A Safe Place To Fall (The Fall Book 1) (16 page)

“
I'm perfectly capable of getting
us drinks,” Tammy argued.

“
Do we have to go through this
every time?” Chris led the way to a table on the side of the
dance floor. “Someone could be tempted to tamper with the
drinks if you go.”

Lana sat down at the table as she watched
the dueling couple. For not being in a relationship they sure
sounded as if they were in one.

Chris gently shoved on Tammy's shoulders
until she was forced to sit on the stool. “Stay”

“
I'm not a dog, you know,”
Tammy shouted at his retreating back.

“
Dogs listen better,” he
shouted back over his shoulder.

Tammy growled. “He is so
infuriating!”

“
He's right,” Drew stated,
sitting in between the two women. “If he hadn't gone I would
have.”

Tammy rolled her eyes. “How can
you stand living with these two?”

“
I'm just staying with them,”
Lana reminded her as she continually scanned her surroundings.

“
Where's your friends?” the
other girl asked. “I thought they were coming with us
tonight?”

Chris came back to the table with their
drinks before Lana could respond. Her eyes widened when he handed
her a huge margarita.

“
Dude, you know Lana doesn't
drink,” Drew complained, taking the glass from her.

“
It's okay,” Lana broke in,
reaching for her glass before a fight could start. “It looks
good.”

“
Are you sure?” Drew seemed
doubtful as he relinquished her glass. “I can go get you a
soda.”

“
She's sure,” Tammy
interjected. She took Chris' hand and attempted to pull him off of
his stool. “Come dance with me.”

Lana watched the couple make their way to
the dance floor. How could they not be in a relationship? They fit
together like they were meant to be. Chris was protective of Drew's
sister. Why was he fighting what was bound to happen?

Drew tugged on a strand of her hair. “If
you keep watching them I'm gonna start thinking I need to be
worried.”

She gave him an
as
if
look. “For your
information I was just thinking they made a cute couple.”

He made a gagging noise. “That's
just sick.”

Lana took a long sip of her sweet drink
before asking, “Why is that so sick?”

“
Aside from the fact that we're
talking about my sister?” He was eyeing the dancing couple
himself. “He's not good for her.”

Deciding it would be better to change the
subject, Lana nodded her head towards the dance floor. “You
wanna?”

His answer was to tug her off her stool
and to the dance floor.

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

Just feet away a guy went unnoticed as he
watched another guy hold his girl close. Anger ran through his veins
as he watched Lana move against the guy. Her eyes never left the
blond like he was the only person on the planet. How could she?

Didn't Lana realize what he sacrificed
for her?

He thought about the texts from the woman
who actually gave him the time of day. She wanted him around. A
normal guy would be satisfied by her. Hell, it wasn't as if she were
lousy in bed. The girl could rock a set of sheets. The only problem
was he found himself picturing Lana every time he closed his eyes.
It was the only way he could find satisfaction.

Feeling the need to let out some steam he
headed back to the one woman who would welcome him with open arms.

He found her waiting at his apartment
like he knew he would. She was wrapped around his finger. Anything
he wanted he could get from her.

Why wasn't she enough?

The apartment was not much. Just a hole
in the wall. At least he had a roof over his head. The amount of
money he spent on his obsession, not to mention the pills she
constantly put up her nose, didn't leave him much to toss to a land
lord. He didn't know if he could keep the place if his cousin didn't
pay half of the rent.

She looked up from her position on the
floor by the coffee table; the straw was still held over the line of
white powder. The girl could not be more different from Lana. His
sweet Lana would never have an addiction as ugly as this one.

“
How did work go?” The straw
dipped back down she slowly inhaled the white powder.

He inwardly cringed as he watched his
hard earned money go up her nose. “It went,” was his
only reply.

As soon as the straw hit the table, he
pulled her off of the floor and into his arms. His hands found her
ass and squeezed hard. “I missed you.”

It was a lie. Everything with her was a
lie.

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

“
We missed you last night,”
Lana told Tracie as she tied her smock on.

Tracie flipped the sign on the door over
to open. “Devin had to work and I really did not want to be
the odd man out.”

Lana could understand that; just the
same, she felt as if there were more to it than that. Over the last
couple of weeks Tracie hadn't been acting herself. Maybe it was her
brother's cancer diagnosis? That could send anybody for a loop.

“
Maybe next time,” Lana
suggested.

“
Yeah, maybe,” her friend
said halfheartedly.

Lana let the subject drop for the rest of
the day. The last thing she wanted was to pressure her friend into
anything. She, more than anyone, understood the need to stay away
from crowds. Her only concern was why Tracie all of a sudden felt
that need?

She grew increasingly concerned as the
day went on. Tracie had managed to mess up four orders. Obviously,
her friend had to be upset about something. When questioned the
other girl had said she was worried about her brother.

At the end of their shift Devin showed up
to pick Tracie up. Lana watched the other woman wrapped herself
around the man. It was nice seeing her friend so happy with someone.

Her eyes widened in shock when Devin's
hand slide up the back of Tracie's shirt revealing an ugly bruise on
her back.

What the hell?

He saw where Lana's eyes had landed and
immediately withdrew his hand allowing the shirt dropping back down.

Something was definitely going on there.
Lana knew better than to bring the bruise up around Devin. She would
just have to mention it when she could get Tracie alone again. Was
her friend really with an abusive guy?

