Flee (The Aurora Lockette Series, Book 1) by Miranda Kavi Read Free Book Online Page B

we glanced around us to find the eyes of
several of my classmates resting definitively on me. Their whispers
filled the air.
    “Or I could be wrong,” Bree added.
    “Great.” I grabbed my backpack. “I’m going to
go to the gym.”
    “Stay here with me. I want to hear more about
him.”
    “I’m sorry. I can’t deal with this right now.
Thanks for the offer though.”
    As soon as I rounded the corner of the
administrative building, a cold, hard feeling nestled at the base
of my spine.
    It was here. I could feel it.
    I picked up my pace as I passed the tree
grove. It was a bright, nearly cloudless day, but there were lots
of shadows, way more than the trees would create.
    They were out there.
    Reaction flowed through me and before I could
stop it, my feet were off the ground a few inches.
    “Crap!”
    I sank back down to the ground and looked
around. Thankfully nobody was around to see my freak show, but I
had more pressing problems. A dark figure had emerged from the
trees.
    I ran until my backpack ripped and my books
went flying all over the place. I stopped to pick them up. I was
far away from the tree grove and I didn’t see any shadows. Students
gave me funny looks as I cried and shoved my books into my broken
backpack.
    When I finally had my books contained, I sat
on the nearest bench, far from any tree groves. Young undergrads
were milling around a nearby coffee stand with their lattes, no
doubt worried about first dates, English 101, and their
roommates.
    I pondered the only two possibilities I could
think of. The first one, and the most likely, was me losing my
mind.
    Second, and far more dangerous, is what I saw
was real.
    My cell phone buzzed in my pocket.
    “Hello?”
    “We need to talk.”
    “Mom, now is not really a good time,” I
said.
    “What are you doing carrying on with a movie
star? Are you crazy?” She continued as if I hadn’t said a word. “My
friend forwarded me some celebrity gossip blog, and behold there
you were in a recent paparazzi photograph with Gavyn Dhaval.”
    “Mom, I—”
    “A Hollywood actor? Do you realize how many
fans he’s probably had sex with?”
    “It’s really not like that.”
    “Sure. They all seem nice at first, but don’t
be naïve. All men are like that.”
    “Mom, really?” I shoved my broken backpack on
the ground. “I’m an adult, and we are not having this conversation
right now.”
    “Oh, yes we are. He’s famous. If it happens
in front of him...”
    “I’m the one who can fly here, okay? I’m
painfully aware of the risk. End of discussion.”
    “Ah.” She was quiet on the other end of the
line for a while. “I knew this would happen someday. I knew you
would fall in love, and this would come up.”
    “Whoa, whoa whoa. There’s no L word being
thrown around here.”
    “I know my own child. I should be happy for
you, but I’m just too worried.”
    “I’ll be very careful around him, okay?”
    “If you truly fall in love with a man, it’s
going to be very difficult to keep any part of yourself from
him.”
    I picked up my mangled backpack. “We’re not
there yet. I’m definitely not there yet and I’m not getting into
this right now with you. I need to go.”
    “Fine, just tell me one thing.”
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “Are you on the pill?”
    “Mom, oh my God! We are not talking about
this, okay?”
    “If you are sexually active you should—”
    “Yes, okay? Stop, now. For the love of all
that is holy.”
    After I hung up the phone, I cried. When I
was done, I walked out to my car and drove home.
    ***
    I stayed home for two days on a claim of
sickness. Gavyn didn’t call, but I knew he wouldn’t with his
schedule.
    After a couple of afternoons of daytime T.V.,
I was bored enough to go back to school. Bree was happy to see me,
and I must admit, it was nice to return to some sort of
normalcy.
    I sat with her in the courtyard after our
second class. She was filling me in on her latest date, and nobody
was staring