A Safe Place To Fall (The Fall Book 1) (12 page)

“
Who?” Lana asked from her
stretched out position on the couch.

Drew raised his arms above his head and
stretched. “My dad.”

She got hung up on the glorious sight of
those amazing abs and almost missed what he said.
Almost
.

Oh God! No. Absolutely not. There was
no way in hell that she was going to let his father know about her
past. Nobody could make her give up those details to that man.
She'd just have to learn to live with Shawn stalking her.

The clothing catalog she'd been looking
at dropped to her chest. “What do you mean your dad is coming
to take a report?”

“
I told you he’s a cop,”
he reminded her, lowering his arms back to his side.

“
But he’s your dad,”
she said.

“
And since it wasn't my car, he can
be on the case.” Drew moved to the couch, raised her legs up,
sat down and lowering her legs across his. “We need someone we
trust on this case. I trust him.”

“
He’s your dad. I don’t
want him to know about Shawn.”

“
Honey, I don’t want just any
cop handling this.” His hands massaging her feet felt amazing.

“
Great,” she muttered. “I’m
sure he’ll be thrilled to know you’re dating a girl who
is being stalked by her
rapist
.”

He pulled on her little toe through her
Halloween socks. “He’s not going to judge you because of
your past. How many times do I have to tell you it wasn't your
fault? You told him no. He should have accepted no for an answer.”

It seemed like only minutes before Drew’s
dad knocked on the door.

This man seemed like a man who would take
no shit from anyone. Without showing an ounce of emotion, he
demanded to see all of the text messages. He ridiculed his son upon
finding out the phone had been destroyed. The last thing he did
before he left was take a picture of the message on her car door.

The whole meeting was just odd. Father
and son seemed to be at odds. Hell, he just wanted the facts from
Lana. Apparently social skills weren't a job requirement.

Lana was left with no answers. There was
no actual proof that the messages were from Shawn. The coffee shop
didn't have cameras in their parking lot, making it difficult to
prove that it had been Shawn who had vandalized her car. Without
solid proof the detective’s hands were tide.

The next day they traveled twenty minutes
outside of town to Drew’s family farm. It wasn't a spend
-time- with -the -cows visit. There was a shooting range located in
one of the fields. Drew was determined she learn how to defend
herself.

Lana had never held a real life gun in
her hands. She wasn't even sure if her parents owned a gun, if they
did they'd never shown it to her. What need did a banker have for a
gun?

She wasn't too thrilled with having the
hand gun in her possession now.

Her back was pressed against Drew’s
front, arms stretched out aiming for the target. The gun felt heavy.
Powerful.

The first shot sent her head, unprepared,
back into Drew’s chin. She was a little more prepared for the
recoil with the next four shots. It wasn't so bad. If the situation
presented itself she could fire the weapon. Would she like it? No.
Could she live with herself if she had to actually shoot someone?
Probably not. Did she feel safer? Hell yeah.

“
Let’s see how you did,”
Drew suggested, as he took the gun.

Lana followed him up the path to the
target. Two of the shots hadn't even landed on the paper. One shot
was centered in the figure’s foot. Another, where his nose
should've been. The last one would've been painful.

“
You took out his balls,”
Drew stated in astonishment.

“
Well, you didn’t say I had
to shoot at the head,” she defended herself. “You said
to stop the guy.”

He shook his head wincing. “Getting
shot there will definitely bring a man to his knees.”

*************************

Hidden in the trees, a man stood watching
the couple. Damn! She was hot wielding that weapon. The bitch
couldn't shoot to save her ass.

Not such a bad thing in this case.

Rage filled him as he watched the man
wrap her in his arms, grabbing a hand full of her ass. She didn't
push him away. She seemed to encourage his advances, standing on tip
toes to meet his seeking lips.

Who did this man think he was? Lana did
not belong to him!

***********************

A twig in the woods snapped, dead leaves
crunched. Something bigger than a squirrel was moving.

“
Did you hear that?” Lana
asked, scanning the wood line. She felt as if they were being
watched.

Nothing was there.

Drew turned his head to search the same
area. “Probably just a deer.”

“
Yeah, I guess.”

They began the walk back to his four
wheeler. His hand was in the back pocket of her jeans rubbing her
ass with each step they took.

Lana kept her eyes on the tree line until
they were back at his truck.

Chapter
12

That weekend Drew came by with a new cell
phone. “Only give this number to your parents, Ricky, and
Tracie.”

Lana rolled her eyes. “They're the
only ones I gave it to before.”

“
It’s registered under my
name,” he informed her. “There’s no way an
outsider can track it to you.”

The light bulb in her head clicked. “So
if he messages again we’ll know someone gave him my number?”

He leaned in and took a bite out of the
candy bar she was holding. “Then all we’ll have to do is
figure out who gave the number to who.”

“
My parents are the only ones who
Shawn could talk to,” she pointed out, pulling her candy bar
away from him.

Drew grabbed a bottle of water out of the
fridge. There wasn't a need to ask for anything at this stage in
their relationship. “This is the day of social media, honey,
anybody can get in contact with anybody they want. Not to mention
your last number was registered under your name.”

Lana took a bite out of her candy bar,
savoring the milk chocolate and oozing caramel. Just the thought of
her parents unknowingly giving her rapist information about her
unnerved her. How else could Shawn know where she was?

