there’s a woman there, I-”
He threw his hands up in surrender fashion. “I swear, Xander,” he laughed, “it’s nothing like that.”
I planted my hands on my hips and regarded my best friend. “Does she need a kidney or something?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “She doesn’t have to ply me with my favorites if she needs a kidney or something, you know.”
Trevor’s stupid grin widened. “As far as I know, all her major organs are working fine,” he volleyed. “But it’s good to know yours are up for option if that ever changes.”
I threw my sweaty rag at him.
The lucky bastard saw it coming and side-stepped the assault. “Just…just be there, Xan,” he pleaded.
I let out a sigh.
Trevor has been my best friend since forever, and when he married Karla, she had become my best friend-in-law. It helped that she was a sweetheart and never felt threatened by my close friendship with her husband. She had embraced me as her friend too, and the rest was history.
“What time?” I asked, resigned to knowing that I was never going to deny Karla in the first place.
“Around six,” Trevor replied as he turned to head back to his truck. “Nothing fancy.” I grunted as his laugh faded, getting into his truck.
Brant, North Dakota didn’t do fancy. The fanciest thing we had here was a water fountain in the middle of town square that a tourist donated some five years ago, or so. The woman had fallen in love with our ‘quaint little town’ and just had to add to it. It was a nice fountain, but it didn’t do anyone any good during the winter when it would freeze over.
Turning back to the shed, I knew I had to move some ass now. I had been planning on working into the night, but now that I was expected for dinner at the Craigs’, that was a no-go. I set my phone alarm for 5pm, picked up my measuring tape and leveler, and got back to work. It wasn’t until my alarm went off that I started to wonder what the hell was so important that Karla felt she needed to ply me with rib-eye steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and whiskey. My stomach started growling at the thought, and I realized, it didn’t matter. A home-cooked meal was a home-cooked meal.
Chapter 3
Fallon~
I wish I could say I had gotten some quality sleep, but that’d be a lie. My nerves had started firing like an electric storm the moment I had produced my I.D. to secure my roadside motel room in Montana.
And they had stayed firing all night long.
Over the years, all I could conclude was that, whoever was stalking me, must work with computers or law enforcement in some fashion. How else would they constantly be able to find me? After the second time I had to move, I had suspended all my social media accounts. I had limited all my internet use and I really, naively, believed that would be enough to save me.
It hadn’t been.
Since the police couldn’t or wouldn’t help me, when I wasn’t working, I had spent all my free time researching stalking, both the victims and perpetrators. And the more I had researched, the more alarmed I had become as I realized just how easy technology made things for a stalker.
Our information was everywhere.
Even if you changed your name, a good hacker could find that out. Hell, a mediocre hacker could find that out. That, along with the part in me that was still a fighter, were the reasons I hadn’t resorted to changing my identity just yet. Sure, I was scared. Sure, I lived in a constant state of paranoia. Sure, I had to upend my life constantly and start over. Sure, I was living like a scared rabbit. But I wasn’t quite ready to wave the white flag just yet and let this…person drive me into losing my identity altogether.
Moving and starting over was akin to running, but it wasn’t giving up. It was an attempt at a better life and a tribute to hope that he or she wouldn’t find me again. Changing my name would feel too much like letting my stalker win. Sure, they were winning the battles, but I was still forcing them to engage in the war.
I was still fighting.
I wasn’t necessarily winning, but I was still fighting.
Handing my I.D. over to the clerk had been nerve racking, but I had convinced myself that, even if he did find