by Jessica Kile
“Are you sure I'm not interrupting anything?” Tracie asked nervously looking from Lana to Drew and back again.
“Well...” Drew began.
Lana elbowed him in the rib to shut him up. “No, you're not interrupting anything. I made more than enough.”
***********************
Drew kept his phone hidden under the kitchen table as he sent secret messages to his sister. Tammy was helping him plan a secret birthday party for Lana; things had to be perfect for his girl. With everything going on he was willing to bet she thought he would forget about her birthday.
Tammy: I got the location for all day next Saturday. :)
He looked over at his girl, who was playing with the food on her plate as she talked to Tracie about the girl's ill-fated relationship with Devin. Neither girl had really eaten anything.
Drew: Great! She has no clue.
The next text took him by complete surprise, it also had him a little bit more than worried. He wondered if his sister had completely lost her mind.
Tammy: I put Chris in charge of the decorations.
Drew's grip on his cell phone tightened. Putting Chris in charge of decorations could only end badly. The guy was a perverted playboy.
He sent his roommate a quick text.
Drew: Just remember this is not a bachelor party!
The reply was almost instantaneous.
Chris: Dude, don't worry! I got this!
Chris had it covered? Yeah, right! Drew had a feeling he was going to regret asking his sister for help with this party. What was she doing enlisting Chris in the party planning process anyway? Drew couldn't think about that at the moment though. He only had a week to pull off the best surprise party for his girl.
So far, Tammy had been able to secure the back room of a club that his band often played at. It hadn't been very hard; Lucas, the owner, owed him for all of the times the band had agreed to play without payment. The club would also be in charge of preparing all of Lana's favorite food.
Lana needed to have one perfect night that was just for her. Every day that went by that the stalker remained free he felt his girl slipping further into the black hole. Going out had all but become a thing of the past. If his band had a gig, she stayed behind with Chris, or had been at the hospital with Ricky. Most days she ran straight home after class. She hadn't returned to work when they had come back from the cabin.
Even the gym had been tainted by the stalker. The only truly safe haven she had been able to have so far was this apartment, getting her to leave lately had proven to be difficult.
“What are you doing?” Lana directed at him.
“Just some band stuff,” he lied.
It wasn't wrong to lie to your girlfriend in order to keep a surprise from her.
“Tracie's going to crash on the couch tonight,” she informed him, as she got up from the table to take her half-empty plate to the sink.
Damn.
There went all of his naughty plans for the night. Nothing would be happening with her friend asleep on his couch. He began to dislike that Devin guy even more.
************************
Chapter 21
“I can't believe Drew agreed to this,” Lana said, staring at her friend.
Tracie shrugged. “Chris is the bouncer at the club tonight.”
“I don't know if this is such a good idea,” she protested.
Chris or no Chris, going to a club seemed like a bad idea. The police were no closer to discovering who her stalker was than they'd been weeks ago. Now her friend wanted to drag her to a club for a girls' night out and Drew supported the idea?
Nothing about this plan seems wise.
Tracie put her hands on each side of Lana's shoulders. “You need this. I need this.”
Lana eyed the dress Tracie had draped over the back of the couch. It was only a couple of hours, Chris would be there and he would die before he let anyone touch her. What could it hurt?
She sighed. “Fine!”
Her friend squealed and grabbed the dress. The girl darted of to Drew's bedroom as if the devil were chasing her. “Makeover time!”
Reluctantly, Lana followed her friend into the bedroom. It was like dead man walking, put that needle in her arm because she was pretty sure she wouldn't survive this.
Tracie dumped a bag of makeup onto the bed and immediately started matching eye-shadow, eyeliner, and lip gloss to the dress. The girl was in her zone. Even though Lana hated being a living doll to dress up, she would do this to make her friend smile. It had been a while since she had seen Tracie act like her normal self.
“Sit down,” Tracie demanded, pointing at the bed. “I'm going to make you look so hot.”
Lana rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure Drew liked the way she looked without having to go through all of Tracie's torture. Lana reminded herself that tonight wasn't about Drew or even herself. Tonight was about her friend. Tracie needed this night.
Knowing she would do anything at the moment to keep a smile on her friend's face, Lana sat down on the end of the bed. It was just a little bit of make-up and a dress. She could do this!
She held her breath as she saw the eye pencil coming closer to her eye. This was the worst part. Trying not to blink, she focused on anything that wasn't sharp and headed straight for her eye. Tracie had better appreciate this!
“Get that look off your face.” Tracie laughed causing the pencil to shake. “It's not like I'm going to stab you.”
If she kept shaking that dang pencil around it was a very good possibility that she would stab Lana right in the eye.
“You never did tell me why you left last week without saying a word,” Lana said, needing to distract herself from the dreadful pencil.
Tracie's hand paused and allowed the pencil to rest on the skin under Lana's eyeball. “I made an awful mistake. I was just trying to get everything off of my mind, but I wish I'd chosen someone else.”
