A Safe Place To Fall (The Fall Book 1) (11 page)

“
It's
nothing you need to worry about,” she said, taking the number
one spot at the counter to place her order.

Ricky waited until they were seated at a
small table before he continued his interrogation. “You look
like you've seen a ghost.”

“
I
told you, it's nothing.” Lana forced a bite of the fruity
treat down to prove all was well.

He reached across the small table and
grabbed her cell phone out of her hands. “Who the hell is
this, Lana?”

Things were serious when he called her by
her real name.

She avoided eye contact, not wanting him
to see how serious things actually were. “It's just some guy.”

“
Does
Drew know about this?”

Lana nodded. “He wants to call the
cops.”

His eyes narrowed. “How many of
these have you gotten?”

“
A
few.”

“
Maybe
you should listen to him.”

No longer hungry, Lana shoved her frozen
yogurt to the side. “I'm not talking about this.”

Ricky sighed. “Fine but if this
continues I'm going to make you do something about it.”

She snorted but lacked the energy to put
up much of an argument.

Chapter
10

The next day Lana felt like the walking
dead. She hardly slept the night before. Just when she thought
things were going to go back to normal Shawn reminded her that he was
still around. He was close. She could feel it.

All she had wanted was to crawl into bed
beside Drew and just be held, but with Adam being at his place it
hadn't been an option.

The kid had enough issues. The last
thing that he needed to witness was Drew having an overnight female
guest.

A knock on the door had her staggering to
answer it.

Drew stood there in a pair of light blue
jeans and a WVU football jersey. He'd brought breakfast and coffee.

He just might be her hero.

Lana greedily took a coffee, taking a
long drink. “You’re a lifesaver.”

Drew raised an eyebrow as he moved passed
her heading for the kitchen. “Too much fun last night?”

She sighed and followed him. “I
wish.”

Deciding the evidence spoke for itself
she handed him her cell phone.

His eyes scanned the text message. “Why
didn’t you call me?”

“
You were busy with Adam,”
she said. “It’s not like you could've done anything.”

“
I want to call my dad,” he
told her. “This prick is harassing you.”

She shook her head. “It wouldn't
do any good.”

“
Eat,” he demanded, handing
her a breakfast burrito. “You look dead on your feet.”

“
That’s how I feel,”
she admitted, “and I have to be at work in like an hour.”

Drew put his hands on her waist, easily
picking her up, and sitting her on the counter. “Call in sick.
We’ll spend the day together. We can binge watch that show
you love so much on Netflix.”

An all-day Mattie-a-thon. It was way too
tempting, but she had rent and bills to pay. Besides drooling over a
guy on TV while snuggled up in Drew’s arms would be
awkward
.
The MTV show would just have to wait.

Lana bit into the burrito as she wrapped
her legs around Drew’s legs. “We’ll have to take a
rain check.”

He rubbed the top of her thighs as she
devoured her breakfast. “Fine but come straight home after
work. No gym.”

“
But...”

“
No arguing,” he demanded.
“You’re going to come home, get into those sexy pajamas,
that I like so much, and we’re going to watch Netflix.”

“
What about Adam?”

“
Already headed back home.”
He took the empty wrapper, balled it up, and tossed it to the trash.
“So, it’s settled. Tonight you're all mine.”

Lana bit her lip at the image his words
brought to mind.

“
You really need to quit doing
that,” Drew stated. He rested both of his hands on either side
of her on the counter. “You tempt me too much.”

His eyes mesmerized her, and took her
breath away. It was impossible not to move to meet his mouth. Her
eyes drifted shut at the gentle touch of his lips on hers. Her legs
pulled him in closer, as he deepened the kiss causing a sigh to
escape.

Reality came back into sharp focus when
her cell phone buzzed with a new message.

Simultaneously they reached for the
phone. Drew won, and tried to shield the phone from her sight.

It was too late. She saw the message.

You are mine! I own
you!

“
Damn it,” Drew cursed. In a
split second her phone was flying across the room, and smashing into
the wall.

Lana felt her mouth hanging open in
disbelief. She'd never seen him this angry; he was always so calm.

Well Hell
.

Now she needed a new phone.

“
I’ll buy you a new one,”
he promised. “And I’m changing your number.”

Oh, right! Oops.

She could've saved her phone’s life
had she remember to go and change her number. As if that would
really stop Shawn. If he had found out her phone number, evidently
they had a common friend. Chances were he knew where she lived as
well.

Oh, God! He had to know where she lived.
He was out there watching. How else could he know about Drew? A
cold shiver of fear ran through her body at the thought.

“
If it goes beyond text messages I
will be contacting my dad,” he warned her.

She wrapped her arms around herself
attempting to chase the chill away.

“
Hey,” he said, his hand
cupping her cheek. “I’m not going to let anything happen
to you.”

Deep down she wanted to believe him, to
trust he could protect her.

He sighed. “I hate sending you out
by yourself. Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?”

She wanted him to drive her, and stay
there the whole day, but she had to prove she was strong. Sometimes
having a point to make really sucked.

Tracie was all sunshine and rainbows when
Lana walked into the coffee shop an hour later.

“
Oh, my god, Lana,” she
squealed. “I know I’m not normally into the dominating
kind, but with him it’s kind of hot.”

