At the mention of his name, Bacon sat up. Curly tail wagging, he open mouth belched his welcome to the newcomer.
Big Mike removed his baseball cap and curled the tattered brim in his hands. “You stayed here the last time you were in town. I took a chance you’d be here again. Can I come in?”
Taking note of the firm set of his jaw and creased brow, I took a step back and welcomed him inside with a turn of my wrist. “By all means. Want some pizza? There’s a slice or two left that Bacon hasn’t nosed at.”
“No, thank you.” Stalking inside, Big Mike paced the length of the room. “I don’t like to meddle in the lives of others. I feel that nonsense is none of my business.”
I shut the door and folded my hands in front of me. “We already covered this topic in great detail. But thank you for dropping by to reiterate the point.”
“Shut up, now. I’m trying to say something.”
Pantomiming locking my lips, I threw away the key.
“You asked me about that fella that came looking for you.” Folding the bill of his hat in half, Big Mike stuffed it into his back pocket. “I didn’t want to get involved, but I have daughters and would want someone to let them know if there was something, or someone, they should watch out for.”
Combing my fingers through my wet hair, I twisted the strands into a bun and secured it into place with the tie on my wrist. “You think there’s something I need to watch out for?”
Tongue dragging over his teeth, Mike wandered to the edge of the bed to give Bacon a scratch behind the ears. “That guy who came looking for you… something didn’t sit right with me about him. It’s nothing I could put my finger on, but there was something about him that set my teeth on edge. Whatever this guy wants with you? You need to steer clear. I don’t know if it helps at all, but the car he was driving had Florida plates. Maybe you had a bad experience with someone there?”
Florida plates and a Maine Black Bears baseball cap. Two places that represented pivotal moments in my life. Maine, where the school shooting took place, and Tallahassee, where Elba died. The hair on the back on my neck rose, prickles of unease skittering down my spine.
If he picked up on how I bristled, Big Mike didn’t let on. “My advice? Get gone and stay gone. Whoever this is? You need to keep an ocean of distance between you and him.”
I could form no words, my mind too busy clicking and whirring over why anyone would waste that kind of time and energy on… me.
After a beat of silence, Big Mike cleared his throat. “You need to get out of town. Do you have somewhere you can go?”
My journey was centered around retracing my steps across the country. Shoving these disturbing new revelations aside, I tried to remember where I had been before Las Vegas. “Galveston, Texas. I worked at a fish market.”
“Good, nice and far from here.”
Folding my arms over my midsection, I nervously chewed on my lower lip. “The guy wearing the Maine Bears hat? He planted a phone on me in Seattle.”
“And you held onto it?”
“Free phone?” I shrugged, questioning my own sanity.
Pulling himself to his full height, Big Mike’s voice dropped to a protective growl. “Let me see it.”
Crouching down beside my backpack, I unzipped the front compartment and handed the phone over to him.
He accepted it without a word, then he tossed it to the floor and boot stomped it into a mess of broken plastic and wiring. Chest rising and falling from the effort, he fought to steady his breathing. “If he comes back, I won’t tell him I’ve seen you. But, Octavia? This guy is trouble. Do what you have to do to stay far away from him.”
The Journals of Octavia Hollows continue with
Caught Dead
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About the Author
Stacey Rourke is the author of award-winning books that span various genres, yet maintain her trademark blend of action and humor. She lives in Michigan with her husband, two beautiful daughters, and two giant dogs. She loves to travel, has an unhealthy shoe addiction, and considers herself blessed to make a career out of talking to the imaginary people that live in her head.
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Find the full catalog of her books here: https://readerlinks.com/mybooks/1328
The Gryphon Series
The Conduit
Embrace
Sacrifice
Ascension
Descent
Inferno
Revelation
and The Official Gryphon Series Coloring Book
The Legends Saga
Crane
Raven
Steam
Reel Romance
Adapted for Film
Turn Tables
The Unfortunate Soul Chronicles
Rise of the Sea Witch
Entombed in Glass
Coming Soon: Pursuing Madness
TS901 Chronicles (co-written with Tish Thawer)
TS901: Anomaly
TS901: Dominion
The Veiled Series
Veiled
Vlad
Coming Soon: Vendetta
Archive of the Fives
Apocalypse Five
Coming Soon: Rogue Five
The Journals of Octavia Hollows
Prequel-How the Dead Lie (A Havenwood Falls Novella)
Wake the Dead
Caught Dead
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Dead Ringer
Dead as a Doornail
Dead Man's Hand (The Journals of Octavia Hollows #2) Page 7
