AllFreeNovel
Share Us
These guys are tenacious. It would only take one to make the connection. Even if there weren’t a single picture of me on the internet, which let’s face it is impossible, even for me; all they would need is to search my name and follow the trail. The people I’m connected to. A picture of my birth certificate could bring my whole world tumbling down.
I should have been more prepared, but I thought I had time. We’d managed to evade everyone but that one photographer on campus. Funnily, nothing had made it into circulation though. I’d allowed myself to be lulled into a false sense of security. Now, I’m hyperaware of how this could go south.
I have to be the person who tells him that I’m Alec Hawthorne’s sister. I need time to do that.
“It looks like you’re really intimate,” another gruff voice quips.
“If you don’t mind,” Rogue says while he wriggles. A second later a car beeps. “I’d like to get to my car.”
“Sure, but would it kill you to answer a few questions?” someone calls out.
“Yes, my brother did kick Alec Hawthorne’s ass for a reason. You’re just going to have to stay tuned.”
Oh God, literally my worst nightmare. Now they’re focused on my brother. I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Shh. You’re good,” Rogue whispers to me and disentangles my fingers from his shirt. “A couple more feet.”
“We’d prefer to hear about you,” one of them says, trying to move the conversation back to their original goal; getting the gossip on me. “Who’s your girlfriend?”
“Oh.” His chest expands and contracts. “You mean her? This is Uma Cookie. My drag queen bestie. We’re not dating. But there’s a neat trick he’s going to show me that involves a banana and liquid nitrogen.”
Someone laughs.
Rogue reaches around me to open the Jeep’s passenger door. “Uma?”
I slip into the car while he turns around to face them. “The new movie just wrapped up filming too. You guys are going to love it. Make sure you check it out when it hits theaters.”
“We will,” one of the photographers calls out. “Love your movies, dude.”
“I knew you did.” Rogue winks at me. “Uma.”
He shuts the door and offers the photographer finger guns as he moves around the car. “Call me. I’ll give you a quote about the movie.”
Any ability to hide goes with him.
“How about you give us one now?” the guy calls back.
“A little busy right now.” He smirks as he yanks open the driver side door.
They surround the car as he climbs in behind the wheel. All I can do is keep my face buried in my hands.
He starts the engine and a minute later we’re easing out of the parking lot as they run for their rides.
“They’re going to come after us,” he warns me, white knuckling the steering wheel as the Jeep bounces over a divider and into oncoming traffic. Someone lays on a horn as we dodge between cars. “I don’t understand how they knew I was there.”
“What about your friend,” I ask, watching our tail in the side mirror. They’re creeping up. One of them snaps a photo while he’s driving. It’s terrifying. “That cameraman that’s always around?”
I still think Nathaniel informed the paparazzi, but if we go that route it’s a whole conversation that I don’t want to have.
“I don’t think so. He wasn’t hanging around when I arrived. And I didn’t see him in the crowd.” His brow furrows. His hands wring the leather as we dart across three lanes of traffic and take off. “Who was that guy…in the dressing room?”
“Nathaniel,” I fold my hands in my lap and tug on my sweater sleeve. Of course there was no getting out of this conversation. Some of the paps stay with us. “Nathaniel Croft.”
“These bastards are hard to shake tonight.” Rogue revs the engine and the Jeep kicks as it surges forward at illegal speeds.
I hold on to the oh shit bar as we take a corner, the tires squealing as they try to grip the pavement.
“I should have brought the Corvette,” he mutters as we speed up again. “It’s faster.”