Oh my-lands.

How could anyone want to let one person
have that much control? Just the thought gave Lana the shivers and
not the good kind.

Lana concentrated on wiping down the
tables. Did it really matter what she thought? Tracie was the one
who would have to deal with the guy if she continued to see him. If
Lana played her cards right she would never have to be around him.
It’s not as if she spent a lot of time outside of work with
Tracie.

“
We’re going out again this
weekend,” Tracie said in an almost sing song voice.

“
That’s good,” Lana
said, not really paying attention to what Tracie was talking about.

A man in a black hoodie with the hood
pulled up was watching them through the window. Was it Shawn? Did
he know where she worked? Panic clawed at her throat.

Tracie moved over to look out the window.
“What’s got you cleaning that same table again?”
A smile broke out on her face and she ran to the door. “I’ll
be right back!”

A sigh of relief escaped from Lana as she
watched Tracie race across the parking lot and toss her arms around
the neck of the guy. It had to be the guy she was dating.

Lana was happy for Tracie. She was a
little freaked out by the fact that her friend was into being a
submissive, but thought it was kind of funny. Tracie wasn't known
for taking shit from anyone, stranger things have happened.

By the time Lana was able to get out of
there for the night, she was dragging. Lack of sleep was catching up
with her. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed, preferably in
Drew’s arms, and sleep.

Her car was parked under one of the three
parking lights. She immediately noticed the word scratched into the
driver’s side door.

MINE

Breathing became impossible as she
scanned the empty parking lot. He had been here! Tremors began to
take over her body. Oh God! He had been right outside of the
building. Needing to get to Drew, all thoughts of destroying
fingerprints fled from her mind. She was in her car and heading to
the apartment. Red lights and stop signs were ignored.

Chapter
11

It took forever for Drew to answer her
constant pounding on his door. Not paying any attention to the fact
that he had come to the door in a towel Lana launched herself at him,
wrapping her arms around his neck.

His arms came around her holding her
close to the warmth of his body. At any other time she would've
taken the time to enjoy him in all of his almost completely naked
glory. Now all she wanted was the comfort and safety he provided.

“
I’m happy to see you too,”
he murmured, dropping a kiss on top of her head.

“
He was there,” she
announced. Without taking a breath she added, “I didn’t
see him, but he was there.”

“
Whoa, whoa,” he said,
pulling back and looking down at her. “Honey, take a breath
and calm down. Then slowly tell me what’s going on.”

She let her forehead fall against his
shoulder taking even breaths. He smelt like the ocean. Once she was
calmer, she looked back up at him.

“
Shawn knows where I work,”
she informed him. She pulled away to walk around the room, too
nervous to stand still. “I didn’t see him, but I know he
was there.”

“
Wait.” Drew shut the door,
leaned back against it, and crossed his arms over his naked chest.
“If you didn’t see him how do you know he was there?”

Lana took another calming breath. Damn
this was too much stress. “Because when I went out to my car
to come home I saw that he keyed my car.”

His eyes widened. “Someone keyed
your car and you didn’t bother to call me?”

“
I couldn’t call you because
someone
broke my phone this morning.”

“
Are you okay?” he asked,
ignoring her last comment.

Mentally and physically exhausted, she
collapsed onto the couch. “Physically, I’m fine.”

“
You need to report this,” he
told her. She watched him pace the floor, shoving his hands through
his hair. Obviously, he had forgotten that he was half naked. “This
isn’t just about text messages anymore. He keyed your car.
He’s here in town.”

She shivered rubbing her hands over both
arms. “I feel like I’m living a nightmare.”

The fierceness left Drew’s eyes, as
he held his arms out to her. “Come here.”

A few steps and she was wrapped in his
arms. Part of her brain registered she should not be this close to
him, at the moment. Her body was too busy noticing every hard muscle
she touched. Hands busied themselves learning every line and contour
of his abs and chest. Even now at such a terrifying time she could
not help but be in awe of the wonder that was Drew.

“
I don’t want to be alone
tonight,” she sighed. “I know Ricky will be there, but
it’s not the same.”

He pulled her closer against his body,
which wasn't trying to hide his reaction to her. “I’m
not letting you out of my sight tonight.”

Her breath caught and her body shivered
at the thought of being pressed against his body all night. She
swallowed as her mind got lost in the land of dirty thoughts.
Thoughts that just a month ago would have her running away.

His body tensed before he pulled away
from her. “Let me go put some clothes on and then we’ll
call and report it.”

Darn
.

She was kind of hoping he was planning on
running around like that for the rest of the night. She could've
dealt with that.

A few minutes later, Drew came out
wearing a pair of gym shorts without a shirt. She could definitely
get on board with that.

It took a couple seconds for Lana to
realize he was on his cell phone.

“
No, it’s not my car.”
He was pacing in front of the television while listening to the
person on the other end. “Like I told you. My girlfriend went
to leave work, and saw someone keyed her car.”

Girlfriend. The term should set off a
million different warning bells. She felt calm and relieved to know
what she was to him.

“
OK, thanks.” He ended the
call, and his phone onto the coffee table. “He’s going
to stop by and take an official report.”