Disgusted with the thought, Lana got in
her rented car and drove away. A look in the rear view mirror
revealed Devin had eyes on her car.

That night Lana sat snuggled against
Drew's side watching TV. It was in that moment that she was aware of
how lucky she was. Even with the craziness of everything going on
with Shawn, Drew was there to protect her. Something told her that
Tracie did not have the same kind of relationship with Devin.

Drew tugged on a strand of her hair. It
was a habit of his. “What's going on inside that pretty head?”

“
Something's going on with Tracie,”
she informed him. Lana let her finger draw tiny circles on his
stomach. “I don't trust Devin.”

“
Honey, are you sure this stuff
with Shawn doesn't have you a little more on edge than you're willing
to admit?”

“
She has this really nasty bruise
on her back,” she told him. “I didn't imagine that.”

“
She could have fallen,” he
insisted, flipping through channels on the TV. “Don't jump to
conclusions.”

Drew had a point; still, Lana could not
help worrying about her friend. What if she didn't say anything to
Tracie and her friend ended up dead? Deep down she felt there was
something wrong. Maybe not abuse but something.

He finally settled on an old comedy from
the late nineties about seniors in high school wanting to lose their
virginity. This was what she needed, a stupid comedy she could lose
herself in. No drama. No tears. No violence. Just laughs.

“
Let's just forget about everything
for a little bit,” Drew suggested, as he pulled her closer.

And for a little while she did.

It was three days before Lana had the
chance to get Tracie alone to talk. Her friend missed one day of
work because she was sick. Then the second day Devin spent most of
the day at the shop on his computer. He made the excuse that his
WiFi was out. Lana suspected he wanted to be sure she could not talk
to Tracie.

When Devin showed up again on the third
day, Lana got inventive and insisted she needed Tracie's help in the
back.

“
How did you get that bruise?”
she demanded to know.

Smooth. Real Smooth.

“
I don't know what you're talking
about,” Tracie denied with wide eyes.

Suspicion settled in Lana's eyes. “I
saw it on your back the other day. Don't deny it.”

“
Oh, that,” the other woman
said visibly relaxing. “I fell down the apartment steps the
other night.”

Lana let the subject drop against her
better judgment. Until Tracie was willing to admit what was going on
Lana would not be able to help her.

Devin spent the rest of the day at the
cafe with his laptop open in front of him. Lana tried hard to ignore
him, but she could feel his eyes on her. Did he think he could
intimidate her, get her to quit, and stay away from Tracie?

He waited for Tracie to take a rest room
break before he came up to the counter for a refill of his coffee.
The way he eyed her breasts made her want to be sick.

Lana tried to hand him his coffee without
speaking but he grabbed her wrist tight when she went to move away.

She tried to pull her arm away, but his
hold only increased. “Let me go.”

He gave an evil grin. “You're
feisty. I like that.”

Chris chose that moment to walk in the
door. “Is there a problem here?”

Devin let go of her wrist and took his
coffee off the counter. “No, dude.”

“
Then I suggest you take your
coffee to go,” Chris demanded moving so that he was between
Devin and Lana.

The other man cast one last menacing look
at Lana before he grabbed his computer off of the table and stormed
out the door.

Chris watched him leave before turning to
look at her. “What was that about?”

“
I have no idea,” Lana said,
as she rubbed her sore wrist.

His eyes narrowed as he watched her.
“Are you okay?”

Eyes still on the door, she gave a slight
nod. “Just don't say anything to Drew. I don't need him going
all protective.”

He gave her an
are
you crazy
look. “Drew
needs to know about this.”

“
Devin isn't the stalker,”
she said. “He's just pissed because he knows I suspect
something isn't right between Tracie and him.”

“
You better be right about this,”
he told her, accepting the cup of coffee she handed him. “If
Drew finds out about this we're both going to be in trouble.”

“
Let me worry about Drew.”
She flashed him a sweet smile and turned to start a new pot of
coffee.

Chris just shook his head and turned to
leave.

Chapter
17

The rest of the shift did not go well at
all. Tracie wasn't happy that Chris had made Devin leave the coffee
shop. She insisted Devin did not mean to hurt Lana when he grabbed
her arm.

Lana wasted no time getting into her car
and driving out of the parking lot. The new life she started
building was slowly falling a part. First Shawn had to make a
reappearance to terrorize her. Now she had the issue, whatever it
was, with Devin. Unless she could prove what type of guy he really
was she was going to end up losing her friend forever.

Needing music to help calm her she turned
the radio on. Avenged Sevenfold's
Nightmare
blasted through the car's interior. Other drivers passing by
probably thought she was insane because she was singing at the top of
her lungs and beating on the steering wheel with one hand as she
drove.

This was her place of solitude. A
place where she could get out all of her frustration, anger, and
tears.

In that moment she truly hated Devin.
How could he come between her and Tracie like this? Her friend was
changing, and it was all his fault. Lana could handle not being able
to go out on a Saturday night with her anymore. That was a sacrifice
most friendships made when one of the friends got into a new
relationship. Did he really have to make their work relationship
strained as well?

Then there was Shawn. Why could he not
just leave her alone? He was like a wall between her and everything
she wanted in life. Just as Drew started tearing those bricks down,
the messages had started. Now she felt as if she was losing her
newly found freedom, even if she did have Drew by her side.