Page 24 of Threads of Fate

“Everything has been good. My daughter got another promotion. Huge raise. Which is good for her and her family. They need a bigger house; four kids and a three bedroom house makes the house feel smaller than it is. And her husband's auto shop is doing really well as well.”

“I could not imagine six people in three bedrooms. Especially with four of them being children. They are slobs.” I laugh pondering such a full house.

“You’re right about that. Kid toys everywhere. Poor girl can't keep up.” The conversion lulls as I finish up shaving the sides of his head. When I grab my scissors to trim the top he speaks again. “I was told you were walking arm in arm with Noah Turner yesterday by the library.” I stop and look at him while I have fingers full of his hair. I laugh a bit.

“You know, even though I have lived in this town my whole life it still blows my mind how quickly information spreads, whether it is true or not.” I go back to trimming his hair before I speak again. A smile playing on my lips. “But yes, we are dating.”

“Finally.” I stop and look at him again. “You have been through so much in this town and you deserve to be happy. Truly happy. Even though I only see you once a month I know you're not the ‘Spaz’ or weirdo that people portray you to be. I think they are all jealous or scared because you’re different.”

Tears start up in my eyes and I have to work the lump out of my throat before I speak. “Thank you, Frank.” I croak out. I blink quickly and a tear falls down my face. He has no idea how nice it was to hear that. To not be judged harshly. Even if he doesn't understand me, he hopes for the best to happen to me. I clear my throat and wipe the tear away. Frank nods at me and I continue to finish up his hair. When I’m done I brush the hair off his neck and make sure he likes it.

“Still thirty?”

“Yeah.” I say as I shake out the cape and place it on the back of the chair. He hands me the money plus his normal tip.

“I mean it Dana. You deserve it. He better treat you well and I would say don’t listen to these Chatty Cathy's around here but that’s easier said than done.” He gives me a smile and leaves. He has zero idea how much his words meant to me. I really needed that. I grab the broom and start sweeping up the hair.

The rest of my day goes smoothly. All men’s haircuts. I specialize in men’s and pixie cuts. Not that I do many pixies around here but I wanted to be great at it. They are the cutest haircuts I think. I haven’t done it myself. I want to but I also want long hair to braid or throw up in a bun. I always think that I can cut my hair into a pixie and then wear wigs when I want to have it long. Who am I kidding though? There’s no way I would do that. Putting wigs on correctly just looks like pain and a process I do not want to undertake.

When my last client leaves I clean up and sit down in my chair. I spin around in it for a moment and make a mental note of the things I need to grab from my house. When I make another turn I swear I see a man standing at the far wall but when I quickly glance back after coming to an abrupt halt he’s gone. I take that as my que to get going. I get up and gather my wallet and phone.

“Dana.”

Really? Well, at least he waited for the end of my day. I could have cut someone's eyebrows off. I shake the voice away and head out to my car, saying bye to Jordan. I drop into my car and crank my music after throwing my things in the passenger seat. I drive off to my house but make a small detour for fries. If Noah found out I didn’t eat lunch and had only coffee for breakfast he would have more ammo to chastise my eating habits. Knowing him he would show up at my work with a three course meal everyday just to make sure I have eaten.

I pull up to the intercom and order fries for myself and Noah. I am not into sharing fries. Potatoes are life. I grab my fries and drop the bag into my lap when a strange warmth pulses out from my chest down my arms and legs. Enveloping me in pulsing waves of heat. It’s not painful but concerning nonetheless. I look over to the cashier who gives me a questioning brow. I shake my head and head to a parking spot. I put the fries in the passenger seat while I rested my head on the steering wheel. The strange warmth suddenly stops leaving me feeling cold.

“What in the ever lovin’ fuck is happening to me?” I whisper to myself. I need to get home. Noah is going to have a heart attack if I’m any later. I throw my car in reverse, putting what just happened away until I get home.

I find Noah waiting for me in my driveway, parked like a decent human. Good for him. I pull up next to him as he jumps out of his truck. He runs over and pulls my door open.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” He asks while I step out. I kiss his cheek.

“Are you peacocking? Showing me all the moves you got? Making sure I don’t stray?”

“Damn, you’ve caught on.” I roll my eyes at him and give him the bag of fries and he grabs my hand pulling toward my house.

“Something weird happened to me picking up fries.” I say as he opens my front door. My train of thought is cut off. Something isn’t right and we can both feel it. We walked slowly into the foyer and I put my keys between my fingers. Ready to strike a painful punch. We walk into the living room and there is nothing unusual. I hear something shuffle in the kitchen and I can feel the blood draining from my face. We slowly walked toward the kitchen.

Chapter 11

Dana

“No need for trying to sneak Dana, you were never good at it.” The person is unknown but the voice is very familiar. An anger takes over and I lose my sense of self preservation. I drop Noah’s hand and storm into the kitchen. Noah is right on my heels. Whispering angrily at me. I ignore him, on a mission. As soon as I walk into the kitchen I stop dead in my tracks realizing a few things.

One, there’s a man sitting at my table.

Two, what the hell am I doing? Self preservation much?

Three, now I have a face to connect to the voice I keep hearing. Tall, like, way tall over six foot six tall. He looks way too big for my chairs. It looks like he's slender but I can see the muscles through his loose linen shirt. His jaw could cut glass. Black hair, so black it's almost blue. He’s clean shaven and has tattoos crawling up his neck and down his arms. His eyes are silver. Molten silver. They stand starkly against his dark skin. I can see them swirling in his iris. He looks between Noah and me.

“I…” I don’t even know where to start. “Wh…” I shake my head. “Who are you? What the fuck are you doing in my house?” I demand once I get my fumbling brain working on a minimal level.

“You need to leave.” Noah asserts. Staring at the man, rage written across his face.

“Dana, you have nothing to fear from me. Call your dog off.”

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