A Safe Place To Fall (The Fall Book 1) (2 page)

Lana hooked her book bag over her
shoulder. “I’m not going to class to impress anyone.”

“Clearly,” he replied. “You
know it would be easier for you to meet someone, if you actually wore
something aside from sweatpants all the time. Make-up
might
help a little too.”

She rolled her eyes, as she moved across
the room to the main door. “I came to Morgantown for school.
Meeting a guy isn't on my to-do list.”

Ricky sighed dramatically. “I
have a lot of work to do with you.”

“See you tonight,” she
hollered, closing the door behind her and on that ridiculous
conversation.

Lana found a seat in the back row of
the Criminal Terminology class. Nobody saw her enter the room.
Which meant nobody would be watching her during class. She hated
when people watched her. It made her feel like she had
rape
victim
tattooed across her
forehead.

As she was beginning to relax, a guy
came walking in and chose to sit right beside her. Lana held her
breath, counted to ten trying her best not to panic. Reason told her
they were in a crowded room. She was safe here.

Lana observed the guy out of the corner
of her eye. He looked like he spent time in a gym but wasn't going
to be in an UFC fight anytime soon. Blonde hair, reaching to almost
his shoulders, was pulled back in a ponytail with a black rubber
band. A Nirvana shirt hung loosely around his frame.

Oh, he was looking at her!

Lana turned her attention to the front
of the class, as the professor started his lecture.
Just breathe
. Big deal he was
looking at her. That didn't mean he was planning on attacking her
when the professor turned the lights down.

Just to be sure she was safe she chanced
a look at him, as she jotted down notes from the lecture. He was
messing around with his phone not giving a damn about the class.

Relaxing a little, she admitted to
herself he was good looking. Not underwear model hot. He definitely
had the alternative rocker look going. It suited him.

Lana sighed, turning her attention back
to the professor and her notes.
No
point in going there
.
Checking a guy out was pointless. It didn't matter if she found his
looks appealing; because, she knew he was a pig. Only one thing
would be on his mind. That was something she was unwilling to give.
EVER!

“Candy Crush,” Mr. Hottie
whispered. “Damn thing is addictive.”

Lana snorted before she could stop
herself. She could not believe he was the type, who would play the
ridiculous game. It seemed no one was safe from the games clutches.

“Drew Adkins,” he informed
her. “And you are?”

She hesitated for a second, staring into
his green eyes. “Lana Richards.”

He reached out to shake her hand.
“Well, Lana Richards, it is very nice to meet you.”

Lana stiffened and pulled her hand away.
“You too.”

“You look like a coffee drinker,”
he said.

Lana eyed him nervously. Where was he
going with that statement?

“We should go get some coffee
after class.”

He had fallen out of the crazy tree.
Who asked a woman they just met out for coffee? That would've been a
move right out of Shawn’s book. Make the girl think you want
to get to know her, get her to lower her guard, and then bam. Yeah,
there was no way she was going anywhere with this guy. Not in a
million years.

“I have classes all day,”
she said. Not a lie. Just not the whole truth.

Drew grabbed her cell phone off of the
arm rest of her chair and started poking at the screen. “If
you change your mind call me.”

Lana heard his phone make a noise; as,
he dropped her phone into her book bag resting on the floor between
them. No way was she ever going to use that number. Matter of fact,
she would be finding somewhere else to sit the next time they had
class. Who did this guy think he was?

“Don’t worry, I don’t
drive a box van.” He smiled at her. “I just happen to
really like coffee.”

Had her discomfort really been that
obvious? The last thing she needed was for someone to be able to
read her like an open book. She had too many things she wanted to
keep locked away.

“Don’t tell me you’re
like my sister,” he prodded. “Always uptight and too
focused on school to know how to have a good time.”

She bristled with anger. Mainly because
he was accurate with his description. Her new found freedom had been
ripped away from her when Shawn had lured her into his basement. Now
she was right back to the timid high school girl, who had her nose
shoved into books every waking hour.

“I have fun,” she said.

“Then go and get some coffee with
me.”

“I’m not going to go
anywhere with someone I don’t know.”

He rolled his perfect green eyes. “I
already told you I’m not going to lure you into a white van
with candy.”

No, he would use coffee and his good
looks. She refused to fall into that trap again.

“I said no!” How many ways
was she going to have to turn him down before he got the point she
wasn't interested?

Drew held his hands up in surrender.
“Okay, I get it.” He gave her a grin. “At least
use the number if you ever need to talk about anything.”

Even if he was a good guy if she talked
about what was going on in her head; he would definitely want to
leave her alone. There was no way she would ever tell him about her
nightmare. It was better to keep him at a distance.

After class Lana did her best to get
Drew out of her head. He hadn’t attempted to follow her down
the hall. Maybe he was one of the few good ones.

Since her next class was not for two
hours, she decided to put in a couple of job applications. One was
at the campus book store. The second was at the coffee shop.

Maybe she was crazy. Why would she
apply for a job at a place Drew would visit quite often?

It was simple. Just because she
unwilling to give him a chance, didn't mean she was unwilling to look
at him.

It was a shame she had sworn off all
men. Before Shawn, Lana would've given Drew a chance. Now she was
ruined. Just his handshake almost sent her running straight into a
panic attack. How could she even consider getting close to him, if
she couldn’t be
close
to
him?

