Flee (The Aurora Lockette Series, Book 1) (4 page)

“First you have to get a four year degree in
any major, and then you go to law school, which is three years.
Then you take the bar, and viola! You’re a lawyer.” I raised my
hands and made a grand gesture.

“Is that all?” She giggled. “Seriously, wow.
It sounds like a lot of school. I don’t know if I could do it.”

The conversation flowed and ebbed, much like
the waves of tourists walking past the balcony. I focused my gaze
over the porch to the Riverwalk. The sun dipped down the horizon,
tinting the water a bright orange and red.

“Let’s go check it out.” Gavyn stood and
offered his arm to me.

“Sure.” I practically rocketed out of my
chair. I thumped my knee on the table in my haste.

“You all right?” he asked, peering down at my
bright red right knee.

“No worries. I never bruise no matter what I
do. It’s the weirdest thing.” As I took his offered arm, everyone
was openly staring.

“We’ll be back,” Gavyn said. “Aurora hasn’t
had a chance to see the Riverwalk yet.”

“Right,” Troy said, drawing out the word.
“You two kids have fun! Don’t fall in.”

Gavyn led me to edge of the patio where a
narrow wooden staircase twisted down to the Riverwalk.

The walkway was built a couple of stories
below the surface of downtown. Muted sounds of traffic floated down
the stone walls.

I snuck glances at his profile while we
walked and talked. The fading fiery sunset cast his skin as smooth,
silky coffee.

He turned to the direction of the hotel. He
grabbed my arm and gently spun me so I was facing the same
direction he was. I was surprised at how far we’d walked while we
were lost in our conversation.

“We should turn around. We don’t want to get
lost.”

Actually, I did want to get lost with him,
but I stopped myself from saying it. The fact he was touching me
distracted me to a point where I was having difficulty with the
English language.

He brushed his fingertips lightly down the
length of my arm then entwined his fingers with mine. “Is this
okay?”

“Yes.”

We walked in silence, hand in hand. I battled
through all the different emotions rolling around in my head:
desire, fear, and a little spark of hope.

We came to a quiet part of the Riverwalk
lined with expensive private residences, green ivy, and old stone
walls. He released my hand and moved into me. Very, very close. He
tucked a stray hair behind my ear, his feathery touch against my
skin sending chills down my spine. “I’m not good at this kind of
stuff.” He was close enough I could feel his breath move across my
skin.

“What stuff?”

“You.” He raised his eyes to meet mine. “I
can’t tell if you’re into me the same way I’m into you.” He moved
his hand across my cheek. “I feel for you in a way I haven’t
before.”

“Oh!” I whispered.

His shoulders sunk.

“Let me try again. I’m not good at this stuff
either, you see. I really, really like you, and I, um, I wasn’t
sure if you liked me, and you’re famous, and I’m definitely not,
and I thought maybe you just went around picking up girls, but I’m
not saying you necessarily do that or anything. I thought maybe you
were just…”

He cradled my face with his hands. I’m pretty
sure my heart stopped beating right then and there. “You weren’t
sure if I liked you? Really?”

“Yes.”

He kissed me. It was the kind of kiss a girl
waits a lifetime for. His lips were soft and warm. His hands were
gentle, holding my face to his. He moved his hands to wrap them
around me, pulling me closer to him and intensifying our kiss. I
wrapped my arms around his neck.

After a blissful moment, he pulled away. “Do
you have any doubts now?”

“Nope.”

He touched his fingers to my lips. “You have
such full, beautiful lips; very nice to kiss.” He slung one arm
over my shoulder and we walked toward the hotel. As we got closer,
I could see Troy standing on the balcony, watching the people
stream by. I was expecting Gavyn to cease the public display of
affection in front of his fellow cast and crew, but he didn’t.

When he saw Gavyn’s arm around my shoulder,
Troy smiled. “Yee-haw, Texas! Now that’s what I’m talking about!”
Troy waited for us at the top of the staircase. “I wondered where
you two wandered off to, though I wouldn’t worry about Aurora. She
could kick your ass if you messed with her.”

“I’m sure I would enjoy it,” Gavyn said.