Lana pulled her head away before the pencil could slide right into her eyeball. “What are you talking about?” At the guilty look on Tracie's face she narrowed her half made-up eyes. “Or, who are you talking about?”
The other woman dropped her hand, holding the eye pencil, to her side. “I slept with Chris. Are you happy? I don't know why you had to make me say it.”
Lana recalled the noises that had come from Chris' room that night. Ugh. She had heard him doing her friend. That just made her skin crawl.
“Don't judge me,” Tracie said, going right back to applying the eyeliner. “I needed to remind myself sex was a good thing.”
She wanted to plug her ears. Why must her friend be so open about her sex life? The last thing she wanted to hear was the details of Tracie's experience with a guy she had to see every day.
Tracie replaced the pencil in her hand with an eye shadow wand. “Close your eyes.”
Lana closed her eyes and prayed that the sex talk was over.
“It was good,” Tracie stated, brushing the shadow across Lana's right eye, “for me anyway. He just seemed like he didn't get that much out of it.”
It wasn't over, but at least it was starting to get a little interesting.
If someone wasn't completely into sex with someone that normally meant they were into someone else. Could Chris possibly have someone else on his mind? If that's the case he needed to pull his head out of his butt and go after what he wanted.
*****************************
The pressure was on. Tracie promised Drew she would have Lana here by 8:00 P.M. They only had two hours before Lana would come walking through that door.
Drew stood on a ladder hanging a strand of white Christmas lights across the ceiling. He was beginning to think Chris had more help with the decorations than Tammy was willing to admit. There was no way Chris picked out all of this girly stuff on his own.
“Told ya I had this all handled, dude,” Chris said from a ladder on the other side of the room where he held his side of the lights. �
�She is gonna love this starlight crap.”
He hoped his friend was right. The closer they got to the time of the party the more nervous Drew became.
“Relax,” Tammy demanded from the center of the room. She was fussing over a candle and flower center-piece. “She loves you no matter how this party turns out.”
This wasn't about winning Lana's love. He had that, or at least it felt as if he had that. The party was about giving her something she could look back on and smile. She needed a reason to smile right now.
************************
Lana stepped out of the bathroom feeling self-conscious. The little black dress fit like a glove. It wasn't really her style, but Tracie was set on her wearing this precise dress. At this point, she did not care what she wore; she had bigger problems to worry about.
All she wanted was to drag Drew out on this girls' night with her. The only way she would feel safe would be if he was right there with her. What if her stalker followed her tonight?
“Damn, girl,” Tracie said from her spot on the couch. “I knew you were going to be hot but damn.”
Lana tugged at the bottom of the dress trying to cover more leg, all she managed was to show more boob. “I really don't think I should wear this.”
The other girl looked panicked. “Oh, this is definitely the dress. You have to wear this dress!”
“Drew will kill me if I go out in this dress,” she argued.
Blame it on the boyfriend. Who can argue with that?
“Trust me, Drew would love seeing you in this dress,” her friend promised.
The fact Tracie thought Drew would be okay with Lana going out dressed like this was a problem. A very big problem.
“That's it, I'm not going,” Lana stated, turning back to the bathroom to put her normal clothes on.
“Wait,” Tracie hollered coming after her. “You have to go, and you have to wear that dress.”
“No, I don't.”
“Yes, you do,” she argued, with a sigh. “Drew is going to kill me for this. You have to go tonight because we're going to your surprise party. He had that dress you're wearing delivered to my house three days ago.”
A knock at the door caused them both to jump.
“Crap,” Tracie muttered looking at the time on her cell phone. “We need to get rid of whoever that is or we're going to be late.”
Lana made her way to the door as gracefully as she could in the black stiletto heels. What had Drew been thinking when he picked this outfit out anyway? If she made it through the night without rolling an ankle, it would be a miracle.
The smile on her face vanished the moment she jerked the door opened.
*************************
Drew checked his phone for the fourth time in a matter of ten minutes. Tracie should have been here with Lana already. Surely if something had happened Tracie would have contacted him. Where were they?
The door opened and Drew turned his attention to the entrance. He expected Lana, but his hopes died when he saw a man walking in.
What the...
Shawn walked across the room his eyes never leaving Drew. He seemed as if he were on a mission.
Every bone in Drew's body tensed up. What was he doing here? Better yet, if he was not the stalker how did he know where to find him?
“Where's Lana?” Shawn shouted over the noise of the music as he dodged party guests.
Drew's hands formed fists. “I don't see where that's any of your concern.”
“Just tell me you didn't leave her alone,” Shawn begged when he reached Drew.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Drew asked with narrowed eyes.
“I confronted him, but he got pissed and left,” Shawn stated. His hands were pulling at his hair. “Damn it, I've been looking for you everywhere. Where the hell is she?”
“What are you talking about?” Drew was beginning to get a very bad feeling.
