching us openly and smiling. One with broad
shoulders and sandy brown hair, one smaller guy who had spiky blond
hair.

I nudged Bree and wrote,
Checking you out,
blondie.

She wrote back,
Checking us out
. .
.

A loud tap on his lapel where the microphone
was, and the professor had our attention. “All right, section blue.
Let’s get started. I’m Professor Tolane, and this is Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure.”

I poised my hands above my keyboard, ready to
capture every word, when it happened. The buzzing sensation started
in my head and then quickly flowed down my body into my hands and
feet. I felt my bottom rise out of the chair a fraction of an
inch.

Concentrate, Aurora.
I wrapped my
hands around the bottom of my seat to keep myself firmly attached.
Not here, not in front of everyone, not so soon.
I pictured
the numbers in my head, twenty, nineteen, eighteen, counting
backward. Once I had the calm, the control followed easily.
Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen...

An elbow dug into my side. I opened my
eyes.

“Excuse me, Ms. Lockette?” The professor was
standing in front of me. “Because according to the seating chart,
this is you.”

I cleared my throat. “Yes. I’m me. I mean,
I’m here.”

“And, what is your answer, Ms. Lockette?”

“Answer?”

“Stand up please.”

I did.

“While you were resting, we were discussing
jurisdiction.” The other students shifted awkwardly in their seats,
the girl from yesterday’s tour group tittered, and my face burned.
“What was the holding from Louisville & Nashville Railroad v.
Mottley?”

“Um...” I flipped through the case book. The
pages I had read last night for all my different classes were
jumbling together. “A court has federal jurisdiction only if the
plaintiff’s cause of action arises under the constitution or
federal statutes.”

He smiled, but it wasn’t a friendly smile.
“As opposed to...”

“Federal jurisdiction based on the
defendant’s counterclaim under the federal statutes or
constitution.”

“Right. Stay standing please. I’ll come back
to you. No cat naps in my class.”

He turned his attention away and continued
his lecture, while I stood like a Grade-A moron. Wonderful. I
glanced down at Bree’s screen. She had written “Welcome to Law
School.”

***

Back in the sunlight, I sipped on a bottle
of water while I flipped through the cases for my next class. I was
seated at one of the many tables scattered around the campus. Bree
sat next to me, along with a tall, quiet guy she had somehow
befriended within the past few hours.

Masses of law students streamed in and out of
the buildings. They gathered in clusters around the tables to chug
down coffee, smoke, and socialize.

I had finished my reading by now, but I
pretended I was still working. Bree and the quiet guy were engaged
in conversation. I let my eyes flow over the page as I wrestled
with my internal worry over the classroom incident.

I shut my book. “I’m going to head to the
gym. See you later.”

Bree flipped open her cell phone and looked
at the screen. “You have two hours until your next class. Come eat
with us instead.”

“Thanks for the invite, but I’ll pass.”

The gym was on the other side of the campus.
Basketball and racquetball courts filled the first level while the
second level offered cardio machines and weights.

It only took me a second to change out of my
jeans and t-shirt into sneakers, shorts, and a rattier t-shirt. I
pulled my hair into a ponytail as I made my way to the weight
room.

It was empty, which was awesome. I selected
twenty-pound dumbbells and got to work. Calm and focus washed
through my body and cleared my mind. Just what I needed.

I wandered over to the bench press. I
selected a twenty-pound disc from the stack near the bench, and
added one to each side. I added more weight in smaller increments,
not sure of how much I could handle without assistance.

“Need a spot?” a friendly voice asked. He
looked familiar, but he couldn’t be older than eighteen or
nineteen. He was Hispanic, muscular, and very cute in the high
school jock sort of way and had a big, open smile on his face.

“Thanks.”

He stood over me while I performed my limited
repetitions.

“Nice job,” he said as I slowly returned to
an upright position. “I’m Troy by the way. What’s your name?”

“Aurora. Nice to meet you.”

“Like the northern lights? Very cool. Are you
working on the movie, or are you a student ‘round here?”

Something clicked in my brain. Troy Archili.
Another lead in the movie. Currently sharing the cover of a
prominent magazine with one of his former co-stars. I’m not sure
when I’d been transported to a much cooler alternate dimension
where I met movie stars on a daily basis.

I cleared my throat and found my voice.
“Student. Not a movie star. Sorry to disappoint.”

His smile grew even broader. “What’s your
major, non-movie star?”