Most of the party-goers were gone. My watch
told me it was midnight, and I was suddenly tired from my long
day.

“Did you drive?” Gavyn asked.

“Nope, I took a cab.”

“I’d like to give you a ride.”

“I would like to take that ride.

He pulled me to him again, pressing his body
into mine. “Is that so?”

I only smiled in response.

He threw a look at me with an unreadable
expression.

Damn.
Heat rushed my face. I hadn’t
meant it like that.

Well, maybe I had.

He led me to a sleek black car with dark
tinted windows. It wasn’t a luxury car by any stretch of the
imagination.

“Where’s your driver?”

“He was horrible. You know I got into a car
accident?”

“Really? What a shame.” I giggled and sank
into the passenger seat while he held the door open for me.

“Okay, which way?” he asked once we pulled
out of the maze of downtown one-way streets.

“Get on 1-10 West.”

“Got it.”

He drove well. Not too fast, not too slow. It
made me wonder how well he did other things.

We were mostly silent for the trip, which
ended up only taking a few minutes in the light traffic. As the car
crawled past the gnarl of trees on my street, my nerves came to
life.

“Are you all right over there? You look a
little tense,” Gavyn said. We glided into the parking lot.

“I’m good, thanks.” I put my hand on the
door, but I didn’t leave.

He looked past me, out the window, and into
the trees. “Does the tract of undeveloped land make you
nervous?”

I took a deep breath and picked my swirling
brain for a lie, but one wouldn’t come. “Kind of. I was running the
other morning and I saw someone hiding in the trees. It frightened
me.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, making a vertical
line appear between his eyes. “Maybe it’s a homeless person living
out there. Please allow me to walk you to your door?”

“Sure, thanks.”

I wasn’t sure what his intentions were, not
that mine were particularly innocent at the moment. I couldn’t
remember if I was wearing cute underwear or my regular stuff that
came in a five pack from the discount store.

He opened my door for me, offering his hand
to help me out. At his touch, my body buzzed with intentions to fly
and burned with something else.

I stopped him outside my door. “This is
me.”

He tapped the metal numbers on my door, and
then glanced behind him. “Hmm, first floor, facing the trees.
Pretty, but not the safest for people living alone.”

“Maybe you’re right.” I put my key in the
door and pushed it open.

“Goodnight, Aurora.” He kissed my forehead,
embraced me, and then strode off without saying another word.

“Goodnight,” I whispered to the dark, and
then I went inside.

“I’m melting!” Bree said. She flipped on her
side and grabbed her phone. “According to my snazzy phone, it is
currently ninety-four degrees, with sixty-nine percent
humidity.”

We were lying on a large blanket we’d spread
on the edge of the soccer field near the law library. The solitary,
large tree we were under provided some shade from the unforgiving
sun.

“No wonder we’re burning up, but it’s nice to
be outside.” I flipped over on my stomach and rested my face on my
folded arm. “Think about it. We’re always in class or in the
library studying. It gets old.”

“Yes, but there is air conditioning. It’s a
wonderful thing.”

I pulled the notepad between us closer to me.
“Have we cracked this rule against perpetuities thing yet?” I
stared at the flow chart we’d scribbled on the lined paper.

“I don’t think we’re meant to learn it. I
think it’s an old English common law nobody gives a shit about
anymore, but we have to learn it because law school is the most
backward thing ever.”

I laughed. “I still don’t see why learning
this crap is going to translate into the real world, or help our
understanding of modern real property law, for that matter.”

“It’s not. Whenever the professor starts a
class by saying most students never get this down, then you know
you’re screwed.” She shoved the notebook out of her line of vision.
“Enough esoteric crap. Tell me about your party on Friday.”

I flipped over on my back. The sky was a
perfect bright blue, with a few puffy clouds floating around. “It
was awesome.”

“Did your guy show up?” she said.

“Yes, he did.”

“And?”

I rolled over so we were facing again. “And
I’ve been thinking about him all weekend, and today, and in every
single class. It’s kind of sad.”

She wiggled her eyebrows. “Good stuff. Did
you do it?”

“No, but we did hang out.”

