Page 371 of Evil Hearts

She wasn’t wrong.

We’d come into town to find most of the parallel spaces either occupied or marked by a sign that would only give us half an hour before there was a risk of tow. So we had been forced to find a parking garage that would give us a little more time. We didfind one that wouldn’t charge an arm and a leg, but the downside was that it was at least six blocks away from the vacant space that Andy wanted to show me.

Clicking my tongue, I pulled my hands free from the pockets and tugged my right glove off. The dramatic temperature change was enough to leave a violent shiver tearing down my spine, pushing me to quickly retrieve the folded up piece of paper that I’d left in my front jean pocket. The stiff sketch paper was in hand when a familiar sensation of being watched decided to graze me. I froze. The hair stood up on the back of my neck.

Not again…

I whirled around, my eyes flying from one shadow to the next. My heart had skipped a few beats before it threw itself into a frantic melody that was becoming a little too familiar. I even found it difficult to maintain a proper airflow.

This had been going on for four months now, ever since Lisa and I had decided to spoil ourselves with a girl’s weekend. We’d come to Saint Valencia, snagged ourselves a cheap hotel, and spent most of our cash on life experiences we’d never get back in Black Falls. There was even a club visit thrown into the mix.

If I’d known that I would end up catching the eye of someone who was even shadier than Jonathan and Jerry mixed together, then I would’ve passed up on the spur of the moment decision to walk my adrenaline ridden ass intoHaunted Dreams. It was the only place out that suggested the possibility of crossing paths with such a suspicious character like Ryan.

Neither of us could come out with another location where a young man still locked in a heavy goth face wouldn’t look out of place.

It had started with some drinks that he’d paid for us out of pocket, which quickly escalated into Ryan growing the balls to approach us himself with the request that only I dance with him. I’d politely declined and we made our way upstairs to enjoy onefinal round of drinks. He hadn’t hesitated to follow us. The ten minutes we’d spent on that balcony, he’d been tucked into the corner with those hazel eyes glued on me.

When I’d spotted a cell phone out with the creep no doubt snagging some pictures of me, I called it quits. We hauled our asses downstairs to pay the bill before we took off right back to the hotel. It left the last four locations we’d planned on hitting up prior to our return to Black Falls untouched.

Going back home was supposed to be the end of that strange chapter of my life, but leaving the big city only seemed to leave things spiraling out of control. Not even two days had passed before black roses started showing up on the doorstep, mostly when Mom wouldn’t be home until late in the night. I was even getting phone calls during the early hours of the morning from a private number.

There was never anything spoken, just a lot of heavy breathing.

I thought I could challenge Ryan in a game of his own making by ignoring every attempt he made to gain my attention. If he had the patience to drag this shitfest out, then I could maintain the strength required to wear him down. He’d give up on me eventually and decide that my small town ass wasn’t worth his time.

I didn’t think he’d take things to another level by leaving a bloody deer heart on our front porch with a note pieced together by large letters cut out from magazines.

Lisa was finally successful with dragging me down to the police precinct and ensuring that I filled out a restraining order. The judge didn’t even need Ryan to be in the room for that court date just to approve my request. I’d saved every damning piece of evidence until I had a trunk full of proof of his toxic obsession.

Ryan had made it painfully clear that a piece of paper declaring me off limits wasn’t going to be enough to keep him away. If anything, it encouraged him to find routes that were muchsneakier than those he’d used before. He couldn’t be thrown into jail for continued stalking if I couldn’t grab photographic evidence of him doing it.

It had become a case of my word against his. As far as the police were concerned, his paper trail had led back to Saint Valencia and he hadn’t left the city since.

To feel the hair standing on the back of my neck left me with the immediate urge to turn back around and march my ass back to the car. The only thing that prevented me from succumbing to that intense desire was my refusal to allow such a fucked up bastard from controlling my life.

Ineededa building with specific requirements. There had to be two stories involved, with the ground floor acting as the business everyone would see while the upstairs served as my creative haven where I couldcreatethose masterpieces out of silk and cotton. Having an extra space from either an attic or a basement would certainly go a long way with allowing me to stock up for the holiday seasons.

Lisa didn’t need to vocalize her concern for her to recognize the panicked expression painted on my face. She immediately fell into the same motions of taking in our surroundings to look for the one horrible soul that was out of place. The edges of her lips were pinched as she searched.

She came up just as empty as I did.

“Come on, Ryse…” My best friend slipped an arm around my shoulders. “We’re probably just so cold that our minds are imagining something that’s not there. You know, so we’ll quit lingering out here in the freezing ass cold.” A gentle nudge encouraged me to keep walking.

“Probably.”

My mouth took on a foul taste. It was almost like my soul could sense that we were both lying our asses off from the desperation to fool ourselves about the actual reality. I pulledthe folded paper open. The way my skin was crawling from this eerie sensation was enough to leave me sneaking a quick glance without completely smoothing it out.

How could I convince my paranoid ass that Ryan wasn’t lurking up in a vacant second-floor apartment without a pair of binoculars? If he was armed with one of those, then I certainly didn’t want to give him the chance to see where we were heading. He wasn’t against the idea of pushing on ahead to our destination when he figured it out, just so I would be slammed with his cold face once we got there.

I shoved the paper back into my pocket with my gaze flickering between the labeled buildings. Between it and the nearby street signs, I realized we were closing in on the address Andy had sent me fast. “It should be near the end of the block, I think.”

“Ooo, a corner address?” Lisa’s voice cracked. She was doing her best to brush the eerie sensation of being watched aside, but it was difficult to ignore the fact that my stalker had followed us back to the big city. “Please tell me that he’s giving you a location with at least a small parking lot. Not many people like to chance these parallel spots — myself included.”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Lis.” I eased out my left arm, allowing her to weave hers through the gap. We quickened our pace and hurried down the sidewalk, eager to get out of the cold. Not to mention stripping Ryan of any visual he might have of us.

I just needed the chance to regain a clear head so that I could assess my next step. There wasn’t any chance in hell of beating his fucker at his own game if I was making rash decisions. Not to mention that I wasn’t going to allow his presence to influence my decision with this building if it truly met everything I required to get my business from online to physical.

Fortunately, my gut had hit the nail on the head. The location Andy had set us up to meet was indeed located at the end of theblock with a similar building on one side and a main road on the other.

---