London Royal

by Nana Malone

  Within another thirty minutes, the sun was well and truly making its final stand and I pulled out my phone to look for a tube stop. I frowned when the nearest phone was over half a mile away. How do I get so far off the beaten track?

  I could Uber it. But again, since I didn't exactly have a job yet, I didn't want to spend money I didn't have to. And I had my Oyster card, so might as well use it.

  As I marched, around me people smiled and chattered. People walk with their dogs as I made a turn on to the high street. It was busier here and I felt a little less anxious.

  But still, I couldn't shake my niggling hyper-awareness of everything that was around me. I made another left and a right, this was the way to the high street, right? Shit. I pulled out my phone again and saw the five percent charge warning. I'd left my stupid spare charger at home. Damn it. I pulled out my map, and frowned when I realized, yeah, I was indeed off the beaten path. I had to turn around about three more blocks, made a right, another left, and then I’d be on the high street.

  Damn it. I turned around, but there it was again, that warning tripping up my spine, making the hair on my neck stand at attention. What was that? I glanced around, but all I saw were people in their jackets, walking their dogs, smoking cigarettes, basically worrying about their evenings, getting home, and carrying their take out.

  Relax. You're freaking yourself out. Just keep moving.

  I made my turn, then the next one. But then I heard something behind me. When I turned, my heart beat so fast, I thought it was going to explode in my chest. Out of the corner of my eye... Who was that across the street? Had he been following me the whole time? I couldn't see the guy's face, but he was tallish, a familiar build, athletic, tall. My skin broke out into a sweat. My heart continued to hammer. My brain sending all the appropriate fear signals. Run. Run. Danger is coming. You better run.

  I picked up my pace and hoofed it. Glad I still had some people on the street with me. Will anyone help me if I screamed?

  Or was this like America, where a young black woman might be ignored?

  No. The British were unfailingly polite. Someone would stop. Right?

  So, I picked up my pace until I was nearly running. The booming in my head kept screaming. Run. Run. Run. Run.

  Oh God, I couldn't breathe. My breathing was short and choppy. And then I turned at just the right moment and the light hit the guy. Have you peeked at his face? Was he closer? When the light hit his face, the breath caught in my lungs. No.

  No. No. No. No. It couldn't be him.

  Evan. It was Evan. Evan was chasing me. Evan was coming for me. Fuck.

  I broke out into a full scale run then. I'd been an athlete in high school. It had been a while since I'd run for anything other than exercise, but they weren't kidding when they said fight or flight. I took off.

  I made my next turn blindly, not even looking. And I banged into a brick wall hard enough to toss me on my ass. Once again, I saved the camera before I saved myself.

  I tucked it around me, arms protectively around the lens, then I took the brunt on my ass and moved back, trying to keep my head up so it didn't slam on the ground. "Fuck!"

  "Jesus fucking Christ! Are you all right?"

  That voice. Why was that voice familiar?

  I laid there, probably far longer than I should have. My jeans getting wet from the puddle I'd landed in. My hair got wet too. And I have put on the braids tonight, but I could have gone and hit my back, right? The camera was okay?

  My brain gave the command to my hands and they finally moved as I silently checked my equipment. It was fine.

  Fuck.

  I rolled up into a sitting position, trying to catch my breath, but the fear was still biting at me, telling me to get up and run. Did I dare look behind me?

  I glanced behind me, but I didn't see him.

  I looked over my other shoulder. Had he crossed the street? Have I missed him?

  Shit.

  Or, maybe you imagined it.

  My head started to pound and I groaned as I looked up at the person kneeling in front of me, talking to me.

  My vision came into focus and I gasped. "Xander?"

  "Ms. Nartey?"

  "What are you doing here?"

  He chuckled low. "Well, considering you're in my neighbourhood, that's my question for you."

  "This is your neighbourhood? But I left you at school, a few hours ago."