“I’m a law student.”

“Oh, really? You don’t look it. You’re too
short.”

I laughed. “Thanks, I think.”

His smile faded a little. “I hope I get to go
to college someday. I’m pretty much booked for the next few years,
though.”

“That’s a good thing, right? You can go
later, when you’re done being famous.”

“Ha ha, lawyer. I like you. Now finish those
reps.” He pointed his finger at the bench.

I saluted him and returned to the bench to
finish my reps.

“Holler at me if you need another spot,” he
said. He tossed me a wave as he returned to the dumbbell rack. He
was safe. Not flirty, just friendly.

As I finished my workout and prepared to
leave, he stepped in front of me. “Hey.”

“Hi,” I said.

“So, what are you working on tomorrow?”

“Probably quads and hamstrings.”

“Me too. Same place same time?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Awesome.”

I was smiling as I walked back to the law
school area of campus, fresh from my quick shower. Stress was gone.
Control was back. Maybe even a new friend?

I walked behind the main campus library and
rounded the corner to return to the law school.

“Oomph.” I ran into a solid body.

“Are you going to make a habit of this?” he
said in his low voice. Even behind the large sunglasses and a
baseball cap, I recognized him. He waved a hand, and two large men
at his side backed off several feet.

“I’m so sorry.” I took a step back so I
wasn’t standing in his space. I ran my fingers through my hair to
straighten it, but I hadn’t re-applied makeup after my workout so I
still looked less than stellar. “But really, you literally ran into
the back of my car, so...”

“Are you going to sue me?” A smile tugged at
one corner of his mouth.

“We’ll see.”

“Where were you headed?” He peered around me
so he could see my backpack. “That looks a little heavy.”

I slung it off and put it on the ground. “It
is heavy, but I’ve gotta take three books to one class. It’s
ridiculous.”

“When is your class?”

“About ten minutes from now,” I said.

“Well, we better get going.” He picked up my
backpack and walked off.

“What are you doing?” I ran a few steps to
catch up to him.

“I’m carrying your books to class for you.
I’m trying to repay you for the trouble I caused with the car
accident.” He winked at me and slipped his other arm through the
backpack so it was balanced on both shoulders. “Wow! How do you
manage this?”

“I work out.” I tried to ignore the heavy
footsteps behind us. I leaned close to him. “Are those your
bodyguards?” I stage whispered.

He glanced back. “Yep.”

“How very odd,” I said.

His smile darkened. “Odd, indeed. The studio
requires them. I think their insurance makes them do it. I’m quite
embarrassed. Please excuse them.”

He stopped in the tree grove behind the law
school campus. “Here you go.” He took off the backpack.

“Are you not allowed on the law campus?” I
asked.

He leaned forward so his face was close to
mine. “I’m very sorry. I avoid crowds of people.”

“Me too,” I said, and it was honest.

He cocked his head to the side. “And why is
that?”

“I need to get to class. Thanks for the
backpack assistance.”

I put on my backpack and walked away. The
buzzing sensation was tingling my hands and feet, but this time, I
had control.

It was still dark outside, which is
perfectly normal at 5:00 a.m., but observing this early hour was
not normal for me. Over the past few weeks, Troy had taken great
yet smug joy in becoming my own ad-hoc personal trainer, which
involved running before breakfast.

My apartment was on the edge of town, where
the flat city landscape bleeds into the beginning of the hill
country. There were lots of trees and not a lot of people. I had
picked it because it seemed like a peaceful area, but in the
pre-dawn dark, it was too quiet.

I walked a few steps before I broke out into
a run. Power surged through my legs and arms, quieting the now
nearly constant buzzing in my hands and feet. The control came with
the exercise, came with the calm.

I’d gone a mile when something nudged at my
consciousness. I stopped my run.

Someone was watching me. The buzzing had
started, and I was on the verge of losing control. I stared into
the shadow-filled trees. Somebody was out there, blending from one
tree’s shadow to the next to the next in a jerky, unnatural
motion.

“Is someone there?”

There was no response.

My feel lifted off the ground a fraction of
an inch. Damn it. The figure came closer, not yet detached from the
tree line.

Run, stupid.
And I did. I sprinted as
fast as I could. I didn’t hear anyone behind me, but I couldn’t
hear much over my pounding feet and gasping lungs. As I neared the
apartment complex, the fear receded. The lights from the complex
wrapped around me, and I was safe again.