A Safe Place To Fall (The Fall Book 1) (15 page)

“
What do we do now?” she
asked when he tossed his phone onto her bed. “Just wait for
him to kill me?”

“
That is not going to happen,”
Drew told her sternly. “That ass-hole is not going to get
anywhere near you again!”

“
What’s going to stop him?”
Lana demanded to know, tossing books into her book bag. “First,
he was in the locker room while I was there. Then he comes into my
room and kisses me.” The book bag fell onto the bed as her
hold relaxed. “He violated me, but they don’t give a
shit!”

He walked around the bed and wrapped his
arms around her from behind, holding her hands in his. “I’m
not going to let anything happen to you. You’re not going to
be alone for a second.”

“
I wasn’t alone tonight,”
she reminded him, forcing her body to relax against his.

“
Ricky had no idea that you keep
your window unlocked,” he pointed out. “Which reminds
me...why the hell was your window unlocked?”

“
We’re on the third floor,”
she stated simply.

“
Third floor in a building with has
built in fire escapes!”

Lana ducked her head. There was no use
arguing. He had her with that one.

Drew’s phone ringing saved her from
having to receive further reprimand.

Thank you, Adam!

The first few days at Drew’s
apartment did not go as smoothly as Lana would have hoped. It seemed
that no matter where she turned, one of them was always looming
there. Every time her phone rang they grabbed it. Everybody’s
nerves were on edge.

After a week of feeling like a prisoner,
she blew up at them. “I can’t live like this!”

Drew and Chris looked at each other and
then at her.

“
We can’t be too careful,”
Drew was the first brave enough to speak.

“
I can’t even go check the
mail without one of you guys following me,” she vented as she
scrubbed down the kitchen stove with a sponge. “I need to be
able to live my life.”

“
You are living your life,”
Chris argued. “You’re going to your classes. I make
sure you’re safe at the gym. Tracie has worked it around so
you guys work the same shifts so that you are never alone. That
sounds like a life to me.”

She turned to look at him. “I’m
never alone. That’s my point!”

“
You cannot expect me to leave you
alone after everything that has happened,” Drew cut in. “We
tried doing things your way.”

Pushed past her patience limit Lana
turned and aimed the sponge at Drew’s head. It hit his
shoulder and bounced off. Her aim sucked.

“
It’s a small price to pay
for your safety,” he stated, picking the sponge off the floor
and tossing it to the trash can.

“
It’s been a week since
anything has happened,” she pointed out. “No Shawn
sightings. No messages. Nothing. I want to drive myself to work
and to class again.”

“
I don’t know if that’s
such a good idea,” Drew argued. “He knows what you
drive.”

“
I’m not saying this is a
good idea,” Chris interjected, reaching for an apple from the
bowl in the center of the table, “but if she was driving a
rented car he wouldn't know it.”

Drew tossed his hands up in the air.
“Fine!”

It took another week to convince Drew to
get the rented car. He still stressed how much he hated the idea of
Lana being on her own for even that long. Her argument that she
would go crazy if she were surrounded all day long without any breaks
was enough to get him to hand over the keys. The first day that she
got to drive, Drew made a point of leaving a good thirty minutes
before she did. On the way to the university she would look in the
rear view mirror to make sure he did not pop out behind her.

Drew was already seated in Terminology
class when she walked in. He presented her with a doughnut and a
coffee. All kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings started moving into her
heart. Even though he had been irritated when he left, he had
brought her favorite breakfast. No matter what, he would take care
of her. Bonus points were gained.

Lana held the coffee with grateful hands.
“I can't believe how cool it has gotten the last couple of
days.”

“
Winter's right around the corner,”
Drew commented, stretching his legs out, and casually looking around
the room. His eyes stopped, narrowing, on someone over her head.
“Do you know him?”

Turning her head sideways, she studied
the man. He was not wearing a hoodie this time but the build was
similar. Up close she saw he had a piercing above his left eyebrow.
A tattoo of a rattle snake ran down his arm. She was drawn to his
piercing almost black eyes. Eyes that were looking right at her.

The man smirked, and turned his attention
back to the front of the class room.

Lana shook her head, trying to ignore the
creepy feeling overtaking her. Why had she not known that Tracie's
boyfriend was in her class and had gone to high school with her? Did
he know who she was?

“
He's the guy Tracie's dating,”
she informed him. Once again her attention was on the tasty treat
Drew presented her.

“
I don't like the way he was
looking at you,” Drew stated. He was still glaring at the guy.

“
Relax,” she demanded. “Not
everyone is out to get me.”

He sighed. “What proof do we even
have that Shawn is the stalker?”

“
It's Shawn trust me on that.”
Lana reached over and squeezed his hand. “Let's focus on
class and put all of the other drama aside for a little bit. OK?”

With a reluctant sigh, Drew turned his
attention to the front of the room. Every once in a while she caught
him sneaking looks over her head. He remained tense until the end of
class.

That evening Lana beat both of the guys
home. Drew had reluctantly agreed to go ahead to band rehearsals
without her tagging along. She had promised to keep herself locked
up in the apartment and not let anyone in until one of the guys made
it home.

After sending Drew a quick text to let
him know she had made it home safely, she decided to take advantage
of the privacy and take a nice long hot bubble bath. She needed to
feel normal for just a little while. What better way to relax than
in a tub full of bubbles?

