Page 129 of Lock Up the Darkness

Aurora: You do, huh?

Killian: You’ve got a softer side. I can see it, just like you saw it in me. I’m making it my mission to bring it out more often in you.

Aurora: I think we’ve got enough with a certain other mission to focus on.

Killian: All the more reason to take the good from other things. Lessens the burden.

Before anything more could be said, the class started up, Professor Shaffer hooking up his laptop and equipment and getting down to it.

I tucked my phone back inside the inside pocket of my cropped leather jacket.

It was stifling in the packed room and I pulled at my lacy black tank that was sticking to my skin. In my peripheral vision, I saw Killian watching, then making a show of licking his lips. Damn him. I sucked in a breath and put all my focus into the lesson, especially the tips and tricks that the professor offered for our project. After deciding not to take Asher’s helpful suggestions, because I’d wanted to do it on my own, and I needed to if I was going to be able to run my own successful business once I graduated, the tips were invaluable to me, especially with the crappy financial numbers I’d been handed. God, this should be a project for my Economics class, given how integral the sales projections had become now with how crappy they were.

It was actually nice to get lost in schoolwork for a little while. The simplicity of it, the innocence, the sheer normality. I managed to push down what was lingering in the background, the antsy need for Asher to crack the codes so we could make our move.

It was important not to get caught up in it, to channel the anxiety and frustration into another outlet, because that bred impatience. And impatience risked mistakes, something none of us could afford at this crucial time. We already had eyes on us—well, on me. This was our chance to get ahead of that, of those twisted motherfuckers. Nothing could upset that coming advantage.

As class came to an end, I packed up my things, sliding my laptop into my bag. As I swung it over my shoulder, I saw Killian taking his sweet time packing up.

We couldn’t leave at the same time, so I started down the gangway to get out first.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

As I let a couple of students pass by ahead of me, I pulled it out to find another text.

Killian: Meet me at the stadium. Outside the locker room.

Aurora: That’s not a good idea.

Killian: You’re working at Fusion tonight, won’t see you until tomorrow morning when we have to play this distanced game all over again.

Aurora: Five minutes.

Killian: You got it.

I doubted he did, but he obviously needed this one-on-one. I couldn’t risk him being put on edge or stressed out more than he already was. That led to bad things, him fucking up, as Jonah put it when he’d warned me this public façade would be putting a lot of strain on Killian. All the other aspects of that façade he’d been burdened with were already bad enough, without him having to pretend I was nothing to him. Worse, that I was just a whore to his brothers.

I stuffed my phone away, then headed down the steps.

I was about to make a right to head out of the hall, when Professor Shaffer called out to me.

“A moment, Miss Blackthorn.”

I pulled up short and cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s about your project.”

I walked to him and he pulled a piece of paper from one of the file folders sprawled out on the table in front of him. “These are the revised numbers for you to work with.”

Frowning, I took the paper and studied the printout. They were far better than the being run-into-the-ground numbers I’d been working with for my project so far.

“I don’t understand. Were the others an error?”

Something flickered across his face, he looked more than a little uncomfortable. “An oversight.”

“I’m fine with the original. I don’t need this extra help, honestly.”

“I insist.” He lowered his voice. “It’s in all our best interests.”

---