“Devin's been acting weird lately,” Shawn explained as he paced back and forth. “Today I went into his room, because I was afraid he wasn't taking his medication. I accidentally knocked a box off of his dresser.” He stopped and looked at Drew with horror in his eyes. “It was a box filled with pictures of Lana, and not just new pictures. There was one from our junior year of high school.”
The knot in Drew's stomach tightened. “Are you saying what I think you're saying?”
“I'm almost positive Devin is Lana's stalker,” he announced, going back to pacing. “If something happens to her because I didn't go snooping sooner...”
Cursing, Drew dialed Tracie's number; he couldn't call Lana because he still had her phone.
Please let them be on their way here!
Her voicemail picked up.
Damn it!
“I don't know what he's capable of when he's not on his medication,” Shawn informed him, following him towards the exit. “He's manic depressive and bipolar.”
************************
Chapter 22
“That dress looks better than I thought it would,” Devin said as he walked into the room, forcing Lana to stumble backwards. “It was worth every penny.”
“I don't kn.. know w..w..what you're talking about,” Lana stuttered as she stumbled back into the arm of the couch, unable to go any further.
“Sure you do,” he said in a soft voice as he trailed his finger over the exposed skin of her breasts. “Who else would have thought to buy you a dress for your birthday?”
She cringed from his repulsive touch.
“What are you doing here, Devin?” Tracie demanded to know. She was still rooted by the bathroom.
“I had to spend time with my girl on her birthday,” he stated as his finger slipped under the thin strap of the dress. “I knew when you put this dress on that it was our time.”
“She's not your girl,” Tracie denied.
“That's where you're wrong,” Devin told her, slipping the strap down Lana's arm. “Lana has been my girl for years now.”
Lana stood motionless, unable to fight him. Breathing at the moment was a chore. Unnoticed tears ran down her cheeks.
All this time she had thought she knew who the threat was, but she had been wrong. To think of how close her stalker had been to her this whole time made her want to pass out.
This could be the day she died.
“You're crazy you know that?” Tracie tossed at him.
Lana closed her eyes. She needed to get Tracie out of here. It was one thing if he killed her tonight, but she could not let her friend suffer the same fate.
“Just go,” she demanded of her friend.
“I'm not leaving you here alone with him,” Tracie said.
Her next words were painful, but she had no choice. She had to get Tracie out of the apartment before the girl said something stupid and set the psycho off. “He's right. I've been his for a while. Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Go and tell Drew I had to leave.”
“You can't do this to Drew,” Tracie told her, clearly not getting the point.
“He'll understand,” Lana assured her. “Just please go and tell him a friend is sick and they need help.”
Disgust flashed in Tracie's eyes, but she finally agreed to do as she was told. Once she was safely out of the apartment, Lana was finally able to breathe a little easier.
“I didn't think she would ever leave,” Devin said, shoving her with enough force to cause her to fall over the arm of the couch.
Lana tried her best to remain calm as she felt his hands slide up her bare legs. If she was lucky Tracie ran out of here to get Drew.
Drew would come and save her. He just had to.
“You really do look sexy in this,” he told her as his hands disappeared under the dress.
“Let's order food first,” she suggested, desperate to delay the inevitable. “I'm starving.”
“I guess we can do that,” he gave in with a sigh. His hands moved back down the path
they come from. “Chinese okay?”
Lana breathed a sigh of relief. It would take at least thirty minutes before the food was delivered. If there was a God watching out for her Devin would be willing to wait until after she had eaten to continue with his plans.
She just needed to keep him distracted.
“I love Chinese food,” she lied scooting her way to the other side of the couch, as graciously as she could in the skimpy dress.
“No, you don't,” he said with a smile, “but you're willing to eat it, because I like it. You're always thinking about others.” Devin pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket. “That's why I love you.”
Lana pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders trying to disguise her fear as simply being cold. Whatever she did, she couldn't let Devin see how scared she was. He had to believe that she wanted his attention, or she may not make it out of here alive.
She considered her options as her stalker ordered food as if they were any normal happy couple. It could take Drew forever to get here; that's if Tracie managed to let him know what was going on. Her life depended on her making the right choices at the right times.
Lana forced a smile when Devin turned back to look at her and pulled the blanket tighter around her. “It's a little cold for this dress.”
He placed his phone back in his pocket, sat down, and put his arm around her. “You were never supposed to wear the dress outside.”
She tried to subdue the shiver of fear running through her body as he pulled her against his side. Pretend to enjoy this, she told herself, as his lips found their way to her ear. Drew will be here soon, she promised herself.
His hand attempted to slide the blanket off of her shoulder as his mouth trailed down her neck.
“I'm cold,” she complained, trying to keep the blanket in place.
“I'll keep you warm,” he promised as he forcefully yanked the blanket from her grasp.
Lana's heart was beating a hectic rhythm. She knew he had to be able to hear it and prayed he took it to be a sign of her attraction to him. The last thing she needed was to upset him.