The small bathroom was equipped with an
iPod dock, which was currently playing songs from her playlist. She
did her best to keep up with the singer as she relaxed in the hot
water. Lzzy Hale she was not. Thank goodness nobody else was at
home.

Eyes closed she focused on the lyrics of
her favorite Hinder song. The pain and torture in the singer's voice
tore at her heart. Just thinking about being in a relationship while
still being in love with someone else made her want to cry.

Her thoughts turned to Drew. What would
she do if one day she could not be with Drew? Just move on; or,
would she keep him hidden deep in her heart like the singer?

Her eyes popped open in realization; she
was falling in love with Drew. When had that happened? Was it the
night she finally told him about Shawn? Sighing out loud, she
admitted, that she had probably fallen head over heels for him the
night he played her favorite songs at the party.

The door opening and Chris' appearance
took her completely by surprise. Judging by the wide-eyed look on
his face, he was just as shocked.

“
Oh shit,” he said. “I
thought you would be with Drew.”

“
Uh no,” she stated, trying
to hide beneath the bubbles. “If you give me a couple of
minutes the bathroom will be all yours.”

“
Oh yeah, right.” He backed
into the door on his way out. “I really am sorry.”

Lana waited until he slammed the door
before she stood up and wrapped a fluffy towel around her body.
Well, there went her relaxing bath. She quickly got dressed.

Too embarrassed to face Chris again
tonight she ran to Drew's room. For good measure she locked herself
in.

“
Are you going to keep yourself
locked away all night?” Chris asked, through the locked door,
after a couple of hours.

When she didn't answer he tried again,
“Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked.” There was a
pause before he continued. “I'm a man. We like to look at
beautiful girls. It's kind of our thing.”

Lana rolled her eyes. Did he even hear
himself right now?

“
Shit,” she heard him mutter.
“That came out all wrong. Drew is going to be getting here
soon. Can we kind of forget this happened?”

Forget? She would gladly forget that her
boyfriend's roommate had seen her naked. There was no way she was
going to tell Drew that information when he had yet to see her fully
naked.

“
Okay, I give up,” he told
her.

“
Food's here,” Lana heard
Drew announce a few minutes later. “Where's Lana?”

“
Still locked in your room,”
was Chris' response.

A moment later there was a knock on the
door. “Honey, let me in.”

Lana tossed her book aside and went
across the small room to open the door. “Hi.”

“
You okay?” Drew asked as he
came through the door, closing and locking it behind him.

“
Embarrassed,” she admitted
with a sigh. “It's not his fault; I should've locked the door
but nobody was here. I thought I had time.”

He sat down on the bed and began pulling
food out of the take out bag. “Wanna tell me what you're
talking about?”

Oh crap! She had planned on not saying
anything to Drew.

“
N-nothing,” she stuttered.

“
Then why are you blushing,”
he countered.

She looked around the room to avoid the
conversation. Her eyes landed on the pair of drumsticks hanging on
the wall. For the first time she noticed there was writing on both
of them. Moving in closer for a better look, she squinted. Did that
say Lars? The other one said Jeremy.

Holy Crap!

“
You've seen Metallica and Five
Finger Death Punch live?” she asked, completely distracted.

“
I was ten when I saw Metallica,”
he informed her, glancing above his head at the drum sticks. “Five
Finger was last year.”

“
I haven't been to one yet,”
she admitted. “My parents hate rock. So, they would never pay
for the tickets.”

“
Nice try,” he told her,
looking back in her direction. “Spill it. What happened while
I was gone?”

Lana sighed. “Chris may have
walked in on me while I was taking a bubble bath.”

“
He what?”

“
The bubbles hid all of the
important stuff,” she rushed to assure him. “He didn't
really see anything.”

“
Why did you lock the bedroom
door,” he demanded to know. His hands now made a fist in his
lap. “Did he try something?”

“
What?” Her eyes widened
when his meaning sunk in. “God no!”

He relaxed a little and picked up a taco.
“So, why was the door locked?”

Lana's shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Old
habit.”

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

Drew eyed the woman standing in front of
him. At times she seemed so fragile. It was at those times that he
thought this whole stalker ordeal would, in fact, break her. Locking
the door to keep Chris away was proof of how much she had been
affected by Shawn. He once again vowed to protect her.

Sitting his taco aside, he reached out
pulling her down on his lap. “Let's go out tomorrow night.
You can ask Tracie and Ricky to join us. You know Chris is always
ready for a club.”

“
Are you sure that's such a good
idea?” Lana wrapped an arm around his neck.

He smoothed his hand down and back up her
bare leg. His hand would slip just up the leg of her shorts with
each path. “Going out is normal. You need that right now.”

Hell. They both needed normal right now.

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

Chapter
16

The club was packed; anybody could be
hiding among the crowd. Lana moved closer to Drew and held his hand
tighter. Why had she agreed to this? The only time she ever agreed
to go to a club had been when the band was performing. Tonight they
were not playing. So, why was she here?

“
Relax,” Drew demanded softly
in her ear. “You're not getting out of my sight tonight.
You're safe.”

“
What if he's here?” she
asked, scanning the club for any signs of Shawn.

Drew gave her a confident look. “Then
I'll kick his ass again.”

“
And I'm here to help this time,”
Chris cut in coming up beside them, Tammy close to his side.

“
I need a drink,” Tammy
shouted to be heard over the blaring music that had picked back up.

Chris held her hand firmly when she went
to pull away. “You stay with your brother. I'll go get us all
drinks.”