“
I put Chris’s number, both
my mom’s house, and my dad’s cell in that phone,”
he told her. “I have to go to a dinner and won’t be back
tonight. If anything happens you call Chris.”

Call Chris? No way!

Drew held a hand up. “No
arguments. I’m going to be forty minutes away at my grandma’s
house. Dad's thirty minutes away if he's even at the house.”

She sighed. “Fine, but I don’t
like this at all.”

“
I don’t like it either,”
he agreed. “I don’t like leaving you here but it’s
my grandma’s birthday.”

The fact that she was slightly hurt that
she had not been invited was insane. Nobody invites their brand new
girlfriend to grandma’s birthday party. Hell, she hadn't even
gone to her own grandma’s birthday dinner.

Snap out of it, girl.

“
Don’t look at me like that,”
he demanded, looping a finger in her belt loop pulling her to him.
“I already feel bad enough.”

Lana shook her head to clear her
thoughts. “I’ll be fine. I have a ton of homework and I
think Ricky is actually planning on staying home tonight.” Up
on tiptoes, she gave him a peck on the lips. “Don’t
worry about me.”

Liar.

Yeah, Ricky said he was going to be home all weekend for once. Lord
knows she had enough homework to keep her locked in her room all
weekend as well. Without Drew being down the hall the threat seemed
closer. No way was she going to let Shawn keep Drew from his
grandma. She'd never be able to live with herself. The only option
was to keep her fears hidden.

Sliding his hands around her waist he
pulled her even closer. “I want you all to myself when I get
back.”

Mind going straight to the gutter, she
shivered a little. All sort of naughty things came to mind.
Sigh.

All
of that would have to wait. One day she would get to feel him
against her body with nothing between them, but it would not be
today.

The kiss was slow, teasing, and
tempting. Just plain hot. Breathing became almost impossible and
her body began to hum a slow tune of arousal. It was amazing how
this man could make her forget the terror of her past and take away
all worries of the present.

It ended as fast as it had began,
leaving her all kinds of flustered. Damn her body’s response
to this man. How could one’s mind and body be at such odds?
Her body was ready to strip them both down right here. Her mind was
busy listing the reasons why this was a bad idea. Visions of Shawn
were forefront. Practically looking her in the eye. Just once she
wanted to be able to listen to what her body wanted.

Drew groaned. “Maybe you could
come with me.”

There was the invitation that she'd been
waiting for. Too bad she couldn't bring herself to accept. He
didn't really want her to go for the right reasons. It was too soon
to meet his family. Even she felt that they would be rushing things,
if they took that step. Clearly, he was thinking with the head that
was not attached to his shoulders.

She let her hand trail down his chest,
past his stomach and grabbed his belt in her fist pulling his lower
half tight against her. “I’ll be here waiting.”

Later that evening Lana was kicking
herself for not going with Drew. What was she supposed to do all
weekend? He wouldn't be back until Sunday evening. The dinner was
tonight but he had promised to stay and fix some things around his
grandmother’s house. It was noble really.

Having finished all of her major
homework, Lana stared out the window down to the busy street. Shawn
was out there somewhere. Watching. Waiting.

It would be easy to give into the fear
and stay home where he couldn't get to her. If she did he would be
taking even more of her life than he had already taken away. Enough
was enough. She refused to be a victim.

The walls were already beginning to close
in on her. Drew wanted her to stay in. She understood why.
Honestly she did. But each breath came harder and harder.

Grabbing her car keys she headed to the
one place that gave her comfort.

It was around ten at night when Lana
finally stepped away from the tread mill. Sweat dripped off of her
face. Sending thanks that Drew was not here to witness her
appearance she used her shirt to wipe her face. One sniff told her
that her shower couldn't wait until she got home. So, she headed to
the locker room.

Lana closed her eyes against the spray.
The water pounded down onto her tensed muscles. Slowly her body
began to relax. It was as if all of her troubles were being washed
down the drain. There was nothing like a night at the gym to make
things seem okay with the world again.

She was just about to step out of the
shower when she heard footsteps out by the lockers. Wrapping the
towel tighter around herself, she listened to see where the footsteps
would go. After a few seconds the footsteps headed back the way they
had come. The door slammed behind them.

Brows wrinkled in confusion, Lana slowly
crept out to the locker area. Her heart pounded. It was crazy
really. Someone probably left something and came back in to get it.
It was a gym that kind of thing happened multiple times a day. Still
she couldn't help the fear that edged its way in.

Her breath caught in her chest and she
came to a complete stop. The dirty clothes, along with the clean
outfit he left spread on the bench were gone. In their place sat
three red roses. Each had a message.

You are mine.

Never forget.

I will have you.

Forgetting that she was in a towel, she
ran out of the locker room and straight to where she knew Chris would
be. The boxing ring.

He was holding the punching bag while a
woman took jabs at it, but let go as soon as he saw Lana. Eyes
widened and having trouble staying on her face, he walked over to
where she was standing. “What the hell are you doing?”

“
He…He..was in there,”
she stuttered. “There were roses. Drew's at his grandma’s.
I just freaked.” She was pacing back and forth in the very
short towel. Breathing was still almost impossible.

Chris grabbed her by the top part of her
arm and drug her to a small office. He tossed a boxing robe, from a
small closet, at her. “Put this on.”

She obediently put the robe on around the
towel and tied it. “Drew told me to stay home. But if I had
done that Shawn would be winning. I thought it was safe to come
here.”