Page 116 of Trip Me Up

I glanced down at the front. There was another door down there. And that one had a red exit sign. It wouldn’t be locked. I’d have to pass Niall and Gabi to get through it. Maybe one of the people lined up would distract them with a question.

My back pressed against the wall, I shimmied down toward the front. Across the rows of seats, the officer did, too, his eyes narrowed at me each time I dared to look at him. No matter what she’d said, Alicia would not be happy to pick me up from the campus police station.

I sped up, shoving against the people who blocked my escape. “Sorry. Sorry. Are you okay? Sorry.” But they kept coming, and that red exit sign didn’t seem to get any closer.

At last, the bodies in front of me thinned, and I had a clear view of the door. The red EXIT above it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. That is, until a pair of green eyes, shot through with gold, caught mine.

“Sam?”

“Niall.” All my forward momentum dissipated.

“Ms. Jones.” A steely hand clamped around my biceps.

The police officer. He’d haul me to that holding cell again. I’d have to call Jackson’s outrageously expensive-looking lawyer. Or—I shuddered—Mother. And by the time we sorted it all out, I’d have one of those ankle-cuff monitors and Niall would be gone.

No. Not until I’d done what I’d come to do. I was done running. It was time to face my problems.

I tugged against the officer’s iron grip. “Niall, I’m sorry.”

---