  He chuckled then. "Yes, and I had some student appointments and now I'm home. And um, only to find that my students are following me."

  I scowled then. "I am not following you. God, you're so full of it."

  He chuckled again.

  "I see you're feeling better. Here, let me help you out."

  I had no choice but to take his hand. My backpack and my ass were still on the puddle. And I still wanted to protect the camera. I let him help me up, and I groaned when I assessed the damage. "Jesus, I'm soaked. It's awesome."

  Sitting this close to him, I realized just how much taller than me he was. If I had something, I wasn't short. But he loomed over me at over six feet. Bloody fabulous. And he was warm.

  I could feel the heat emanating off of him. I had to resist the urge because A, my teacher, B, that would only serve to make him somehow more pompous. And also, I wasn't that girl. Tamsin was kidding when she said I should shag my professor. I wasn't here for that. And I didn't think he'd appreciate it.

  Oh crap, he was talking to me. I tried to focus on his words, but that headache. If I thought I was living with *0:12:29, now it was full scale, threating to blind me and force me to lay down immediately involuntarily.

  "Abbie? Did you hear me?"

  I winced. "Sorry. I just -- I, I thought someone was following me. I- I guess I overreacted."

  His brows snapped down. "What do you mean someone was following you?"

  "I coughed and I swear I was taking pictures and I just - you know, I had a feeling and I don't know, I'm in a strange city and it's dark and I'm running around taking pictures and then I think someone is following me. I know. It sounds crazy. I'm sorry. I'm going to go. I just need to breathe too."

  He shook his head. "No, you're coming with me."

  I blinked at him. "What?"

  "You're coming with me. I'm not going to let you run off to the tube by yourself in the dark, after you've already fallen and thought someone was following you."

  I tried to shake him off. "No, I'm fine. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

  He watched me, but I deftly avoided his touch. "I'm fine."

  He nodded slowly. "No, I'm saying you're not fine. But chivalry isn't dead and my mother would kill me if I didn't at least see to it that you're okay. Why don't we step into this pub, and I'll call you a cab or an Uber?"

  I don't want to pay for the Uber, but I don't want to tell him that. "Um, right. Okay."

  "You're fine. You're perfectly safe in my hands."

  I laughed at that. "I don't think a female student will be safe in your hands since you started teaching."

  As soon as the words were out, I wanted to bite it back. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I just got flipped and basically what you said before, and oh my God, I just- I'm not feeling well and I can't control my mouth."

  He chuckled softly. "Hey, you know what? That's fair. I already opened that door with you as is my students. And you're probably right. Before things didn't go off with me, I may have dated a student or two, once or twice."

  I raised a brow. "Once or twice?"

  He laughed as he led me to a booth in the corner and waved down the bartender. When the waitress came over and she asked for drink orders, I shook my head. Xander ignored me. "I'd actually like tea for her. And one of your pastries, or anything you have."

  "I'm not hungry."

  "So they're not for me?"

  "It's dinner time. Not tea and coffee time."

  "Well, before I put you in a taxi, I'm
going to make sure you eat something. And have some tea. Tea always seems to fix everything."

  I laughed. "I'm not sure tea will make me not crazy."

  He shrugged. "It's worth a shot. So want to tell me why you think someone is following you?"

  "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

  He shook his head. "Nope. Are you afraid of someone?"

  Oh, hell no. You are not doing this. I was not going to confess to my very good looking male professor who, well, probably had many panties drop all over the country, who I found stupidly attractive. Though I was attracted enough that I didn't know where to look when I looked at him - and God, he knew how to melt you with a look, but something told me I want to be all in with this one.

  Sure, I found him attractive, but also I wasn’t necessarily attracted to him. Although, there was something that drew me to him. But it was off. Not like when I got saved by the other guy the other day. That instant spark that had me feeling stupid for hours after? It wasn't like that. But not that I'm happy because he's my professor.

