Page 28 of My Turn

“That’s a whole different beast. On my own, I don’t really have the time to do what it would take. You either need money to delegate all of the essential tasks or you have to somehow become an artist, a marketer, a social media name, an editor, and whatever else. I thought about it before, but my daughter takes up a lot of my time.”

“Mm. Single dad life.”

He grunted his agreement and started eating his food again. As I brought a bite to my mouth, I looked toward the window. The fork fell from my hand, making a sharp noise when it hit the plate.

“Alana?”

I blinked a few times, but it didn’t do any good. This wasn’t my imagination. Across the street, standing under a tree in the park, were two neon blue Xs and a stitched mouth. It was dark in that area, so I couldn’t see anything else except for those three glowing pieces of his mask. And, as expected, he simply stared at me.

How did he know where I was? Suddenly, his texts became that much more sinister. I brushed them off before, unsure what he was going on about. I hadn’t stolen anything from him. Clearly, he was just insane and rambling.

But no. It was about the date. Orphans… That had to be a threat toward Mike. Was this guy crazy enough to actually kill him? And how the hell did he know anything about him? Either he knew him or he’d overheard our conversation at the party. Or he somehow had a way to learn everything about someone in a matter of minutes.

Maybe I should assume that he knew everything.

Fuck, I shouldn’t have come on this date. The bastard wrote ‘Nyx’ on my driver’s side window, but I hadn’t even taken that seriously. He was taunting me, obviously. Watching me and writing on my car might be the least of my concerns.

“Alana.”

I looked at Mike’s worried expression. My mind conjured an image of him with a bloody hole in the middle of his forehead. All because of me.

“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching over to take my hand. I pulled it back quickly and dropped it into my lap. It was hard to ignore the flash of hurt in his eyes.

“I’m actually not feeling great.”

“Oh. Alright. Do you need to leave?”

“Yeah, I think I do.” I grabbed my coat and threw it over my forearm quickly. “I’m really sorry, Mike. I swear this isn’t me blowing you off or anything.”

“That’s encouraging,” he said with a light laugh. He got to his feet and pulled me into a hug, which just ignited more panic.

When my gaze traveled over his shoulder, I saw those X eyes. This time, they were tilted as if his head was cocked. He took a couple of steps forward, which allowed me to see his dark hoodie. I couldn’t even see his real face, but his entire demeanor was predatory.

“Thank you for understanding,” I blurted before I rushed out the door. The entire way to the car, I kept glancing over at the spot I’d last seen him, but he was gone. I sort of wished I was actually going crazy so that none of this was real. I’d take some appointments with a psychiatrist over whatever the hell was happening here.

I didn’t unlock the door until I was right in front of it. Once I got in, I hit the button to lock it, then dropped my forehead to the steering wheel and took a few deep breaths. My ribs hurt when I breathed, which couldn’t be a good sign.

Why didn’t they sell Xanax over the counter? Oh yeah, addiction. I was willing to risk it if it meant I didn’t stress myself into a heart attack.

“Don’t be a weak bitch,” I muttered.

Raising my head, I started the car. My headlights turned on and I looked out the windshield. A scream tore from my throat before I covered my mouth with my hands.

Ten feet ahead of me, in an empty parking space, he was crouching in the glow of my lights. The neon was less noticeable in the brightness, but I could see the rest of him clearly. I hadn’t been this close to him until now and I wished I hadn’t learned that he was the size of a linebacker. I had no chance of outrunning him or fighting him off.

His head cocked again, another taunt. I drew in a shaky breath and kept my eyes on him as I shifted into reverse. With a very brief glance in my rearview camera, I backed up faster than was safe, then turned the wheel and raced out of the parking lot. When I looked in the mirror, I saw those glowing Xs fading with the distance.

I was going to die. That was the only way I could see this thing turning out. I had a huge, masked stalker who knew where I lived, what I drove and apparently, where I went. He knew about Jayce and Mike. Somehow, he’d programmed his number into my phone. Those were all portents of my impending departure from this world.

My knowledge of stalkers was pretty limited. That’s what happened when you’d been fortunate enough not to be in this situation before. One thing I did know was that things escalated. It was only going to get worse, which meant I was in real danger from this person.

Women died at the hands of men far too often and not enough was done to prevent it. Regardless of that depressing fact, I headed straight for the police station. As soon as I pulled in, my phone buzzed. My heart began racing automatically. I had a feeling that any time it went off from this point forward, I was going to panic.

Erebus:I don’t recommend that.

My fingers tapped on the phone as I went through my options. It was stupid as hell to reply.

Alana:Who are you?

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