Real Shadows - M.E. Clayton Page 0,20

gathered me up in his arms and just held me as I exhausted the past two weeks through a horribly undignified meltdown. “Now, now, Miss Fallon,” he cooed. “Everything will look better in the morning.”

But it wouldn’t.

That’s what he didn’t know. Things wouldn’t be better in the morning because I was still going to wake up in the morning tired, afraid, and lonely. Karla was right when she had said a stalker gets off on inciting fear. And I was at a crossroads where I was going to either keep living in fear or just let the person come for me.

I pulled back and smiled at Jacob through my tears. “Thank you, Jacob,” I told him sincerely.

He smiled back. “Go on, now,” he replied. “Go check out the room.”

I did as he asked while he grabbed my bags and, I have to say, the room was nice as far as roadside motels went. I checked out the bathroom, and it was as equally clean and tidy as the room. Coming back out of the bathroom, I saw Jacob setting my bags on the bed and, once again, I was so grateful that he had been the person I chose out the phone book. I was also grateful that Karla had still had a landline and Jacob’s number had still been fresh in my memory, so I could call him after that disaster with Xander Raynes. I also still had his card.

“All good?”

I smiled and nodded. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me, Jacob,” I told him honestly. “Thank your wife, also.”

Jacob’s smile lit the room. “I’ll be sure to do just that,” he replied right before stepping to stand in front of me. His face took on the same seriousness I saw when he told Mr. Raynes to step back. “I’m not sure what you’re running from, but I sensed you needed the anonymity of some…peace and quiet. While I don’t believe Mr. Xander is dangerous, clearly, you just need some…breathing room.” I took a deep breath because he couldn’t be more right. “Call me if you need anything, Miss Fallon.”

I shook my head. “You’ve already done so much, Jacob,” I told him. “Let me get you the money for the room and then you ca-”

Jacob took a step back. “No,” he argued. “There will be no paying us for the room. No one should have to pay back anyone for doing the right thing.”

“But-”

“Miss Fallon, if we couldn’t afford it, we wouldn’t have done it,” he stated firmly. “Just pay it forward, and all that.”

“Thank you, Jacob,” I repeated. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

He cocked his head. “I have a feeling I do,” he said gently. Then he threw me a quick wink and exited the room, locking the door behind him.

I dropped on the bed and tried to steady my nerves. I took a deep breath and scanned the room. As helpful as Jacob and his wife were, I knew I needed to make a decision about what to do next. All this motel room could do was give me a safe place to decided what to do next, but it didn’t hold any answers.

I’ve been upheaving my life for six years already. Karla was my only friend, and even then, we’d only been friendly when I had felt it was safe to reach out to her. I haven’t had a boyfriend in years and the only sex I’ve had, in all these years, were quick, dirty couplings when the opportunity had presented itself, which, admittedly, hadn’t been very often.

I also thought back to what Mr. Raynes had said. Why would someone stalk me for years and never make contact? Even if my stalker was getting off on scaring me, did he/she plan on scaring me for the rest of my life?

What was their endgame?

And did I want to meet that fateful day with them calling all the shots, or did I want to finally put myself out there?

I knew I wasn’t going to come up with an answer tonight, so I decided that I was going to take a shower, get dressed, and then head on over to the little tavern next door.

I needed a drink.

Hell, I needed to get drunk.

Chapter 10

Xander~

Brant was the size of a shoebox. It shouldn’t be hard to find a goddamn stranger in this town.

But, apparently, it was.

Guilt was eating me alive, and while I still felt my concerns were valid, everyone was right; I