  Yeah, dumbass, you're wrong with that.

  "I'm not afraid of anyone."

  He cocked his head. "You're not telling me the truth."

  "I don't have to tell you the truth."

  He nodded. "Fair enough. Maybe you should avoid walking the streets without a friend late at night?"

  "What kind of world is it that I can’t walk around without a chaperone.?"

  He shrugged. "You can. But I'm just saying you were scared."

  "I'm fine. I overreacted."

  He shrugged. "If you say so. In the meantime, if you get that scared again anywhere into the campus or anything like that, not that we're friends or anything, but you tell me and I'll make sure that you're not scared."

  I frowned. "What are you going to do?"

  "Well, for starters, I can get security to walk you to your bus. That's easy enough. But we can also, you know, in case you were scared and someone deliberately scared you, not that that's what this was this time, but we can talk to the school administration. Have security posted, that sort of thing. But you were just overreacting, right?"

  I met his gaze and nodded slowly. "Yeah, just overreacting."

  I'm sure Dr. Cuffin would have a field day with this, but speaking my truth, I wasn't doing that with my teacher. No matter how kind he was right now. When my tea came, I was actually grateful for it. And the pastry was delicious.

  But what I was more grateful for was Xander. He talked to me. Get me calm. Asked me about home. But not about family, or boyfriends, or anything like that, but my favourite shooting spots and my favourite subjects and some of the best places that I've shot and the best places for light. As if everything about me from the past that was important was all he was actually interested in, not that superficial stuff. It made me feel more normal. Calm me down.

  By the time the Uber stopped, he'd already paid for my pastry and tea despite my irritation and annoyance about it.

  "Come on, I dragged you into this cafe. I pay."

  When he opened the door to the Uber, he glanced down on me and gently guided my elbow and helped me inside. "Listen Abbie, I'm serious. If you should get scared like that again, I do want you to tell me. Because I can make that experience better for you."

  Just before he closed the door, while we're still connected, I met his gaze, and there it was, a spark of something. Something he reminded me of. But also something a little bit like I felt the other day, with that guy in the mini-cooper. Now, why the hell would I feel the same way?

  Chapter 8

  Lex…

  “You ready for dinner?” I asked Xander as I narrowly avoided stepping on a box of lens filters.

  “Yeah, just let me put away the student portfolios,” Xander muttered.

  I looked around Xander’s tiny office. “Just where do you plan on putting them, Xan? It’s not like you have a lot of room in here.”

  “Take the piss all you want, mate. I have a system.” He stuck the portfolios on an already overflowing shelf. “Besides, it’s not like I have an assistant right now. Most of this stuff will move to my studio anyway. Once that’s done, it’ll be downright tidy in here.”

  I just laughed. “Sure. Whatever you say.”

  Xander studied me as we left my office and took the back hall to the staff parking lot. “So, what’s with you?”

  I shoved my hands into my pockets and kept my gaze looking ahead. I didn’t need Xander probing into the dark recesses of my mind. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”

  Xander dropped my camera bag in the boot, then strolled around to the driver’s side of his Pagani Huayra. “Seriously, Alexi? You seem to forget it’s my job to study the nuances of human features and emotion then capture those moments.”

  I wasn’t in the mood for Xander’s attempts at psychoanalysis. I carefully opened the passenger door of the Huayra. The car was both the fastest and the flashiest of Xander’s vehicles. I preferred to run around in something more subtle, but Xander liked the attention. Although, I had to admit, the thing was cool.

  “I’m not biting, Xander. Let it go.”

  “I can’t. It’s written all over your face. The tight set of your mouth. When you smile, it doesn’t quite reach your eyes. Your body has a rigidity to it. Especially in your shoulders. Like you’re poised and ready to take action on something. Not to mention you’re fidgety as hell.”

  I immediately stopped playing with the hem on my hoodie. “I am not fidgety.”