The girl, who took her application at
the coffee shop happened to be Ricky's friend. Tracie was tall, very
thin with a
caramel
complexion. She was what all male dreams were made of. “I’m
not supposed to say this. Candice is kind of desperate to find
someone before she has the baby.”

“Are you saying it’s a sure
thing?” Lana really needed a job. She had quit the job at the
movie theater after the ticket guy kept trying to put his arm around
her. He had caused instant flashbacks of Shawn.

“Girl, I’m so sure of it. I
would start you today if I could.” Tracie handed her a
chocolate chip cookie. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you
get the phone call before you ever get home tonight.”

Lana sighed in relief. Maybe she would
actually be able to pay her part of the rent this month. She had
instantly regretted quitting her job. No job meant she had left
herself with no way to pay her way through life. No way was she
going to rely on Ricky to keep up both sides of the rent and
utilities. He had been a good friend this summer but a person had to
draw the line somewhere.

She handed Tracie a bill for the cookie.
“Well, I have to head to class.”

After her last class Lana headed
straight to the gym. About a week after the graduation party she had
decided she needed an outlet for all of the pent up anger. Deep in
the back of her mind was the thought if she had been a size or two
smaller she would've had more confidence. Maybe she wouldn't have
fallen under Shawn’s spell as fast. So, every day she hauled
her ass to the gym. Even on days that her body felt like it was
being drug through fire. It was her only escape.

Tonight she settled for running a couple
of miles on the treadmill. Music blasted through from her
headphones. She ran like the devil was chasing after her. In her
mind the devil was Shawn. No matter how fast she ran she'd never be
able to escape the damage he had done.

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

Drew sat on a weight bench watching Lana
run on the treadmill. Just watching her confirmed that the chick had
demons. She practically screamed as much in class by refusing to
have coffee with him. Hell, it was just coffee. Yet, she acted as if
he proposed he take her back to his place and they have wild,
passionate sex. Hell, watching the way her ass moved as she ran, he
knew he would be unable to refuse if she proposed just that.
However, the fact she just assumed he was only after that irked him.

“Don’t even go there,”
Chris, his roommate and current spotter, warned. “That girl
has issues.”

Drew laid back under the barbell and
lifted it up. “What kind of issues?”

Chris stood with his arms outstretched
prepared to catch the bar, if Drew decided to get clumsy and drop it.
“Hell if I know.”

“Maybe, she's just shy,”
Drew grunted, raising the bar back up.

“I think it runs a little deeper
than that,” Chris stated. “A week ago, I followed her
outside heading to my bike; she freaked out and ran to her car.”

Drew was beginning to feel the burn down
his arms and shoulders from the weights. “Yeah, I gathered she
could be the flighty type.”

“You know her?”

Muscles straining, from exertion, Drew
raised the bar back to its holder. “She’s in my terms
class.”

“I would keep it at that,”
Chris said. “She would take a lot of work.”

Drew sat up to take a drink from his
water bottle. “Nothing good is ever easy.”

Chris laughed. “I don’t see
her going to all of the bars you play at.”

Drew shrugged, watching as Lana pressed
a button. A second later, she was running faster. She reminded him a
lot of his sister.

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

“So, what do you think?”
Ricky asked, coming out of his room. He was wearing black leather
pants, a purple buttoned down shirt, with a black leather cowboy hat.

Lana laughed. “You look like
you’re going to a gay club.”

“Well, you look like you’re
staying home, stuffing your face with popcorn, and watching some
sappy movie on lifetime,” Ricky commented. “At least we
both look the parts that we are playing.”

Lana eyed the huge bowl of popcorn
sitting beside her on the couch, and promptly stuck her tongue out at
Ricky.

He laughed. “Are you sure, you
don’t want to come? I can wait for you to get dressed in
something besides that,” he said with a sneer and raised
eyebrow.

She eyed her baggy sweatpants and
over-sized Twilight shirt. “Hey, back off of the clothes.”

“Okay, well, don’t wait up,”
he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, walking out the door.

Lana rolled her eyes. He was ridiculous
sometimes. Okay, maybe all of the time. However, he was truly her
best friend. Just not the type of person she would divulge her
darkest secret to. He was the type you watched
Who
Wore It Best
with and trash
talked the clothes. Nothing about Ricky screamed serious. It was
the quality she most loved about him.

Her phone buzzed with a message.

What
the..

It was Drew.
‘Coffee?
’

She rolled her eyes, typing out a
response.
‘No.
’

‘What
are you doing?’

Lana looked up at the TV and smirked.
‘Dancing’

‘Where?
I’ll come.’

Lana stared at her phone.
What
the heck?
This guy was
impossible.

‘Lux’
She tossed out the first local club she could think of. No need to
tell him she was actually watching
Dancing
with the Stars.

‘I’m
already there. What floor are you on?’

Shit!

Chapter
2

Lana stared at the mirror, on the back
of her bedroom door, in disbelief. She had gotten trapped into going
to a party during a weak moment. That same weak moment led to her
agreeing to allow Ricky and Tracie to do a makeover. Now she wasn't
so sure she'd made the right decision. When she'd refused to wear a
skirt, they stuck her into a pair of tight jeans partnered with a low
cut. It looked like she might pop out if she moved in the wrong
direction.