“You didn’t do it? What else is there to do
in a hotel on the freakin’ Riverwalk?”

“Do you want to hear about it or not?”

“Okay. I’ll keep my mouth shut for the next
two minutes. Go.”

“We walked around the Riverwalk and
talked.”

“About?”

“Everything. Anything. You know, books and
other stuff.”

“Seriously? Not sexy. We’ll deal with it
later. Continue.”

I shot her a dirty look. “Well, he liked
something because he kissed me, which was nice. Very, very
nice.”

“I hope there’s more.”

“Then he gave me a ride home and walked me to
my door,” I said.

“Well, did he call?”

“No. I was so out of it I forgot to give him
my number, and he didn’t ask. I’m so not slick.”

She sat up, pulling me with her. “I think
it’s a good thing you didn’t get his number and he doesn’t have
yours. Let him think about you for a couple more days. A little
mystery goes a long way with men.”

“I suppose. We’ll see.”

“What’s his name? What does he look
like?”

I hesitated. I wasn’t sure how to protect his
privacy. “His name is Gavyn. He’s...tall, dark, and handsome.”

My cell phone buzzed. Five text messages from
my mom, all questioning whether I was still alive, why hadn’t I
called, etc.

I flipped my phone shut. “Hey, Bree. I better
go. I need to call my mom. She’s flipping out.”

“Okay. I think I’m ready to go home anyways.
My mascara is melting off my damn face.”

I helped her fold up the blanket and draped
it over her arms. “This was fun. I think I’ll keep this in my
trunk. See you later,” she said.

I texted my mom back, assuring her I was
alive, very busy, and fine.

It was a lie. I was afraid to run in the
morning. I was afraid of the pecan grove. I was afraid because I
could feel something watching me, even now.

The three story glass law school library
flashed in the light as I approached. The late afternoon sun threw
the corners of the building into shadows. As I walked past, I heard
a soft click, and saw someone shift in the dark shadow of the
building. The sidewalk was empty, but a mere fifty feet or so
ahead, in the sunny courtyard, there were people.

“Is someone there?”

I waited for an answer that never came, then
I gave up and strode into the sun.

***

The next morning, I did something unusual. I
actually paid attention to my appearance. Some of the girls wore
cute, designer clothes to school every day. I assumed it was
because they cared about their appearance and/or had extra money to
spend on these types of things.

I was not one of those girls.

But today was different. If I was going to be
miserable, I would at least look good doing it. I settled on a snug
pencil skirt and fitted shirt with heels. The outfit hugged my
curves, making me feel like a sexy pin-up girl.

I paused outside my door to make my silent,
solemn, resolution. Today, I would not think or worry about Gavyn.
I grabbed a banana and my purse and threw the front door open.
After I’d locked it, I stood outside my apartment, digging through
my purse to make sure my cell phone had made it inside.

A low, familiar chuckle startled me to
attention. Gavyn was leaning against the wall outside my door, his
arms folded across his chest. As soon as my eyes met his, he
smiled. “Good morning.”

I hugged him awkwardly, clutching a cell
phone in one hand and a banana in the other. “Banana?” I pointed it
at him.

“I’m good. Thanks.” He gave me a wide,
beaming smile. “May I give you a ride to school?”

“Sure.”

He led me to his car, opened the passenger
door and made a wide, sweeping gesture.

The early morning traffic was light so it
only took a few minutes to get there. He parked on the edge of one
of the parking lots attached to the law school, but left the engine
idling. He leaned his head on the headrest. “Saturday and Sunday
were crazy on set. I didn’t have your phone number. I know Troy has
it, but I wanted to get it from you myself. May I have it?”

“I suppose, since you already know where I
live.” I pulled a pen out of my purse and wrote my number on a
scrap of paper. My hands were shaking and the numbers were jagged,
but still legible. I handed it to him. He smiled and tucked it into
his pocket. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, but made
no move to shut off the engine.

He slid his right hand off the steering
wheel, resting it on my bare knee. “I can’t stop thinking about
you.” He leaned his head back on the headrest again, still looking
at me. “At any rate, I just wanted to let you know.”