  “Come on. Why don’t you just tell me what it is? Is it Gemma?”

  I was careful to keep my voice neutral. “When did you become an agony aunt? I’m fine.”

  Xander narrowed his eyes and studied me as we came to the stop sign at the campus exit. “No, it’s not Gemma, but it is a woman. Go ahead and tell me I’m wrong.”

  “You’re wrong.” I kept my face averted toward the window. Maybe dinner with Xander had been a bad idea.

  “You forget I know you better than anyone. Who is she?”

  I dropped my head against the headrest. “She’s no one. Just a girl. I don’t even know her name.” But as luck would have it, I’d seen her with Max’s girlfriend. So if I was so inclined I could track her down.

  Xander shook his head. “See, I’ve got the skills of a detective. Maybe when this photography thing is over I should join Scotland Yard. Screw that I’m going big. MI-6 all the way.”

  Despite myself, I laughed. “You’re full of shit.”

  “Maybe, but I figured out some woman is tying you in knots. Gemma got a clue?”

  Xander was the only one who knew the truth behind my relationship with Gemma. And he thought I was insane to go along with it. “There’s nothing to tell Gemma. I haven’t done anything. And I’m not going to.” I said through ground teeth. I couldn’t pursue it. I wanted it too much.

  “Yeah right. You’ve got the look of a man on a tight string.” Xander shook my head as he easily navigated the streets of Ealing on his way to the motorway. “Though I have to say, I like this look on you.”

  I frowned. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh, I dunno. I feel like you’ve used your relationship with Gemma as an excuse to never get close to anyone. Sure you have a discrete dalliance here, a hot fling there, but you’ve never had to be in a real relationship. With someone you care about, who would actually have to get to know the real you.”

  “Shut it, Xander.”

  Xander laughed. “Why? Because I’m telling you the truth? You are avoiding intimacy because you’re afraid of what you’ll have to show and share. It’s classic.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, I’m the one with love issues? Says the man who goes through women like you’ve heard there will be a store closing on them or something.”

  Xander grinned. “I do love women. But we weren’t talking about me. Besides, I’ve turned over a new leaf. Women are to be treated with respec
t. We were talking about you and some woman getting under your skin. It’s a good look for you.”

  “Wow, Xan, I had no idea you were such a romantic.” I eyed him again. “Shit, you’re not sleeping with another one of your students, are you?”

  Xander’s eyes bugged. “No! Hell no. I learned my lesson the first time.”

  I laughed. “You know they have those rules for a reason.”

  “I said I’m not fucking sleeping with her.”

  “Her, so there’s a her?”

  Xander cursed. “No. I have a student. She’s promising, that’s it.”

  “And you want to sleep with her.”

  “No. Damn it. I want to teach her.”

  I had to laugh. “Exactly what do you want to teach her, Xan?”

  “Shut up, Baby Brother.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  Xander was quiet for several moments before he quietly said, “The old man called me. Or rather had Mum call me.”

  “Fucking fantastic. Whose side are you on, Xander?”

  “Yours. Always yours.”

  I glared at him. “Then why are you pushing his agenda?”

  “I’m not. I swear. I personally think you should tell the geezer to fuck off like I did. I just worry he’ll pull the trigger on his threat.”

  “Well, he’s welcome to. In a few weeks, I won’t need his money.”

  “It’s more than money you’re walking away from, I. It’s not always easy to do. I wouldn’t think any less of you if you took his deal.”

  Blood boiled under my skin. “After everything that happened, you think I’d take the easy way out? I don’t want anything from him.”

  “And everything comes back to that.”

  I ground my teeth. “Of course it comes back to that. We were kids Xan. He was supposed to love us and instead he treated us like we’d tarnished his good name.”

  “Never said he wasn’t a prick.”

  “Well, I want nothing from that prick. I knew that night he didn’t give a shit about us.”

  Xander nodded. “Also true. That night changed everything, but we survived.”